THE LOOCKERMAN FAMILY PAIR OF CHIPPENDALE CARVED MAHOGANY DROP-LEAF TABLES

PHILADELPHIA, 1760-1780

Details
THE LOOCKERMAN FAMILY PAIR OF CHIPPENDALE CARVED MAHOGANY DROP-LEAF TABLES
philadelphia, 1760-1780
Each with central rectangular top flanked by rectangular drop-leaves with cusped corners above a conforming shaped apron on four cabriole legs with ball-and-claw feet
29in. high, 62½in. wide (open), 59¼in. deep (2)
Provenance
Vincent Emerson Loockerman Family, Dover, Delaware
Thence by Descent
Gene S. Bradford, Dover, Delaware
Sotheby's New York, February 2, 1985, lot 1139

Lot Essay

Vincent Loockerman Sr. (1722-1985) was a prominent merchant in Dover, Delaware, whose family moved to Kent County from New York City early in the eighteenth century. Loockerman was an active civic figure and patriot as well, including election to Delaware's General Assembly from Kent County, appointment in 1775 to the Committee of Correspondence, and donating to the town of Dover in 1778 land for the first Methodist Episcopal Church at the corner of North and Queen Streets.

Vincent Loockerman Sr. was a descendant of Govert Loockerman, a Dutch landowner who emigrated to New York in 1639. Vincent Loockerman's father, Nicholas, moved to Dover in 1721 with a purchase of 600 acres of land called Drew Farm. Nicholas Loockerman acquired an additional 300 acres in 1710. The Loockerman house on Drew Farm was described as a 40' by 50', three-story, center-hall structure; Vincent Loockerman, Sr. also purchased a lot on the north side of King Street in 1742. It is unclear from the 1785 probate inventory of Loockerman's estate in which property the tables were used, nonetheless "2 Large Mahogany Dining Tables" valued at GBP 7 appear prominently in Loockerman's parlour.

A similar single table is illustrated in Hornor's Blue Book, plate 212.