Images(4)

Dining Table

Date1770-1790

OriginAmerica, Mid-Atlantic or New England or Virginia, Norfolk

MediumMahogany and white pine (by micro id)

DimensionsOH: 28 3/4 in.; OW: 56 1/2 in.; OD (closed) 18 in.; OD (open): 52 1/4 in.

Credit LineBequest of Margaret Keating

Object number2021-184

DescriptionAppearance: Large rectangular drop leaf dining table; rectangular center top with two rectangular hinged drop leaves; straight skirt with shaped returns at ends of short end rails; eight straight legs with beaded outer corner, square in cross section, chamfered on inner corners; four legs at each corner of table are stationary; each pair of legs, at center of long sides when at rest, rotate outward to support table leaves.

Construction:
End rails and fixed outer side rails tenoned and pegged to legs; fly rails knuckled jointed to fixed outer side rails and tenoned and pegged to central legs; inner side rails nailed from interior to fixed outer side rails; medial rail nailed from exterior to center of inner side rails; top attached to rails with screws in screw pockets (later addition) and segmented glue blocks (replaced); vertical chamfered glue blocks in each corner of table frame and medial rail (some missing); rule jointed leaves hinged to table top with three iron butt hinges on each side.
Label TextThis extra long dining table descended in the Galt family of Williamsburg and possibly Norfolk, Virginia and stands on eight legs instead of the more usual four. Both ends feature stationary legs set at each corner with a pair of swing legs meeting in the center of the long sides that open to approximately forty-five degrees. This arrangement provided better overall stability when the leaves were raised than a four legged table. Six-legged dining tables of this type, widely produced in eastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, have survived in large numbers but eight-legged examples are not known from the region. Some New York examples survive that along with the white pine secondary wood in this table suggests a possibility of a northern origin for the table.
ProvenanceDescended in the Galt family of Williamsburg. Purchased at the Galt House Sale, Williamsburg, Virginia, 9/30/1978, lot. 134.