The Important Sarah Fulton Queen Anne Figured Mahogany Tray-Top Tea Table with Candle Slides, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1755

Retains a rich dark surface. Label affixed to underside of table inscribed Very fine queen Anne Tea Table - 1720 - 1750 - Belonged to Sarah (Bradlee) Fulton, sister in law of Robert Fulton, inventor of steamboat. She lived at The corner of Hollis and Tremont Sts. in Boston and her brothers were said To have dressed up as Indians in her house preparatory to participating in The "Boston Tea Party".

According to family history, originally owned by Sarah Bradlee Fulton (1740-1836) and her husband, John Fulton (1733-1790), Medford, Massachusetts;
Bradlee-Crowninshield family, Salem, Massachusetts;
Israel Sack Inc., New York;
Mr. and Mrs. Eric Martin Wunsch, New York

Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Paul Revere’s Boston, 1735-1818, 1975,  p. 96, no. 122;
New York, Kennedy Galleries, Age of the Revlution and Early Republic in Fine and Decorative Arts, 1750-1824, January 14-February 12, 1977, no. 29.

Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Volume IV, P3757, p. 975;
Albert Sack, "Regionalism in early American tea tables," Magazine Antiques (January 1987) 252, fig. 3.

Secondary wood is white pine. Top is split and a 1/4 inch flller strip of wood fills its length. Two later battens glued to underside of top to stabilize the split. Glue block stop under candle slides replaced. minor 3/8 inch square patch at location of pull on one slide. Retains a rich dark surface.
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.

Retaining its original surface, slide supports and underbracing intact, this remarkably preserved tea table survives as one of the finest examples of its type known. It represents the most highly developed form of Queen Anne tea tables made in Boston from about 1740 to the Revolution.  According to family history, it was originally owned by Sarah Bradlee Fulton (1740-1835), one of Boston’s most devoted patriots. In addition to being a prominent member and leader of the Daughters of Liberty, she is often referred to as the “Mother of the Boston Tea Party” for her role in disguising and helping the Sons of Liberty conceal their identities. She cared for the wounded after the Battle of Bunker Hill and risked her life to deliver dispatches from General Washington to behind enemy lines during the siege of Boston. She married John Fulton (1733-1790), a cousin of steamboat inventor Robert Fulton (1765-1815), in 1762 and they perhaps purchased this table for their home in Medford, where both Washington and Lafayette visited. This table descended in the Bradlee-Crowninshield branch of her family of Salem. Israel Sack purchased it from a descendant and published it in volumes IV and X of American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection as “in the finest original state.” In addition, this important table was included in the exhibition Paul Revere’s Boston, 1735-1818 held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1975.

 Of unparalleled refinement and grace, this table is fashioned with a top with a notched molded rim to secure a tea service, an elaborately scalloped bulging apron, slender tapering cabriole legs and crisp pad feet on platformed wafers. In constructing it in the latest London taste, its maker was clearly inspired by a tea table design with a pinched corner top, cabriole legs, and pad feet executed by John Linnell in circa 1760 and published in Miscellaneous Collection of Designs (London, 1800). Linnell appears to have based his designs on Chinese tables with rectangular tops, cyma skirts, and cabriole legs imported to England from the seventeenth century.

 A very closely related tea table nearly identical in design and dimension perhaps made in the same shop has a history in the John Hooper family of Marblehead. It is in the collection of the U.S. Department of State and illustrated by Israel Sack, Inc., in American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Volume IX, p. 168.