Images(6)

Lady's Work Table

Dateca. 1810

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Salem

MediumMahogany, birch, kingwood or tulip wood, basswood, white pine, brass, and silk

DimensionsOverall: 29 1/2 × 20 × 15 3/4in. (74.9 × 50.8 × 40cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Sara and Fred Hoyt Furniture Fund

Object number2020-7

DescriptionWork table; flat, single board top with straight edges and canted corners at front and back, veneered in mahogany with possibly kingwood crossbanding around edge of top surface; skirt conforms to top with straight sides and canted corners each veneered with a flame birch panel and possibly kingwood crossbanding at base outlined on top and bottom by thin geometric stringing; front of case contains dovetailed mahogany drawer with bookended birch veneer and original brass lion’s head pulls on front and inset wooden dividers in interior (missing surface mounted escutcheon for lock); shallow lower drawer is hung from runners nailed to interior sides of case and opens to reveal a dovetailed wooden frame with a textile work bag (replaced) attached with nails to inner rim, drawer front of lower drawer veneered on top half with birch and bottom half with possibly kingwood crossbanding outlined on top and bottom by thin geometric stringing with two round brass pulls and a surface mounted pierced brass escutcheon in center (all replaced); front and rear legs turned with square capital featuring carved demilune design of three arched lines separated by punched stars, over thin double ring turning, over plain cylinder, over second double ring turning, over tapered, reeded central column with single ring turning at base and smooth tapered feet, swollen in top third with a triple ring turning; feet terminate in original brass casters.
Label TextThis work table descended in the family of Eunice and John Hooper of Marblehead, Massachusetts and was likely originally owned by Eunice (1781-1866) in the couple's federal style brick mansion on Washington Street. Lady's work tables like this example were elegant furniture forms created specifically for a woman to keep her needlework and sewing in as well as any equipment needed for those arts. The silk bag (replaced) hangs from a frame that pulls out like a drawer from the front of the table. Soft work could be stored in the bag while tools, books, paper, etc. could be placed in the upper drawer. A needlework picture Eunice stitched in 1790 is in the collection of the Huntington Library and illustrates her mastery of that art by her ninth year.

The table itself is an important example of the cabinetmaking traditions from Salem, Massachusetts. The design of the legs with turned capitals, tapered reeded columns, and ring-turned and swelled feet are quite distinctive. The inclusion of legs of this design in furniture by several Salem craftsmen suggests that a specialist turner executed the legs and supplied them to various local cabinetmakers. This illustrates an often overlooked piecework aspect of the cabinetmaking trade in the early 19th century.
ProvenanceProbably John Hooper (1776-1854) and Eunice (Hooper) Hooper (1781-1866), Marblehead, Massachusetts and Boston; to son Samuel Hooper (1808-1875), Boston and Washington D.C.; to brother John Henry Hooper (1803-1884), Pana, Christian County, Illinois; to daughter Eunice Hooper (b. 1843); to aunt and first cousin Quintilla Cave Rust (1830- 1912) and her son, James Harvey Rust (1856-1912), Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio; to Emma Virginia (Wiles) Rust (1858-1940), widow of James; to niece Virginia Wiles (Lucas) Rogers, Abilene, Kansas; Thence by descent in the family.