Card table

1800-1815

Maker

Attributed to Thomas Stevenson (1787–1865) or Thomas (dates unknown), James (working c. 1785–1836), or Daniel McDowell (working c. 1793–1830)

Measurements

29 in x 36-3/8 in x 17-7/8 in.

Materials

Mahogany, lightwood stringing, banding, and inlay; oak (drawer front, drawer blades, and rear rail), white cedar (drawer bottoms, inside rear rail), tulip poplar (drawer sides)

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation

Accession Number

2007.32

Inscription

The brass bails are stamped “H•J”.  All of the legs have crude slashes denoting Roman numerals that guided assembly.

Condition Notes

When the card table was refinished within the last twenty years or so, finish was applied to the rear swing leg rails, inside of the drawer front, and other places that historically were not finished. Minor sections of stringing and the banded cuff of the right front leg are replacements. The brasses are replacements; impressions in the drawer front indicate that the previous brasses had slightly smaller oval backplates.

Comments

The distinctive terrapin inlaid escutcheon on the full-width drawer of this card table associates its fabrication with Thomas Stevenson and Thomas, James, and Daniel McDowell, all of Smyrna and later Dover, Delaware.  As with other furniture from that shop, several construction eccentricities exist:  The hinged top leaf, which is supported by a hinged rear leg that swings backward, has battens on the sides that meet in miters in the front corners, in the same manner as the hinged lid on a slant-lid desk.

Bibliography

Zimmerman, A Storied Past, pp. 148-149