A CLASSICAL CARVED AND INLAID MAHOGANY WORK TABLE

BOSTON, 1815-1830

Details
A CLASSICAL CARVED AND INLAID MAHOGANY WORK TABLE
Boston, 1815-1830
The rectangular top with sliding tray inlaid with a chessboard and opening to an interior compartment above a conforming veneered case flanked by relief-carved rectangular rosettes over a semi-cylindrical case fitted with a conforming sliding upholstered drawer above double-scroll and leaf-carved supports over rectangular plinths joined by a cylindrical and waterleaf-carved stretcher, on scrolled sabre legs fitted with castors
29in. high, 23./12in. wide, 18in. deep

Lot Essay

Economic prosperity and changing notions of leisure prompted the introduction of new forms in Boston during the early nineteenth- century. Many of these new forms were derived from English prototypes. Thomas Sheraton, in his Cabinet Dictionary (London, 1803, pl.59), termed a table with a sliding games top an "occassional table," and wrote "To the stranger... it may be necessary to observe, that the top shewn partly in so as to inclose the whole and hide the chess board." George Smith, in his Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (London, 1807, pl.78), published a "backgammon table" illustrated here with a form similar to the one offered here.

Functioning both as a sewing and games table, and carved in a manner indicative of classical Boston furniture, the table offered here is an interesting departure from the English examples. A related table was Sold in These Rooms, January 21-22, 1994, lot 296.