Card Table
Artist
Maker unknown
(American)
Date1790-1800
MediumMahogany, birch, eastern white pine, veneers of birch or satinwood and probably she-oak, inlay of various woods
DimensionsOverall (open position): 29 3/4 × 35 3/8 × 34in. (75.6 × 89.9 × 86.4cm)
Overall (closed position): 29 3/4 × 35 3/8 × 17 1/8in. (75.6 × 89.9 × 43.5cm)
Overall (closed position): 29 3/4 × 35 3/8 × 17 1/8in. (75.6 × 89.9 × 43.5cm)
ClassificationsFURNISHINGS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number56.306
DescriptionHepplewhite-style table with very fine inlay, tapered foot, and D-curved cornersOn View
Not on viewCollections
Copyright<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>.
Label TextThis is one of the most dazzling and elaborate Federal-period card tables made in New England. Numerous construction and design features point to a place of manufacture in northern coastal New England. It is closely related to tables labeled by Elisha Tucker (d. 1827) of Boston.
As a counterpart to the widespread card-playing craze that swept America during the Federal period, card tables were often made in pairs. An apparent mate to this table has survived in a private collection; although visually the two seem identical, they differ in some of their construction details. Such variations may merely reflect the practices of a large urban shop containing a number of workbenches staffed by journeymen and apprentices.
