Tea table

1760-1790

Measurements

28-3/4 in x 34-1/4 in (dia)

Materials

Walnut

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of H. Rodney Sharp

Accession Number

1958.3306

Condition Notes

The top had a split, now repaired, and loose aspects of the table were addressed.  See a 1981 conservation report in the Historic Odessa object folder.

Provenance

Ex coll. H. Rodney Sharp

Comments

The three-board top of this tilt-top tea table was turned on a lathe, leaving a narrow molded rim.  It attaches to a box, popularly called a birdcage, by two battens screwed to the underside.  The box allows the top to swivel and turn upward for storage.  The baluster-turned pillar or shaft has a cylindrical bottom with dovetail-shaped grooves into which three carved cabriole legs with claw-and-ball feet slide. The turning details of the shaft do not suggest a particular geographical origin.  Small clues, such as the molded detail at the top of the legs, their rather angular modeling, and the rat-like shape of the feet, indicate an origin outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.