Tray-Top Table
Decorative Arts and Design
Mahogany sourced from estates in the Caribbean was sent to ports along the Atlantic seaboard, including Portsmouth, New Hampshire. There, cabinetmaking workshops owned by British-born or British-descended settlers such as Robert Harrold of Portsmouth copied fashionable designs from England to produce furniture for wealthy white merchants and landowners.
MEDIUM
Mahogany and mahogany veneer
DATES
ca. 1770
DIMENSIONS
29 1/4 x 34 1/2 x 23 1/2in. (74.3 x 87.6 x 59.7cm)
(show scale)
MARKINGS
Yellowed paper adhesive label with a red border declares the piece as property of Mr. M.S. Sloan.
On the underside of the piece "456.R" is written in chalk.
On the right side of the piece, inscribed in red paint are the numbers "14-1924-21".
ACCESSION NUMBER
1997.150.16
CREDIT LINE
Matthew Scott Sloan Collection, Gift of Lidie Lane Sloan McBurney
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Tea Table, tray top, mahogany and mahogany veneer, Chippendale style. Scallop-rimmed rectangular top and four legs joined by crossed arch stretchers with a pierced flame-shaped finial at the crossing. Undecorated apron of mahogany veneer with single bands of applied molding around the top and bottom. Pierced fretwork brackets support each leg at the top corner. The crossed stretchers themselves are made up of two opposing, molded C-scrolls. The outer sides of the rectangular legs are molded; the inner sides are chamfered along the edge. The four castors which are not original to the table have been removed.
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Attributed to Robert Harrold (American, born England, 18th century). Tray-Top Table, ca. 1770. Mahogany and mahogany veneer, 29 1/4 x 34 1/2 x 23 1/2in. (74.3 x 87.6 x 59.7cm). Brooklyn Museum, Matthew Scott Sloan Collection, Gift of Lidie Lane Sloan McBurney, 1997.150.16. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1997.150.16_PS6.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 1997.150.16_PS6.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2012
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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What is this style called?
This tray-table is in the "Chippendale" style, after the London cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale, whose published designs were copied by furniture makers living and working in Colonial America.
Chippendale combined elements of various styles. The curved stretchers connecting the legs are in the Rococo style. But the legs themselves look like Gothic columns and the openwork carving in the corners is Gothic as well. Chippendale often incorporated Chinese motifs, although that is not seen in this particular piece.
Is the top solid mahogany?
The bottom is carved from solid mahogany and the tray top is veneered. If you look closely at the side of the tray, you will see "book match" veneering, where matching pieces of mahogany have been placed to create a mirrored pattern, like an open book.