THE earliest form of table in use in this country was inventoried in 1642 as a “table bord,” and the name occurs in English inventories one hundred years earlier. The name “board” was given quite literally from the table top, which was a board made separately from the supporting trestles, and which, after a meal, was taken off the trestles, and both board and trestles were put away, thus leaving the room free. These tables were long and narrow, and had in earliest times a long bench or form at one side only, the other side of the board being left free for serving. In the Bolles collection is a veritable “borde” rescued from the attic of a deserted house, where it had stood for scores of years. The board is about twelve feet long and two feet one inch wide, and bears the mark of many a knife. It rests upon three rude trestles, presenting a wonderfully interesting example of the “table borde” of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and one which is extremely rare.

It will be easily seen how the expression “the festive board” originated. Presently it became the custom to leave the board upon its trestles, instead of removing both, and in time the piece was called a table, which name covered both board and trestles. Some of the different forms of the table mentioned in inventories are framed and joined tables, chair tables, long tables, drawing-tables, square, oval, and round tables. The framed and joined tables refer to the frame beneath the board. The other tables derive their names from the shape or construction of the tops. A drawing-table was one made with extension pieces at each end, supported when out by wooden braces, and folding back under or over the table top when not in use.

A chair table is shown in Illustration 232. The table top is put back in the illustration, so that the piece can be pushed against the wall and used as a chair. Chair tables always had the drawer beneath the seat. They are inventoried as early as 1644. This chair table belongs to Dwight Blaney, Esq., of Boston.

The framed or joined table had turned legs, with stretchers between, and a drawer under the table top. Illustration 233 shows an oak table formerly owned in the Coffin family, and now in the building of the Newburyport Historical Society. The table is a good example of the framed or joined table early in the seventeenth century. The legs and stretchers are of the same style as those upon wainscot chairs, which belong to the same period as the table.

Illustration 234 shows a table with slate top, owned by the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester. The slate top originally filled the eight-sided space in the centre of the table, but only the middle section is now left.

Beside the piece of slate is a paper written by the late John Preston of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, in 1847, when he gave the table to the Antiquarian Society, detailing the history of the table from the time it was given to his ancestor, the Rev. Nehemiah Walter, who graduated from Harvard University in 1682. The table was used by generation after generation of ministers and lawyers, whose ink-stains cover the marquetry border around the top, and whose feet have worn the stretchers. Slate-top tables are very rare, and there are but few known to exist. The turned legs and stretchers and the drawer in the table are features which appear in tables of the same date with wooden tops. There is one drop handle left upon the drawer, the frame around which has the early single moulding.

Illustration 235 shows a curious little table, several of which have been found in Connecticut, and which were probably made there.

It has the turned legs, with plain stretchers, of the tables in Illustration 233. The oval top has drop leaves which are held up by wing-shaped braces, from which comes the modern name for this table, of “butterfly table.”

The table in Illustration 236 is an unusually fine example of what is now called a “hundred-legged” or “forty-legged” table, evidently from the bewildering number of legs beneath it, which are wofully in the way of the legs of the persons seated around it. This table is made of oak, with twisted legs, and measures four feet by five and a half. The supporting legs, when not in use, swing around under the middle leaf. The table is owned by Dwight Blaney, Esq.

Illustration 237 shows a superb walnut dining-table, now in the rooms of the Albany Historical Society. It measures six and a half feet by six feet. It belonged to Sir William Johnson and when confiscated in 1776 from that Royalist, it was bought by Hon. John Taylor, whose descendants loan it to the Society. These tables are also called “gate-legged,” from the leg which swings under the leaf, like a gate.

Illustration 238 shows a very small, and very rare gate-legged table with trestle feet upon the middle section, enabling it to stand firmly with the leaves dropped. It belongs to Dwight M. Prouty, Esq.

Illustration 239 shows a spindle-legged, gate-legged table, a type exceedingly rare like all spindle-legged furniture. The slender legs have Dutch feet. This dainty table has descended to Mrs. Edward W. Rankin of Albany, from Katherine Livingstone, who brought it with her when she came to Albany in 1764, as the bride of Stephen Van Rensselaer, the Patroon. It must then have been an inherited piece.

