Images(5)

Card Table

Date1819

Maker Samuel Smith

Maker John D. Ghiselin

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Norfolk

MediumMahogany, oak, tulip poplar, brass

DimensionsOH: 31 1/2 in.; OW: 36 3/4 in.; OD (closed): 18 1/2 in.; OD (open): 37 in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, TIF Foundation in memory of Michelle A. Iverson

Object number2019-85

DescriptionAppearance: Five legged card table; double elliptic front shaped folding top; straight skirt conforms to top on front and sides, all veneered in figured mahogany; double bead around center of edge of fixed top and leaf; cock-beading around bottom edge of skirt; four stationary legs each with rings and short baluster at top; reeded and tapering to ankle where they terminate in inverted baluster and single ring over rounded brass feet; matching fifth leg at proper right rear corner swings out to support leaf; mahogany interior surface of both leaves.

Construction:
Fixed tulip poplar rear rail is tenoned to the two stationary rear legs. The fixed section of the oak swing rail is nailed about an inch from the proper right stationary rear legs to the back of the fixed rear rail with 12 small nails and joined to the swing rail section with a finger joint. The swing rail is tenoned at the other end to the swing leg. The top of the swing leg is notched to close around the fixed rear rail.

The shaped front skirt is comprised of a full width tulip poplar center board supplemented at each end on the back side with a triangular block. The block is joined from the back on each end to the center board with three screws in a vertical row. The assembly is tenoned on each end to the front legs.

The shaped side skirts are tenoned to the rear legs and joined with three vertical pocket screws to an end block which in turn is tenoned to the front legs. (The end blocks on the front and side skirts are positioned to provide appropriate grain for the tenons). The front and side skirts are mahogany veneered with a thin mahogany board with a beaded edge nailed to the underside edge of the rails. Bead moldings inset into dados across the tops of the legs match the bead of the skirt to provide continuity.

The fixed top leaf is joined from below with screws in pockets in the fixed rear rail, side, and front rails. The folding section of the mahogany top is joined to the fixed top with scissor hinges inset into the rear side edges. The edge of the top is double beaded.

The brass feet composed of a cup over a ball are screwed to the inset mahogany legs with three screws.
Label TextInscribed in chalk on the underside "Smith + Ghiselin 1819," this card table documents the short-lived partnership between cabinetmakers Samuel Smith and John D. Ghiselin that lasted from 1814 to 1819. The table descended in the Tazewell family of Norfolk and reveals a New York influence on its design through the presence of its fifth leg and its double elliptic front shaped top. Imported northern furniture and the southern migration of craftsmen brought these details to Southern ports like Norfolk in the early 19th century.
InscribedInscribed in chalk on the underside of top "Smith + Ghiselin 1819"
ProvenanceDescended in the Tazewell family of Norfolk.

Other items from the same source that were owned in the family, now at Colonial Williamsburg, originally were owned by Governor Littleton Waller Tazewell (1774-1860) who was married to Anne Stratton Nivison, or her parents John and Sarah Stratton Nivison. Littleton Waller and Anne Tazewell moved to Norfolk in 1802. The line of descent from Governor Littleton Waller Tazewell and Anne Stratton Nivison Tazewell is as follows: to daughter Mary Tazewell (m. Matthew Page Waller) to her son Corbin Griffin Waller (m. Fanny Marshall Byrd) to his daughter Ann Byrd Waller (m. Thomas Merrill Whittemore) to her son Thomas Marshall Whittemore (m. Jane Whitemore Whittemore) to son John Whittemore.