Table

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Table
Datec. 1700–1730
Made inBoston, Massachusetts, United States
MediumBlack walnut; soft maple, chestnut, and eastern white pine
DimensionsOpen: 27 5/8 × 56 1/2 × 48 1/2 in. (70.1 × 143.5 × 123.2 cm)
Closed: 27 5/8 × 17 × 48 1/2 in. (70.1 × 43.2 × 123.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.59.71
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Murphy Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The Early Baroque period saw the advent of folding oval dining tables. This is an unusual example made of walnut, rather than the more common maple. At vari­ous times this table has been ascribed to Rhode Island, on the basis of the chestnut used as a secondary wood, and to Ports­mouth, New Hampshire, on the basis of the boldly carved paintbrush feet. How­ever, it seems appropriate to assign this example to Boston, where chestnut was also employed in furniture. No docu­mented Rhode Island tables with paint­brush feet have been identified, and Portsmouth feet were made with solid construction rather than pieced, the Boston norm, as in this table.

Technical notes: Black walnut (drop leaf, drawer front, lower stretcher); soft maple (gateleg rail, rail between gatelegs), chestnut (drawer bottom), and eastern white pine (cen­ter rail underneath drawer). The drawer construction is dovetailed, the bottom board nailed. Hinges and drawer knob are replace­ments. Top of leg posts have been beveled.

Related examples: Art Institute of Chicago (Naeve 1981, p.18); Williamsburg (Greenlaw 1974, p. 156, no. 135); Historic Deerfield (Fales 1976, p. 117, no. 239); Win­terthur (Comstock 1957c, p. 59); Wadsworth (Nutting 1962, no. 963); W. K. duPont Collec­tion (Kennedy and Sack 1977, no. 27); Christie’s, New York, sale 7924, June 22, 1994, lot 209. All these examples, save the one at Winterthur, have pieced feet.

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.


Provenance[John S. Walton (1908–1985), New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1959; given to MFAH, by 1966.
Exhibition History

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Desk
c. 1700–1730
Black walnut, undetermined burl veneer, and eastern white pine; eastern white pine, black walnut, yellow-poplar, cherry, Cuban oyster wood (Gymnanthes lucida), and chestnut
B.69.42
scan from file photograph
c. 1730–1800
Black walnut; yellow-poplar, red oak, Atlantic white cedar, chestnut, eastern white pine, and black walnut
B.61.82
Bureau Table
Thomas Spencer
c. 1780–1785
Mahogany; mahogany, eastern white pine, chestnut, soft maple, and yellow poplar
B.92.6
Dressing or Toilet Table
c. 1700–1720
Black walnut, aspen, and soft maple; eastern white pine
B.69.52
Card Table
c. 1740–1750
Mahogany; mahogany, black walnut, soft maple, eastern white pine, and basswood
B.69.132
Desk and Bookcase
c. 1760–1790
Mahogany; eastern white pine, soft maple, chestnut, red cedar, poplar-aspen or cottonwood, white oak, and Spanish cedar or cedrela
B.69.22
Writing-arm Chair
Ebenezer Tracy
c. 1770–1803
Eastern white pine, yellow-poplar, soft maple, white oak, chestnut, and butternut
B.69.409
High Chest
c. 1700–1725
Black walnut, burled walnut veneer, soft maple, and aspen; eastern white pine, hemlock, and birch
B.69.43
scan from file photograph
c. 1730–1775
Soft maple, black walnut, and inlay; eastern white pine
B.69.221
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1730–1800, decoration added c. 1800–1843
Black walnut; soft maple and eastern white pine
B.69.247.1
scan from file photograph
c.1730–1800, decoration added c. 1800–1843
Black walnut; soft maple and eastern white pine
B.69.247.2
Tall Clock
Edward Spalding
c. 1765–1785
Mahogany; chestnut, white oak, black cherry, eastern white pine, southern yellow pine, and cherry
B.59.83