PHILADELPHIA, CIRCA 1760

Descending in the same family as the tea table in the previous lot, this example displays similar construction details, raising the possibility that both were made in the same shop. The dimensions of the squared birdcages are identical and the baluster and ring birdcage turnings are closely related. Furthermore, evidence of their surface history suggests that they were both later treated by the same individual. The tops and birdcages have an old but later finish that was not applied to the bases and, with the centers of the slides unfinished, was applied with all the component parts in place. This table's inverted baluster pedestal is a rare design seen only occasionally on Philadelphia tripod furniture of this period. Closely related turned pedestals are seen on tea tables in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Bayou Bend Collection and fire screens in the collections of Colonial Williamsburg and the Dietrich American Foundation (Morrison H. Heckscher, American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1985), cat. 130; David B. Warren, Bayou Bend: American Furniture, Paintings and Silver in the Bayou Bend Collection (Houston, 1975), cat. 62; Alexandra W. Rollins, "Furniture in the collection of the Dietrich American Foundation," Antiques (May 1984), p. 1119).