The framed or joined table had turned legs, with stretchers between, and a drawer under the table top. Illustration [233] shows an oak table formerly owned in the Coffin family, and now in the building of the Newburyport Historical Society. The table is a good example of the framed or joined table early in the seventeenth century. The legs and stretchers are of the same style as those upon wainscot chairs, which belong to the same period as the table.
Illus. 234.—Slate-top
Table, 1670-1680.
Illustration [234] shows a table with slate top, owned by the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester. The slate top originally filled the eight-sided space in the centre of the table, but only the middle section is now left.
Illus. 235.—“Butterfly Table,”
about 1700.
Beside the piece of slate is a paper written by the late John Preston of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, in 1847, when he gave the table to the Antiquarian Society, detailing the history of the table from the time it was given to his ancestor, the Rev. Nehemiah Walter, who graduated from Harvard University in 1682. The table was used by generation after generation of ministers and lawyers, whose ink-stains cover the marquetry border around the top, and whose feet have worn the stretchers. Slate-top tables are very rare, and there are but few known to exist. The turned legs and stretchers and the drawer in the table are features which appear in tables of the same date with wooden tops. There is one drop handle left upon the drawer, the frame around which has the early single moulding.
Illus. 236.—“Hundred-legged Table,” 1675-1700.
Illustration [235] shows a curious little table, several of which have been found in Connecticut, and which were probably made there.