TABLES  dining, oak reproductions
A really heavy oak reproduction refectory table with primitive lion-mask carving, on six enormous carved bulbous legs. The sheer quantity of oak involved would make such a table enormously expensive to produce
today, let alone the question of the carved decoration. 1890-1920
A simpler oak ‘draw-leaf’ table on four bulbous carved legs. The stretchers have been jacked up off the ground by the addition of four square `feet’ at a later stage. The top has been panelled across the length which is considered a less attractive proposition by the trade. C. 1900
A rather unattractive oak ,refectory’ table which looks as though it has been ‘made-up’ from old pieces but the legs have turning which is plain and rather modern. No attempt has been made to ‘age’ the stretchers by
wearing down the edges.
Two oak draw tables from Maurice Adams, 1926. Straightforward, quite well-designed reproductions made to satisfy a contemporary taste for `Jacobethan’ dining rooms. Of quite high quality construction.
A cheap oak dining table, of the ‘draw’ type, on a two-pillar base derived from `Jacobethan’ but carefully ‘modernised’ to provide those streamlined, curved surfaces beloved in the late 1920s and 1930s. Note how the traditional turned ‘bulb’ on the supports have been modified into ribbed shapes of no particular beauty. The surface was originally dark-varnished with a sticky cheap ‘French polish’ which has become badly scratched. c. 1930
TABLES  work and games
A walnut combined work and writing table on turned end-column supports with scrolled feet connected by a turned stretcher. Under the hinged top there is an adjustable reading and writing flat covered with tooled
leather, and stationery compartments on each side of this flap. The drawer pulls out to provide a fitted interior and the wooden work bag below can also be pulled out for access. The figured walnut top surface, drawer and bag are inlaid with stringing lines and marquetry. The whole piece is very similar to one illustrated in the design book of C. & R. Light in 1881 but such pieces were popular throughout the mid-Victorian period. 1860-1885
A papier mach& work table inlaid with ivory and mother of pearl in floral patterns and scrolls. The design is not unlike those of the 1830-1840 period with a baluster central column and a flat base with four scrolled feet.
A walnut work and games table with inlaid chequer-board and backgammon board, on a twin-column end support stand with connecting turned stretcher. A type illustrated in manufacturers’ catalogues up to 1885.
A walnut work table of a type which was introduced in the late 1850s as an urn shape, but which had settled to this funnel or trumpet variety by the 1870s. This example is inlaid with floral marquetry and stands on
rather cocked-knee cabrioles with scrolled feet. The top has been inset with leather: this almost certainly means that the original marquetry top has been damaged and, to save expense, a new leather top has been
fitted. Damage to the top surfaces is frequent with these tables; the veneer was very thin and was easily lifted by heat or spillage of liquids. 1860-1880

TABLES  writing
A satinwood ‘Carlton House’ writing table with oval panels in the upper doors. The type appears in Gillow’s cost books for 1796 and is also illustrated in the ‘Cabinet Maker’s Book of Prices’ of 1788. Carlton House was the residence of the Prince Regent. Gillows simply describe the piece as ‘A Ladies’ Drawing and Writing Table’. We tend to associate square tapering legs with Sheraton, but this type of table had a considerable revival in about 1890 and is still being made to the present day. (Harrods usually stock one or two.) Readers of the Price Guide to Antique Furniture will know from page 258, items 942-945 that there are marquetry ones, satinwood ones, plain mahogany ones and there are even painted ones. Variations in the design are very frequent in lesser Edwardian pieces.
1890-present day marquetry/satinwood satinwood as above painted/inlaid mahogany.
The borderline between a writing table and a desk or bureau is sometimes hard to define. On the whole a writing table remains a table, on four legs with some drawers in the frieze, but the Carlton House version is
almost a desk or bureau due to the upper structure. Here, we have followed accepted practice and, after the Carlton House version, show the simpler pieces of furniture.
An inlaid satinwood writing table in the French Louis XVth style on cabriole legs with ormolu mounts. The top surface has an inset leather area, crossbanded around it with additional inlay. The top edge has an ormolu moulding surround. 1860-1880
Three writing tables in 18th century styles, using square tapering or turned legs, brass ring handles with circular pressed plates and with drawers in the frieze. The central example has small upper drawers as well. All have an inset leather top.
Three writing tables of rather less quality. The central one is kidney-shaped and the other two are oak examples with square section legs. 1890-1920
An inlaid mahogany writing table in the ‘Sheraton’ style which also incorporates an oval mirror with flanking small drawers.
An oak writing table in ‘William ‘and Mary’ style, evidenced by the turned legs with inverted cups or ‘bells’ and the bun feet. The front stretcher has been thoughtfully omitted so as to allow the writer to get his or her
feet under the table without hindrance.

