Card Table
1800–15
Medium
Mahogany with birch veneers
Dimensions
74.9 × 90.8 × 43.8 cm (29 1/2 × 35 3/4 × 17 1/4 in.)
Classification
table
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
31555
Art Historical Context
This elegant card table, between 1800 and1815, exemplifies the furniture of early American Federal style. Made of rich mahogany—a premium tropical hardwood imported from the West Indies and prized for its durability and deep reddish-brown patina—the piece features birch veneers for subtle contrast and decorative banding. Measuring about 75 × 91 × 44 cm when open, its compact design allowed it to fold neatly against a wall, transforming into a gaming surface lined with green baize for card play. In the young United States, such tables were status symbols in the parlors of the urban elite, refl...