A Fine Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Turret-Top Games Table, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Circa 1755-1760

Collection of Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1962-227-1, Gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Trusts, 1962.

Proper left rear corner of fly-leaf with a 1 1/8 by 1 3/8 inch patch. Felt replaced. Hardware not original. Later brace added between front and back rail. Secondary wood is Poplar, Atlantic White Cedar, Yellow Pine and Oak.
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Late Baroque games tables with projecting circular front corners, today known as turret corners, were manufactured in England from about 1720 and variations of the form were made in America in New England, New York and Philadelphia in the Rococo aesthetic. The 1772 and 1786 Philadelphia price lists include the form as “Card tables with Round Corners” as one of three models available. With its “Claw feet” and “leaves on knee & carved molding,” this one would have cost the very expensive price of £8 at the time it was made. The sophisticated design combined with the highly figured top, gadrooned rail, graceful legs with acanthus carved knees and boldly-carved claw feet, indicate this table stood in a room used for entertaining where it probably served as a gaming table, dining table or tea table.

Made of choice mahogany with a warm patina, boldly rounded turret ends and exceptional carving, this games table represents one of the most successful expressions in Philadelphia.  A very similar games table also with turret corners, a central drawer, a gadrooned apron, acanthus carved knees and claw feet descended in the family of Judge Jasper Yeates and is illustrated as plate 33 in Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture by William M. Hornor. One from the family of Mrs. DeWitt Burlingame of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania is illustrated in Israel Sack Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Volume I, no. 618, p. 249. One at Bayou Bend with the additional refinement of carving on the turrets was originally owned by George Ross (1730-1779) of Philadelphia (see David Warren, et al, American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection, Houston, 1998, no F115, pp. 67-8). Another closely related Philadelphia games table with turret corners was on loan to the U.S. Department of State (see Jonathan Fairbanks and Elizabeth Bates, American Furniture: 1620 to the Present, New York, 1981, p. 171).