CARD TABLE

Creator(s): Unknown

On view in: Second Floor Library

About this object

This fold-top table with a needlepoint cover belongs to the category of light, compact card tables that would have been part of a distinguished English country house during the eighteenth century. Parties involving card games were the rage among high-society circles. Upper-class men and women often lost large sums of money playing the fast-paced, high-stakes card game of loo.

The fold-top table has serpentine-shaped sides and four cabriole legs. The front is carved with a shell motif flanked by acanthus leaves. Each leg is carved at the knee with scrolled acanthus leaves and ends in a claw-and-ball foot. The hinged top unfolds to display a playing surface with its original needlework covering that depicts flowers, leaves, playing cards, and fish-shaped counters. There are four rounded shallow receptacles in the corners for a candlestick, and four smaller circular receptacles on the sides intended for a counter. This table was probably for the game of loo.

Object name:

CARD TABLE

Made from:

Mahogany -- needlework -- silver

Made in:

England

Date made:

ca. 1745-1750

Size:

71.8 × 91.4 × 40 cm (28 1/4 × 36 × 15 3/4 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:

33.12

Class:

FURNITURE

Signature marks:

Credit line:

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973