A William and Mary Period Side Table - Mid-seventeenth Century Oak Side table - A William III Walnut Card Table

Probably one of the most collected forms of antique furniture is the occasional side table which is both decorative and sometimes functional. Early forms of side table of the seventeenth century are perhaps a little too heavy, being mainly made of oak in ponderous design, but from the late seventeenth century onwards many delightful forms of games and side tables in prevailing fashions were produced.
Value points: The common value points for examples illustrated are:
1. Top Surface. The first thing to strike the eye is usually the condition, patina and decorative figuring or inlays of the top surface. The more perfect and decorative this surface is, the more the .. rating will apply.
2. Structural Condition. This must again be good, particularly where folding tables are concerned. The Georgian and Regency card tables usually had side hinges to the folding top and these are often the cause of
damage, leading to unsightly patching, replacement and alteration. The legs and stretchers, if applicable, must be sound.
3. Legs. Depending on the period, the design and always the proportion of the legs must constitute a very important factor in the assessment of a side or games table. Carving on cabrioles, or moulding of straight legs, affects value. Legs are, of course, always liable to damage and their originality with the above points, constitutes an  factor.
4. Handles. Where a drawer or drawers are involved, original period handles constitute a  factor.
5. Shape. Later Georgian folding card tables on tapering square legs in designs generally associated with Hepplewhite and Sheraton are affected by an important factor: the shape of the top. If this is circular when
open, i.e. half round when shut, a .. factor may be assumed. Tables which are oval, or with geometrical straight sides do not attract as high a price. On these tables cross-banding of the square tapering legs constitutes a  factor.
A William and Mary period side table, c.1690, of a type generally found in walnut, but also frequently decorated with marquetry. The serpentine X stretcher is also found on earlier tables, but the inverted   form on the turned legs is more generally associated with William who brought over Dutch craftsmen from whom this form originates. The legs would be in solid walnut whereas the top, sides, drawer front and stretcher would be veneered.
Walnut side table of the post ‘Restoration’ period, c.1680. The twist turning so popular to the Restoration period continued to be used on the legs and stretchers of tables though simple turning still persisted. Walnut was by far the most favourite wood though oak by no means went out of use. While the legs and bun feet are solid walnut, the top and drawer fronts are veneered. The veneered stretcher is ‘Y’ shaped at each end, connected by an oval widening  intended for a bowl. It is more
common to have one drawer only and the best examples would be inlaid with marquetry panels.
Marquetry - Walnut - Oak
Mid-seventeenth century oak side table, c.1650, with two drawers in the frieze. Note the panelled shape of the drawer fronts, reminiscent of
chests of drawers of the period. The turned legs and square stretchers are still retained.
A solid walnut side table of William and Mary period, c.1690, with arched shaping of the frieze below the drawer. The X-shaped stretcher is well illustrated and the heavy turning and bun feet are typical. Note the
thumb-nail top edge moulding.
Value points: Proportion and quality of leg turning  Shaping of frieze
Country side table in fruitwood of William and Mary period. The baluster turning of the legs shows later characteristics but the country maker has retained the square stretchers and construction from an earlier period.
Note the drawer fitting tight under the lock rail and the square, pegged tenon joints. This type of table was made well on into the late eight= eenth century.
Small oak side table, c.1675. The simple column turning of the legs and the stretchers is of the same type as the gate-leg table illustrated earlier. The top is fixed to the framing with oak dowel pegs. The two drawers fit tight under the top without a lock rail in the framing. Note that there are now simple bun-like feet under the square leg-stretcher joints, which lift the stretchers slightly higher off the floor. On original undisturbed
pieces the dowels protrude above the level of the surface (stand proud).
A William III side table, c.1700, inlaid with seaweed marquetry. The thumb-nail moulding is ebonised. The double-scroll legs of square secticn are particular to this period and not to everyone’s taste, but the stretcher form and flat bun feet are typical. Seaweed marquetry of this quality demanded a high degree of skill and such pieces are increasingly rare.
Quality and area of decoration
A William III Walnut Card Table, c.1700, the oval folding top veneered outside and inside with burr-walnut, cross banded and with herringbone lines, the shaped frieze with three small drawers, on six tapering
octagonal legs including two rear gate-legs, united by stretchers, and with turned feet.

