Tea Table

Date1770-1800

OriginAmerica, North Carolina, Chowan County

MediumBlack Walnut

DimensionsOH: 27"; OW: 37 1/4"; OD: 22 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1933-7

DescriptionAppearance:
Tea table; flat rectangular top composed of two boards with angled corners and straight skirt cut out in double ogee pattern along lower edge on all sides; four legs, "square" in section, molded on outside edge and chamfered on inside edge.

Construction:
The two board, butt joined top has angled corners and the upper edged is chamfered. It is pegged from the top to the legs and to both end rails with a peg in each board approximately 1” from the butt joint. Additional smaller pegs help secure the top to the rails.
The rails are shaped on the lower edge to serve as skirts, and are slightly chamfered on the inside bottom edge. They are tenoned and double through-pegged into the legs. The legs extend to the floor, have a single bead which runs the length of the outside corner and are chamfered below the skirt on the inside corner. There is evidence of now missing glue blocks at each intersection of the rails and legs.

Label TextA significant number of tables closely related to this one have been discovered in the Chowan River basin of northeastern North Carolina. Most date from the second and third quarters of the eighteenth century. Characteristics common to the group include rectangular tops with truncated corners and slightly beveled edges, straight turned legs with "button" feet, and rails with double ogee or similar curvilinear shaping on their lower edges. (see CWF 1933-8) The same format remained popular in the Chowan basin after the Revolution. Later versions retained the shaping of the top and rails but abandoned the disk-like foot in favor of the newly fashionable pad shape (MESDA research file 12,168). These tables were also produced with beaded Marlborough legs.

As with other "square" tea tables of the period, the CWF table is finished on all four sides and was therefore intended to be used away from the wall. The absence of a raised molding along the edges of the top implies that its function was not confined to taking tea. Period graphics show simple tables of this size being used for dining, reading, writing, sewing, and any number of other activities including tea drinking. Like round pillar-and-claw tea tables, they were probably moved about the house as needed to take advantage of available heat, cool air, or light and to suit the changing needs of the owner. The easy portability and general versatility of small rectangular tables explains the large number of similar examples that survive.
MarkingsNone found.