Illustration 240 shows a forty-legged table, such as is not uncommonly found. It measures four feet in length. The large Sheffield plate tray on feet was made in the early part of the nineteenth century, when trays of various sizes upon feet were fashionable. The tea-set upon the tray is one made about 1835, and is extremely graceful in shape. The table and silver are owned by the writer.

The little Dutch table in Illustration 241 has the next style of leg used upon tables, which were made in all sizes, and were presumably very popular, for such tables are often found. One leg slides around on each side to support the leaves. This table was made about 1740, and belongs to Francis H. Bigelow, Esq.

The same Dutch leg is seen in Illustration 242 upon a dainty little mahogany card-table, with slides at each end to hold the candlesticks. This table belongs to Miss Tilton of Newburyport.

Illustration 243 shows a mahogany table with claw-and-ball feet owned by the writer. The top measures four feet four inches across, and its date is about 1750. The double coaster upon wheels, filled with violets, was made to hold decanters of wine, and one can imagine these wheels rattling down the mahogany table as the evening grew late and the decanters empty.

As early as 1676 stands are spoken of in inventories, and during the eighteenth century they were a common article of furniture. The tops were square, oval, or round, and the base consisted of a pillar with three spreading feet. Illustration 244 shows the early foot used for these stands, about 1740. This table is owned by Miss Mary Coates of Philadelphia, and the silver pieces upon it are heirlooms in her family.

These stands came to be known as “Dutch Tea-Tables,” and the bases were often elaborately carved. The tops of the handsomest tables were carved out of a thick piece of wood, so as to leave a rim, to keep the china from sliding off. This carved rim was in different forms, the finest being what is now called “pie-crust,” with an ogee scallop. The plain rim is now known as the “dish-top.” Illustration 245 shows a pie-crust table owned by Dwight Blaney, Esq.

Illustration 246 shows a dish-top table belonging to Francis H. Bigelow, Esq. Both tables have claw-and-ball feet, and they are made, like all of the Dutch tea-tables, with the top revolving upon the pillar.

When not in use the top could be “tipped,” and the table put back against the wall; and when the top was to be used, it fastened down with a snap.

Illustration 247 shows two of the finest type of tea-tables. They are owned by Harry Harkness Flagler, Esq. One has the pie-crust edge, and the other a scalloped edge. The pillars of both are reeded, and the legs are carved. A great difference can be noted between these two bases, in the sweep of the spreading legs, and in the claw-and-ball feet, which are especially fine upon the pie-crust table.

The proportion of this table are unusually good, the central pillar being slender, and the finely carved legs having a spread which gives a very graceful and light effect.

Illustration 248 shows another fine table and chair owned by Mr. Flagler. The chair is described upon page 183. The table has an oval top, carved, not in a regular scallop, but in rococo scrolls. It has a heavier pillar than the pie-crust table in the last illustration, and the legs have a smaller spread.

A tripod table with a remarkable top is shown in Illustration 249. It belongs to J.J. Gilbert, Esq., of Baltimore. The rim is carved and pierced like the mahogany trays of the time.

Illustration 250 shows a Chinese fretwork table owned by Harry Harkness Flagler, Esq. Such tables were designed by Ince and Mayhew and Chippendale, and were called show tables, the pierced gallery serving to keep small curios on the table from falling off. Both of these tables were used as tea-tables, the raised rims protecting the tea-cups, more precious then than now.

Stands were made in different sizes, one being intended for a “light-stand” to hold the candlestick, and the smallest for a tea-kettle stand, to accompany the tea-table. Illustration 251 shows three sizes of stands, all smaller than those illustrated previously, and giving somewhat the effect of the three bears of the nursery tale. The middle stand, which has a dish-top, has a base which is exquisitely carved. The tiny kettle-stand is only eighteen and one-half inches high. These three stands also belong to Mr. Flagler.

