Federal Inlaid and Figured Mahogany Pembroke Table

Object Details

Related Objects

Federal Figured and Inlaid Mahogany Demilune Card Table

Tarr, Levin
ca. 1795

wood; mahogany; mahogany veneer; satinwood; yellow-poplar; white oak

Object Essay

During the last quarter of the 18th century, small drop-leaf tables of this form were referred to interchangeably as breakfast or Pembroke tables. Thomas Sheraton wrote in The Cabinet Dictionary that the name Pembroke table referred to “the lady who first gave orders for one of them,” presumably the Countess of Pembroke in the county of Wales.^{1_{Sheraton 1803, n.p. For a discussion of Pembroke tables, see Monkhouse and Michie, 128ff.}} Whatever its etymology, the form was exceedingly popular in the Federal era, probably because of its adaptable size and design. Illustrations of the period show Pembroke tables serving as tea, card, and writing tables, thus supporting George Hepplewhite’s comment that they were “the most useful of this species of furniture.”^{2_{Hepplewhite, 12.}}

Perhaps more than any other shape, the oval—inspired by the oval medallions of ancient Roman and Etruscan decoration—was the hallmark of the neoclassical style. Ovals dominate the design of this table. Like many Baltimore examples, it is a somewhat simplified interpretation of plate 62 in Hepplewhite’s 1794 Guide, though it lacks the elaborately decorated top.
This Pembroke table and a related card table (Acc. No. 69.58) are extremely similar in design and ornamentation.^{3_{The table is published in Fitzgerald 1982, 98, fig. V–31, and Miller 1966, 2:747, no. 1412. It was exhibited at the 28th Annual Washington, D.C., Antiques Show (January 1983).}} Both have identical eagles in oval medallions over the legs; aprons with light-and-dark sawtooth-patterned inlay at the bottom and rectangular mahogany panels edged with light-and-dark stringing and satinwood cross-banding; four flared bellflowers hanging from an inlay ring; and ebonized cuffs. The bellflowers on both tables are of a very common Baltimore type. They hang from an open loop attached to concave stringing, are made of three separate petals each, have flared side petals, are of graduated size, are connected by a small dot, and have an elongated lowest flower. The Pembroke table has a molded edge; the card table is of somewhat better quality of mahogany.

Comparisons of interior construction also indicate that the two objects may have been made at the same shop. The Pembroke table is typical of Baltimore cabinetmaking, with a very thick apron built up of three horizontal laminations, a medial brace set at a slight diagonal with narrow chamfered glue blocks in the corners, and gate rails and hinged flyleaves of oak with rounded knuckle joints.

Earlier in this century, the table belonged to Mrs. William M. (Ella Pendergast) Roberts (d. 1960), a Baltimore native with a principal residence at 1116 St. Paul Street and a country home in Brooklandville, north of the city, where the label indicates the table was part of the furnishings. Her parents were Jerome A. and Ella Coleman Pendergast of Baltimore. Her husband, Dr. William M. Roberts (ca. 1870–ca. 1930), was also from Baltimore, the son of John B. Roberts (1832–1923), a member of a prominent Maryland Quaker family originally from Harford County. It is not known from which side of the Roberts family the table descended.

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.