An Important Chippendale Five-Legged Serpentine-Front Games Table, New York, Circa 1765

The form of the card table offered here is considered one of the masterpieces of American Rococo furniture design and multiple examples have been identified, representing several shop traditions. Possessing a proportion, grace and delicacy seldom found on others of its type, this table is exemplary for its sophisticated curvilinear form overlaid with exceptional rococo carving. The maker's understanding of the rococo aesthetic is evident in the serpentine shaping of the skirt and dynamic execution of the cabriole legs, with their pronounced S-curve and bold claw feet. The carving is especially fine, particularly in the integration of the gadrooning into the skirt and the rich acanthus knee carving draping down the legs. A New York dining table sold in these rooms, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Peter A. Pfaffenroth, January 19, 2002, lot 1107 features very closely related carving likely by the same hand.

This table relates to a group of tables identified as Type II, or Beekman, card tables by Morrison Heckscher in "The New York Serpentine Card Table," Magazine Antiques (May 1973): 974-983. Type II tables were named for a pair of tables owned by James W. Beekman (1732-1807), who may have purchased one from the New York cabinetmaker William Proctor on January 15, 1768. The tables were on long term loan to the New York Historical Society and sold in these rooms, Important Americana, January 21-2, 2000, sale 7420, lot 718.

Tables of the Beekman type similarly display a shallow serpentine skirt, a delicate gadrooned molding below the front skirt, foliate and C-scroll knee carving on the front legs, and claw feet with high balls and pointed claws. Extant tables of this type most similar to this one include an example at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and one with a history in the Van Vechten family that sold in these rooms, Highly Important Americana from the Stanley Paul Sax Collection, January 17, 1998, sale 7087, lot 467.¹ Another with related gadrooning, C-scroll- and flowerhead-carved brackets and claw feet descended in the Meserole-Hogglandt-Jagger family of New York.² That table reflects a similar stance and proportions but lacks carving on the knees. One illustrated by Sack as a "masterpiece" also exhibits the C-scroll and flowerhead carved brackets, delicate gadrooning, and powerful claw feet^.3 The Varick Family table at the State Department is also similar in its carving, elegant proportions, and uncarved rear legs.⁴ The near mate to the Varick Family table sold at Sotheby's, New York, Important Americana, January 24, 2022, lot 1519.

Two additional New York drop leaf tables display related knee carving and claw and ball feet. One at the Henry Ford Museum⁵ and another that sold at Christies, Important American Furniture, Folk Art, English Pottery, Rugs & Prints, January 20, 2011, lot 200. 

¹ Morrison Heckscher, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, (New York, 1985), no. 103, pp. 171-3.

² Israel Sack Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, vol. 6, P4632, p. 1570.

³ Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture, (New York, 1993), p. 283.

⁴ Clement Conger and Alexandra Rollins, Treasures of State, (New York, 1991), no. 21, pp. 102-3.

⁵ See Israel Sack Archive, Yale University Art Gallery, acc. no. 636.