Gateleg Trestle Table

Period1690 - 1720

MediumWalnut, sweet gum, and hard pine

Dimensions26.75 × 46 × 42.25 in. (67.9 × 116.8 × 107.3 cm)

InscribedTagged on the underside "I & H - 14 Table, Cheesequake, H. House (H-31) MCHA." Second label on table underside "Table c1690 Gift of Mable [sic] J. Brown." Third label on table underside "Mo. Co. HS 309.58."

ClassificationsTables and Stands

Credit LineGift of Miss J. Mabel Brown, 1958

Object number1992.539

DescriptionThis early oval gateleg table features a trestle-type base with two turned posts ending in plain shoe feet attached to a pair of plain rectangular board stretchers. Each post fastens to the table top with a very large dovetail set into a heavy board affixed to the underside of the top. Pairs of flat gates swing out from the base to support the hinged leaves of the table.
Curatorial RemarksA substantial number of distinctive "oval tables with falling leaves," as they were called at the time, have survived. They are attributed to New York City and surrounding areas based upon the relationship of their turnings and construction to documented New York examples, ownership histories, and the frequent use of sweet gum wood. A smaller subgroup utilizes trestle bases, as does this rare early example from central New Jersey. In 1748, the Swedish traveler Peter Kalm noted that "the wood of the sweet-gum tree is merely employed in joiner's work, such as tables, and other furniture. But it must not be brought near the fire, because it warps." Made by Thomas Warne while living in the area outside of Matawan, Monmouth County, the table is unusual for its use of sweet gum for the frame but walnut for the top, creating a more stable top and a more formal table.NotesWhen this table was given to the Association in 1958, the donor noted that it had been made by an ancestor of the Brown family who lived in the area of Cheesequake, Middlesex County. Subsequent research has identified Thomas Warne (1652 - 1722) as a carpenter and joiner who was, indeed, a part of that family and who was working at the right time. He also possessed the appropriate skills and background to make a table of this type. Warne was one of twenty-four Proprietors who had invested in the Province of East Jersey. As such, he was entitled to large tracts of outlying land as well as a lot in the provincial capital of Perth Amboy. One of those tracts encompassed a large part of what is now Matawan, Monmouth County, while others were located in nearby Cheesequake, Freehold and Princeton. Born in Plymouth, England, Thomas Warne was thirty-one years of age when he and his father emigrated to America in 1683, after the family had lived for a time in Dublin. They arrived with eleven indentured servants between them, at least three of whom apprenticed to the woodworking trades. Warne settled in Perth Amboy initially, and then in 1688 moved to the Wickatunk section of Monmouth County, retaining the Perth Amboy residence. He "died with the dead paulsey" in 1722, and was interred in the Anglican cemetery at Topanemus. An inventory of his estate, taken on 7 June 1722, lists carpenter tools and several pieces of furniture, including two tables.

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