Sideboard table

Date1795-1805

MediumMahogany (by microanalysis), yellow pine (by microanalysis), and light and dark wood inlays.

DimensionsOH: 34"; OW: 40 3/4"; OD: 21 1/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1971-385

DescriptionAppearance: table with serpentine front and unfinished half-round back designed to fit within an architectural niche; projecting top of conforming shape; veneered front rail with central inlay depicting a classical kylix on a dark ground; kylix flanked by book-matched mahogany veneer panels with two-part dark and light string in an ovoid format; book matched panels flanked by tops of front legs, each with inlaid five-petal flower and foliage on a dark ground; lower edge of front rail defined by square and dash patterned stringing; four tapered legs; front faces of legs inlaid with two-part light and dark stringing rounded at the top and stopped by a lightwood cuff inlay.

Construction: The solid top was originally secured to the frame with six screws set into wells (two in the front rail, four in the rear). The curved rear rail consists of four-part horizontal laminations sawn to shape; the veneered, serpentine front rail is of the same construction, though with five-part laminations. The front and rear rails are tenoned into the front legs and each joint is secured with a vertical quarter-round mahogany glue block. Bridle joints fix the rear legs to the rear rail. A medial rail is dovetailed into the front and rear rails, and each joint is flanked by two vertical quarter-round glue blocks.

Materials: Mahogany top, legs, outer corner blocks, and front rail veneer (by microanalysis); yellow pine front rail, rear rail, medial rail, and medial rail corner blocks (by microanalysis); light and dark wood inlays.
Label TextFurniture designer George Hepplewhite noted in 1794 that sideboards and sideboard tables were "often made to fit into a recess." This Baltimore sideboard table with its rounded, unfinished back was clearly intended for such use. While half-round serving tables made for architectural niches were rare in most American cities, the form enjoyed a degree of popularity in Baltimore. In addition to the present table, another sideboard table and a full-fledged sideboard of similar design are known, both made in Baltimore about 1800. Why some Baltimoreans favored the recessed half-round serving form when most of their countrymen did not is unclear. Perhaps the trend is a reflection of that comparatively new city's willingness to embrace even the most exuberant and unusual British furniture forms.

The cabinetmakers of Federal Baltimore freely applied all manner of elaborate surface ornamentation, especially pictorial inlays and patterned stringing--both evident on this table--to their products. Such inlays were available from several sources: quantities were imported ready-made from Britain; many were produced in Baltimore by professional inlay makers; still others were generated in small quantities by individual cabinet shops for their own use. The pictorial inlays on this table appear to represent at least two of those sources. The floral elements at each end of the front rail were probably made by a specialist working in Great Britain or Baltimore. Highly regular in execution, these panels have petals, leaves, stems, teardrop-shaped flower centers, and dark oval grounds virtually identical to those on a number of other Baltimore productions. The kylix, or urn design, in the center of the front rail is clearly the work of a different artisan. Despite the ambitious nature of the design, the kylix and its ground are much coarser than the floral panels. The base, rim, and finial are plain, unshaded geometric shapes, and the individual parts of the form do not exhibit the usual precision fit.

Oval-shaped inlays of the size employed here were commercially produced in significant numbers because their dimensions were well suited for a wide array of uses on tables, seating furniture, and case pieces such as sideboards and chests of drawers. The same could not be said of the pictorial inlay in the center of this table's front rail since its large size and rectangular shape allowed relatively few applications. The ornament was likely custom made for this particular spot by a local specialist or by the shop that was commissioned to make the table. Notably, a card table from the same shop that made the sideboard table features an identical mixture of inlaid work. The tops of its front legs exhibit similar refined floral inlays on oval grounds, and the center of the apron has a coarse but ambitious kylix obviously executed by the same craftsman who made the one on the CWF table.

Although the maker of these tables has not been identified, it is significant that a large group of case furniture from a single Baltimore shop bears pictorial inlays by the same hand that made the kylikes (see CWF chest of drawers1991-12).

InscribedThere are illegible chalk marks on the right side of the medial rail. The underside of the top is marked with the letter "X" in chalk or yellow crayon beneath the present finish.
MarkingsNone.
ProvenanceThe table was sold by collector Phyllis F. Loose of Hagerstown, Maryland, to antiques dealer David Stockwell in the late 1960s. Stockwell sold it to CWF in 1971.