Exquisitely veneered furniture with lively curves and bold outlines characterized the final phase of the Neoclassical style in American furniture starting about 1830. Popular in parlors in Greek Revival houses until the late 1840s, pier tables were nearly always displayed with tall mirrors above them that visually extended the space and reflected light back into the room. This rare example comes from the shop of one of the main proponents of the new Grecian plain style, Joseph Meeks (1771–1868), who ran a large manufactory of cabinet and upholstery furniture with his sons, John and Joseph W., on Broad Street from 1829 until 1835. (The elder Meeks retired in 1836 and his sons and grandson continued in business until 1869.)

In 1833 the firm issued a hand-colored broadside, nearly two feet tall, for use in the South, where Meeks and other New York cabinetmakers sought markets. In 1943 the Metropolitan acquired a nearly perfect example of this broadside, illustrating forty-four pieces of furniture, mostly in the Grecian plain style. But it took more than half a century to acquire a fine example of the firm's work in this style. Thanks to the persistence of our late colleague Catherine Hoover Voorsanger, who strongly advocated its acquisition, and to the generosity of donors who admired her, the wait is over.