Card table. Four legs (one swing leg), tapered cylindrical feet, legs reeded within turnings, vasiform and ring turnings below engaged birch veneered colonettes, veneered elliptical frown apron and half elliptic sides, black and white stringing outlines a rectangular panel on each side, conforming mahogany double top with inlaid band on square edge.
card tables
tables (support furniture)
birch (wood)
veneer
inlay (process)
mahogany (wood)
eastern white pine (wood)
Table
Table, Card
Table, Card
"Cherished Possessions": This card table is one of a pair James Rundlet purchased to furnish his parlor. Tables like these were often purchased in pairs. When they were placed against opposite walls, they served a decorative function, creating the all-important symmetry that the neoclassical style dictated. Card tables filled multiple roles, but their primary function was for card playing, a popular activity that cut across gender, region, and class. Tables like this one were most often used for games requiring four players, like whist and quadrille.
Original to Rundlet-May House (Portsmouth, N.H.),
Unknown
31 1/3 x 39 7/8 x 19 11/16 (HxWxD) (inches)
Gift of Ralph May
1971.487AB
New Hampshire (United States)
Portsmouth (Rockingham county, New Hampshire)
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