ATTRIBUTED TO THE SHOP OF HUGH FINLAY (1781-1831), BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, CIRCA 1819

An outstanding expression of Baltimore’s Classical style and virtually identical in form to an example signed by Hugh Finlay (1781-1831), this card table is a rare survival that can be firmly attributed to this celebrated cabinetmaking shop. The table’s columnar pedestal with spherical turning and cross-base with attached brackets are remarkably close to a table at Prestwould Plantation in Clarkesville, Virginia signed by Hugh Finlay and made for Humberston Skipwith in 1819 (Gregory R. Weidman, “The Furniture of Classical Maryland, 1815-1845,” in Gregory R. Weidman and Jennifer F. Goldsborough, Classical Maryland 1815-1845 (Baltimore, 1993), p. 99, pl. 121). Like the Skipwith table, this table has a front rail with a tripartite design and was probably made around the same time. Here, the gilt-stenciled ornament consists of anthemia, scrollwork and cornucopias inspired by the French designs of Percier and Fontaine. Each corner of the inner surfaces of the top features an anthemion with pointed base and string-inlaid surround, a distinctive detail also seen on an unusual lyre-base card table attributed to the Finlay shop and now in the collection of Stanley Weiss. Interestingly, the Weiss table, like that offered here, features a fully decorated rear rail that would enhance its appearance when used in the middle of a room (Philip D. Zimmerman, “An Important Baltimore Painted Card Table,” available at www.stanleyweiss.com; for a pier table with closely related front skirt designs, see Alex Cooper Auctioneers, Towson, Maryland, 9 June 2013, lot 1210).