TABLES  gateleg
The gateleg table was a great favourite of the 17th and 18th centuries. It did not die out in the 19th century but continued in other forms, like the Sutherland (q.v.) table.
During the last quarter of the 19th century, however, it was back to the Good Old Days for gatelegs, as with so many other forms of furniture. The oak gateleg was back in its late 17th century form, to meet the prevailing demand aroused by the medieval and ‘Olde Englishe’ taste.
Two oak gateleg dining tables of good reproduction of styles of 1670-1720. The top example has the column turned legs  here slightly balustered  which were put on many conventional tables of this sort at the end of the 18th century. The lower table features spiral or twist turning to the legs (but not the stretchers, which are left square) which met ‘Elizabethan’ taste, but which in fact dates back to 1670-1690. Both tables have a give-away feature for those anxious to identify period. Both have a deep ‘thumb-nail’ or ovolo moulding around the top. This is not a feature generally to be seen on period tables and was much used by reproducers from 1900 onwards. 1900-1920
Two occasional gateleg tables of small size from Maurice Adams. The top one, with a robust end Igunbarrel’ column, emulates an early small gateleg of the 1670s. The lower example is more conventional with column
turning and square stretchers. Both have a ‘thumb-nail’ top edge moulding. They are intended for lounge or drawing room use, not for dining. c. 1925
A white deal gateleg table of the old type of construction shown by Percy Wells c.1920. Wells liked the enduring virtues of the gateleg  the design variations to top and leg, the convenience of storage, and use at half or full dimension. Unlike the Pembroke, it is hard to top over because of the leg support, but this very virtue is a drawback since the legs get in the way of the sitter. Wells proposed to overcome the objection of the low foot rails by setting them back from the legs and projecting the top further over. He also proposed a change to the gate system to avoid halving the leg or the long rail. He shows drawings of the new system but not a photograph. The table shown above is 5ft. long by 2ft.10ins. and, as Wells points out, is much more costly to construct than a plain kitchen table of the same size on four legs.c.1920
Two small lacquered gateleg tables for occasional use, in the chinoiserie style much revived in the 1920s. The legs are extremely slender and the tables are clearly not designed for much other than ornamental
purposes.
A reproduction oak gateleg table with twist-turned legs. Note the flat stretchers without any form of incised moulding and the heavy ‘thumb-nail’ or ovolo moulding around the top. Both features are strong indications of a reproduction as against a 17th century original. Made in a fairly cheap oak and stained or semi-French polished to give a darkened aged appearance, but this finish is apt to scratch or chip off. This type of table was made in enormous quantities. There are container loads of them available from trade shippers specialising in this kind of furniture but recent activity has increased the price, which in 1979 was a standard 38 or so. 1920-1930

TABLES  dining, on four legs
A mahogany expanding dining table of a type often thought of as mid- or even late-Victorian but whose legs belie the later dates. Although the constructional form was used later, it originated in the 1830s and 1840s.
These legs are of a bulbous-and-baluster turning with collars, more popular initially in the 1840s than in the 1880s and later, where one might be tempted to place this piece. The examples of 1880-1910 incorporate the top bulb but the lower turning is straighter or tapering, less of baluster form. The piece does highlight the difficulty of dating Victorian furniture, however, since the use of this form of baluster at a later date is always possible.
Another large expanding Victorian mahogany dining table, this time with semicircular ends which can open to receive up to four flaps. The tapering reeded legs are of a design popular in the 1830s, featured by Smee in 1850 and still used in variant form in the 1880s.
An example of the previous type of table, adapted in style to be more ‘Sheraton’ in appearance, with square tapering legs and inlaid stringing lines. Available originally in a size 7ft. long by 4ft. wide. 1890-1915
Four examples of the leg styles available in the late Victorian and Edwardian era. From almost-art-nouveau through ‘oak’ to ‘Queen Anne’.
A mahogany extending dining table which, with its three leaves inserted is 2ft. 6ins. wide by 10ft. long. The top, shown here without leaves is slightly serpentine in shape and has an edge decorated with a blind fret.
The tapering rectangular legs have patera at the top and carved husk decoration. An example of 18th century Georgian designs used on a modern table. 1900-1925
A cabriole leg dining table which can be extended on the ‘draw table’ principle (i.e. by extra leaves under the top), thus combining stylistically ‘Queen Anne’ shaping with a 16th century construction. From Maurice
Adams. c. 1926
A mahogany dining table designed by J. Henry Sellers (18611954), an Arts and Crafts Society architect-designer who tended to produce expensive furniture with Edgar Wood. The top is banded with ebony and, clearly, the ends are detachable in the manner of the 18th century ‘D’ end dining table. Designed en suite with the sideboard shown as 470. c. 1925
Illustrations from The Woodworker magazine of 1928 showing four versions of the popular small draw-extension table used in small houses, with subsequent directions for the do-it-yourself enthusiast on how to construct the piece. Interesting that the lower left version was entitled ‘modern’ in design at that date, even though its square baluster legs and cross stretchers are derived from traditional tables. 1920-1940
The vogue for the medieval led to a tremendous rise in demand for oak furniture of suitably aged appearance from the 1880s onwards. ‘Old oak’ refectory and dining tables might be made up from old pieces (just as
`coffers’ might be made from three-panel carved bed-heads) or simply reproduced new and ‘aged’ by various processes. It was not always the intention to deceive, nor is it so now.
