Images(5)

Dining Table

Date1745-1755

Attributed to Peter Scott

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg

MediumBlack walnut with oak and yellow pine

DimensionsOH:28 3/4" OW:60 3/4" OD:55 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1930-169

DescriptionSlightly ovoid top with rounded edges; center leaf and both side leaves each made of two butt-joined black walnut boards; rule joints between center and side leaves; four relatively straight black walnut stationary legs with carved (rather than turned) pad feet; two black walnut swing legs of same design; straight black walnut end rails with integral cyma-shaped returns (joints pinned); yellow pine side rails; one oak swing hinge rail positioned between two black walnut fixed hinge rails on each side (fixed hinge rails secured to side rails with rosehead nails); one cyma-shaped return or bracket applied to each of the four fixed hinge rails and one to each swing hinge rail (each attached with one rosehead nail and one finishing nail); top inner face of each swing leg cut back and finished with a cyma to receive side rail when leg is in closed position; a wooden pin was originally driven into the bottom of each side leaf to serve as a stop for the swing rail; a scribe line connects the stop pin location with the gate hinge.

Label TextThis dining table is attributed to Williamsburg's earliest cabinetmaker, Peter Scott. Born in the 1690s, Scott emigrated from Great Britain as a young adult, resided in Williamsburg by 1722, and worked there until his death in December 1775. He made a variety of table forms (including those for dining, tea, and cards), as well as desks, desks and bookcases, clothespresses, bureau dressing tables and other case forms. Like most cabinetmakers of his generation, he produced few chairs, leaving that work to other specilasts. Scott's patrons were members of Virginia's gentry, including Daniel Parke Custis (his landlord), Robert Carter, and Thomas Jefferson.
Inscribed"9609/84" penciled on bottom of one leaf.
MarkingsNone.
ProvenanceNo history is known prior to the 1930 purchase of the table from Mrs. Archibald Robertson, a dealer in southern furniture based in Petersburg, Virginia.