Ledyard Family Inlaid Mahogany Card Table, New London County, Connecticut,...

Ledyard Family Inlaid Mahogany Card Table,
New London County, Connecticut, 1790-1805.
Fine solid mahogany leaves joined with inset hinges, opening to form square top with continuous cross-banded and string-inlaid edge, the top leaf supported by two fly-legs on pine stretchers box-hinged to fixed outer apron rail, the tops of legs carved to conform with apron when closed, the front rail and returns of apron are inlaid with fine string borders that align with the shaded book-end inlay on front and sides of legs, an inlaid band at bottom edge of case runs continuously around corners, the square tapered legs below inlaid with shaded husk garland and teardrop motif, in cusped string border intersecting inlaid cuffs that encircle all four legs, the name "Elisabeth Ledyard" inscribed in chalk on bottom of fixed leaf, closed, 76cm wide, 38cm deep, 73cm high (30 7/8in wide, 15 1/4in deep, 29in high).
Provenance
The collection of Eric van Rooy.
Nathan Liverant & Son, Colchester, Connecticut, 20 October 2007.

Literature
A card table by Richard Fosdick of New London, Connecticut, shares unusual features with the Ledyard piece, particularly the diminutive scale and truncated side margins of the string-inlaid panels on the apron. See New London County Furniture, 1640-1840 (New London: Lyman Allyn Museum, 1974), cat. no. 98.

Note
Although there is no documented line of descent, the inscription on the table indicates ownership by a member of the prominent Ledyard family of Groton in New London County, possibly Elizabeth Ledyard (1743-1832), the daughter of John and Deborah (Youngs) Ledyard. Her brother, Colonel William Ledyard (1738-81), was killed along with over seventy local militia men during the capture of Fort Griswold, the culmination of a devastating British assault on New London and Groton led by none other than Benedict Arnold. Elizabeth Ledyard, who never married, moved from Groton to the home of her nephew, Peter Ledyard Vandervoort, in New York City, where she died at age 88.