Collections Database

Description:
Card table with a demilune top attributed to Jacob Forster (1764-1838), who moved to Charlestown in 1786 from his birthplace, Berwick, Maine, via Watertown where he served an apprenticeship. He lived in Charlestown until his death; his son, Charles carried on the business with Edward Lawrence as "'Forster and Lawrence" and later included Abraham Crowninshield as '"Forster, Lawrence and Company." This circular table is unlabled, but has the same curved rail construction with a simple veneered facade with rectangular panels of plain stringing, and squat, double-tapered legs found in Forster-labelled card table such as one in the Yale University Art Gallery collection and another card table attributed to Forster at Historic Deerfield (0826). Benjamin Hewitt theorized that these distinctive legs, which appear only in the Boston area, were produced in Forster's shop and sold to other cabinetmakers; they appear on only one of the other known documented Forster card tables. This table has a dart inlay around the top's edge; an inlaid two-tone paterae at the top of each of the four legs; rectangular panels of plain stringing on the apron; and tapered legs with an additional taper at the feet and decorated with string inlay along the length and cuffs around the feet.

Subjects:
Brass; Mahogany

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+0457

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.