This diminutive stand with its claw feet, urn-shaped support, and serpentine molded top well represents this classic Massachusetts form. In the period it was used for a multiplicity of purposes, including writing, tea and dining, or as a candlestand. 

Related examples: Similar stands with pad feet and tilt tops include Randall 1965, pp. 141–43, no. 106; Jobe and Kaye 1984, pp. 304–5, no. 76; Elder and Stokes 1987, p. 167, no. 126; Sack 1969–92, vol. 2, p. 491, no. 1193. Stands with fixed tops are published in Greenlaw pp. 34–35, no. 23; Antiques 117 (January 1980), p. 4; Rodriguez Roque 1984, pp. 354–55, 368–69, nos. 167, 174.

Book excerpt: Warren, David B., 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.