Images(2)

China Table

Date1765-1775

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg (probably)

MediumMahogany, oak, and yellow pine (later additions)

DimensionsOH: 26 5/8”; OW: 34 ¼”; OD: 22”

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2022-253

DescriptionRectangular table; top (replaced with replaced glue blocks around underside) with rounded edges; straight rails with applied fret and foliate carving; astragal molding applied to lower edge of rails; four tapered legs with applied carved foliate vine with flowers and cluster of grapes and beaded corners on outer surfaces; block feet with applied carved rosettes and slightly recessed for casters (missing).
Label TextDespite the loss of its original top and gallery, this china table illustrates an important phase of late colonial furniture production in Williamsburg. The abundant rococo ornamentation and tapered legs verging on the neoclassical give the table an overtly British appearance and reflect the design standards of London and other large British urban centers in the 1760s. While a close inspection of the table's carved details reveals that its execution falls short of the best London standards, that such an ambitious project was undertaken in a relatively small town like Williamsburg says much about the abilities and the orientation of its furniture makers. The table is also an example of the tastes and aspirations of the Virginia gentry.

This table, which was owned near Winchester, Virginia in the 19th century, is one of four nearly identical examples presently recognized. The second, known through photographs, was collected in the United States before 1931. The third was first owned by Virginians George and Martha Washington and is now at the Smithsonian Institution. A fourth is owned by Colonial Williamsburg #1991-431. All four feature the same combination of sawn fretwork and carved fruit, flowers, and foliage on their rails and legs. Structural details such as the presence of paired oak medial rails beneath the tops correspond as well. The similarity continues even to the presence of casters recessed into the feet of each table. The objects differ only in the height of their rails and the shape and ornamentation of their feet. While the CWF table has blocked feet with carved four-petaled flowers, another has multi-petaled rosettes while the remaining two have feet composed of architectural guttae.

The vines, rosettes, grapes, and other embellishments on these tables are not integral with the legs and rails but were carved on blanks and then applied to the tables with glue and wrought sprigs. The sawn fretwork on the rails was applied in a similar manner. While this approach at first appears more labor intensive than solid carving, it may have expedited the fabrication process. By carving the ornaments on blanks, the artisan did not have to cut away the ground around each element and could simply glue the pieces to table surfaces that he had already planed to near perfect smoothness. Notably, another china table of a much more ambitious design produced in the same shop incorporates many of the same decorative devices but was carved from the solid. Though more durable, the ornaments on the flat surfaces of the latter table do not exhibit the depth and crispness that the tables with applied carving do.

Attribution of these tables to Williamsburg rests largely on the similarity between the carved rosettes and leaf fronds on their rails and those based on the same design motif or source worked into the back of the Masonic Master's chair made for Williamsburg Lodge 6 in the 1760s. Sawn fretwork of a closely related nature also appears on the legs of china table 1980-95, which has a long history in Gloucester County, less than twenty miles from Williamsburg. While this table (2022-253) has a known 19th century history near Winchester, Virginia, the family in which it descended had roots in Gloucester County, Virginia.
ProvenancePossibly originally owned in the Whiting family, originally of Gloucester, Virginia and Frederick County, Virginia. Family lore suggests that the table descended from “Aunt Betty” Smith (Elizabeth Frances (Rice) Smith 1829-1893) who was given the table by someone from the Whiting family who lived at “Bullskin.” Bullskin was both a region and the home of Beverley Whiting (1761-1817) of Jefferson County, WVA, the great-uncle of "Aunt Betty" Smith. Betty's great-grandmother, Anne (Whiting) Drew (1756-1821), also lived in the home towards the end of her life.

Known descent from Elizbeth Frances (Rice) Smith (1829-1893) of Clarke County, Virginia (later Berryville, VA) to her husband, Roger Russell Smith’s (1829-1908) niece Sarah Jane (Smith) Crown (1838-1916) of Woodlawn, Berryville, VA; to daughter Sarah Blackburn Crown (1876-1964) of Woodlawn, Berryville, VA; to her niece Sarah (Meade) Dorsey (1895-1995), daughter of Elizabeth Russell (Crown) Meade (1874-1909); to her daughter-in-law, Massie (Hawthorn) Dorsey; to her daughter Pembroke (Dorsey) Hutchinson.