possibly shop of Robert Walker, 1795-1805, finely inlaid highly figured satinwood, top with mahogany banding, apron with mahogany rectangular panels and diamonds centering inlaid floral panels, solid satinwood square tapered legs with mahogany cuffs, top opens to mahogany interior with double gateleg support, maple and white pine secondary by microanalysis (see scanned correspondence from Millie McGehee), 29-3/4 x 35-1/4 x 17-1/4 in., while extended, 34-1/8 in.

Provenance: Milly McGehee; Levison & Cullen Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia, October 2009 (accompanied by copy of invoice for $165,000); Estate of Richard and Shirley Roberts, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Literature: One of this pair illustrated in Bradford L. Rauschenberg and John Bivins, Jr., The Furniture of Charleston: 1680-1820, Vol. II: Neoclassical Furniture (2003), pp. 684-685, fig. NT-47.

Note: This extraordinary pair of tables is arguably the finest pair of Charleston Federal tables known. The only other known pair of Charleston satinwood card tables is in the collection of Bayou Bend, nos. B.2004.1.1 and B.2004.1.2. Satinwood furniture in any American context is incredibly rare. A satinwood table from Philadelphia is in the Kaufman Collection and illustrated in J. Michael Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection (1986), pp. 164-165, cat. no. 63.

For closely related floral inlaid tablets, including those on sideboards, see one illustrated in Gerald W.R. Ward, American Case Furniture in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University, [1988], pages 428-431, fig. 222 as well as in Deanne Levison "The Symbolism of Floral Inlay", The Magazine Antiques (May, 1994), pp.712-713, pl. XIII.

The use of two swing legs and a medial stretcher can be similarly seen on a Charleston card table at Colonial Williamsburg, illustrated in Ronald L. Hurst and Jonathan Prown, Southern Furniture 1680-1830, The Colonial Williamsburg Collection (1997), pp. 259-261, cat. no. 77.

Rauschenberg and Bivins note that these tables are part of a small group of furniture attributed to the same Charleston shop, most likely that of Robert Walker.

At the time this pair of card tables was made, Robert Walker was one of the most successful cabinetmakers in Charleston. He advertised that he had satinwood and affixed his label to the primarily satinwood secretary bookcase shown in Rauschenberg and Bivins (pp. 595-598, fig NC-72). Among other such pieces, Walker is also credited with having made the secretary wardrobe also illustrated in Rauschenberg and Bivins (pp. 582-586, fig. C-65).