Images(6)

Dining table

Date1760-1775

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg (possibly)

MediumMahogany, oak, and tulip poplar

DimensionsOH: 28; OW. (open) 49 3/4; OW (closed): 17 1/2; OD: 45 1/2.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1963-737

DescriptionAppearance: Rectangular drop-leaf table with straight turned legs on pad feet; three legs at each end of table: two legs stationery (center leg at each end) and four hinged.

Construction: Screws set in wells inside the rails secure the top to the frame. The frame is dove-tailed together and retains its original pair of medial braces across the top, which are through-dovetailed into the sides. The two swing hinge rails on each side are knuckle-joined to a central fixed hinge rail, which in turn is nailed to the adjacent inner rail. Blind dovetails secure the inner rails to the end rails. The central legs on either end of the table are bridle-joined to the rails and retain old, if not original, sprig nails driven through the inside vertical member into the rail.

Woods: Mahogany top, leaves, end rails, and legs; tulip poplar cross braces; oak hinge rails and inner rails.
Label TextDiscovered in Williamsburg in the early twentieth century, this table stands on six legs instead of the more usual four. Both ends feature a stationary leg set at the center and flanked by a pair of swing legs that open to approximately forty-five degrees. This arrangement provided better overall stability when the leaves were raised and offered greater versatility in seating. Six-legged dining tables of this particular design, widely produced in eastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, have survived in large numbers. The form was almost never made in the northern colonies. Dining tables with clusters of three legs on each end were common in Great Britain.
InscribedA large chalk "X" appears on the inside surface of one end rail. Numerous modern "X" and "O" marks associated with reassembly are penciled on the inside surfaces.
MarkingsNone.
ProvenanceCWF purchased the table in 1963 from Robert W. Kryger of Williamsburg, who had acquired it in the 1930s from an indigent local family. Neither their name nor their history was recorded.