Estimated Price:

$50,000 - $80,000

Realised Price:

$81,250

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repair to right front leg and lacking hidden drawer. New York five-leg card tables can be separated into two distinct groups of which this table is an example of the Type I, or Van Rensselaer group (see Morrison H. Heckscher, "The New York Serpentine Card Table," The Magazine Antiques, May 1973, p. 974-983). Tables of this type are characterized by a deep serpentine skirt, boldly carved gadrooning on the front and sides, asymmetrical carving on the knees, claw-and-ball feet with a high ball and heavy claws, and a distinctive construction of the apron with angle-cut corners. This gaming table is attributed to Marinus Willett (1740-1830) and his father-in-law Jonathan Pearsee, who worked in partnership together from circa 1763 to about 1775, on the basis of a table signed by Willett, now in a private collection (see Frank M. Levy, ``A Maker of New York Card Tables Identified," The Magazine Antiques, May 1993, pl. II, p. 757). Like the signed example, this gaming table features sunburst and acanthus carving on the knee flanked by C-scrolls outlining the knee returns, a cut-out section from the middle of the front rail, a V-shape of the inner juncture of the front rail to the side rails, and the V-shaped juncture of the inner side rail to the inner rear rail. Nine other gaming tables have been associated with the Willett and Pearsee shop. These include four in private collections, one at Bayou Bend, one at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, one at Yale University, one in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and another at the Museum of the City of New York.