The Important Franklin Family Mahogany and Carved and Turned Cherrywood Gateleg Table, Boston, Massachusetts circa 1730

Inscribed on underside of top. Mrs. E. B. Arnold, this table was the property of Benjamin Franklin

Possibly originally owned by Josiah Franklin (1657-1745), Ecton, Northamptonshire, England and Boston, Massachusetts;
Possibly owned by Benjamin Franklin (1706-1789), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Judge Mark Langdon Hill (1772-1884), Phippsburg, Maine, who by tradition purchased the table and a tall clock at a sale of Franklin personal effects;
To his eldest daughter;
To her oldest son;
To his wife, Eleanor B. Arnold of Bath, Maine, who affixed the label to the underside of the table and recounted its history in a 1922 letter reprinted in Sack, Volume III cited below;
Percival B. Rolfe, Portland Maine in 1922;
Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Gershenson, Detroit, Michigan;
Israel Sack, Inc., New York

Art Institute of Chicago, 1943

Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, in the database for B Franklin 300 (1706-2006) held to celebrate The Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary. The table is included in Franklin Artifacts section at www.benfranklin300.org
Age of the Revolution and Early Republic in Fine and Decorative Arts:1750-1824, (New York: Kennedy Galleries, Inc. and Israel Sack, Inc., 1977), no. 27.

Sack, Israel, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection. Vol. III, pp. 734-5. The table is illustrated along with a letter recounting its history.

Sack, Israel, Inc., Opportunities in American Antiques. Brochure No. 20. New York: Israel Sack, Inc., 1971, pp. 4-5.

Sack, Israel, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection. Alexandria, VA: Highland House Publishers, 1969. Vol. I, p. 190, no. 485.

Gershenson, Doris Fisher. "Living with Antiques: The Detroit home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Gershenson." The Magazine Antiques (May 1967): 640. The table is illustrated as having "belonged to Benjamin Franklin's father."

The Magazine Antiques (July 1923): 12, as the property of Percival B. Rolfe of Portland.

Note: the top of this table is Mahaogany and not Walnut as indicated in the bold type. Secondary woods are white pine, birch, and maple, table base with several layers of finish. Proper right front foot with both foot facings restored, proper right swing leg foot one foot facings restored and back edge of foot partially restored, Proper right stationary foot with one foot facing and back edges of foot restored, proper right rear foot with one foot facing restored. Proper left front foot with foot facings and partial back of foot bead restored, proper left stationary foot with both foot facings and a portion of foot bead restored, proper left swing foot with a portion of foot facing restored and portion of foot bead restored, proper left rear foot with foot facings restored. Refer to the department for x-rays of pin joints, several screws for hinges replaced.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Of immense size and stature, this gateleg table stands as one of the greatest examples of its form. Constructed with a turned cherrywood base and a walnut top, this table survives in a remarkable condition. The top is secured to the frame by six pins that are driven through the top and then completely through the 3 1/2 inch rails. The cherrywood base retains remnants of a dark mahogany stain, which originally would have harmonized the base and top. The molded edge of the top, while quite rare in early America, is a Baroque decorative element found on the edges of contemporary octagonal topped candlestands and dressing tables.

This table was likely made in the Boston area for the profiles of the leg and stretcher turnings conform to the style regularly associated with early 18^th century Boston turners. Further, the refined dovetailing of the drawer and the double-pinned joinery are also more typical of urban craftsmanship. This table is however one of less than a dozen surviving examples that have brush or "Spanish" feet.¹  The feet were laminated to the leg stock and then carved after the leg was turned. This technique was also followed on the brush feet of Boston-made "leather back" side chairs, armchairs and easy chairs. In contrast, brush feet on New Hampshire-made chairs and tables are carved out of the solid.

This table was purchased in the late 18^th/early 19^th century by Judge Mark Langdon Hill (1772-1884) of Phippsburg, Maine. Born in Biddeford (then a district of Massachusetts) on June 30, 1772, Hill was a merchant and shipbuilder in Phippsburg as well as an overseer and trustee of Bowdoin College. He was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and served in the State Senate before becoming a judge of the court of common please in 1810. He later served as a representative from Massachusetts in the Sixteenth Congress (1819-1821) and Seventeenth Congress (1821-1823). He died in Phippsburg on November 26, 1842.

By tradition, Judge Hill purchased this table from at a public sale of the personal effects of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1789) and it descended with this history through successive generations of his family until 1922. At that time, Mrs. Eleanor B. Arnold, the wife of his deceased grandson, sold the table to Percival Rolfe of Portland, Maine along with a letter recounting its history. Israel Sack Inc. published this table, along with letter, additionally noting "The Franklin history preserved with this table suggests it belonged to Benjamin Franklin's father, Josiah, and was the family dining table referred to in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: By the same wife he had four children more born there, and by a second wife ten more, in all seventeen; of which I remember thirteen sitting at one time at his table, who all grew up to be men and women, and married.²  A tallow maker, Josiah Franklin (1657-1745 emigrated from England to Boston in 1684/5 and lived in Boston at a large house, known as the Blue Ball, at the corner of Hanover and Union Streets. Benjamin was born in Boston as the fifteenth child and youngest son. He lived at home until 1720 and moved to Philadelphia in 1723. Josiah died in 1745. His estate inventory, dated October 24, 1752, included 5 tables valued as 14 shillings 8 pence.³

After Ben Franklin's death on April 17, 1790, his daughter, Sally Bache, and her husband, Richard, were the principal beneficiaries of his estate, which consisted of his house, printing office, several other building and lots in Philadelphia and all of his household effects.⁴  According to newspaper notices and correspondence, the Baches disposed of some of Franklin's possessions at several auctions held in Philadelphia in 1790, 1792, 1799 and 1809. On October 21, 1790 an auction of "Mr. B. Franklin's household & kitchen furnishings" was held at "Mr. Bache's, Market, between Third and Fourth Streets." In May 1792, another sale of "Furniture ... at the House of the late Doctor Franklin, in Franklin-Court, Market Street" included "a variety of valuable Furniture and Plate consisting of Mahogany Side-Board, Dining, Card and Pembroke Tables..."  Another sale "of Elegant Furniture" was held in 1799.⁵  Additional effects of Franklin's were undoubtedly included in the June 16, 1809 sale of "A Quantity of neat Household Furniture" belonging to Richard Bache, Esq., on the occasion of his "removing to the country."⁶

The sale of this table provides the very rare opportunity to purchase on of the greatest tables made in Colonial America.

Sotheby's would like to thank Page Talbott for her assistance with the research for this lot.

¹ For related tables with brush feet, see: [Historic Deerfield] Dean Fales, Furniture of Historic Deerfield, (New York: Dutton, 1976), fig. 239; [Art Institute of Chicago] Milo M Naeve, Identifying American Furniture, (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1998), p. 18, no. 22; [Wadsworth Atheneum] Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury, (New York: MacMillan, 1928), fig. 963; [Winterthur Museum] Girl Scout Loan Exhibition.
² Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, New York: Courier Dove Publishing, 1996, p. 5.
³ Suffolk County Probate, Volume 47, pp. 437-8. Sotheby's would like to thank Page Talbott for providing this information.
⁴ Page Talbott, "Franklin's legacy: Documented furnishings," The Magazine Antiques (December 2005): p. 66.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ ibid, notes 11 and 12, p. 72.