Brooklyn Museum Furniture Heads to Brunk Auctions With a Rare ca. 1690 New York Dressing Table Leading the Sale
A small group of early American furnishings once used to conjure domestic life inside the Brooklyn Museum’s period rooms is about to reenter the market — with one object standing out for its scarcity. On April 9, Brunk Auctions will offer a ca. 1690 walnut dressing table with shaped legs, described as the only surviving American example of its kind. It carries an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000.
The dressing table anchors a sale that is heavily weighted toward American furniture, much of it dating from the 17th through 19th centuries. Among the top lots is a late 17th-century carved oak cupboard estimated at $60,000 to $90,000, alongside a painted 19th-century blanket chest expected to bring $7,000 to $10,000.
Beyond furniture, the April 9 auction includes a range of material that reflects the breadth of a traditional decorative-arts collection: 17th- to 19th-century embroidered textiles and needlework samplers, as well as artworks by Abraham Walkowitz and John Butler. Those works are generally estimated in the three- to four-figure range.
The consignment arrives as part of the Brooklyn Museum’s continuing deaccessioning activity in recent years. The institution previously sold period artifacts in 2024 and tapestries in 2025. A museum spokesperson said the broader aim is an “ongoing effort to turn spaces used for storage into galleries to show more of our collections.”
According to the museum, the latest group of objects was chosen through a deliberate review process that follows deaccessioning guidelines established by the Association of Art Museum Directors. The museum also emphasized that removing these items “will not diminish our collections.”
In explaining why certain pieces were directed to public auction rather than transferred to peer institutions, the spokesperson said that, in this instance, the objects were “of lesser quality than others in the collection.” The museum noted that it prioritizes institutional transfers when possible and has placed some objects with other museums, historical societies, libraries, and schools. Still, it added, some works are better suited to sale via public auction.
Proceeds from the Brunk Auctions sale will be used for collection care and for acquisitions intended to address gaps in the Brooklyn Museum’s holdings — a familiar rationale in an era when many museums are reassessing what they store, what they show, and how their collections can be sharpened for contemporary audiences.
With its unusually early date and singular status, the walnut dressing table is likely to draw particular attention from collectors of American decorative arts, for whom true rarity is often measured not only by age, but by how few comparable objects have survived at all.
