Card table

Date1770-1785

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Petersburg (possibly)

MediumMahogany, yellow pine, and tulip poplar

DimensionsOH: 29"; OW: 35 1/2"; OD (closed): 17 1/2"; OD (open): 25"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1977-62

DescriptionAppearance: Square card table with serpentine front, serpentine ends, and canted corners; interior fitted for leather (missing); shaped top with rounded edge above a conformingly shaped skirt carved along the lower edge and around legs; molded and chamfered square (Marlborough) legs ending in blocked feet.

Construction: Side and front rails veneered with mahogany and tenoned into front legs; proper left side rail tenoned into rear leg; proper right side rail dovetailed to fixed rear rail; fixed rear rail nailed at proper left side to fixed portion of swing rail; swing rail tenoned to rear legs; swing rail has a knuckle joint in center; carved molding nailed to underside of front and side rails, notched around legs; screw pockets in front, proper right and fixed rear rail allow frame to be screwed to fixed top; legs chamfered on inner corners; feet may be tenoned to legs with round tenons.

Fixed top is composed of three butt joined mahogany boards (two wide and one narrow strip on back) with rounded front and side edges; both fixed and hinged tops have flat mahogany borders glued around perimeters of playing surface to create an edge for inset leather or fabric (now missing); hinged top composed of two butt joined yellow pine boards with yellow pine battens on ends to prevent warpage, surrounded by butt joined mahogany serpentine edges and straight rear strip; outer face of hinged top veneered in mahogany; hinged top affixed to fixed top with inset brass hinges.
ProvenanceThis table was purchased from the sale of the contents of "Ellerlisle Farm," the estate of the late Nannette F. Dunlop, Colonial Heights (Petersburg), Virginia.

According to the MESDA file S-2478 on this table, the "Owner [Nanette Dunlop] states that the table was purchased from a general store near Petersburg, Virginia in the 1930s." However, Connover Hunt's ANTIQUES article (June 1973) on the same collection describes the table as "Found in Hightowers, North Carolina". Presumably that provenance also came from the owner.