This very attractive Queen Anne candlestand has excellent proportions all in an agreeable compact size. The top is constructed of a single piece of figured walnut and is carved with a dished edge. The top is joined to the tripod base by a bird cage with nicely turned balusters. The tapered post is ring turned with an elliptical ball or vase and a step molded base. The graceful cabriole legs of this antique tea table have delicate Queen Anne pad feet.
This table was produced for the Johnson family, whose home is now a national historic landmark and is one of the few remaining Underground Railroad Stations in Philadelphia open to the public. The Johnson House was home to three generations of this Quaker family who worked with European Americans and African Americans, freed and enslaved, to abolish slavery and improve living conditions for freed African Americans. Philadelphia, especially its Germantown section, was a center of the 19th-century American movement to abolish slavery, and the Johnson House was one of the key sites. Between 1770 and 1908, the house was the residence of five generations of the Johnson family. The third generation was active in the Underground Railroad during the 1850s. Along with their respective spouses, Rowland, Israel, Ellwood, Sarah, and Elizabeth Johnson were members of abolitionist groups such as the American Anti-Slavery Society and the Germantown Freedman's Aid Association. Through their associations with these groups, the brothers and sisters became involved in the Underground Railroad and used their home, along with the nearby homes of relatives, to harbor fugitive slaves on their journeys to freedom. The Johnson House is a representative station on the Underground Railroad, and the Johnsons were among the leading abolitionists of their generation.
The house, then one of the largest in Germantown, was built between 1765 and 1768 by Jacob Norr for Dirck Jansen, for his son John Johnson, Sr. During the 1777, Battle of Germantown, fighting occurred nearby and the house still bears marks of musket and cannonballs.
Dimensions: Top diameter: 19 ½”; Height 29 ⅛”