Tea table, rectangular

Date1730-1760

Artist/Maker William Treferthen

MediumMaple and white pine

DimensionsOH: 26 1/2"; OW: 31 1/2"; OD: 21 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1954-502

DescriptionTea table: flat, rectangular top composed of two boards of the same size sandwiched together with applied band of double arch molding on outside edge of all four sides; straight skirts on sides and rear with applied quarter round molding at base; front skirt cut out at bottom in repeated ogee pattern; single drawer in front skirt with molded edge and single replacement brass at center; four cabriole legs with sharp edges terminating in high, well-defined pad feet with shaped hock at rear; covered all over with red paint(original).

Woods: Primary: Maple; Secondary: white pine underside of top; drawer runners; drawer frame and quarter round molding strips.
Label TextTables in a variety of shapes, sizes, and woods were found in eighteenth-century homes. Small, multifunctional tables such as this one, which might have been described during the period as "square," were used for serving tea, dressing, reading, or writing. The cabriole, or curved, legs place this table firmly in the same late baroque style as the elegant Boston tea table. However, the shaping of the skirt below the drawer hearkens back to the early baroque style, suggesting the make or customer chose to combine a traditional design and a newer fashion.

This table descended in the Treferthen family of New Castle and Rye, New Hampshire, just outside Portsmouth.
MarkingsPrinted paper American Express label stuck to bottom of drawer.
ProvenanceThis table apparently descended in the Treferthen Family of New Castle and Rye, New Hampshire, but there is some confusion as to its actual source and descent. See letters from and to the dealer in OF. There were apparently William Treferthens in several generations of the family. One was born in 1751, the son of Foster, and died in 1825.

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