TEA TABLE

The urn-shaped baluster on this tilt-top tea table is nearly identical to a tea table in Colonial Williamsburg’s collection that is signed “Leary” on the top of its dovetailed birdcage. The signature recalls Job and John Leary, brothers who apprenticed in 1765 to one of Edenton’s colonial master craftsmen, Samuel Black.  When Black died nearly two decades later, his estate papers listed numerous turning and cabinetmaking tools, plus stockpiles of walnut and mahogany.  With delicately pierced legs and turned bosses sprig nailed to the legs and the underside of the baluster, this is considered one of the finest Edenton tea tables.