拍品專文
With its undulating demi-lune form, inlaid ruffled paterae and pendant bellflowers, this table embraces the delicate geometric aesthetic of Federal Baltimore. The profile of this table most closely relates to serpentine canted table illustrated in George Hepplewhite's The Cabinetmaker and Upholsterer's Guide (London, 1794). The rounded back of this table is highly unusual, but it is nonetheless seen in other Maryland forms of this period. These include a massive sideboard, possibly by John Needles, in the collection of the Maryland Historical Society and illustrated and discussed in Weidman, Furniture in Maryland, 1740-1940 (Baltimore, 1984), p.158, fig.119; as well as an inlaid sideboard in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art, illustrated and discussed in Elder and Stokes, American Furniture, 1680-1880, from the Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, 1987), pp.149-151, fig.114. As with both the previously sited examples, the table illustrated here was probably made to order for a specific architectural space. To this end, the 1947 Baltimore Museum of Art Baltimore Furniture, 1760-1810 exhibition catalogue, states that this serving table is believed to have once resided at "Oakland," the home of Robert Smith, Secretary of the Navy under Thomas Jefferson.