Card table
Maker & role
Unknown
Production date
circa 1820
See full details
Object detail
Title
Card table
Production place
Collection
Measurements
0 - Whole, H: 73.5 x W: 91 x D: 45.2cm (H: 735 x W: 910 x D: 452mm)
Production notes
Unknown. A tentative attribution to the cabinetmaker, Thomas Shaughnessy (c. 1779-1837) requires further investigation.
Credit line
Gift, through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2006
Elizabeth Bay House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Elizabeth Bay House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caption
Card table c. 1820, of Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata) and colonial manufacture. The hinged fold-over top pivots at one side and opens to a larger, baize-lined playing surface.When opened a central storage are for cards and counters is revealed. This card table is part of a large collection assembled by Caroline Simpson OAM (1930-2003), and donated by her children to the (then named) Historic Houses Trust.
Description
Card table c. 1820, in Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata), the veneered cedar top (possibly a solid piece of timber rather than of panelled construction) with rounded front corners is cross-banded in Tasmanian Blackwood. The hinged fold-over top pivots at one side and opens to a larger, baize-lined playing surface. The top is supported on a cross-banded frieze (whose interior may have provided some storage of cards and card game rule book) ornamented with a simple tablet breakfront. The four-sided tapered central support has two sections, divided by beaded (knulled) decoration, and rests on an edge-banded quadraform base four out-swept reeded legs, each having a pronounced 'Regency knee' (in this case more like a scroll) and set on brass castors.
Fahy & Simpson have suggested the association of a related sofa table c. 1815 with the cabinetmaker, Thomas Shaughnessy (c. 1779-1837) on the basis of a Sydney Monitor advertisement of 19 May 1826 for 'Hair Bottom Sofa's and Sofa Tables to match on the Grecian principal'. However, there are no signed pieces by Shaughnessy (one of a 'second generation' of Sydney cabinetmakers after Lawrence Butler) to allow a firm attribution.
The card table is part of a large collection assembled by Caroline Simpson OAM (1930-2003) for display at Clyde Bank, a restored Georgian town house in The Rocks Sydney, which was open to the public between 1994 and 2004.
Fahy & Simpson have suggested the association of a related sofa table c. 1815 with the cabinetmaker, Thomas Shaughnessy (c. 1779-1837) on the basis of a Sydney Monitor advertisement of 19 May 1826 for 'Hair Bottom Sofa's and Sofa Tables to match on the Grecian principal'. However, there are no signed pieces by Shaughnessy (one of a 'second generation' of Sydney cabinetmakers after Lawrence Butler) to allow a firm attribution.
The card table is part of a large collection assembled by Caroline Simpson OAM (1930-2003) for display at Clyde Bank, a restored Georgian town house in The Rocks Sydney, which was open to the public between 1994 and 2004.
Accession number
EB2007/4
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