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Dining table

Object number

RIF5703

Maker

Maker Unknown

Dimensions

Closed: 26 7/8 × 16 1/2 × 52 1/2 in. (68.26 × 41.91 × 133.35 cm) Width, open: 58 in. (147.32 cm)

Date

1750–70

Current location

Private Collection

Geography

Made in Rhode Island
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Mahogany (primary); maple (hinged rails); yellow poplar (stationary rails and glue blocks)

Marks

None

Inscriptions

Probably “1 [in a circle],” in chalk, on exterior of one of stationary rails; “2,” in chalk, on interior of other stationary rail; “J A Child,” in chalk, on exterior of one of hinged rails; “/,” in chalk, on interior of one rail and on adjacent underside of top; faint chalk, on interior of one of short rails where screw pocket was drilled; cross [laying out lines], in chalk, on underside of top

Provenance

By desent in the Child family, Warren, Rhode Island. Cowan's Auctions, Cincinnati, March 9, 2013, lot 76; Bernard and S. Dean Levy, Inc., New York, 2013

Associated names

Bernard and S. Dean Levy, Inc.
Cowan's Auctions
I. A. Child

Construction

The single-board, oblong top with bowed ends and quarter-round edge is flanked by two-board, half-round leaves, to which it is joined by three pairs of iron hinges, each leaf thrice-screwed. The joint between the top and leaves is quarter round. The top is secured to its frame by screw pockets, one each in the short, flat arch-skirted rails, and two each in the interior rails, and by rectangular, horizontal glue blocks, one each at the short rails (one is missing) and four each at the interior rails. There are no cross braces, nor any shadows thereof. The mortise and tenon joints on the stationary legs are secured with two pegs each. The square-sectioned legs have angular knees and ankles, and end in claw and ball feet with prominent knuckles and undercut talons. Notes compiled by T.B. Lloyd from photographs supplied by Cowan?s Auctions, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Bibliography

"Cowan's Auctions," http://www.cowanauctions.com/autions/past-item.aspx?ItemID=122923 (accessed April 18, 2013), item 122923.