Description:
This maple drop-leaf table survives in an excellent state of preservation, and was probably made within a thirty-mile radius of the town of Deerfield, Massachusetts. The table’s original red paint is visible on the tabletop, frame, and legs, and several of the tabletop’s wooden pins (used for attaching the tabletop to the frame) are still in place. The table’s construction—particularly the applied cyma shaped skirt on the ends of the table—relate to tables made in the Connecticut River Valley, including two tables in Historic Deerfield’s collection with histories of ownership in Deerfield (see accession numbers: 1999.52 and 2011.14.3). The latter two examples are larger in size compared to the present example, which is a smaller, rarer variant among similar extant tables. Due to its smaller size, it was likely used as a folding tea table or occasional table in a parlor setting. Construction: The top is composed of a single board and is attached to the frame with seven wooden pins, four of which appear to be original. Each leaf is composed of a single board, and is attached to the top with two hinges, which appear to be original. The table top and leaves feature ovolo-molded outer edges. The table’s fixed hinge rails are mortised, tenoned, and pinned to the stationary legs, and the table’s swing hinge rails are mortised, tenoned, and pinned to the swing legs. The side rails abut the fixed and swing hinge rails when the table is closed, with no spacers in between. The side rails do not extend the full length of the table and are dovetailed at one end to the end rails, and nailed at the opposite end to the fixed hinged rails. The end rails are dovetailed to the side rail on one end, and are mortised, tenoned, and pinned to the stationary leg on the opposite end. The applied ogee shaped skirt along the lower edge of the end rail is glued and nailed onto the end rail. The cabriole legs feature sharply creased knees, with circular-shaped pad feet, which sit on small, raised disks. There are remnants of original red paint on the table’s surfaces.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2022.11 |