We show a small selection here to show how close some versions came to the original and to advise the reader to be warned; old reproductions of good quality are worth about half the value of the originals.

TABLES  centre pedestal
Not all the tables in this section started out life as dining tables by any means. Many were intended as centre tables or for occasional use, but the modern collector, with more modest space and size of household, is
happy to adopt them for dining. Indeed, many of the large extending tables used in Victorian dining rooms are now more suitable for boardrooms or for those who entertain many people at a time than for modern
dining purposes. These larger tables are dealt with in the section, TABLES  dining.
A walnut centre table on four scrolled supports which are themselves on four scrolled cabriole legs. A very popular design in the 1850s. (Smee’s catalogue shows an almost identical table, 1850.) Now perhaps regardedas a high-point of scrolled Victorian rococo, whose exuberance and frivolity snap their fingers at the stolid, classical dourness of the other prevailing styles. Not designed constructionally for heavy use but a splendid example of the genre. c.1860
An oval walnut centre table on a centre turned support and four carved scrolled supports on an X-shaped platform which is, in its turn, on four scrolled feet. This elaborate base is of a type popular in the 1850s and
1860s.
A circular walnut centre table on a gadrooned baluster column and three scrolled rococo legs. The top is veneered in sections of burr walnut whereas the base is solid. A design popular in the 1850s but still offered by various manufacturers in modified form to later dates. 1860-1870
An oval walnut table on a four-column base with four scrolled feet and a finialled circular central section. The top is inlaid with boxwood stringing and stylised foliage marquetry. Stylistically derived from the 1850s and 1860s but more likely to have been made twenty years later when this four-column version of the base was very prevalent in commercial catalogues such as C. & R. Light. 1865-1885
A walnut oval breakfast table inlaid with stringing lines and a centre marquetry panel. The designer has adopted a belt-and-braces approach in using both a centre column and four smaller supporting columns rising from the curved legs. Similar designs occur in catalogues of the 1860s to the 1880s.
A circular rosewood table in the George III manner, with a broad satinwood banding to the top and satinwood panels in the curving legs supporting the turned centre column. The top is veneered in two matched halves
of figured rosewood and the quality of execution is very high. 1910-1930
A mahogany two-pedestal rectangular dining table of Georgian design. The column-turned supports end in four curved reeded legs with brass paw castors and the table is a straightforward reproduction of one of the
most popular forms of English dining table. 1920 to present day
TABLES  centre pedestal, Gothic
The centre pedestal table was quite a favourite of the Reformed Gothic designers who adapted Pugin’s models to their own ideas. The use of structural timbers of more architectural configuration was a hallmark of the type and some of the really high-quality, roof-beamed versions in oak with inlaid tops are now very expensive collectors’ pieces.
An oak centre pedestal table with a tip-up top which is of Puginesque design, although probably not by him. The use of the grotesque carved animals’ heads and the heavily-pillared centre column, more like stonework
than wood, is typical of the use of Gothic design. Note the carved edge of the table top, with its Gothic-Islamic motif. Possibly intended as a library table and of the mid-Victorian Gothic style transitional between fanciful Regency `Gothick’ and the severer Reformed Gothic of the 1860s.
A typical Reformed Gothic octagonal centre table using ,revealed’ construction and an architectural structure to the base, following Pugin’s example. The top is inlaid and the joints are pegged, with ebony ‘dowels’ to
mark them, reiterated in the decoration of the frieze. Note also the carefully-designed handles.c. 1865
An octagonal walnut centre table on four column supports and a structural stretchered base ending in-shaped feet. The piece has all the hallmarks of Reformed Gothic design: turned collars on the columns, ebonised for emphasis; moulded stretchers connecting the heavy central crossed base with its chamfered edges; incised Gothic trefoil motifs.1865-1870
Another, very popular, design of octagonal table in which the Reformed Gothic style is marked by the heavy crossed stretchers on the base on which the four turned column supports stand. These crossed stretchers
curve downwards to form feet and, in this case, have a further stretcher between them at the base of each column.c. 1865
Put here for contrast and instruction, this octagonal pitch-pine table is still ‘Gothic’ in style but is probably ecclesiastical in origin and taken from a chapel or a church. The base looks a little out of proportion with the top. 1870-1880