Images(4)

Pembroke table

Dateca. 1775

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Tidewater

MediumMahogany, oak, and tulip poplar

DimensionsOH: 28 3/16”; OW: 39 5/8”; W (closed): 21 3/8”; OD: 30 7/16”

Credit LineGift of Doris Gwaltney

Object number2016-94

DescriptionAppearance: Rectangular breakfast table with single drawer in one end and two drop leaves; rectangular fixed top with two rectangular rule jointed drop leaves; drawer in one end with central brass bail and rosette pull and inset brass escutcheon; straight legs square in cross section with chamfered inner corners; diagonal stretchers between legs, lap joined where cross at center.

Construction: The top rail is dovetailed to the front legs with two dovetails, one cuts into both the leg and the inner side rail. The drawer blade and inner side rails are double-tenoned to the front legs. The back rail and inner side rails are tenoned (probably double-tenoned ) to the back legs; the joining is reinforced with quarter-round vertical glue blocks. The fixed sections of the outer (swing) side rails are nailed from the inside to the inner side rails. The leaf supports are joined to the fixed sections of the swing rails with knuckle joints. Vertical mahogany blocks ( ¾” x ¾” x 4½”) are glued between the legs and the fixed sections of the outer side rails. Three of the four blocks are beveled on the lower outside corner.

The single board top is secured with pocket screws from the outer side rails and back and is screwed from below to the top rail. The leaves are joined to the top with mortised butt hinges. The cross stretchers are lap joined to each other and tenoned at the interior bevel to the legs.

The top, leaves, top rail back rail, drawer blade, legs and stretchers are mahogany; inner side rails are tulip poplar and outer side rails are white oak.

Drawer supports (tulip poplar) are nailed to the inside edge at the bottom of the inner side rails and drawer stops are nailed to the sides immediately above the supports.

The drawer is of dovetail construction with the underside of the bottom chamfered to fit into dados in the front and sides and nailed from below to the edge of the back. Drawer front is mahogany and the sides, back and bottom are tulip poplar.
Label TextThis breakfast table, which descended in the Purdie family of Smithfield, Virginia, is in the Neat and Plain style favored by 18th century Tidewater Virginians. Small tables of this sort were easily moved around a room or house and could be used for various purposes such as eating, writing, or sewing. Tables such as this would have been found in prosperous homes throughout the Tidewater region, including Williamsburg.
ProvenanceDescended in the Purdie family, possibly from George and Mary Robinson Purdie to son Dr. John Hyndman Purdie (1770-1845) to son Dr. John Robinson Purdie (1807-1896), to son Thomas Smith Purdie (1854-1923) to son Kenneth Sinclair Purdie (1892-1983), to cousin, donor, Doris Gwaltney. However, the table may have come into the family through a marriage but have been considered a Purdie piece by the late-19th or 20th century.