PROBABLY CONNECTICUT, 1720-1750

Tray-top tea tables were a popular form among wealthy urban New Englanders. The designs for these tables followed the popularization of tea drinking, from China to Britain and from there in turn to Britain's colonies. This example relates very closely to several other tables that are generally ascribed to Connecticut. Among them is a virtually identical example illustrated in Nutting, Furniture Treasury (New York, Reprint 1972) no. 1099, which differs only in the molding profile of the tray top and a small additional molding above the scalloped skirt. Another example, made of maple and cherry painted black, is in the collection of Historic Deerfield (see Fales, The Furniture of Historic Deerfield (New York, 1976) p. cat. no. 309.) A number of other known tables with related scalloped skirts, cabriole legs and pad feet are ascribed variously to Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York, pointing both toward the individuality of particular cabinetmakers and of the urban centers in these states. However, the cherry primary wood and the particular profile of the skirt, with two deep cyma curves centering a spurred central ogee element, are more in keeping with Connecticut craftsmanship. As Albert Sack notes, "this table admirably expresses the charm and individuality of our Connecticut craftsmen" (see Sack, Fine Points of Furniture: Early American (New York, 1950) p. 247.)