Description:
Drop-leaf table in maple and cherry. According to family tradition, Dorothy Williams (1713-1808) brought this table to Deerfield when she was married to the Reverend Jonathan Ashley in 1736. It is probably the one listed as "1 Square leaf Curl Maple Table" in the estate inventory of their son, Jonathan Ashley Jr., when he died in 1787. Made in the 1730s just after the introduction of curvilinear design in Boston, this table must have seemed very modern in the Ashley house in Deerfield, Massachusetts. The table's early date is substantiated by its experimental construction and the inclusion of drawers commonly found in early tables with four fixed legs and two gate legs. The figured-maple top has two rectangular hinged leaves with molded edges; the cherry base has a cyma curved apron fitted with a molded drawer at each end. Both drawers have a keyhole, and one has an interior lock. The cabriole legs (two act as fly-legs) terminate in Dutch feet.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1999.52 |
