Card Table

1755–90

Artist unknown (American, 18th century)
New York

When not in use, this card table was meant to be placed against a wall. When needed, a third “swing” leg at the back of the table was placed at a perpendicular angle to support the open top. Opened, the table reveals four inset squared corners where candlesticks were placed. The recessed ovals held playing pieces known as fish because of their shape. The pieces were usually made of mother-of-pearl or ivory, and were kept in a small, secret drawer in the rear of the table.

Status: On View, Gallery 167
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Artist unknown
Title: Card Table
Place: New York (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1755–1790
Medium: Mahogany with tulip poplar, white oak, and white pine
Dimensions: 69.9 × 88.3 (open) × 87.6 cm (27 1/2 × 34 3/4 × 34 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Brown and Mrs. Potter Palmer IV; Robert Allerton and Bessie Bennett funds; Estate of Annie Dunlop in memory of Annie Wisner
Reference Number: 1973.564
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/45522/manifest.json

David A. Hanks and Charles E. Buckley, American Art of the Colonies and Early Republic: Furniture, Paintings and Silver from Private Collections in the Chicago Area, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1971), 31, cat. 27 (ill.).
Milo M. Naeve, Identifying American Furniture (Nashville, American Association for State and Local History, 1981), 22, ill. no. 30.
Milo M. Naeve, Identifying American Furniture 2nd ed. (Nashville, American Association for State and Local History, 1989), 12, no. 29.
Frank Levy, The Most Opulent Form: A Structural Analysis of New York Five Legged Card Tables (M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1991), no. 27.
Milo M. Naeve, Identifying American Furniture, Colonial to Contemporary, 3rd ed. (American Association for State and Local History/AltaMira Press, 1997).
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 90–91, no. 28.

Art Institute of Chicago, American Art of the Colonies and Early Republic: Furniture, Paintings and Silver from the Private Collections in the Chicago Area , July 17–Sept. 13, 1971, cat. 27.

Ginsburg and Levy, Inc., New York, (?). John Walton, New York, (?). Charlotte Pickman Gertz, New York, 1973; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago 1973.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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