The design and material of this stand suggest that it is the product of a rural cabinet shop. Black cherry was often stained to approximate the appearance of mahogany, a wood not readily available to the rural craftsman. In this instance an earlier shape was updated with the introduction of inlay. Its cabriole supports, terminating in a so-called snake foot, are elements usually associated with eighteenth-century furniture; however, their enduring fashionability is confirmed by the 1834 New York book of prices.

Technical notes: Black cherry, unidentified inlay. Iron strips secure the legs to the column. The two-board top is screwed to the columnar bracket.

Related examples: Antiques 82 (November 1962), p. 486; Ginsburg 1974, p. 1109; Sack 1969–92, vol. 4, p. 1045, no. P3817; Sack 1969–92, vol. 7, p. 1846, no. P5130, vol. 6, p. 2282, no. P5744; Barquist, Garrett, and Ward 1992, pp. 74–76, no. 6; Christie’s, New York, sale 7710, June 23,1993, lot 155. The stand’s inlaid top is reminiscent of a card table labeled by John Dunlap II (1784–1869) of Antrim, New Hampshire (Barquist, Garrett, and Ward 1992, pp. 176–78, no. 80). See also cat. no. F168.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.