Chair table

1850-1940

Measurements

29-3/4 in x 35-7/8 in x 24 in

Materials

Maple

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation

Accession Number

2020.87

Condition Notes

The wooden pins holding the table top to the frame are new.

Provenance

This chair table had been on the Historic Odessa site for many years but had not been catalogued.  Its source is as yet unknown.

Comments

This chair table--an 18th century form that readily converts from a table to a chair with storage under the hinged seat--requires careful examination to determine when and where it was made.  Use of maple throughout suggests New England.  As for time of manufacture, the object is made of several small boards, which is not characteristic of early work.  The top is made of four boards, and each side is three boards.  The boards are joined with a V shaped groove rather than the traditional projecting tongue.  More problematic, the chair table is assembled with wire nails, which indicate a post 1850 date.  The undercut profile of the end boards, which defines front and back feet, is an ogee arch with a rounded top--a profile unknown in early American furniture.  The object has a dark green paint over white, and part of the underside of the table surface has red paint.