Federal Inlaid Figured Mahogany Drop-Leaf Dining Table

Object Details

Object Essay

This almost square table might have been called a “four foot mahogany table” in a contemporary inventory. It is related in size and form to the center section of a dining table with D-shaped ends made and labeled by John Townsend, but there is no visible evidence that it was fitted to receive end sections.^{1_{Moses, 108, fig. 3.20; and Ott, 66–67, no. 47.}}

The urn and simple bellflower inlay at first suggest a relationship with the labeled work of Holmes Weaver, but differences in the table negate any viable association.^{2_{Hipkiss, 126–27, no. 67.}} The urn, bellflowers, and elliptical termination of the stringing at the base of the legs relate closely to these motifs on three card tables, one of which is labeled by Stephen and Thomas Goddard, sons of John Goddard.^{3_{Hewitt, et al., 146–47, no.28; and Ott, 44–45. no. 36.}} The one-part bellflower with darker line inserts can also be associated with the whimsical flowers on arched stems on the skirt of a card table made in the Providence area.^{4_{Monkhouse and Michie, 41–42, no. 79.}} The urn inlay of the Collection’s example differs enough from the labeled table that an attribution is not possible, however. An unusual feature of the urn inlay on the Collection’s table is a series of small, pricked black dots along the outer edge and an inverted, black-line triangle in the center. This inlay is so naïve as to suggest a source less sophisticated than the urban center of Newport.

The construction underneath this table conforms to regional conventions, with the principal feature of a central cross-brace dovetailed into the lower edge of both the fixed and stationary portions of the flyrail

Wendy A. Cooper

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.