Images(2)

Dining Table

Dateca. 1770

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg area

MediumBlack walnut and yellow pine

DimensionsOH: 28 3/8”;OW (closed): 18 ¼”; OW (open): 57”; OD: 45 ½”

Credit LineGift of Susan W. Redd and Martha W. McMurran

Object number2015-169

DescriptionAppearance: Rectangular top drop leaf dining table; straight skirt; four rounded legs ending in a pad foot on a slight disc; corners of tops of legs molded; one leg on each side of table swings open with knuckle joint to support top when leaves are up.

Construction: The inner side rails are half-blind dovetailed to the end rails and nailed from the inside to the fixed sections of the outer side rails. Both the swing rails and fixed sections of the outer side rails are tenoned and double pegged to the squared upper section of the legs, the corners of which are shaped with a bead. The swing legs are notched to slide over the joining of the interior side and end rails when closed. The round tapered legs terminate with a pad foot. Knuckle joints join the swing rails to the fixed outer rails. The three-board leaves are joined to the underside of the top with recessed iron butt hinges.

A medial rail is joined with sliding dovetails from the top to the inner side rails. The current rail is a replacement.

The three-board top was originally secured with one pocket screw from each inner side rail, two pocket screws from each back rail and several glue blocks. All of those screws and glue blocks are now missing and the top is secured with a modern (CW installed 2015) floating glue block system.

The table is entirely black walnut with the exception of the inner sides and (replaced) medial rail which are yellow pine.
Label TextDining tables with straight-turned legs and pad feet like this example were popular in many of the furniture-making centers of Great Britain. Rarely made in America's northern colonies, they were widely produced in the lower Chesapeake, illustrating the close ties between British cabinetmaking traditions and those of early Virginia. This example descended in a Charles City and James City County family and may have been made in Williamsburg.
ProvenanceThis dining table descended in the Gregory and Warburton family of Charles City and James City Counties and Williamsburg, Virginia. The donors' father’s family lived at Pinewoods in James City County until the beginning of the 20th century when they moved to the Peyton Randolph House in Williamsburg. Later in the 20th century they moved to 402 Scotland Street.