probably New York, 19th century, poplar secondary wood, top opens to reveal work surface, 29 x 22-1/4 x 17-1/4 in.

Provenance: By direct descent of Ellen Clarke Manning, the daughter of Sally Bland Clarke Manning. Possibly from Millford Plantation, South Carolina

Note:

This work table has a history of ownership in the Manning family, descending from Ellen Clarke Manning, the daughter of Governor John Lawrence Manning's second wife, Sally Bland Clarke Manning. Manning purchased extensively from New York City cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe and is even noted in the scholarship as being Phyfe's only known client to fill "an entire house with [his] wares". This form, however - with its folding top and four-legged support - is not an model illustrated in "Duncan Phyfe Master Cabinetmaker in New York (Kenny, Brown, Bretter & Thurlow, 2011).

The family of Ellen Manning always referred to it as "Miss Ellen's sewing table" and it may have come from Millford Plantation, which was John Laurence Manning's home near Pinewood, Sumter County. Millford Plantation is largely considered one of the finest extant examples of Greek Revival residential architecture in America. A National Historic Landmark, it is on the National Register of Historic Places and is run by the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation, formerly the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust.