Table

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Table

Designer Alexander Jackson Davis (American, 1803-1892)

Dateabout 1857

DimensionsH: 29 in. (73.6 cm); Diam (without 4 leaves): 55 1/2 in. (140.9 cm)

MediumOak

ClassificationFurniture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott

Object number

1983.3

Not on View

Label TextThis dining table expanded to accommodate up to 18 dinner guests of the wealthy flour merchant John J. Herrick. Architect Alexander Jackson Davis, who also designed Herrick’s castle-like mansion overlooking the Hudson River, designed the table in the fashionable Gothic revival style to complement the decoration of the oak-paneled dining room. When designing and furnishing homes in the mid-1800s, American architects often looked to past European styles to create a sense of history and permanence in a nation less than a century old (see Thomas Cole’s The Architect’s Dream in this gallery).