A CHIPPENDALE CHERRYWOOD TILT-TOP TEA TABLE, probably shop of Aaron Chapin, Hartford, Connecticut, Circa 1785-95

Minor crack to edge of top. Top warped.
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Made of cherry with white pine as a secondary wood, this tea table relates closely to one in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum stamped by Amzi Chapin (1768-1835), the younger brother of Aaron Chapin (1753-1838) (see Kugelman, Thomas P. and Alice K. Kugelman with Robert Lionetti. Connecticut Valley Furniture: Eliphalet Chapin and His Contemporaries, 1750-1800. Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society Museum, 2005, fig. 7.3, p. 358).  After working in East Windsor with Eliphalet Chapin (1741-1807) for nine years, Aaron opened his own shop in Hartford in 1783. Amzi began working as an apprentice there soon after and remained with the shop until 1791.  He stamped three tables during his years as a journeyman in the shop, from 1788 to 1791, including a Federal style demi-lune card table in the collection of Historic Deerfield (see ibid, fig. 7.4, p. 358).

This table and the one stamped by Amzi Chapin are nearly identical -- from the turnings on their pillars to their low stance, rounded legs and pad feet.  They reflect the design and construction practices of Eliphalet, which Aaron closely followed during the early years in his own shop. Both are similar in design to a stand table in a private collection made in Elipahlet Chapin’s shop in 1775 as part of the Grant/Marsh commission, one with more complex turnings and claw-and-ball feet (see ibid, fig. 3.1, p. 134).