circa 1770, attributed to the Hillsborough School per MESDA documentation, possibly Martin or William Palmer, molded two board top, frieze drawer with original batwing brasses and bail handles, scalloped apron, diamond pierced brackets, turned and tapered legs, raised pad feet, yellow pine secondary wood, underside of top bears a paper label inscribed "Burnside", 28-1/4 x 30-1/2 x 21-1/2 in.

Illustrated: Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, "Side Table," https://mesda.org/item/object/table-side/2193/; Pierce, Morgan B., "The Legend of Little Jimmy Webb’s Dressing Table," Journal of Backcountry Studies, Summer 2013, Vol 8, No. 1, fig. 11, pg. 62.; an illustration showing a drawing of this table by MESDA co-founder Frank L. Horton is published in Niven, Penelope, "Frank L. Horton and the Roads to MESDA," Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Summer 2001, Vol. 27, No. 1, fig. 54, pg. 99.

Note: This exceptionally rare table is part of a small group of pre-Revolutionary War furniture attributed to the Hillsborough School of cabinetmakers of Orange County, North Carolina. Founded in 1754, Hillsborough quickly became the political and commercial center of North Carolina's backcountry, and was home to North Carolina Governor Thomas Burke (circa 1747-1783) who represented the state in the Second Continental Congress. Through family tradition, Governor Burke was said to have been the original owner of an important Hillsborough School table later acquired by the neighboring Webb family, now held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (acc. 3777.2). The MESDA example bears a notable resemblance to the table offered here, featuring the same overall proportions, ring turned and tapered legs, and distinctively scalloped apron. 

The table in the present lot descended in the family of prominent Hillsborough merchant Richard Bennehan (1743-1825), who owned 4,000 acres of land just to the north of Governor Burke's property. The archival record shows there were thirteen carpenters or cabinetmakers working around Hillsborough prior to 1790, but only one with documented links to the Burke, Webb, and Bennehan families. Martin Palmer (1742-1832) was a reputable Hillsborough carpenter who worked on numerous commissions for the aforementioned families, in addition to court-appointed projects in Orange County. Palmer's son William (1762- circa 1842) worked under his father as a carpenter and cabinetmaker and was documented to have made furniture for some of the county's most influential families—all compelling evidence possibly linking the Palmers to the construction of this extraordinarily well-preserved table.
 

References: Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, "Dressing Table", mesda.org/item/collections/dressing-table/1941/; Pierce, Morgan B., "The Legend of Little Jimmy Webb’s Dressing Table," Journal of Backcountry Studies, Vol 8, No. 1, Summer 2013, pg. 57-67.
 

in an exceptionally fine state of preservation overall, top with shrinkage, minor board separation and small edge losses, drawer has restorations to bottom boards, scattered marks, abrasions, and general wear from age and use, appears to retain all original corner brackets and brasses (brasses not removed), no foot or ankle repairs found, frame appears to retain an early and probably original surface