Featured Sewing table: Style, Wood, Era?

With all the talk of Empire lately, I thought I would throw in this small sewing table. I believe it was originally made as a sewing table because of the divisions in the drawer, and it just doesn't seem wide enough for a writing table. Then again it was made with a lock. A lock on a sewing table seems unusual? I thought the veneer was walnut burl, but seems too red for walnut. Could it be mahogany or rosewood burl or flame? As I have pointed out before, woods are not my forté. The veneer is on the top and across the front of the drawer.

It stands 28½", 20½" wide, and 16½" deep. The drawer dimensions are 15.5" wide x 14" x 3". I think glass pulls are original with a 6 petal blossom on top and ribbed sides, but the pull screws may be relatively new. What do y'all think?

It passed down to my mother in 1943 from her MIL, my paternal grandmother, who married in 1880. My mother and that grandmother used it as a sewing table. I really think it may have started with that grandmother's mother (one of my great grandmothers) who married in 1850. I found in the crevasses/cracks of the drawer hand carved bone or ivory sewing implements such as hooks, bodkins, etc. For a moment I thought late American Empire, but the narrow turned legs squished that idea. At the moment I have it dated latter half of the 19th century.

Opinions welcomed on style, wood, and age. The next message will have pics of the table's underneath.

TIA.

--- Susan





Top:




Drawer:






Pulls:

 

Continuation of pictures from original posting. It was nearly impossible to get the color right in the pics. In some pics it appears too red, in others too brown, in some too light and in others too dark.

--- Susan

Bottom of drawer:


Dovetail Joints:

 

Don't know for sure but I love it.

 

Suggestion.....
If you don't want it to be perfect as new fill that depression and put a variegated red, gold leaf border, around the top to cover that area. I've done this. It looks great.

 

Susan - I'll be watching this thread with great interest. I have a similar table (except it has 2 drawers and no locks) that was one of the few "large items" I had shipped out here when we were emptying Mom's house in 2011. Her last use of it was as the bedside table in one of the guest bedrooms, just like you show yours. I'm pretty sure it was her mother's, but since those things didn't get moved until the late 70's/early 80's (when I was already out of the house and far away) I'm not certain whose it was before that.

I've been meaning to take pictures and ask about it.

 

GORGEOUS nightstand !!!!! If you have no further use for it, I can message you my address and we can surely work out something!!!!! (Just kidding....I'm sure it's not going anywhere!!!!) To me, the top is also stunning......but don't know the wood either.....you've got a fairly solid guess on the date from 1840-1880 for starters I would think!!
A lovely heirloom Susan!

 

Mahogany Federal work table so earlier than Empire (very late 18th century to very early 19th century). These are often generically called work tables. The work being done was usually sewing or similar work but could have been used to hold writing implements or used to house a Bible or other reading materials. Great that you have the original Sandwich Glass pulls.

 

Back in the day, certain sewing implements were hard to come by (also writing apparatus). Hence, the lock. Like the ones on tea caddies.

 

Works great as a night table !!

 

Thank you one and all for your appreciative words on this table!

>Mahogany Federal work table so earlier than Empire (very late 18th century to very early 19th century).<

Brad, thank you so much for all the help you generously give on furniture and to us wood ID challenged folks!! Am I correct in interpreting the above as Federal **period** as opposed to Federal **style**? Gee, didn't the Federal period range from c1790 to the 1820s? This would be much earlier than I had guessed or hoped for. The legs certainly didn't scream Empire. They do look a bit more like Sheraton or Hepplewhite in their slenderness.

>Great that you have the original Sandwich Glass pulls.<

I was hoping they were Sandwich. I have looked at several Sandwich websites with pulls, but haven't spotted them yet.


Brad: >... work tables. The work being done was usually sewing or similar work but could have been used to hold writing implements or used to house a Bible or other reading materials.<

Silver: >Back in the day, certain sewing implements were hard to come by (also writing apparatus). Hence, the lock. Like the ones on tea caddies.<

Interesting!

--- Susan

 

Come on, Sue, jump right in with your table and pics. The water's fine! Taking pics of furniture can be awkward and difficult because of their size. Many times I've had to nearly stand on my head to get pics of the underpinnings. At least this table is small and easy to tip upside down.

--- Susan

 

Federal period for sure. Possibly done a bit later than the 1820 date as a holdover style but certainly early. The pulls are usually referred to as sandwich glass even if they did not come from Sandwich in particular.

 

Thanks again, Brad!

I just found these pulls/knobs a few minutes ago! They are pictured in opalescent and in black in Barlow & Kaiser's The Glass Industry in Sandwich, Volume 5, Chap. 2 "A General Assortment of Glassware," p. 71, plate #5134. It says: "5133 Pressed Rosette Knobs ... 1831-1850 A six-petaled rosette in deep relief covers the face... Rounded ribs are molded into the shank. ... The pattern disfigurement was eliminated by embedding a threaded nut beneath the knob. The bolt screwed into the knob rather than through it..."

--- Susan

 

Before this thread drops from the scene, I have another question. In the pic of the drawer, 6th pic in 1st message, there is a small block of wood in the drawer. That block has been loose in that drawer ever since I can remember, since the 1940s. Was it once part of this table? Do you think it was once attached up under the table to keep the drawer straight and level when pulled out? The drawer kind of slumps down in the front and tilts up in the back when pulled out. If this block would help, where should it be attached? Would be attached somewhere under the table or on the back of the drawer? If I attached it, I would only glue it on.

--- Susan

 

The answer to your question is yes -- but Brad will have to tell you how to place it. (My table had the same thing )

 

In your very last picture, you will see one drawer stop attached to the underside of the table top on the left side. There should be two with your loose block likely being the second one if it is the right size (looks too big to me). If the block is too large it may have just been a glue block used in the case somewhere or could be totally unrelated. These drawer stops help to keep the drawer from just pulling out but will not solve your flopping drawer problem.

There is probably a missing pair of drawer runners that were intended to solve the flopping drawer problem. I may see the ghosts of them in your last picture. Note how the wood is lighter inside up along the top edge on each side. Not sure how they would have been attached and that block of wood could have been a spacer used in conjunction with them somehow.

 

Sorry, I forgot about checking back here. Brad, I'll take look and see if I can spot where the bock was glued on. Thank you for the detailed info!

--- Susan