After Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1798, Egyptian motifs began filtering into the European furniture design vocabulary. In the United States, they were occasionally found on Neoclassical pieces of the 1820s and 1830s, but it was not until exoticism came into fashion after the Civil War that American makers began to produce more fully realized designs. The New York firm of Pottier and Stymus, the probable creators of this boldly decorated table, was known in its day as the leading exponent of the Egyptian Revival style.

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