Card Table
c. 1790
Medium
Mahogany and white pine with fruit wood inlay
Dimensions
74 × 90.2 × 43.8 cm (29 1/8 × 35 1/2 × 17 1/4 in.)
Classification
table
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
3556
Art Historical Context
This elegant card table, crafted around 1790 by an unknown artist, exemplifies the refined furniture of early America during the Federal period. Made from rich mahogany—a premium imported wood symbolizing status—with secondary white pine and delicate fruitwood inlays, it measures 74 × 90.2 × 43.8 cm, perfect for intimate parlors. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Arts of the Americas department, its baize-lined playing surface folds away, revealing a compact design ideal for multifunctional spaces in growing republic households. The table's intricate fruitwood inlays, likely forming ne...