A Very Fine and Rare Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Five-Legged Games Table, Shop of Marinus Willett and Jonathan Pearsee, New York, circa 1765

interior secret drawer replaced; underside of top inscribed with the initials PK in red paint

According to family tradition, this table descended in the Delancey Family of New York and Philadelphia;
Israel Sack, Inc., New York;
David Stockwell, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware

American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, vol 1, (Washington, D.C.: Highland House Publishers, Inc., 1969), p. 143, no. 391.
The Magazine Antiques (February 1973): 217. David Stockwell advertisement.

secondary wood is oak, white pine and gumwood; felt replaced; crack to stationary top stabilized with wooden butterfly; top has been off and reset; refinished
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Representing a signature New York form, this dynamic serpentine games table has been published as "one of the supreme achievements of the pre-Revolutionary New York artisans."¹ It bears the initials "P.K." rendered in red paint, which likely refer to a former owner. Two pairs of New York Chippendale chairs that sold in these rooms, January 21, 2007, sale 8278, lots 376 and 525 share a common owner for they, too, are inscribed with the initials "P.K." in red paint.

Family tradition notes that this table descended in the Delancey Family of New York and Philadelphia, perhaps from Captain James Delancey (1732-1800), the eldest son of New York Lt. Gov. James DeLancey (1703-1760). Born in New York City in 1732, Captain DeLancey was educated in England before serving as a commissioned officer in the British Army as aide-de-camp to General James Abercrombie during the French and Indian War. After his father's death in 1760, he resigned his commission and returned to New York City to maintain his family's lucrative drygoods business. He established a residence on his father's estate located at the foot of Bowery Lane, where he built a full-sized racetrack and stables for the breeding of racehorses. He stable was successful over the next fifteen years and he held memberships in both the Macaroni Club of New York and the Jockey Club of Philadelphia. He held a seat in the New York House of Assembly from 1768 until 1775, when he was forced to reveal his allegiance to the Crown and return to England. His properties in New York were formally confiscated by the Commission of Forfeitures for the State of New York and sold at auction in 1787. At the time of the sale, his estate was valued at approximately $100,000.

This table stems from a small group of six tables representing one shop tradition with a deeply shaped skirt carved with a meandering grapevine along the convex skirt molding. The maker for the group has been identified as Marinus Willett (1740-1830), who worked in partnership with his father-in-law Jonathan Pearsee from circa 1763 to 1775, on the basis of one table in the group inscribed with his signature.² The other tables include a pair of tables from the Lansdell Christie Collection originally owned by Judge and Mrs. John Berrien of Rocky Hill, New Jersey, a table owned by Bernard and S. Dean Levy, and a table in the Pendleton Collection at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design.³

In addition to the grapevine on their skirt molding, these tables are distinguished from the larger group of New York serpentine-front card tables by their asymmetrically carved knees with acanthus leaves and ruffled C-scrolls laced with cabochons, the distinctive construction of their aprons with angle-cut corners, the cut-out section from the middle of their interior front rails, the V-shaped junctures of the inner front rails to the side rails and inner side rails to the inner rear rails, the stationary backboards nailed to the interior rear rails, the mortise-and-tenon joints that are not pinned, the thicker cabriole legs, and the particularly blocky claw-and-ball feet with high balls and heavy claws. These tables are virtually identical to one another and only differ slightly in the treatment of the legs.

¹ Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Vol. I, p. 143, no. 391.
² See Frank Levy, "A maker of New York card tables identified," The Magazine Antiques (May 1993): 756-63.
³ See Levy Catalogue 5 [Spring 1986], p. 56, The Magazine Antiques (February 1962), p. 192-3, and Christopher Monkhouse and Thomas Michie, American Furniture in Pendleton House, Providence, 1986, no. 77, p. 139

Note: Set of four candlesticks are being offered as lot 310 in this sale