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Lot Essay
With its play of woods and geometric overlays above each leg and its enlarged bellflower and tight ovals inlaid down each leg, the card table illustrated here is part of a specific group of neo-classical inlaid mahogany furniture made in Baltimore in the years between the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Although these types of decorative motifs are generally associated with American Federal furniture, and a variation of the inlay pattern down the legs is particularly associated with New York Federal forms, the distinct nature of the inlays on this group of furniture suggests it may be the product of a specific Baltimore cabinetmaking shop.
This group of furniture is comprised of several card tables and at least two drop-leaf tables and sideboards presently in museum collections. Several of these forms were included in the illustrated and annotated exhibition catalogue Baltimore Furniture, 1760-1810 (Baltimore, 1947) and include a D-shaped card table with diamond-in-oval reserves inlaid down the legs (cat. 8); a D-shaped card table with similar reserves defining the skirt and almost identical inlay down each leg (cat. 10); a D-shaped card table with contrasting multiple geometric overlays and woods heading each leg (cat. 35); this unusual accumulation of geometric forms and woods and identical leg inlay is also seen on a drop-leaf table from the same exhibition (cat. 21). A similarly kidney-shaped sideboard in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art with related leg and facade inlay is illustrated and discussed in Elder and Stokes, American Furniture, 1680-1880, from the Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, 1987), p.147, fig.112. The most elaborate sideboard of this group is embellished with the same reserves at the tops of the legs, which in this instance are elongated to fill half the height of the facade of the form, the same distinctive bellflower and oval inlaid leg, and an additional inlaid panel reserve at the tops of the legs of contrasting woods overlaid with tassels. This sideboard is in the collection of the Maryland Historical Society and is illustrated and discussed in Weidman, Furniture in Maryland, 1740-1940 (Baltimore, 1984), p.154, fig.115A (see fn. 5, 7, p.154 for futher information on this group).
A variation on the leg inlay of this table is seen in the truncated small oval twists of a drop-leaf table in Mabel Brady Garvan Collection (see Barquist, American Tables and Looking Glasses in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University (New Haven, 1992), p.154, fig.66).
This group of furniture is comprised of several card tables and at least two drop-leaf tables and sideboards presently in museum collections. Several of these forms were included in the illustrated and annotated exhibition catalogue Baltimore Furniture, 1760-1810 (Baltimore, 1947) and include a D-shaped card table with diamond-in-oval reserves inlaid down the legs (cat. 8); a D-shaped card table with similar reserves defining the skirt and almost identical inlay down each leg (cat. 10); a D-shaped card table with contrasting multiple geometric overlays and woods heading each leg (cat. 35); this unusual accumulation of geometric forms and woods and identical leg inlay is also seen on a drop-leaf table from the same exhibition (cat. 21). A similarly kidney-shaped sideboard in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art with related leg and facade inlay is illustrated and discussed in Elder and Stokes, American Furniture, 1680-1880, from the Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, 1987), p.147, fig.112. The most elaborate sideboard of this group is embellished with the same reserves at the tops of the legs, which in this instance are elongated to fill half the height of the facade of the form, the same distinctive bellflower and oval inlaid leg, and an additional inlaid panel reserve at the tops of the legs of contrasting woods overlaid with tassels. This sideboard is in the collection of the Maryland Historical Society and is illustrated and discussed in Weidman, Furniture in Maryland, 1740-1940 (Baltimore, 1984), p.154, fig.115A (see fn. 5, 7, p.154 for futher information on this group).
A variation on the leg inlay of this table is seen in the truncated small oval twists of a drop-leaf table in Mabel Brady Garvan Collection (see Barquist, American Tables and Looking Glasses in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University (New Haven, 1992), p.154, fig.66).