Images(4)

Pier Table

Date1805-1815

OriginAmerica, Kentucky, Frankfort (probably)

MediumCherry, tulip poplar, and dolomitic limestone

DimensionsOH: 29 3/4”; OW: 36 7/8”; OD: 20 5/8” Frame: H: 28 5/8”; W: 34 ¾”; D: 16 ½”

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2015-347,A

DescriptionAppearance: Demi-lune table with dolomitic limestone top; top has molded edge around curved portion, flat across back; top overhangs all sides of table including back; demi-lune frame has a straight skirt with a tripartite banding (replaced) along the bottom edge; tapered legs, square in cross section; skirt veneered over vertically laminated tulip poplar rails; top rough and uneven on underside; pin in top center of front rail extends into hole in underside of stone top; top originally joined with three screws set in screw pockets in the interior frame rail and into leaded holes in the stone top.

Construction: Outer rear rail is tenoned into the rear legs; inner rear rail may have at one point been screwed to the outer rear rail from the outside (three empty screw holes remain in the outer rear rail); inner rear rail is glued and nailed from the inside with only a few nails to the outer rear rail; continuous curved front rail is composed of five layers of laminated tulip poplar boards, veneered on the outside between front legs; curved rail is half blind dovetailed to the ends of the inner rear rail and notched on the front and back faces to sit in bridal joints in tops of front legs; there is a single screw in the rear of each front leg at the top into the curved rail; replaced vertical glue blocks in corner of curved rail and rear legs; screw pockets, two in inner rear rail and one in center of front rail, originally held screws to secure top; corresponding leaded holes in underside of stone top; rear rails are relieved along top edge to accomodate uneven underside of stone top; stone top is smoothed on the underside only at points where it touches or could be in contact with table frame.
Label TextThis pier table descended in the Shackelford family of central Kentucky. While the cherry frame is rather plain, the stone top would have been a notable upgrade in quality. Slab or stone top tables from Kentucky are quite rare at this early date. The dolomitic limestone used for the top was known as "Kentucky River Marble." It was quarried in the 19th century by inmates of the Kentucky Penitentiary in Frankfort. Surviving documents indicate that the prisoners quarried, cut, and polished the stone to sell locally for building materials and table tops. The proceeds benefitted the prison rather than the prisoners.
ProvenanceDescended in the Shackelford family of Madison County, Kentucky.

Documented by MESDA (S-4411) in 1974 when owned by Sally Keen Shackelford or Richmond, KY, and later inherited by her nephew Patrick Shackelford of Lexington, KY from whom vendor acquired it in September, 2015.