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Lot Essay
With its exuberantly sinuous skirt, large overhanging thumb-molded top and unique shell-carved knees with icicle-form pendants below, this table relates very closely to an example in the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection at Yale University. See Gerald W.R. Ward, American Case Furniture in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut, 1988), p. 223-224, no. 114.
Typically thought of as being made in Philadelphia, both the present lot and the Yale example share some provincial characteristics that suggest these were likely made outside of the city in the Delaware River Valley or in New Jersey. The addition of the carved drop under the shell-carved knees, the blocky and diminutive claw-and-ball feet and the oversized top with large overhang express a whimsical quality that is rarely found within the limits of an urban center. This successful interpretation creates a sense of elegance and style while maintaining a restrained Quaker aesthetic. Other related examples can be found in Edgar G. Miller, Jr., American Antique Furniture: A Book For Amateurs (New York, 1937), vol. 1, p. 389, nos. 687-689; William MacPherson Hornor, Jr., Blue Book: Philadelphia Furniture (reprint, Washington D.C., 1977), pl. 58; Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury (New York, 1976), vols. I and II, no. 403.
Typically thought of as being made in Philadelphia, both the present lot and the Yale example share some provincial characteristics that suggest these were likely made outside of the city in the Delaware River Valley or in New Jersey. The addition of the carved drop under the shell-carved knees, the blocky and diminutive claw-and-ball feet and the oversized top with large overhang express a whimsical quality that is rarely found within the limits of an urban center. This successful interpretation creates a sense of elegance and style while maintaining a restrained Quaker aesthetic. Other related examples can be found in Edgar G. Miller, Jr., American Antique Furniture: A Book For Amateurs (New York, 1937), vol. 1, p. 389, nos. 687-689; William MacPherson Hornor, Jr., Blue Book: Philadelphia Furniture (reprint, Washington D.C., 1977), pl. 58; Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury (New York, 1976), vols. I and II, no. 403.