Day 282 - Caryatid card table


 January 13, 2022

I was more than a bit dismayed to find that gallery 752 is a large space housing nine pieces of furniture - items of relatively limited interest to me - all made in New York of mahogany and dating from about 1750 to about 1820.  Still, by the end of the visit, I'd found aspects of the gallery and its contents that were thought-provoking.   

The furniture includes four chairs, a handsome and gracefully proportioned chest-on-chest, a "bureau desk" that may have been used for beauty routines involving wigs and combs, and three card tables. The first thing that strikes me is that playing cards must have been a major diversion in the pre-television era.  But then it occurs to me that donors may have been willing to divest themselves of relatively small pieces like card tables, especially as card-playing became less popular, while holding onto larger, more impressive tables and chests. 

Today's object is one of the card tables, this one made in New York City between 1809 and 1819 of maple, rosewood, satinwood, mahogany, and brass. Its chief distinguishing feature is a karyatid of gilded wood that supports the table top. I chose it not because I like it but because I find it almost ludicrous - so garish and antithetical to my taste. But I read (again) that objects displaying these and other motifs of classical antiquity were popular in the 19th century. Such objects must have served as a testimonial to the education and worldliness of their owners.

The wallpaper that lines the room also captures my attention. It was taken from the Great Hall of the Van Rensselaer Manor House in Albany, New York and dates from 1765-1769.  Hand-painted in grisaille, it was imported from London and shows large views of classical ruins and smaller panels depicting the four seasons.  The wallpaper's painters, says the placard, borrowed most of the images from prints in circulation in England at the time.  So it wasn't just the Van Rensselaers who wanted to appear cosmopolitan and sophisticated. Still, their wallpaper must have been quite the thing in late 18th century Albany. 

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