Illustration 252 shows a small tea-table belonging to Mrs. C. M. Dyer of Worcester. A star is inlaid upon the top, the edge of which has a row of fine inlaying. The base has three fanlike carvings where the legs join the pillar.

The exquisite Chippendale card-table shown in Illustration 253 is not only beautiful in itself, but it frames what is a monument to the industry of the frail young girls who embroidered the top, and to the good housekeeping of its owners for one hundred and twenty odd years. The colors in this embroidery are as brilliant as when new, and never a moth has been suffered to even sniff at its stitches, which are the smallest I have ever seen. The work is done upon very fine linen, and each thread is covered with a stitch of embroidery, done with the slenderest possible strands of crewel, in designs of playing-cards, and of round and fish-shaped counters, in mother-of-pearl shades, copied from the original pearl counters, which still lie in the little oval pools hollowed out for them in the mahogany frame.

The fashionable game at that date was quadrille, which was played with these round and fish-shaped counters.

Dr. William Samuel Johnson, the first president of Columbia University, had four daughters, all of whom died in early youth, from consumption. This embroidery was wrought by them, one taking the task as the other gave it up with her life. The same young girls embroidered the screen in Illustration 328. Small wonder they died young! Far better the golf and tennis which would occupy the daughters of a modern college president, if he were so fortunate as to have four.

The frame of this table is very beautiful, though it is cast in the shade by the extraordinary needlework. It is after the finest Chippendale design, and of the best workmanship. The wood is mahogany, and the table is owned by Mrs. Johnson-Hudson of Stratford, Connecticut.

A Chippendale card-table, owned by the writer, is shown in Illustration 254. The mahogany top is shaped in deep curves, with square corners and is an inch thick to allow the depth of the pools for counters. The lower edge of the table is gadrooned, and the two front legs are finely carved. The two back legs, which are stationary, are carved on the front side only, while the fifth leg, which swings under the leaf to hold it up, is plain, with simply the claw-and-ball foot.

Illustration 255 shows another Chippendale table with a baize-covered top. It has the pools for counters, and the corners of the top are shaped in square pieces to stand the candlesticks upon.

The knees of the cabriole legs are finely carved, and the edge of the front is finished with gadrooning. It will be noticed that there is a leg at each corner with the table open; in closing, two legs turn in accordion fashion, and a leg is still at each corner of the closed table, with the top half the size. This card-table is owned by Harry Harkness Flagler, Esq., of Millbrook, N. Y.

A style of table popular during the eighteenth century was called a Pembroke table, according to Sheraton, from the name of the lady who first ordered one, and who probably gave the idea to the workman. Illustration 256 shows a Pembroke table in the Chippendale style, with rather unusual stretchers between the legs. The characteristic which gives a table the name of Pembroke consists in the drop leaves, which are held up, when the table is open, by brackets which turn under the top. The shape of the top varies, being square, round, oval, or with leaves shaped like the table in the illustration. They are always small, and were designed for breakfast tables. This table belongs to the Concord Antiquarian Society.

A beautiful Pembroke table owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art is shown in Illustration 257. It is made of mahogany entirely veneered with curly sycamore, with a band of tulip wood around the top and leaves, which are exquisitely inlaid in a circular design, and upon the legs are lines of holly with an oval inlay at the top.

Illustration 258 shows a set or “nest” of Chinese tea tables owned by Dwight M. Prouty, Esq. They and the tea caddy case are lacquered in black with Chinese scenes in gold. These sets of tables were brought by ships in the Chinese trade, and were fashionable among the tea drinkers of early times.

From about 1786 the designs of Shearer, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton entirely superseded the fashions of the fifty years preceding, and the slender tapering leg took the place of the cabriole leg. Illustration 259 shows a Hepplewhite card-table, of about 1789, with inlaid legs, one of which swings around to support half of the top, which is circular when open.

Upon this table is a mahogany tea tray with handles at each side and a raised rim with a scalloped edge to keep the cups and saucers from slipping off. Oval trays of this style are not uncommon, of mahogany with inlaying, but this tray is shaped to fit the table top. This table and tray are owned by the Concord Antiquarian Society. The china upon the tray is Lowestoft, so called.

