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c. 1763 - 1770

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mahogany; southern yellow pine,
Spanish cedar

28 3/4 x 33 1/2 x 22 in.
(73 x 85.1 x 55.9 cm)

Slab Table
This small table was called a frame for a marble slab by its makers. Its many carved details, including an elaborate applique' of rococo leaves on its front rail distinguish it from plainer tables of this era. In the list of prices for Philadelphia furniture published in 1772, few furniture forms are unavailable in walnut, being listed only in the more expensive mahogany. Presumably, mahogany was thought to be the only appropriate material for such obviously luxurious objects as card tables with round corners (turret card tables); commode dressing tables; china tables; dumb waiters with four tops; square tea tables with claw feet, carved knees, and carved rails; and the more ornamented frames for marble slabs. These furniture forms demonstrated the prosperity of their owner and were not items of basic utility. The listed prices for the slab table frames were: L3.10 for marlborough legs and brackets, L4 for plain knees and claw feet, and L5 for leaves on the knees with carved moldings. The Collection's table has the additional carved applique'. This feature would have raised the price between L1 and L2, the price difference between a turret card table with carved molding (presumably gadrooning), and a similar table with fully carved rails. Thus, a slab table such as this one would have cost about L6.10 before the purchase of the marble top.

The high price of marble in Philadelphia in 1770 is demonstrated by the surviving invoice to John Cadwalader from the stonecutters David and William Chambers. The Chambers brothers were billing Cadwalader 12s. a foot for new marble and 5s.6d. a foot for old marble. This table's original top was about two by three feet or six square feet. This would have made the marble worth L3.12 before any charge for the possible molding of three edges, if the same grade of stone used for Cadwalader's fireplace trim and hearths was used. Therefore, the total cost of this slab table would have been L10 to L11. This means that the table cost as much as the most expensive sofa frame as that of the Chew family sofa at Cliveden.

The original finish, a layer of spirit resin varnish, lies under two layers of shellac; the original marble top has been lost.

This table displays an odd mixture of carving styles. The knees and feet belong to a carving and style tradition which originated in the late 1740s and continued through the 1750s; the skirt applique' and carved molding are by one of the important Philadelphia carvers of the 1760s and early 1770s. The basic acanthus design and carving tool technique employed on this table's legs and the layout, the roughing out of basic shape, and the detail work on the ball and claw feet can all be observed in the legs and feet of Queen Anne style side chairs generally believed to be from the 1740s. This style became one of the dominant Philadelphia carved cabriole leg formats of the 1750s. The work of the unnamed carver of the rail moldings and rail applique' has been identified recently by observing consistencies in the layout, tool techniques, and design preferences in the carving of several pieces of Philadelphia furniture from the 1760s and early 1770s. This same combination of carving styles, also occurs in the two Hollingsworth/McCoy high chests and dressing tables.8 On these case pieces the same style of knees and feet as seen on this table are used in combination with shell drawers, cartouches, rosettes, and finials current to the style of the mid or later 1760s and displaying the same hand which carved the table's applique'. The same design and tool technique used to produce the ribbon and flower molding on this table can be seen on the carved waist molding of the Department of State's high chest base by this carver. It is likely that a cabinet shop in t