Worktable

1805–10

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774

Worktables were one of several gender-specific forms produced in the Federal period. The silk fringed bag was for storing sewing supplies, the upper drawer, fitted with compartments, held items for writing. The leaf-covered turret cornices and tapering turned and reeded legs with a drum at the top and elongated, swelled feet are characteristic of Salem Federal-period table forms. The earliest documented use of the word “worktable” in Salem is in 1807, when the cabinetmaking partnership of Elijah and Jacob Sanderson paid Samuel McIntire three dollars for “Reeding & Carving 4 legs for [a] worktable.”

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Title: Worktable
Date: 1805–10
Geography: Made in Salem, Massachusetts, United States
Culture: American
Medium: Mahogany, mahogany veneer, ivory with white pine, maple, mahogany
Dimensions: 30 1/2 x 19 1/2 x 15 3/4 in. (77.5 x 49.5 x 40 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the Members of the Committee of the Bertha King Benkard Memorial Fund, 1946
Object Number: 46.67.110a–c
Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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Tall Clock, Thomas Seymour American, Mahogany, mahogany veneer,<br/>maple with white pine, American — Tall Clock
Multiple artists/makers
1805–10

Worktable, Mahogany, mahogany and birch veneers with white pine, mahogany, American — Worktable
American
1800–1810

Pier Table, Mahogany and mahogany, maple, casuarina, holly and ebony veneers, American — Pier Table
American
1800–1810

Armchair, Samuel McIntire American, Mahogany, birch, white pine, American — Armchair
Samuel McIntire
1801

Work Table, Mahogany, bird's-eye maple, American — Work Table
American
1800–1810

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