Tea Table

Date1760-1780

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia or Chester County

MediumMahogany and iron

DimensionsOH: 29"; diam top: 21 1/2"

Credit LineGift of Ann Booth Young

Object number2025-108

DescriptionTilt-top Tea Table or stand; Round top with integral molded edge hinged to birdcage with four baluster shaped columns; columnar shaft with turned rings over a compressed baluster; three shaped cabriole legs with scallops under pedestal and rounded pad feet; iron spider on underside of pedastal.Label TextWhile this tea table's exact provenance is not known, descended through Quaker families of Chester County, Pennsylvania to the last owner. While forms like this are difficult to identify in probate inventories as they are often listed as table, tea table, or stand, one ancestor did note a bequest in her will of a "round table or stand". Jane Gibbons' (1815-1897) will listed "my clock, round table or stand, large arm chair" as bequests to her niece Hannah J. Gibbons Thomas (1846-1914). Hannah J. G. Thomas was the great-grandmother of the last owner of this table. The clock mentioned in Jane's will might be the clock donated to Colonial Williamsburg along with this tea table.
ProvenanceDescended in the Thomas Family of Chester County, Pennsylvania to donor.