A Chippendale Mahogany Round Tea Table with Carved Knees, Newport, RI, c. 1765

This tripod table, referred to commonly as a tea table, has a flat top buttressed by a birdcage structure of four turned supports.  Below, the column has a turned stem with a spiral carved urn.  Cabriole legs are embellished with carved anthemion and end in dramatic claw and ball feet.

While Levy cites a Salem origin for this table based upon a seemingly related table, Albert Sack in his New Points of Fine Furniture (which Levy had not seen), shows a more closely related example.  The example that Sack shows has the identical knee carving as our table, along with similar carved feet.  One difference is the urn, though both examples are fluted.  The column on our table is plain and short, so as to receive a bird cage, which the Sack example does not have.  Given the absolutely identical carving on the knee, it appears they both came from the same shop.  Therefore, we are calling this table a Rhode Island table.

Related Images:

• Bill of sale and description from Bernard & S. Dean Levy
• Antiques Magazine, January 2000

This table is illustrated and compared in an unpublished article by Martha H. Willoughby about a related table labeled by Joseph Sanford.  Martha Willoughby is an independent scholar dealing in American Furniture and Decorative Arts.  Click here to see the article.

Height: 30 1/2 in. Width: 35 in.