Federal Mahogany Two-Part Banquet Table

Object Details

Related Objects

Federal Inlaid Mahogany Demilune Card Table

Unknown
ca. 1800

wood; mahogany

Object Essay

One of the hallmarks of the new Federal style in America is the appearance of many new forms of furniture. Several of these innovative objects reflect dramatic changes in both social customs and the use of interior spaces. The multiple-part dining table is just such an object. Before the American Revolution, most American houses had no one room specifically set aside for dining—one dined in the parlor, hall, or drawing room as the situation and company demanded. Dining tables were a single piece with two drop leaves and were usually small enough to be readily moved, since they were placed against the wall when not in use. By the end of the 18th century, however, most substantial houses had one room specifically described as the dining room, containing a set of dining tables, sideboards, cellarettes, serving tables, and other objects specifically related to food consumption and entertaining at dinnertime, which was usually early to mid-afternoon.

In the early Federal era, the new form of dining table was usually a set composed of two tables and, after around 1800, of three tables. Depending on the size of the gathering, one could use any or all the pieces, the drop leaves allowing for considerable expansion. Later, tables seating sixteen or more were not uncommon. When not in use, the tables might have remained in the middle of the room or have been moved against a wall to serve as handsome pier or side tables. In Baltimore, this form was called a set of Northumberland tables. The phrase appears frequently in inventories and cabinetmakers’ newspaper advertisements of the period.^{1_{For example, the estate inventory of the renowned Baltimore cabinetmaker Gerrard Hopkins (working 1767–1800) lists “1 set Northumberland dining tables . . . $44.00” in his house and “1 set mahogany 4 foot Northumberland Tables . . . $48.00” among the new goods in his shop (Baltimore County Inventories, WB 20, 1799–1800, Maryland State Archives, Annapolis). The precise origin of the term “Northumberland” has not been discovered, although it may be similar to “Pembroke” table in being based on the order of a piece of furniture by a member of the English nobility.}}

Today, beautifully inlaid sets of dining tables of the quality of this example are a considerable rarity.^{2_{For related examples, see Baltimore 1947, nos. 47 and 48; Miller 1966, 2: no. 1313; Monkhouse and Michie, no. 67; Montgomery 1966, no. 321; Nutting 1928, I: no. 990; and Sack 1950, 244.}} The Department of State’s tables have the distinctive Baltimore chain of four flared, ruffled bellflowers set into an elongated teardrop panel of contrasting veneer and the standard Baltimore eagle with neat perpendicular lines inscribed on the shield and set into oval panels with a green shaded ground. The patterned inlay of multicolored blocks seen at the edge of the apron was also favored by Baltimore cabinetmakers.^{3_{[See Baltimore 1947, no. 47. This table has inlaid eagles set into shields rather than ovals and rare dark-wood bellflowers in satinwood teardrop panels.]}} (For a closely related card table in the Collection, see Acc. No. 68.30.^{4_{Illustrated in Baltimore 1947, no. 2 and in Comstock 1962, no. 553.}}

These tables are recorded as having come from the Selby family of Snow Hill, Maryland, a town, chartered in 1683, in Worcester County at the southern end of the Eastern Shore. In the 18th century, the Selbys were a large and prominent family of planters, many of whom lived in or near Snow Hill.

Gregory R. Weidman

Excerpted from Clement E. Conger, et al. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991.