Dining Table, three-part

Dateca. 1795

MediumMahogany, tulip poplar (by microanalysis), yellow pine, and oak.

DimensionsOverall: 28 1/4 x 47 1/2 x 106 5/8in. (71.8 x 120.7 x 270.8cm)

Credit LineGift of Mary Douthat Higgins

Object number1990-230,A

DescriptionEnd Section
Appearance: Three-part dining table with one drop-leaf center section and two D-shaped end sections, all on plain, tapered legs.

Construction: The center section has a one-piece top that is secured to the frame with screws set in wells. Each one-piece rule-jointed leaf is hung from three iron butt hinges. Mortise-and-tenon joinery attaches the legs to the inner rails, to which the hinged rails originally were nailed. Although both rail hinges are replacements, knuckle joints were apparently the initial approach. Quarter-round vertical glue blocks with distinctively chamfered upper edges appear at the interior corners of the frame. The cock beading is glued and sprig-nailed to the underside of the end rails and is set into rabbets on the tops of the legs. Two small tenons on the outer edge of either leaf, now missing on one side, fit into reciprocal mortises on the half-round ends.

The end sections have one-piece rear rails tenoned into the rear legs. The front legs are bridle-joined and screwed to the three-ply laminated front rails. The single-board tops are secured to the frame with screws set in wells. Vertical quarter-round blocks appear in the back corners, and a small rectangular glue block is found at the rear center. The cock beading is attached in the same manner as on the center section. On the back edge of the top of each section are two mortises to receive corresponding leaf-edge tenons on the center section.

Materials: Mahogany tops, leaves, legs, center section end rails, and end section rail veneers; tulip poplar (by microanalysis) end section front rail laminates, end section rear rails, and all corner blocks; yellow pine center section inner rails; oak center section hinge rails.

Label TextSets of dining tables similar to this became popular in Britain about the middle of the eighteenth century. Groupings typically included one or two rectangular tables with drop leaves and a pair of matching half-round end sections with or without single leaves, sometimes called "end tables" during the period. The form appears often in the records of British cabinetmakers such as the Gillows firm of Lancaster, whose artisans frequently illustrated three-part dining tables in their proposals for customers.

Americans began to make dining tables with half-round ends in sets during the 1780s, and by the early nineteenth century a broad range of sets was available in most major American furniture-making centers. The more elaborate examples featured complex inlays or pedestal bases with decoratively turned or reeded legs, although simpler forms with minimal surface ornament and plain tapered legs were far more typical. Representing the plainer type is this three-part set made in eastern Virginia in the 1790s or perhaps slightly later. Constructed with modestly figured mahogany solids and veneers, the plain surfaces of the tables are interrupted only by their projecting leg stiles and cock-beaded rails. A somewhat unusual stance results from the tapering of the legs on their three interior surfaces, which leaves the outer face at right angles to the floor.

These tables descended in the Smith family of Richmond, Virginia, for most of the twentieth century, but they were originally owned in Williamsburg. Both of the half-round end sections are branded "J.M.GALT." on the underside, branding being a common method of identification among late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century furniture owners. The mark is likely that of Dr. John Minson Galt (1744-1808), who from 1795 until his death served as visiting physician at the Public Hospital in Williamsburg, America's earliest institution specifically devoted to treatment of the mentally ill.

In spite of the Galt connection, it is not possible to attribute the tables to Williamsburg with confidence. The economic decline that followed the removal of the capital to Richmond in 1780 greatly decreased the size and production capabilities of Williamsburg's cabinetmaking community. A few local artisans such as John Hockaday, James Honey, and Rookesby Roberts continued to provide relatively plain neoclassical wares to local residents. However, such furniture was manufactured in far greater quantities in Richmond, Norfolk, and Petersburg, each a short distance away by water. Furthermore, it is well documented that affluent Williamsburgers like St. George Tucker (1752-1827) relied on these commercial centers for some of their household furnishings. Whatever its origin, this set of Virginia tables speaks strongly of the lingering regional interest in neat and plain furniture after the Revolution and the continuation of British traditions.

MarkingsBranded on the underside of both half-round end sections "J.M.GALT."
ProvenanceJohn Minson Galt died in Williamsburg in 1808, where his direct descendants remained until his granddaughter Sarah Maria (Sallie) Galt died in 1880. Some of the family's household furnishings were sold at that time. The CWF set of tables may have been included in that sale since it was acquired from a Richmond-area antiques dealer between about 1890 and 1910 by Richard Hewlett Smith (1859-1945), a resident of the Forest Hill section of that city. Smith bequeathed the tables to his daughter, Ellen Harvie Smith (1891-1961), who in turn left them to her niece, Mary Douthat Higgins, the donor.