Major Edmund Dickinson, a master cabinetmaker in Williamsburg, Virginia, owned a copy of Thomas Chippendale’s influential Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker’s Director. In 1778, Dickinson died fighting in the American Revolution. Valued in his probate inventory at £6 (the same as his “new rifle gun”), his lavish volume of furniture designs is one of about a dozen Director volumes documented in 18th-century America. Chinese frets and railings were a major rococo design element among Chippendale’s patterns. Appearing on furniture and architecture built in Williamsburg in the late 18th century, such frets inspired this collection. Made of Portuguese ceramic with matte white and matte black finishes.