Illustration 260 shows two typical Hepplewhite card-tables owned by the writer. They are of mahogany, the square, tapering legs being inlaid with a fine line of holly. The front of one table has an oval inlay of lighter mahogany, and small oval pieces above each leg.

The edge of this table is inlaid with lines of holly. The front of the other table is veneered with curly maple, and has a panel in the centre inlaid with an urn in colored woods.

There is a row of fine inlaying in holly and ebony upon the edge of the top. This table was rescued by the writer from an ignominious existence in a kitchen, where it was covered with oilcloth and used for kitchen purposes. The leaf of each of these tables is supported by one of the legs, which swings around.

Illustration 261 shows a Sheraton card-table of the best style, with reeded legs and the front veneered in satinwood. It is owned by Irving Bigelow, Esq., of Worcester.

The Sheraton card-table in Illustration 262 is of a few years later date than the one in Illustration 261, with slightly heavier legs, reeded and carved. The curves of the front of the table are extremely graceful. It belongs to Dwight Blaney, Esq.

Illustration 263 shows a Sheraton stand, called a “what-not,” made of mahogany, with reeded legs. The posts above the legs are veneered in bird’s-eye maple, and the two drawers are veneered in satinwood. The handles are of bone or ivory. The effect of this little stand is most airy and light. It belongs to Mr. Blaney.

Illustration 264 shows a mahogany dining-table and one of eight chairs which came from the John Hancock house in Boston.

They are now owned by Clinton M. Dyer, Esq., of Worcester. They were made probably about 1810. The legs of the table end in the Adam foot.

The table which has both leaves dropped shows the position of the legs when the table is not in use; each leg swings around to support the leaves when in use. The table with slightly rounded corners can be taken apart, and the extra table put between the two sections, the leaves being fastened together by a curious brass spring. Each leaf measures five and one-half feet in length. The drop leaves are twenty-six inches wide, and the table, when all the top is spread out, measures five and a half by twelve feet.

The chair is made after the style of the late Sheraton chairs, with carved drapery upon the back.

Illustration 265 shows a circular work-table of very graceful design. The wood is mahogany, and the little feet are of bronze. There are three drawers, the two upper ones opening with a spring and revolving upon a pivot. In these little drawers may still be seen the beads remaining from the time, about 1800, when it was fashionable for young ladies to make bead bags. The table top has an opening in the centre, which originally had a wooden cover, and the space below the top was utilized to hold the work. At the back of the top are two short turned posts supporting a little shelf, to hold a candlestick, or to have fastened upon its edge the silver bird which was used by needlewomen of those days to hold one end of the work. This little table is owned by the Misses Hosmer of Concord.

Illustration 266 shows a Sheraton work-table, owned by Mrs. Samuel B. Woodward of Worcester. The carving at the top of the reeded legs is very fine, and the little table is quite dainty enough to serve the purpose for which it was bought,—a wedding gift to a bride.

The brass fixtures for the casters are unusually good, but the handles are not original. The top drawer contains a sort of writing desk, besides compartments for sewing materials, and at the side of the table a slide pulls out, which had originally a silk bag attached, to hang below the table.

Illustration 267 shows two work-tables of mahogany and bird’s-eye maple belonging to Francis H. Bigelow, Esq. Similar tables were common about 1810-1820.

Illustrations 268 and 269 show two work-tables owned by Dwight M. Prouty, Esq. The legs and frame of the upper table are of mahogany, the box being made of pine and covered with pleated silk. The lower table is more elegant in shape, with a slide, the front of which simulates a drawer, and to this is attached the work bag or box, in this table made of wood, silk-covered, but sometimes made of silk alone.

Illustration 270 shows a Hepplewhite dining table, the drop leaf serving to increase the length of the table, when raised and held up by the extra leg, which swings under it. Up to 1800 the dining-table had been made in various styles, in all of which the table legs were more or less in the way of those around the table. In the “hundred-legged” table there seemed to be a table leg for each person. Then came the cabriole leg, also in the way, and finally the Hepplewhite dining-table, which was made in sections, with rounded ends, and four legs on each end.

