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Lot Essay
This table is an exceptionally rare survival of the most highly developed form of Queen Anne tea tables made in 18th century Boston. With its pinched, cornered top, fluidly carved cyma-shaped apron and pad-footed cabriole legs, it is a masterful combination of Chinese tradition and high style English furniture fashions. The rare embellishments of carved C-scrolls and candle slides are flourishes of expert craftsmanship that place this example in a class with few others. Elegant both in form and function, this table is a skillfully crafted object central to the properly appointed parlors of the well-to-do in colonial Boston.
The growth of tea drinking as a social custom among the colonial elite occasioned the production of fine furniture, especially in urban centers of wealth and commerce. The tea table was the focal point of the tea ceremony and its construction and design were informed by its exotic ties to the Far East. The rectangular tops, cyma skirts and cabriole legs were features of tables made in China since the 15th century. These design elements were transferred to England in the early 18th century and brought into fashion in the colonies during the Queen Anne period. Like the table in the present lot, the most fashionable form in New England was the rectangular top tea table with fixed legs (see Kirk, American Furniture in the British Tradition (New York, 1982), pp. 325-333).
The carved C-scrolls at the tops of the legs are elegant additions to this exceptional table. Found in only a few other examples of the form, this expertly carved ornamentation further augments the table's elegant proportions, lively shaped skirt and molded tray top. This table was meant to stand as the sculptural centerpiece of the lavish tea service without tablecloth or covering. For related examples of similarly carved tea tables, see Barry Greenlaw, New England Furniture at Williamsburg (Williamsburg, 1974), no. 129; Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, vol. VI (1979), p. 1540-41, P4574; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Paul Revere's Boston 1735-1818 (Boston, 1975), no. 122.
This table was once owned by Levi Lincoln, a Revolution-era patriot and self-made statesman who served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1808-1809. Born in Hingham, Massachusetts in 1749, Lincoln was the son of a farmer and attended a common school before matriculating at Harvard College. After graduating in 1772, Lincoln joined the Minutemen and saw combat at Cambridge at the start of Revolution. He participated in Massachusetts' Constitutional Convention in 1779 and served in both of Massachusetts' legislative bodies before winning election to Congress. He was appointed the U.S. Attorney General under Thomas Jefferson and briefly served as acting Secretary of State in 1801. In 1803, Lincoln played a pivotal role in the landmark Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison, a decision that formed the basis for Judicial Review in the United States by defining the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches in the American form of government.
Lincoln returned to Massachusetts in 1805 and continued to be politically active in state government. He was elected lieutenant governor under James Sullivan in 1807 and served as Governor from 1808-1809 after Sullivan's death. He retired from politics in 1811, declining nomination to the United States Supreme Court because of his health. He died in Worcester in 1820. This table remained in the Lincoln family until the 1980s.
The growth of tea drinking as a social custom among the colonial elite occasioned the production of fine furniture, especially in urban centers of wealth and commerce. The tea table was the focal point of the tea ceremony and its construction and design were informed by its exotic ties to the Far East. The rectangular tops, cyma skirts and cabriole legs were features of tables made in China since the 15th century. These design elements were transferred to England in the early 18th century and brought into fashion in the colonies during the Queen Anne period. Like the table in the present lot, the most fashionable form in New England was the rectangular top tea table with fixed legs (see Kirk, American Furniture in the British Tradition (New York, 1982), pp. 325-333).
The carved C-scrolls at the tops of the legs are elegant additions to this exceptional table. Found in only a few other examples of the form, this expertly carved ornamentation further augments the table's elegant proportions, lively shaped skirt and molded tray top. This table was meant to stand as the sculptural centerpiece of the lavish tea service without tablecloth or covering. For related examples of similarly carved tea tables, see Barry Greenlaw, New England Furniture at Williamsburg (Williamsburg, 1974), no. 129; Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, vol. VI (1979), p. 1540-41, P4574; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Paul Revere's Boston 1735-1818 (Boston, 1975), no. 122.
This table was once owned by Levi Lincoln, a Revolution-era patriot and self-made statesman who served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1808-1809. Born in Hingham, Massachusetts in 1749, Lincoln was the son of a farmer and attended a common school before matriculating at Harvard College. After graduating in 1772, Lincoln joined the Minutemen and saw combat at Cambridge at the start of Revolution. He participated in Massachusetts' Constitutional Convention in 1779 and served in both of Massachusetts' legislative bodies before winning election to Congress. He was appointed the U.S. Attorney General under Thomas Jefferson and briefly served as acting Secretary of State in 1801. In 1803, Lincoln played a pivotal role in the landmark Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison, a decision that formed the basis for Judicial Review in the United States by defining the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches in the American form of government.
Lincoln returned to Massachusetts in 1805 and continued to be politically active in state government. He was elected lieutenant governor under James Sullivan in 1807 and served as Governor from 1808-1809 after Sullivan's death. He retired from politics in 1811, declining nomination to the United States Supreme Court because of his health. He died in Worcester in 1820. This table remained in the Lincoln family until the 1980s.