The distinctive “turret” top and boldly contoured skirt rails combine to make this tea table one of the Boston cabinetmaker’s most dynamic Late Baroque creations. With its shaped rim, the top secured the tea service, while its semicircular scalloping framed the vessels. When compared with related tables, differences in their design, carving, and even the rim confirm that they represent the work of more than one shop. A documented source for this design has not been identified; however, locally made card tables (see B.69.406, B.69.132), contemporary English card, tea, and supper tables, or even a silver salver could have supplied the prototype.

Technical notes: No original secondary wood survives. All four sides are finished. A coved base molding mirrors the top molding. The rim is integral with the top and except for this component the table retains an old finish.

Related examples: Hipkiss 1941, pp. 112–13, no. 60; Downs 1952, no. 370; Comstock 1957a, p. 258; Randall 1965, pp. 112, 115, 117, no. 81, now identified as having belonged to Ebenezer (b. 1748) and Mary Jones Hall, Medford, Massachusetts; Fales 1976, p. 150, no. 315; Sotheby’s, New York, sale 6051, June 27–28, 1990, lot 549.

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.