By 1800, the demilune or half round card table was a form much favored in Baltimore. The top folds out to form a circular surface for gaming; it rests on the two back gate legs that swing out to support it. When not in use, the folded table stood neatly against a wall. Card tables were often created in pairs according to early advertisements and inventories. They would have been used in symmetrically arranged drawing rooms and parlors. When folded, the tabletop features a powerfully composed shell set in a semicircle. Thin lines of boxwood stringing on the reeded tabletop edge reiterate the graceful half moon shape, and also enhance the apron and legs. Ovoid floral shells top each leg. Descending bell flowers, a popular motif in Baltimore, adorn both the sides and fronts of all four legs. Luxuriously worked, this fine card table is one of a number of such Baltimore-made examples in the BMA collection.