This sophisticated little table represents a rare continuum of the tradition of the tilt-top stand that was introduced in the middle of the eighteenth century. A dual function as table and candlestand is suggested by the fact that the tilting surface is veneered and cross-banded on both sides. Derived from the card table, the form of the Bayou Bend stand is ingenious in the introduction of a three-part lyre that conforms to the tripod lower section. Brass stringing along the base and brass rods in the lyre complete the composition.

Technical notes: Mahogany, mahogany veneer; yellow poplar (base), brass.

Related Examples: A very similar example, which the owner thinks might have been made in Albany, is in a private New York City collection; also, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, sale 3981, April 27–30, 1977, lot 931.

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.