Dining Table
Maker
Maker unknown
(American, possibly Philadelphia)
Date1820-1840
MediumMahogany, yellow-poplar, eastern white pine, basswood, cherry
DimensionsOverall: Separated: 25 5/8 × 36 5/8 × 18 3/4in. (65.1 × 93 × 47.6cm)
Overall: Joined: 25 5/8 × 36 5/8 × 78 1/2in. (65.1 × 93 × 199.4cm)
Overall: Joined: 25 5/8 × 36 5/8 × 78 1/2in. (65.1 × 93 × 199.4cm)
ClassificationsFURNISHINGS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Terms
Object number60.20.A-B
On View
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 TextAnimal motifs on American furniture can denote the origin of the style and the city where the object was made. In the 1820s and 1830s, furniture artisans were influenced by the classical designs of ancient Rome and Greece. The eagle, for example, was viewed as a symbol of power and authority--a derivation of the bird's association with the god Zeus. Here it is combined with a bountiful urn of fruit, which represents prosperity.This ornamental assemblage is exceptionally appropriate for a flourishing new nation that based its democratic government on that of Rome.
The particular execution of this imagery also indicates where the table was made. The realistically carved pedestal and the eagle-headed monopods are two of several features on this table that appear in the 1828 Philadelphia "Cabinet and Chair Makers' Union Book of Prices for Manufacturing Cabinet Ware," indicating Philadelphia as a likely place of origin for the table.