About 1800 the pillar-and-claw table was invented, which made it possible for several persons to sit around a dining-table without a part of the guests encircling the table legs with their own. These tables were made in pairs or in threes, one after another being added as more room was required.

Illustration 271 shows a pillar-and-claw extension dining-table, of mahogany, owned by L. J. Shapiro, Esq. of Norfolk, Virginia. The telescope extension (the same method in use at present) was invented by Richard Gillow, of London, about 1800. The end tables pull apart upon a slide, and extra leaves may be inserted between the ends, held in place by wooden pins.

The pillar and claw design was most popular and was used for centre tables, bases of piano stools, and even for piano legs (see Illustration 292). A pillar-and-claw mahogany centre table with drop leaves is shown in Illustration 272. The feet are lion’s claws, and from this date the lion’s or bear’s claw foot was used for furniture with carved feet, instead of the bird’s claw-and-ball which had been so largely used during the previous century.

A splendid dining-table of mahogany is shown in Illustration 273. It is in three sections, each with a base. The legs have a bold spread, and are simply carved in grooves, ending in lion’s claws. This fine table is owned by Barton Myers, Esq., of Norfolk, Virginia.

Illustration 274 shows a mahogany dining-table now in the Worcester Art Museum, inherited from the late Stephen Salisbury, Esq.

The method of extension is after that of an accordion, and necessitates an astonishing number of legs when not extended, ten in all.

When the leaves are all in use the table is fourteen feet long, and stands very firmly, the leaves being held together by a brass clamp, seen in the illustration.

A very fine card table owned by Mrs. Clarence R. Hyde of Brooklyn is shown in Illustration 275. It is made of mahogany, with a band of satinwood around the box top. When open, the whole top revolves upon a pivot. The legs are slender and well carved, with lion’s feet.

One of the finest of American cabinet-makers was Duncan Phyfe, whose address in the New York directory of 1802 is 35 Partition Street (now Fulton Street). He pursued his business until 1850, employing one hundred workmen. Much of his furniture still exists, notably chairs with lyre backs.

A Phyfe card-table owned by Miss H. P. F. Burnside of Worcester is shown in Illustration 276. The strings of the lyre are of brass, like the lion’s feet in which the legs end.

A specialty of Phyfe’s was a card-table, one of which is shown in Illustration 277. In the illustration the table apparently lacks a fourth leg, as it stands against the wall. But when the top is open, by an interesting mechanism the three legs spread and a brace comes out to support the other half of the top, so that it forms a perfectly proportioned table. Mr. Hagen of New York has an old bill, dated 1816, for two of these tables at sixty dollars apiece. The table in the illustration is owned by Dwight Blaney, Esq.

A Phyfe sofa table is shown in Illustration 278, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is very narrow, and was designed, as the name implies, to stand beside a sofa, to hold books, papers, or other articles.

The legs end in small lion’s feet and are carved, like the posts, with the typical Phyfe leaf. This leaf, so much used by Phyfe, is seen, like the lyre, upon Adam pieces, and apparently the Scotchman, Duncan Phyfe, took the Scotchman, Robert Adam, for his model. The fashion of heavy furniture elaborately carved was more popular in the South than in the North, and the most ornate pieces are found in the South, of later date than the rich carving done in Philadelphia, upon pie-crust tables and high-boys. Heavy posts carved with the acanthus and pineapple and other Empire features found favor.

It is probable that during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the wealthy Southern planters refurnished their homes in the prevailing Empire style. The pier-table in Illustration 279 is one of a pair found in Virginia, which were made about 1830. The chief motif in the design seems to be dolphins’ heads, which form the feet, and the base of the front supports to the top.

Illustration 280 shows a small work-table of curious shape, with the octagon-shaped interior divided into little boxes for sewing-materials. The middle compartment extends down into the eight-sided pillar. The work-boxes are covered by the top of the table, which lifts upon hinges. This table belongs to Mrs. E. A. Morse of Worcester.

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