Table, Card

Object Name:

Table, Card

Object ID:

1945.031.17

Place of Origin:

Possibly southeastern NH

Date:

circa 1800

Description:

Card Table. Federal style. Elliptic front. The folding top hinged leaf is supported on the swinging left rear leg. The edges of the top are decorated along the middle with a rosewood crossback outlined with light line stringing. The front and side rails are veneered with three bowed rectangular panels of figured birch outlined with dark and light doubly lines stringing within veneered borders of mahogany crossbanding. The upper parts of the front legs adjacent to the rails are veneered on the face with similarly outlined panels of figured birch, the vertical grain of these panels contrasting with the horizontal grain of those on the rails. The four, square, tapered legs are arranged in a trapezoidal formation, the front legs being closer together than the back legs. Dark and light inlaid egometric bands with checkerboard patterns decorating the front and side surfaces of the legs are just below the juncture with the rails; identical bands serve as cuffs on the front and side surfaces of the rear legs and on three surfaces of the front legs. There is light line stringing on the face of the front legs above the cuffs. The outer back rail and fly rail are maple. The front corners are constructed with triangular blocks each formed of two vertically glued sections. There are no corner or glue blocks.

Material:

Wood
Metal

Dimensions:

H-29.5 W-36 D-17.5 inches

Provenance:

Owned by the Bell family of Exeter, NH. (Note, however, that at the time of the 1800 census, there were no Bells listed in Exeter. The earliest references to Bells in Exeter are in 1828 when Samuel D. Bell came and in 1831 when his brother James arrived. The table may have been purchased by the Bells in Exeter, acquired from an Exeter family by marriage or been brought to Exeter by the Bells who had previously lived in Francestown, Amherst, and Chester.)

Credit Line:

Gift of Mary Bell Willson

People:

Bell, James (1804-1857), Bell, Samuel Dana (1798-1868), Willson, Mary Bell (1876-1946)