Newport, Rhode Island, ca. 1800
Mahogany with birch and white pine
Bequest of Francis Taliaferro Stribling Powell with the assistance of Mrs. Grace Powell, his widow
Catalog no. 71
This table is typical of the modest export-grade furniture northern shops commonly shipped south during the early national period. It exhibits restrained ornamentation and construction of the most rudimentary sort.
The table was made in Newport, Rhode Island, one of several shipping points for northern furniture makers. Other cities involved in this trade included Portsmouth, Salem, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Most goods from these places were sold only in coastal towns and river ports because the lack of paved roads made transshipment inland of bulky goods difficult and costly. The first owners of the table were James and Frances Bragg Cuthbert of Norfolk, the largest seaport in Virginia and one of the South's most active participants in the coastal trade.