AN EXTREMELY RARE WILLIAM AND MARY TURNED AND JOINED MAHOGANY GATELEG TABLE WITH BRUSH FEET, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1720 |

Joe Kindig, Jr. & Son, York, Pennsylvania;
May and Howard Joynt, Alexandria, Virginia;
Christie’s, New York, Important American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Decorative Arts, June 23, 1994, sale 7924, lot 209;
Alan Miller, Quakertown, Pennsylvania, June 1994;
Vogel Collection no. 599.

Wear, discoloration and minor separation commensurate with age and use. Few age cracks throughout. Drawer restored; top reset; hinges replaced. Bottoms of feet restored to proper height.
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.

This gateleg table with eight carved Spanish feet is among the rarest of American furniture forms. One of only a small group of approximately a dozen surviving examples.  Like its more common turned foot counterparts, it is fitted with a single drawer and has boldly-turned legs and stretchers. It is of generous size and unusual for being made of mahogany, rather than the more commonly found maple and walnut. As was the practice in Boston, 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 and armchairs. This table is all the rarer because it is crafted from mahogany.  Mahogany was a very exotic wood for turners in early eighteenth century Boston. Its cost was very high and supplies were quite limited because the trade routes to Central and South America had not fully developed.  Therefore, its use in early American furniture is very rare and emphasizes the significance of this table.

Related gateleg tables are in several prominent collections, such as Bayou Bend (acc. no. B.59.71), Art Institute of Chicago (acc. no. 1979.344), Colonial Williamsburg (acc. no. 1959-392), Historic Deerfield (acc. no. HD 2093), Winterthur Museum (acc. no. 1958.0582), and Wadsworth Atheneum(acc. no. 1926.494) (see David Warren, et al, American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection (Houston, TX: The Museum of Fine Arts, 1998),, p. 13-4. no. F24; Milo Naeve, Identifying American Furniture (Nashville, TN: American Association for State and Local History, 1981), p. 18; Barry Greenlaw, New England Furniture at Williamsburg (Williamsburg: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1974): no. 135, p. 156-7; Dean Fales, The Furniture of Historic Deerfield (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.): no. 239, p. 117; Helen Comstock, “Spanish Foot Furniture,” The Magazine Antiques (January 1957): 58-61; and Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury Vol. I (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948): no. 963).  One related example made of cherrywood was purchased by Judge Mark Langdon Hill (1772-1884) of Phippsburg, Maine from a public sale of the personal effects of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1789). That table sold in these rooms, Important Americana, January 23, 2009, lot 237.  Other related tables are in private collections (see Kennedy and Sack, Age of the Revolution and Early Republic in Fine and Decorative Arts: 1750-1824 (New York: Kennedy Galleries and Israel Sack, 1977): no. 27; Brunk Auctions, Ashville, NC, March 23, 2018, lot 285; William A. Smith, Inc., Plainfield, NH, September 5, 2016; Northeast Auctions, Portsmouth, NH, July 31, 2008, lot 387; Northeast Auctions, Portsmouth, NH, November 5, 2005, lot 139).