Card table

Object/Artifact

Saco Museum

Name/Title

Card table

Entry/Object ID

1982.6.29

Description

Mahogany demilune card table. The leaves are both made of solid boards. The upper leaf has double checked string inlay on the outer edge. The curved rails have rectangles of stringing with crossed branch inlay at the centers and oval drop inlay in between. The bottom of the rails have light and dark string inlay along the bottom edge. The tops of the tapered legs have light-dark-light string inlay, with light colored stringing along the outer edges.

Made/Created

Date made

1790 - 1805

Dimensions

Height

29-1/2 in

Diameter

35-1/4 in

Material

mahogany, mahogany and other veneers, pine

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Object Label

Label

Card Table, 1790-1805 Charlestown, Massachusetts, Jacob Forster mahogany, mahogany and other veneers, pine Bequest of Dorothy Dennett

Label Type

Cultural/Historical Context

Label

The circular, or demilune, shape was very popular in the Federal era for card tables, even though they were more expensive than those with square tops. A circular table could seat more people than a square one, which made it the perfect choice for loo and other card games that required five or more players. This demilune table was made by Jacob Forster (1764-1838), a native of Berwick, Maine. The crossed branch inlay on the apron and inlaid oval drops at the tops of the legs are hallmarks of his work. Forster apprenticed in Watertown, Massachusetts and moved to Charlestown in 1786. It was a perfect time for a cabinetmaker to locate there, as families were returning to restore and refurnish homes destroyed during the Battle of Bunker Hill. In 1793, he purchased land on the western corner of Main and Union Streets, where he erected a large wooden building to house his cabinet shop. He worked there until circa 1810 and died in 1838, after which his son Charles Forster (1798-1866) carried on in the business with Edward Lawrence, under the name Forster and Lawrence.