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

Side table

1. Grain running from side to side of table top.
2. On solid woods, considerable figuring where timber was split rather than sawn.
3. Back edge of table top sometimes unfinished, with no overhang.
4. Drawers of oak, carcase wood of oak. Pine drawers or other parts of carcase in period piece indicate Dutch origins.
5. Where there is
featherbanding and herringbone inlay, `arrows’ always go clockwise.
6. Simple lip moulding to three sides of table top.
7. Beam moulding to drawer edges made from a single strip with wood grain continuing through each bead.
8. On walnut tables, signs of worm boreholes in solid timbers — walnut is particularly susceptible to worm.
9. Good patination on sides. and top edges of drawer where it has been pulled out and handled constantly.
10. No lock or lock rail to drawer frame.
Likely restoration and repair
11. Legs restored, replaced where worm damage has ruined originals.
12. Original veneer planed down to the oak carcase beneath: no depth of patination on surface woods.
13. Solid walnut tops replaced: signs of worm-tracks indicate timber planed down from thicker piece of different origin —wormholes only show on surface of wood.
14. Solid walnut with little patination, wrong construction: may be Victorian copy
`distressed’ to look older.
15. Made up from larger table in bad state of repair. No
patination on overhang of table top — oddly placed boreholes and marks on underside.
16. Legs repaired or replaced: grain will break on the join —quite often concealed by ring turning.
Historical background
By the beginning of the seventeenth century there was much more ’standing’ furniture in most houses. In particular, side tables came into use for many different functions. They stood in spaces between windows, against walls with side chairs, and were used as an early version of the ‘dressing table’.
The art of twist turning came to England from Spain and the Spanish Netherlands, together with the fashion for embellishing cabinets and the edges of drawers with ’string of beads’ mouldings in ebony or ebony-coloured woods. Sometimes legs of small decorative tables were of a much darker wood than the rest of the piece.
The cup-and-cover shape of table and cabinet stand legs, although principally associated with the arrival of William of Orange in England, had been used for several decades before, from the furniture imported from Holland. At about the same time the art of veneering transformed both the construction and the appearance of English furniture. Side tables span this revolutionary change, being made first in solid woods with twist-turned legs, and later in quartered veneer with serpentine stretchers. Stuart side tables frequently had one full-width drawer in the frieze.
Construction and materials
Side tables, being small pieces of furniture, were made in a much wider variety of woods than large tables. They are found in oak, fruitwood, plane and, occasionally, Cyprus. At a later date they were made in solid walnut, and in walnut veneer on an oak carcase and underframe.
Most side tables had a single drawer in the frieze, with one or two handles. Drawers were either plain-fronted or with small fielded or coffered panels, contemporary with chest of drawers of the period. Their construction was still based on the solid frame, with stretchers between all four legs, either decorative or plain.
Around 1680 the cup and cover shape of legs with serpentine stretchers, similar to those on stands for chests, were quite common. There is always a good overhang on three sides of the table top, and the back edge will be narrower, for side tables were made to stand against walls and in
Variations
These traditional ‘occasional’ tables were made in a variety of shapes, woods and finishes for 100 years or more and the differences in construction, woods and finish rather than stylistic change are the guide to period. Characteristic country-made versions may be of plain oak with square stretchers and no carving or decoration. Others had a semi-circular flap and a plain gateleg on a wooden hinge, opening to an elongated half-circle. Some are found in plain oak with a simple frieze and no drawer. Nice examples can be found in fruitwood, sometimes with a small drawer in the frieze which does not recesses, and the back stretcher is plain, undecorated and flush with the edge of the back.
The timber of the legs continues up to form the side frame of the frieze drawer and the corners of the frieze. All joints were simple mortise-and-tenon, secured with pegs or dowels. The drawers had through-dovetails or stop-dovetails, with the bottom boards running from front to back in more than one piece. The bottom boards were nailed to the sides with clout nails and a simple rebate joint.
Detail
Early walnut veneer was usually quarter-cut and framed in a broad band of cross-cut veneer, sometimes edged with feather-banding or herringbone with mitred edges.
Drop handles usually had rosette-shaped backplates fixed to the drawer fronts with two steel shafts driven through and splayed and flattened on the inside.
run the full width of the piece. Dutch side tables, imported during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were veneered or decorated with marquetry and had double-twist legs. Generally they were more elaborate than those in the English style and were usually made on a pine carcase with pine drawers.
Left: plain oak table of the late seventeenth century.
Centre: William and Mary oak table with pierced decorative frieze.
Right: an elaborately decorated table of the Stuart period.
Reproductions
Nineteenth century
The most common ones on the market today are of Victorian oak, recognizable by decoration such as carving on the frieze, twist turning, polished and darkened to age the wood.
There are also solid walnut copies, stained and bleached where the stain has rubbed off or faded. Many reproductions are in oak, elm, and Virginia walnut, with straight legs or later machine-turned balusters, bobbins or twists and flat stretchers, from almost any date from c.1830. They were made as little side tables for use in passages, halls and dining rooms.
Spanish, Portuguese and Italian tables with ebonized legs, string-of-beads moulding around the drawers, simulating the style of tortoiseshell and ebony chests and cabinets, were imported in large numbers during the mid-Victorian period.
Price bands
Stuart oak, with frieze drawer and good turned detail, £1,900-2,200.
William and Mary oak with good detail, i1,500–1,800.
Country, period, oak or fruitwood, c.1700, £500-800.
Nineteenth-century oak copies, 050-500.

