Tripod Table with Drawers

Tripod Table with Drawers. Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.

Artist/Maker: Unknown

Created: Unknown

Origin/Purchase: Philadelphia or New York City

Materials: walnut

Dimensions: H: 78.1 D of top: 59.7 (30 3/4 x 23 1/2 in.)

Location: North Passage, Second Floor

Provenance: Thomas Jefferson; by descent to Benjamin Franklin Randolph; by purchase to Jefferson Randolph Anderson in 1896; by descent to Mrs. Henry Norris Platt; by purchase to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in 1971

Accession Number: 1971-71-2

Historical Notes: Tables or stands such as these were typically used to hold candlesticks. Jefferson may have bought three or more such tables with "bird-cage" turning mechanisms in New York or Philadelphia. They might have been altered later by Monticello's joiners.

The table pictured at right, which is very similar to two others that belonged to Jefferson, may have been used as a writing surface, as it contains a small pivoting drawer partitioned to hold writing implements. The Rococo vase-shaped base terminates in ribbed snake feet on casters. The birdcage revolving mechanism is engaged by pulling a peg to allow the table top to revolve on the turned pedestal.

- Text from Stein, Worlds, 258