Pier table (2004.15)

Mahogany, rosewood, and pine pier table with a marble top; This table can be firmly attributed to Philadelphia cabinetmaker Anthony G. Quervelle based upon stylistic details. Stylistic features found on the DAR example that relate to Quervelle's work include a three-quarter height rear back mirror flanked by Doric pilasters, turned vasiform rear feet and a bottom shelf featuring a complex double serpentine and semicircular profile. This particular shelf profile is indeed found on many of Quervelle's pier tables. Perhaps the feature that most connects the DAR example with other Quervelle pier tables is the distinctively and elaborately carved front legs and feet. Quervelle pier tables often feature paired and elaborately carved lion's paw feet supporting scrolled bracket legs. The DAR example scrolled legs possess carved anthemion and grape vines on each side with a floral roundel and on the front highly stylized acanthus leaf.

Provenance Narrative
Quervelle emigrated from France in 1817 to Philadelphia and by 1825 had opened his "United States Fashionable Cabinet Ware House". Producing very fashionable late classical style furniture, Quervelle's design motifs were derived from a mixture of English and French antecedents. Carved animal feet and leafage was very popular among French cabinetmakers during the early nineteenth century. Grape vines as well as bracket legs were English motifs derived from contemporary design sources like George Smith's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide and Rudolph Ackermann's Repository of the Arts.

Placed on the wall between two windows, pier tables first became popular during the late seventeenth century and were usually accompanied by a pier glass and a pair of girandole stands. By the nineteenth century, this ensemble had dispensed with the stands but the pier table and accompanying mirror remained popular. By the second quarter of the nineteenth century many pier tables were also equipped with mirrors below the top that helped in the greater enhancement of reflected light that made a dimly lit space seem brighter. Period depictions of pier tables sometimes show a sinumbra or astral lamp placed on top. Sometimes the bottom shelf was used to display natural history collections such as shells where its mirror would provide an added reflected glow to the items placed there.

A heavily carved pier table like this one was very expensive when new. Quervelle charged $175.00 each for a pair of pier tables for the East Room of the White House ordered by President Andrew Jackson in 1829.

Place Made
United States PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia