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Card Table in the Neo-Classical Taste
Artist: John Finlay (American, 1777-1851)
Artist: Hugh Finlay (American, 1781 - 1830)
Date: about 1825
Dimensions:
H: 28 7/8 in. (73.34 cm) ; W: 35 7/8 in. (91.12 cm); D: 17 3/4 in.(45.09 cm)
Open: 35 9/16 in. (90.33 cm) x 35 7/8 in (91.12 cm)
Medium: Mahogany, maple, pine, and poplar, painted and paint-grained rosewood, and gilded, with gilt-brass toe caps and castors and die-stamped rosettes, and red velvet in the wells
Place of Origin: Baltimore, Maryland
Classification: Furniture
Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Barber Art Fund
Object number: 2016.4
Label Text:The social lives of prosperous families in America often revolved around a card table, or two. During the 1700s and 1800s, more people had leisure time, and they furnished their homes to reflect this. Comfortably-off hosts in middle-sized houses organized card games for their evening guests. People usually played for money, but the games, like whist or piquet, involved more skill and less betting. The players might enjoy conversation more than cards once a group was gathered around the table—a scenario often used in novels of the time, such as young women confiding secrets over cards in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (1811). Card games also provided casual occasions to share news of the day and other important information and to negotiate political and business relationships.
The lightweight construction and folding design of this pair of luxury painted and gilded card tables, probably made by Baltimore-based brothers John and Hugh Finlay, allowed them to be mobile and multifunctional: when closed, they served as side tables that could be compactly stored against a wall, while in the open position they revealed their specialized purpose.
The lightweight construction and folding design of this pair of luxury painted and gilded card tables, probably made by Baltimore-based brothers John and Hugh Finlay, allowed them to be mobile and multifunctional: when closed, they served as side tables that could be compactly stored against a wall, while in the open position they revealed their specialized purpose.
Not on view
In Collection(s)