Early 18th Century Tables

Changing social customs at the beginning of the 18th century created a need for many new types of table. The fashion for entertaining small groups of people led to a demand for light, portable tables that could be arranged wherever required. Specific tables were made for playing cards, taking tea, and writing letters.
The card table was primarily a British innovation. In the early part of the 18th century the card table was basically a square table with a hinged top that folded back. The rear leg swung back to support the open top. As card tables were stored against the wall, only the front skirt and legs were carved. The top often had hollowed-out corners for holding cards, chips, or candlesticks.
Writing tables were often fitted with a velvet or leather writing surface. Lady’s writing tables were small, with a sloping top and a drawer for storing writing materials. These tables could also be used for embroidery or needlepoint. Men’s writing tables, which were known in France as bureaux plats, were larger and had flat tops and a storage drawer.
Both console tables and pier tables were created as part of the design for an integrated interior. A console table usually had supports at the front only, because the back was attached to a wall. Pier tables were also designed to be positioned against the wall, but these were usually smaller, and had four legs. Traditionally, they stood between two windows or doors, and often had matching mirrors, known as pier glasses, above them. Both types of table were often elaborately decorated with carving and gilt, and had decorative marble tops, but the designs were generally lighter than the Baroque style favoured in the 17th century and they incorporated the asymmetric, natural motifs of the Rococo style.
Pedestal tables were columnar and had three splayed legs. The style of the tabletops varied. These tables were often used in dining rooms as tea tables for holding china and crockery
Tripod candlestands generally had small, rounded tops. Larger tripod tables were often called tea tables, and the finest examples had scalloped tops with moulded edges, and elaborately carved columns and feet.
FRENCH REGENCE TABLE
This table is made of ebony with brass inlays. It has a serpentine bronze-framed top above three drawers at the front and blind drawers at the back. The piece is decorated with ormolu and sabot mounts, and has cabriole legs. c.1720.
The top is covered with inset gold leather.
The corners and sides are decorated with ormolu masks.
The legs are cabriole shaped.
Ormolu mounts in the shape of animal hooves protect the feet.
SWISS CONSOLE TABLE
This gilt table, probably made in Bern, has a marble top above a carved, pierced frame with Rococo scrolls, foliage, and asymmetrical shells. The apron and stretcher are both carved with an asymmetrical cartouche. c.1765.
GERMAN PIER TABLE
This small pier table displays both Rococo and Neoclassical elements. The top is made of marble and sits above a frieze, decorated with a stylized Greek key motif. It is supported by four carved, scrolled legs. c.1760.
GERMAN OAK TABLE
This imposing oak table is made in the Franconian Baroque style. It is veneered in walnut and the shaped top is inlaid with damson, cherrywood, and maple wood in a geometric marquetry pattern within a crossbanded surround. A shallow frieze,
which is also crossbanded, leads into carved cabriole legs with scroll feet. The legs are joined by flat, shaped stretchers. The piece terminates in ball feet. 18th century.
ENGLISH SIDE TABLE
This small, vernacular side table is made of oak and fruitwood. It has one narrow frieze drawer above an undulating, shaped apron. The table stands on turned, slightly tapering legs, and terminates in pad feet. c.1750.
SICILIAN SIDE TABLE
This table is made of gilded pine with a marble top. The frieze is faced with glass panels painted on the underside to simulate blue-grey onyx. Neoclassical symbols, such as egg and dart, bay leaf mouldings, and lion’s masks, provide decoration. The tapered legs have acanthus plumes and are faced with glass panels. 18th century.
GILTWOOD SIDE TABLE
This French Regence side table is heavily carved and covered with gilt. The top is made of rosso antico marble. The frieze and cabriole legs are elaborately decorated with carvings of pierced foliage surmounted by nymphs’ heads. The table was bought by an English gentleman for his country house. c.1725.
GILTWOOD SIDE TABLE
This marble-topped giltwood table, which may be of German origin, has an ornately carved frieze and apron, which are enlivened with Rococo flames and swags of flowers on each side. The cabriole legs have carved knees decorated with large, bearded masks. 18th century.
ENGLISH TEA TABLE
This George II tea table has a mechanical concertina action, which means that when the two-part hinged tabletop is open, it reveals compartments for holding games. The piece stands on cabriole legs and terminates in claw-and-ball feet. c.1750.
GERMAN TABLE
This simple table, which has one small drawer underneath an inlaid floral marquetry top, is decorated with more marquetry over the shaped frieze and cabriole legs. It is small enough to move easily, and would have fulfilled many uses.
LOUIS XV WRITING TABLE
This small French writing table has a raised, pierced brass edge around the top. The sides and feet are decorated with ormolu mounts. The escutcheons are asymmetrical in typical Rococo style. c.1750.
AMERICAN TEA TABLE
This vernacular table is made of painted maple. The rectangular top has a moulded edge projecting over a shaped skirt with a drawer. The corners of the frieze continue into sharp edges down the cabriole legs, which lead into pad feet. c.1740.
Tilt-top tables had three parts: the top, a “birdcage” mechanism that enabled the top to tilt and revolve, and a columnar support with a tripod base. The top folded flat, so that the table could be stored against a wall.
The top had a lip around the edge, to protect items on the table, such as valuable porcelain cups. The birdcage, named after its appearance, was used in England but was more popular in America. An iron catch was fitted to the underside of the top and birdcage, to lock the top in place. The column was anchored to the birdcage with a removable wedge. The various parts of the table were purchased from different craftsmen, then assembled by a cabinet-maker.
Tilt-top tables from Philadelphia arc considered the best examples of colonial cabinet-making. The finest ones are made of solid mahogany, which makes it difficult to distinguish them from English examples.
TILT-TOP TABLES
Detail of mechanism
Philadelphia tilt-top tea table This fine table has a birdcage support, a scalloped edge, a tripod base, and claw-and-ball feet. The top is made from a single piece of figured mahogany.