Images(4)

Card table

DateCa. 1795

Attributed to Samuel Fisk

Attributed to William Fisk

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Boston or Roxbury

MediumMahogany, white pine, cherry, birch, and light wood inlay

DimensionsOH: 28 1/8"; OW: 35 3/4"; OD (closed): 17 5/8"

Credit LineBequest of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hennage

Object number1991-74,1

DescriptionAppearance: Pair of card tables, each with a folded half-round top that opens to form a circle; two swing legs; edges of top inlaid with lightwood stringing; skirt conforms to shape of top and is divided into three sections by the table's legs; each skirt section is outlined with lightwood stringing and inlaid with a vertical oval alternating light and dark fan; four square tapering legs inlaid with lightwood stringing to feet; small drawer accessed from rear when proper right swing leg is open.

Construction:
The frame under the fixed half of the round top consists of a semi-circular arched front rail with two front legs joined probably with bridle joints to it. The supposed bridle joints are reinforced with a single screw from the rear of the leg near the top into the rail. The curved front rail veneered on the front and has birch veneer nailed to the underside. It is half-blind dovetailed to an inner rear rail and each joint is reinforced by a vertical glue block with chamfered inner corner. The front and rear rails are attached to the fixed top with pocked screws.

The inner rear rail is screwed from the inside with four screws to a central spacer block and the center portion of the outer swing rail. The two swing rails are joined to the fixed center section with finger joints and tenoned into the swing legs. Vertical mahogany glue blocks with chamfered inner corners reinforce the joining of the swing rails and swing legs.

The two halves of the top are joined with card table hinges and supported by a medial leaf edge tenon on the rear edge of the fixed top.

The inner rear rail is relieved behind the proper right swing rail to accommodate a small “hidden” drawer. White pine supports for the drawer are rabbeted their full length to also serve as drawer guides. The supports/guides are nailed from the rear to the inner rear rail. The outside support is miter cut to match the arc of the front rail to which it is nailed, and the inside support is tenoned into the rear of the front rail. A rectangular glue block is glued into the back of the rabbet of the longer inside support to act as a drawer stop.
The drawer is of dovetail construction with the bottom set in rabbets in the front and sides. The bottom is nailed from below to the edge of the back and into the front rabbets. Drawer sides, backs and bottoms are white pine. Drawer fronts are white pine with #1 having red stain and a brass knob. Drawer front for #2 is white pine with no stain or knob and is likely replaced.

Table tops and legs are mahogany. Skirts are white pine faced with mahogany veneer with birch veneer on the bottoms. Swing rails are cherry. Frame rail and drawer supports are white pine.

Except for the noted difference in drawer fronts, the construction of #1 and #2 is virtually identical
ProvenanceDonors purchased from R. T. Trump & Company, Inc,. in 1968.