Object Details
Object Essay
In America, the terms “Pembroke” and “breakfast” table were used interchangeably by the 1770s, a full ten years after the form became popular in England. Flexible in use, these tables are noted in inventories in various types of rooms where they served for eating, working, gaming, and drinking.1Monkhouse and Michie, 128–29, nos. 65 and 66.
This table is closely related to a group of tables all attributed to John Townsend on the basis of similarities to two labeled examples.2Moses, 80, figs. 2.8 and 2.8a; 106, figs. 3.18 and 3.18a. It has typical Townsend construction features on the underside of the frame, as well as characteristic incised crosshatching on the bottom edge of the skirt, typical brackets with central circular cutouts (mortised into the legs), stop-fluted legs with five flutes, and a drawer with its front cut from the same mahogany board as the skirt.
There are three quite atypical features, however: the elaborately pierced and shaped stretchers, the molded edge of the top, and the shaped corners of the drop leaves. At first, one wishes to dismiss these features as later alterations, but the overall quality and verity of this table warrant caution. Although all three characteristics are more closely related to those found on Philadelphia Pembroke tables, a comparison of the stretcher with the fret on an attributed Townsend china table suggests the probable originality of the stretcher.3Moses 1981, 1152–63, fig. 10. Furthermore, recent X rays of the junctures of the stretcher with the legs revealed no evidence of reworking or 20th-century tool marks.4The author wishes to thank Dr. Richard A. Mones, Chief of Radiology, Homewood Hospital Center North Baltimore, Maryland, for his helpfulness and generosity in providing these X rays; and Morrison H. Heckscher, Curator of American Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, for examining them. Likewise, there are no visible clues to indicate whether the molded edges and shaped corners date from the original manufacture of the table or are a later alteration. Although shaped corners are rare, they are known in another instance on a slightly larger Newport drop-leaf table with crossed stretchers and stop-fluted legs.5Rodriguez Roque, 196–97, no. 138.
Finally, this question must be posed: was this table ordered in the 18th century by a Rhode Islander who had seen locally owned Philadelphia tables and desired an assimilation of regional features, or was the table inherited in the 19th century by a Philadelphian who wished it to be more like regional examples he knew well?6Cooper 1973, 737, fig. 4.
Wendy A. Cooper
Excerpted from Clement E. Conger, et al. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991.