Marble slab table
This side table is thought to be one of the "2 marble Tables" listed in George Washington's probate inventory. Its possible early date of manufacture suggests it may have belonged to Martha Washington's first husband, Daniel Parke Custis (who died in 1757), and was brought to Mount Vernon upon her marriage to George Washington in 1759. Its marble top, impervious to liquid, made it an attractive and resilient surface from which to serve food and drink. Although it likely furnished a dining room or parlor for many decades, its location in the third floor garret at the time of the Washingtons' deaths indicates it was outmoded by that time.
Rectangular, grey-veined white marble top with overhanging, ogee-molded edges on all four sides.
Published ReferencesHelen Maggs Fede, Washington Furniture at Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, VA: The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, 1966), 23-24.
Marion Day Iverson, The American Chair, 1630-1890 (New York: Hastings House, 1957), 205-206, fig. 158.