Table

Object Name:

Table

Object ID:

1957.065.01.95

Place of Origin:

New England

Date:

1710-1740

Description:

Butterfly Table. Birch, maple and pine woods. Oval top with edges slightly rounded. Leaves narrower than center portion. Molded joint attached with inset iron hinges. Simple, curved butterfly support attach center section of leaves and side stretchers. Legs canted, four stretchers, both block and spindle turned. Button feet. Painted black. Marked with stickers reading "55" and "10/29/57 Murphy." According to Elizabeth Rhoades' study of this form in Portsmouth probate records, 1750-75. "next to chairs, tables, and stands are the most frequently mentioned pieces of furniture in household inventories." However, "few descriptions of the tables are given beyond indicating what wood was used, or, in rare cases whether they were painted."

Material:

Wood

Dimensions:

H-25.5 W-28.5 D-32.5 inches

Provenance:

"Found near Dover," according to early Prentis Room literature; variously given as "from Dover." Acquired by donor prior to 1950 when it was pictured in "the Connecticut Home of Mrs. Katherine Prentis Murphy" in Antiques (June 1950). From the collection of furnishings known as the Prentis Collection -- given by Katherine Prentis Murphy and her brother Edmund Astley Prentis, in memory of Katherine's husband, David Edward Murphy -- which formed the contents of a suite of early New England "period rooms," meant to represent the home of a prosperous New England merchant c. 1730. The rooms were exhibited at the New Hampshire Historical Society (30 Park St.), 1957-1984.

Credit Line:

Gift of Katharine Prentis Murphy and Edmund Astley Prentis Jr., in Memory of David Edward Murphy

People:

Murphy, Katharine Prentis (1882-1967), Prentis, Edmund Astley, Jr. (1883-1967), Murphy, David E. (1859-1919)