Lot Essay
The use of figured flame birch and double block-and-line inlay is characteristic of Federal furniture made in Portsmouth. A documented card table that descended in the Sawyer family of Durham, New Hampshire shares this decorative scheme as does a table branded by Josiah Folsom of Portsmouth which is also adorned with this distinctive inlay and flame birch panels (Emerson House, Old York Historical Society; Moffatt-Ladd House, Portsmouth). Not restricted to use in Portsmouth, this same inlay is seen on Salem, Massachusetts furniture which in turn is credited with providing inspiration for Portsmouth area craftsmen (card table by Samuel Barnard of Salam, see Hewitt, The Work of Many Hands (Yale, 1982), no. 19).