FINE MAHOGANY DROP-LEAF WORK TABLE WITH DEMI-LUNE BAG
Attributed to Isaac Vose & Son, with carving by Thomas Wightman
Boston c.1820-24
The square top with drop-leaves over a drawer, above a wooden demi-lune work bag with marbleized paper lining held in a conforming brace on a short turned pedestal with carved collar on a circular plinth and four acanthus-carved saber legs with elaborated brass toe caps with casters. Woods: Figured mahogany and white pine.
Condition: Excellent: Re-finished with shellac in the manner of the period, modern upholstery.
H: 29” W: 20,” with leaves up: 33⅓,” D: 17½”
The exact form of this beautiful drop-leaf mahogany work table was designed by London cabinet-makers Morgan & Sanders and published in Rudolph Ackermann’s Repository of Arts in London, June 1811, pl. 35. This form became popular in Boston and several examples with slight variations, probably by the same firm, are known. One with a further refinement of carving on the plinth collar and legs was clearly inspired by a design published by Thomas Sheraton in his Cabinet-Maker, Upholsterer, and General Artist’s Encyclopedia (London 1804-1806). One example in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, following an alternate illustration in Ackermann’s, has a chess and backgammon board incorporated into the case.[1]
This example is distinguished by particularly fine brass
toe-cap casters.
Another fine piece of Vose furniture handled by our firm can be seen here.
[1] Illustrated in Robert D. Mussey, Jr. and Clark Pearce Rather Elegant Than Showy: The Classical Furniture of Isaac Vose ( Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2018), 207, fig. 220.