A VERY FINE AND RARE WILLIAM AND MARY TURNED AND JOINED GUMWOOD ‘FLAT’ GATELEG TRESTLE-BASE TABLE, NEW YORK, CIRCA 1715 |

Herbert Schiffer, Exton, Pennsylvania, March 1978;
Vogel Collection no. 295.

Overall fine condition. Wear, discoloration and few minor losses commensurate with age and use. The hinges are replaced, and on one side of the central board there are shims that have been placed beneath the hinges. There is a three inch patch along the edge of the central board. There are some age splits visible.
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 trestle-base table was a popular form for Hudson River Valley settlers.  While surviving English examples are antecedents to this form, they are not apparently made in any other early American colony.  The turning sequence on the support legs generally follow four templates; stacked balusters, such as found on this example, single baluster, opposing balusters, and baluster above a ball flanked by reels. The currently offered lot is most similar to a table that purportedly belonged to Abraham Ten Broeck (1734-1810) of Albany, New York. For additional information on related tables see Peter M. Kenny, “Flat Gates, Draw Bars, Twists, and Urns: New York’s Distinctive, Early Baroque Oval Tables with Falling Leaves,” American Furniture 1994, ed. Luke Beckerdite, (Milwaukee, WI: Chipstone Foundation, 1994), p. 106-35 and Frances Gruber Safford, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Early Colonial Period: the Seventeenth-Century and William and Mary Styles ,(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 159-61, no. 65.