Pembroke or breakfast table

1790-1810

Measurements

28 in x 29-3/4 in x 20-1/2 in; open, 39-1/2 in

Materials

Mahogany; tulip poplar (drawer sides and bottom), maple (leaf supports), white pine (structural woods)

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.571

Condition Notes

The brass drawer pull is original.  The stretchers, which arch slightly in the center, are likely replacements.

Provenance

Bequest of Dr. and Mrs. J. Newberry Reynolds to The David Wilson Mansion, Inc., in 1942.

Comments

This table, called a Pembroke or breakfast table in contemporary sources, is made of attractively grained and colored mahogany, but otherwise, it has no added decoration. The legs taper on the two inside faces, and “flies,” namely hinged wood supports, hold the rectangular leaves in the up position, which creates a square tabletop.

Discerning where this table was made relies heavily on secondary woods.  Use of tulip poplar for the drawer bottom, rather than white cedar, suggests an origin outside of the immediate Philadelphia area.  White pine points northward rather than south of Philadelphia.