Tea Table

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Tea Table
Datec. 1750–1800
Made inCharleston, South Carolina, United States
MediumMahogany
Dimensions(With tabletop horizontal): 27 3/4 × 28 in. (70.5 × 71.1 cm)
(With tabletop upright): 43 1/16 × 28 in. (109.3 × 71.1 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.61.96
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Drawing Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Charleston was the principal southern urban center in the eighteenth century. As its culture and economy were closely tied to Britain through trade and immigration, vast quantities of English-made furniture were imported into the city. Concurrently, Charlestonians sustained a sizable cabinet trade comprised of journeymen, apprentices, and slave labor. The Bayou Bend tea table exemplifies the quality of craftsmanship available, and the pervasive English influence in its undercut scrolls.

Related examples: Most closely related is another Charleston table (Rhode Island History 31, nos. 2–3 [May–August 1972], inside front cover). A table with a similar baluster support is illustrated in Burton 1955, fig. 130.

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.


ProvenanceBy descent in the Middleton family, Charleston, South Carolina [1]; [...]; [George (1901–1988) and Benny Arons (1898–1978), Ansonia, Connecticut], by 1947; purchased by [Ginsburg & Levy, New York, 1947–1961]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1961; given to MFAH, by 1966.

[1] Newton W. Elwell, Colonial Furniture and Interiors (Boston, Massachusetts: Geo.H. Polley & Company, 1896), pl. LX.


Exhibition History
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Tea Table
c. 1735–1780
Mahogany; mahogany and cherry
B.54.10
Tea Table
c. 1750–1800
Mahogany; hard maple
B.59.33
Tea Table
c. 1750–1800
Mahogany
B.69.35
Tea Table
c. 1750–1800
Mahogany
B.69.360
Tea Table
c. 1740–1780
Mahogany
B.57.94
Tea Table
John Goddard
c. 1760–1780
Mahogany
B.57.1
Tea Table
Christopher Townsend
c. 1760–1780
Mahogany; chestnut
B.58.108
Tea Table
c. 1735–1790
Mahogany
B.69.362
Sofa Table
c. 1815–1825
Mahogany, mahogany veneer; eastern white pine, yellow poplar, cherry, and mahogany
B.71.106
Pier Table
c. 1815–1825
Mahogany and mahogany veneer; eastern white pine, mahogany, yellow-popolar, marble, mirror glass, brass, and gilt
B.67.29
Card Table
c. 1820–1830
Grained, painted, and gilded mahogany, and birch; mahogany veneer on eastern white pine with black walnut banding, ash, eastern white pine, cherry, and original brass casters
B.68.31
Writing Table and Bookcase
c. 1825–1835
Mahogany and mahogany veneer; eastern white pine, yellow-poplar, gilding, glass, and gilt-bronze mounts
B.82.4