Dimensions: Height 29″
Diameter 27″
Maker: Unknown
Location: Northeastern North Carolina, possibly Chowan County or Edenton
Date: Ca.1775
Commentary: The great majority of American tea and dining tables that were designed to allow for a rotating top utilized a pillared birdcage. According to Hurst and Prown’s Southern Furniture, “the box form was rarely employed by American cabinetmakers except in North Carolina, where it was made in several shops along the colony’s coastline.” The authors go on to note that while a group of tables with similar structural and decorative features attributed to the Chowan County area were once thought to have been made in the same shop, current scholarship suggests that at least two nearby cabinet shops were responsible for these tables. The principal difference in the two groups is the distinctive piercings of the lower legs that highlight and end in turned bosses. John Bivins illustrates and discusses these closely associated tables in The Furniture of Coastal North Carolina (pages 151-153) and several other examples appear in MESDA’s research files. (S-13619,NN-243, S-13619, S-12211, S-12173) In the turning of its baluster, pierced legs, snake feet and overall proportions, this table most closely resembles the Bivins’ figure 5.70 with a Chowan County provenance and attribution.
Condition and Materials: The table is constructed of mahogany and retains a rich, old surface. A crack in the top has been professionally prepared and one foot is an early replacement, likely from the nineteenth century. A block has been added to the top of the pedestal to compensate for wear.
Price:sold
