Images(6)

Dining Table

Date1755-1775

OriginEngland

MediumMahogany, oak, beech, and yellow pine (added later)

DimensionsOH: 29”; W (closed) 21 3/8”; OW (open): 66 ½”OD: 46 1/2”

Credit LineGift of George C. Griffin, II, R. Page Griffin, Jr., and Neill Griffin Sites in memory of St. George Tucker and in honor of all Tucker family descendants

Object number2022-107

DescriptionRectangular drop leaf dining table; rectangular center section with two rule-jointed drop leaves; edge of table top slightly rounded; straight skirt with returns at either end forming shallow undercut arch at each end of table; six rounded legs with pad feet; one leg on each side swing out to support leaf when open; upper square sections of legs chamfered at corners.
Label TextThis table, which descended in the Tucker family, is believed to have originally been owned in Williamsburg, Virginia by St. George Tucker and his wife Frances Bland Tucker. Six-legged dining tables were widely produced in eastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, likely inspired by imported British examples like this table. The extra legs on these tables (most tables only had four legs) provided extra stability for the heavy mahogany table leaves. A second dining table (2000-128 a-c) from the early 19th century that descended in a different branch of the Tucker family may have replaced this and other mid-18th century tables in the dining room of St. George and Frances Tucker's Williamsburg home around 1820.
MarkingsBrass plaque attached to table: “The Williamsburg Table”/ St. George Tucker of Williamsburg, Va. Circa 17…/ Great-Great-Grandfather of Eugenia Johnston Griffin.” Second brass plaque hung from screws under center of table “WILLIAMSBURG TABLE/CIRCA 1776”.
ProvenanceDescended in the family of St. George Tucker and Frances Bland Randolph Tucker to great-great-great granddaughter Eugenia Johnston Griffin, to her grandson George C. Griffin, II. Probable line of descent: St. George Tucker and Frances Bland Randolph Tucker to daughter Anne Frances Bland Tucker Coalter (1779-1813) to daughter Elizabeth Tucker Coalter Bryan (1805-1857) to daughter Delia Bryan Page (1833-1912) to Delia Bryan Page Johnston to daughter Eugenia Johnston Griffin, to son R. Page Griffin, to children George C. Griffin II, R. Page Griffin, Jr., and Neill Griffin Sites (donors).