This table has a serpentine front and sides with ovolo corners.  The top conforms with the sides and is reeded over double-matched crotch mahogany veneered front panels, on which an intricately carved basket with fruit is applied.  The sides are complemented by acanthus-carved and punchwork-decorated front colonettes.  The top is supported on acanthus-carved reeded tapering legs which end in turned tapered feet.  Pine is the secondary wood.

This table is very strong in its presentation and masculine in aspect.  The woods are of the finest quality and, although classical, the shaped apron on both sides and front are reminiscent of earlier Chippendale forms, while the reeded legs suggest elements of Sheraton design.

This table is associated with Salem or possibly with Nathaniel Appleton or contemporary. For a related card table with the Appleton attribution without fruit basket illustrated in Colonial Furniture in America, by Luke Vincent Lockwood, click here. These tables were made in varying style, sometimes with legs quite heavy and bulbous. The above example is probably one of the best we’ve seen with the inclusion of a fruit basket, reeded edges, and a more desirable tapered, vertically reeded leg as opposed to the less desirable and more common spiral type.

Height 28 3/4 in. Width 38 1/2 in. Depth 19 in.