A Federal inlaid and figured mahogany pier table Attributed to Adam Hains (1768-1846), Philadelphia, PA, circa 1800

Inlaid with satinwood, mixed wood and mastic floral bouquet tied with a bow and lilies of the field.

H: 28 3/4 in. W: 17 1/2 in. L: 36 in.

Provenance

One of a known pair of pier tables thought to have been originally owned by Philadelphia merchant, financier and patriot John Nixon (1733-1808), who famously performed the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence from the steps of the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) on July 6, 1776. Possibly purchased by John Nixon for the 1802 wedding of his son, Henry Nixon (1776-1840) and Maria Morris (1779-1852), daughter of Robert Morris (1734-1806), merchant and Revolutionary War financier, and Mary White Morris (1749-1827), thence to their daughter, Ellen Cora Nixon (1825-1909) who married Edward Waln (1811-1887), to their daughter, Ellen Nixon Waln (1844-1929) who married Charles Custis Harrison (1844-1929), to their son, George Leib Harrison, Jr. (1872-1955) to his daughter, Dorothy Harrison Therman (1917-2008), thence to her son.

Literature

William M. Hornor, Blue Book of Philadelphia Furniture (1935), pl. 390.

For related and attributed examples by Adam Haines and discussion and illustration of the mate to this table, see Lisa Minardi, "Adam Hains and the Philadelphia-Reading Connection," American Furniture, 2014, pp.143-201, see. fig. 12.