ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN CHIPMAN (1746-1819), SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, 1770-1790

The distinctive, expertly carved ball and claw feet as well as the construction and configuration of the glue blocks on this table suggest the work of Salem, Massachusetts cabinetmaker John Chipman (1746-1819). Identical ball and claw feet that are carved out of the same dense, high-quality mahogany seen on the present lot can be found on a signed desk-and-bookcase previously in the collection of Israel Sack. As noted in scholarship by Kemble Widmer, this table relates to two other tables sharing the following design and construction elements: lack of knee returns, cabriole legs with creased knees, external glue blocks chamfered both longitudinally and at the ends, identical shaping of the knuckles to the swing rail, identical dovetail pattern of the stationary legs and lack of spacer blocks between the inner rail and stationary outer rail. The use of three cast-iron butt hinges in attaching the leaf to the top of the present lot is highly unusual and also indicative of Chipman’s hand. See Peter A. Louis and Donald R. Sack, “John Chipman, Cabinetmaker of Salem, Massachusetts,” The Magazine Antiques (December 1987), pp. 1318-1319, 1323, pl. I, fig. 1; the related tables were sold, Christie’s, New York, The Collection of Marguerite and Arthur Riordan, Stonington, Connecticut, 18 January 2008, lot 550 and Sotheby’s, New York, 15-16 and 18 January 2004, lot 438.