ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN NEEDLES (1786-1878), BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, 1815-1835

With their distinctive carved ionic capitals, reeded legs and block and ovoid feet, these tables are virtually identical to two other survivals, one bearing the label of the Baltimore cabinetmaker, John Needles (1786-1878) and now in the collection of Centre Hill Mansion, Petersburg, Virginia (Gregory Weidman, Furniture in Maryland, 1740-1940 (Baltimore, 1984), pp. 192-193, cat. 169). At the time of their purchase in 1996, the tables were said to have been made for Alexander Brown, an ancestor of Alexander Brown Griswold, the last family member to have owned the tables. This individual was most likely the latter's great-great-great grandfather, Alexander Brown (1764-1834). Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, Brown immigrated to Baltimore, where he continued his business in the linen trade and founded the firm, Alexander Brown & Sons. See Mary Elizabeth Brown, Alexander Brown and His Descendants, 1764-1916 (1917); Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1921-1922), p. 37).