One-drawer table or stand

1800-1825

Measurements

27-7/8 in x 17-5/8 in x 13-1/2 in

Materials

Hard pine

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of Hugh R. and Bayard Sharp

Accession Number

1977.534

Condition Notes

The table has been stripped of almost all paint, although some remains in crevasses and undersides.

Provenance

Although not confirmed in writing, this one-drawer stand likely belonged to H. Rodney Sharp, father of the donors.

Comments

The oval-top table stands on four square-tapered legs that flare outward.  The legs are chamfered on the inside corners—a chamfer that grows wider as it approaches the floor.  A drawer at one end is canted to conform to the leg flare.  The canted sides are set at slightly uneven angles.  The sides are nailed to the drawer front and drawer back, and the two drawer boards are nailed to the undersides of all four drawer sides.  A scratch-bead decorates the bottom edge of the table rails and the top and bottom edges of the drawer front (but not the side edges).

This table is made of heavy stock.  Holes and two nails that lack any apparent reason for being suggest reuse of wood. However, all construction features are consistent with early furniture-making practices.  Drawer runners are nailed to the sides of the case with T-shaped wrought nails that are deeply oxidized.  The first set of drawer nails also show heavy oxidation.  Although the table has been stripped of all paint, residual paint evidence remains within the scratch-bead and on the underside of the top.  Paint stripping may have entailed sanding the tops of wooden pegs on the legs that secure mortise and tenon joints.  Inscribed circles on the underside lay out each of the rounded ends of the oval top.