Dining Table

Growing prosperity led to the creation of a specialized room for dining in the late 18th-century American home, and to the development of new, appropriate furniture forms. Because these roomswere used for both formal and family dining, tablesneeded to seat large groups but also allow a small family to dine intimately. Thus the extending dining table was developed, which expands with the insertion of additional boards, such as this example. Internal pedestal supports allowed more comfortable and flexible seating.

This pedestal dining table reflects the change in taste from the lighter, more delicate neoclassicism to a later version with greater emphasis on classical

forms and carved ornament.  The turned pedestals and sweeping splayed legs show a taste for bolder, more powerful and dramatic forms derived from

antiquity, while the carved acanthus and reeding and the brass lion's paw feet are also based on classical models.

The design and decoration of this table suggest that it may have come from the workshop of Duncan Phyfe or a New York craftsman of comparable stature.