- Tea Table
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In contrast to Philadelphia, Rhode Island square tea tables continued to be produced
concurrently with Rococo style round ones. The Bayou Bend tea table, with its severe lines and minimal ornament, is emblematic of the Rhode Island aesthetic. Its undercut talons, inspired by English work, represent a finesse of carving that in America is virtually unique to Newport.
Related examples: Most closely related is Monkhouse and Michie 1986, pp. 133–34, no. 71. Similar are a slab table in Ott 1965, pp. 32–33, no. 30 and a tea table in Antiques 136 (October 1989), p. 674.
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.
ProvenancePossibly Daniel Weeden, Jamestown, Rhode Island; by descent to his son, John Weeden; by descent to his son, William Augustus Weeden (1793–1864); by descent to his son, George W. Weeden (1822–1893); by descent to his daughters, Lucy A. Weeden (1848–1937) and Elizabeth C. Weeden Barber (1852–1936); given to May B. Henne (1877–1958), Springfield, Massachusetts; purchased by [Nathan Liverant and Son, Colchester, Connecticut]; purchased by [Israel Sack, New York, before 1958]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1958; given to MFAH, 1958.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Underneath top: illegible chalk
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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