This small table is part of a group that has been identified as the product of one craftsman working in the Piscataqua River area. All have distinctively raked legs with slender paired vase turnings and vigorously carved Spanish feet. The feet are made of one piece of wood, like those of chairs produced in the Ports­mouth area. Also distinctive is the double ogival arch design of the skirt, which re­calls the skirt treatment on high and low chests. Although in earlier literature they have been romantically described as tav­ern tables, it is more likely that they were intended for serving tea in the parlor. This example, like the others, bears traces of a reddish brown stain intended to make the maple surfaces resemble more expensive walnut.

Technical notes: Soft maple (legs, stretch­ers, apron), eastern white pine (top); white oak (cleat underneath top). The rectangular top is old but not original. Undoubtedly the original top was oval, like other examples, and was secured by a cleat to prevent warping.

Related examples: MMA (Davidson and Stillinger 1985, p. 108, fig. 141; Jobe et al. 1993, no. 46); SPNEA (Jobe et al. 1993, no. 46b); His­toric Deerfield (Fales 1976, p. 142); Wadsworth (Nutting 1962, no. 1225); Prentis Collection, New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord (Guyol 1958, fig. 8); Old Gaol Museum, York, Maine (Randall 1964a, no. 2); a private collec­tion (advertisement for the Cobbs Antiques in Antiques 132 [September 1987], p. 483).

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.