Card Table
Datec. 1795 - 1810
MediumMahogany and mahogany veneer with interior woods of cypress inner frame, ash gate frame, and red cedar front frame core
Dimensionsclosed: 28 3/4 × 36 1/8 × 17 5/8 inches (73 × 91.8 × 44.8 cm)
Credit LineAttributed to the bequest of Mary Telfair.
Object number1875.102
CopyrightThe images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextThe cypress and red cedar woods used for the inner frame of this mahogany games table indicate that it was most likely made in the coastal American South, probably Savannah or Charleston. Like a sideboard also attributed to the Telfair bequest, the table has long been associated with the Telfair family. Stylistically, it combines elements that appear in different British cabinetmakers’ publications of designs, including the straight legs and pierced ornament that Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779) described as “Gothic” in his 1754 The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director and a serpentine folding top that appears in George Hepplewhite’s (d. 1786) The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, published posthumously in 1788. Whether the cabinetmaker was inspired by these designs in print or in his peers’ work, this table reveals the continued impact of British design and taste on early Americans, even after the Revolutionary War.
Text written for Craft Along the Coast, 2026
