A rare antebellum, African-American (likely slave) made server or bucket bench. The scalloped shaped top is decorated with a simple, but strong, bright cinnabar green polkadot pattern against a dark brown. The top edge of the scallops is also painted with the cinnabar green. The strecher based bottom tray is a pegged mortise and tenon construction while the top is joined with forged nails.
Provenance: James Kilvington; client of Kilvington's who purchased it in the early 1960s from an old African-American women who said her father, a former slave, had made it.
Condition: Excellent with wear commensurate with age and in-period repairs to two front scallops.