William and Mary Period Carved Wood Table - A George I Period Table - A Virginian Walnut Table

Another walnut card table, c.1720, of the early eighteenth century with graceful cabriole legs decorated with shell motif on the knee and ending in ball and claw feet. The shaping for candle stands at the corners is
clearly shown, as are the inserted cups for counters.
William and Mary period carved wood table, c.1690, decorated with gilt and gesso. The decoration of furniture by gesso was done in order to economise in carving by giving a pattern in slight relief without the need to carve it. It was a rich man’s style and comparatively small quantities were made, chiefly small tables and mirror frames. The style appears to have had a relatively short duration, from 1700 to 1735.
A George I mahogany card table, c.1725, showing the candle stands and cups for counters similar to the walnut tables of an earlier period. The bold cabriole legs end in ball and claw feet and the shaped frieze has an echo of the shell motif about it. Tables of this kind in mahogany continued to be made into the second quarter of the eighteenth century.
A card table of Queen Anne period with fine cabriole legs, c.1710, ending in ball and claw feet. The knees show the shell and pendant husk motif, having a C scroll on the inside edge. Note the shaping at the corners.
The usual covering was green velvet or a plain polished wood surface as above. The method of extending the table, which folds to a side table when not in use, is of the ‘concertina’ action type. The cabriole legs are
‘hipped’ at the top i.e. continue above the line of the frieze in a scrolled shape.
Quality of hipped cabrioles, shell motif, bold ball and claw feet
A George 11 period card table, c.1730, in mahogany with shell motif on the cabriole logs. The shaped corners for candle stands are retained but the frieze is straight.
Price Range: 175  250
A George I period table, c.1725, in oak, the tapering legs ending in pad feet. A side table which could be put to use for cards or other occasional use. The space behind the frieze is used for storage. The top flap has
clearly been damaged at the side hinge and reversed to hang down behind the table. Originally it would have been flat, on the top of the table.
A George II mahogany side table, c.1740, elaborately carved on the frieze with a lion mask and acanthus leaves. The cabriole legs have lion masks carved on the knees with ribboned flower heads and terminate in ball and claw feet. The top is a marble slab.
fora single table
A George II period games table, c.1730, in mahogany with turned tapering legs ending in pad feet. The inner right-hand back leg is on a gate which swings out behind the table to support the top when the upper flap is
opened over by means of its side hinges to produce the circular games top. This inside surface is usually covered in baize, with a broad cross-banding produced by the baize being inset into the surface. The lower flap also opens on side hinges to give access to the deep storage space behind the frieze, where gaming materials are kept. The table is a natural stylistic evolution of the walnut one ref. ST1258, and examples in solid and veneered walnut were made. Cabriole legs were also employed on same example. Note the slightly overlapping shaping at the top of the legs, sometimes extended to form a ‘fold’ at the top of the leg. The inside surfaces sometimes have ‘cups’ scooped out of them for holding the gaming counters as shown on ST1260 and ST1261.
Cabriole legs  Fold on legs
Virginian or Red’ walnut
Counter Cups
A George II, c.1740, folding top table in heavy mahogany. The cabriole legs ending in pad feet are a modification of earlier cabriole legs in that the earlier exuberance has been curbed and the leg is now much more restrained. These tables were probably multi-purpose, being used for both games and for refreshments such as tea. The left-hand back leg is on a gate, to swing open to support the top when folded over in the open position. Side hinges allow this folding action and, as with all card tables, tend to be a point of weakness or breakage over the years.
A Virginian walnut table of c.1720, with fine cabriole legs ending in spade feet. This table has lost its folding top but the centre drawer and shaping of the frieze are similar to earlier types. A provincial or country made
version of the finer examples.

Antique Work Table - A Regency Work Table in Mahogany - A Victorian Walnut Work Table

Work tables for use by ladies, with space for needlework materials in a well below were a later 18th century phenomenon and were made in a variety of forms. We have illustrated some typical examples and have
included a number without the silk bag but with small drawers instead. It can be mentioned that Sheraton illustrated some designs, as did Gillows. In the Regency period and after, some very elaborately decorated
designs appeared in a variety of styles; the later Victorian type of octagonal form, with tapering well, supported on a tripod base, have recentlybecome popular and are being sold in a range from 15-25 depending on the veneered surface decoration.
A Regency work table in burr walnut with side drop flaps and three drawers, on Disneyesque paw feetwithreeded scrolls. Under the lowest drawer a slide acts as a drawer frame for the pleated silk bag.
Value points: Burr walnut
A Regency mahogany work table with drop flaps and a centre drawer with work bag sliding beneath. The end supports consist of two turned columns on raised feet and a turned stretcher, in the style of the columns
connects the two.
Figured woods and inlays  Quality of turning
A Regency yew wood work table on a turned baluster stem and four carved feet ending in brass paw casters. An unusually circular piece, which, had it been in any other wood than yew, should not have been priced at
more than 50.
An early Victorian mahogany work table with folding top, two drawers and silk bag on slide. Supported on an octagonal centre column on shaped platform on turned flat bun feet.
A late Georgian mahogany work table with three shallow drawers, inlaid with boxwood stringing. Note here again the slightly ‘bamboo’ effect in the turning of the tapering legs.
Choice of figured woods and inlays Quality of leg turning
A simpler mahogany work table of the later Georgian or Regency period. The turned legs are simply executed and the mahogany is not greatly figured. The casters are original.
Figured woods and inlays … Quality of leg turning
A Regency period work table on tripod stand, in mahogany. There are two flaps, Pembroke table style, which can be supported on brackets, to give greater surface area to the top. The two drawers open at the visible
end; on the other end two mock drawer surfaces are included to give balance.
Elegance of tripod stand  Choice of figured woods and inlays
A Regency work table in mahogany with three drawers veneered in figured wood. The centre column is turned and carved with leaf pattern. The four carved legs end in paw feet on casters. Note that the drawer fronts are cross banded.
A japanned and painted work table of c.1840. It is constructed on the Pembroke table principle with two side flaps which are supported by small hinged wooded brackets. The drawers are cock-beaded.
Quality of painted decoration …
Mother of pearl inlays
A Victorian walnut work table of c.1860 date. The octagonal top lifts to give access to a compartmented interior and the tapering central column is hollow to allow for storage of wools. It is raised on carved cabriole legs. Usually the tops of such pieces are veneered with a thin sheet of decorative burr, but mahogany and rosewood examples with variations exist. Marquetry inlaid tops are also fairly common in the walnut varieties.
The lids usually made of cheap pine on to which the mahogany was veneered, often warped and, therefore, do not close properly.

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.