Lot 2061
  • 2061

The Gardiner Family Very Fine and Rare Queen Anne Tray-Top Tea Table with Candle Slides, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1760

Estimate
60,000 - 120,000 USD
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Description

  • mahogany
  • Height 28 1/2 in. by Width 28 3/4 in. by Depth 18 3/4 in.

Provenance

Descended in the Gardiner family, Newport, Rhode Island;
Israel Sack, Inc., New York;
Mr. and Mrs. de B. K. Seeley;
John C. R. Tompkins, Millbrook, New York.

Exhibited

Providence, Rhode Island, The Rhode Island Historical Society, The John Brown House Loan Exhibition of Rhode Island Furniture, May 16-June 20, 1965.

Literature

American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, vol. 1, (Washington, D.C.: Highland House Publishers, 1957), p. 105, no. 306;
Israel Sack, Inc., advertisement, Magazine Antiques 78, no. 5 (November 1960);
Joseph K. Ott, The John Brown House Loan Exhibition of Rhode Island Furniture, including some notable portraits, Chinese export porcelain & other items, (Providence, RI: The Rhode Island Historical Society, 1965), no. 31, pp. 34-5;
George Parker, “Early American Furniture in Wisconsin,” Wisconsin Academy Review,  43: 2 (Spring 1997), 8.

Condition

Top appears reset on later strips; underside of sub-top with patch repairs. knee width: 28 3/4 in. knee depth: 18 3/4 in.
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.

Catalogue Note

With its pinched cornered molded tray top, lively shaped skirt, and cabriole legs with pad feet, this mahogany tea table represents a highly developed table form made in Colonial Boston with a design derived from English and Chinese prototypes and intended for the service of tea. The form was popular in New England from the 1740s to the 1770s. The graceful curves of the apron, elegant proportions, and slender cabriole legs of this table epitomize the delicate aesthetic and skillful craftsmanship of Boston furniture made during the Queen Anne era.

This tea table is distinctive for its use of highly figured mahogany and its top with a lip carved from the solid, the latter a very rare feature for the form. This table is also fitted with candleslides, an embellishment found on few other tables of the type. For two other Boston tea tables fitted with candleslides, see one owned by Sarah Bradlee Fulton (1740-1836) with a history of descent in the Bradlee and Croninshield families of Salem and one at the State Department owned by the John Hooper family of Marblehead, Massachusetts.1

1 See Sack, American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Volume IV, P3757, p. 975, and Sack, Volume IX, p. 168.