Sutherland table

These slim, practical folding tables were reputedly named after Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria during the early decades of her long reign. The combination of a cheval-type construction and gate-leg is far more successful and elegant than it sounds and they are among the few really successful designs of the Victorian period.
The top of a Sutherland is so narrow that it is able to stand against a wall without taking up much space, yet when the flaps are up and supported on two swinging gate legs, it is large enough for a small supper or breakfast table. The frame is almost like a heavy Victorian clothes horse in construction: one or two slim baluster-turned uprights join a simple frieze below the table top. On the best, the gate legs tuck in beside the bracket foot. Others have half-gates with two legs swinging closed in the centre on either side of the central stretcher.
Sutherland tables were such strong little work horses that many of them have only survived in a dilapidated state and some of the more decorative, with slim bands of contrasting veneer, have been broken up to make the tops of questionable pairs of card tables.
Signs of authenticity
1. Undersides of flaps with scoremarks, pronounced where top of gate leg has been swung out and back.
2. Good patination on undersides of end overhang where it has been frequently lifted and moved.
3. Dark, glossy woods with very little decoration.
4. Cheval construction stoutly made with well-turned, simple decoration.
5. Splay of legs compact, not sprawling.
6. Solidly made underframe of mahogany or oak, to withstand hard use.
7. Flaps falling to correct height, just above curve of bracket, to show an inch or two of leg.
8. Good patination under flaps where they have been continuously handled.
Likely restoration and repair
9. Edge of flap split with weight of flaps and constant use. The repair likely to split again with the weight of the flaps after some use.
10. Repairs to join on edge of rule hinge.
11. New turned uprights, replaced uprights from parts of other table legs, even staircase balusters, stained and polished with mottled results, not caused by age or wear.
12. Made up from solid
Victorian mahogany clothes horse, built on similar lines, with new top and underframe.
Construction and materials
Sutherlands are usually about 3 ft bin long — a comfortable size to be lifted by one person. They were made in plain mahogany with mahogany cheval supports, feet and gate legs, with flattened bracket feet joined by a turned stretcher.
They were extremely narrow, not more than 9 in across when the flaps were down, which were very deep and fall to a line just above the stretcher. The two gates on either side are recessed into the underframe, and swing out on wooden hinges.
The flaps have brass hinges on a rule joint, set close to the ends of the joins, with one or two additional hinges under the flap to support the weight when lifting and lowering.
Detail
The upright supports are usually turned or baluster shaped, or twin turned legs socketing in to a single bracket foot at either end. Sometimes, on more ornate versions, there is a small drop finial on the undercurve. Sutherlands are always on castors, sometimes set beneath slightly outward-scrolling feet, or a compressed inward scroll. They are usually about 2 ft 4 in —more the height of dining furniture than writing furniture, and early versions were always in solid woods and not veneered. Later versions for provincial drawing rooms and parlours were veneered in the ubiquitous birds’ eye maple and were much more showy and not so elegant.
Variations
Often the tables are found in oak, and very pleasing when well-polished and aged. However, oak tends to split quite easily, and the weight of the flaps imposes a considerable strain to flap edges and table-top edges at the hinges. Others may be found in yew wood with elm tops, and in fruitwood with oak tops.
Broader versions of this simple design melt into narrow gate-legged tables with deep flaps, made over a century earlier in standard `country’ woods and combinations of woods. Usually the cheval supports are abandoned in favour of four simple straight legs, joined with stretchers. The flaps may be rectangular or rounded.
Reproductions
Small spindly Victorian and Edwardian `tea tables’ are low enough to be used by people sitting in sprung armchairs or sofas. These were sometimes round-leafed, sometimes square or rectangular, but the principles of construction are basically the same: narrow top, often on four turned legs with thin stretchers, and two gate legs to support the flaps.
Heavier, chunkier tables of full height, also on four stretchered legs, usually have flaps of less depth. They are almost a cross between the delicate Pembroke and the functional, unobtrusive Sutherland.
Price bands
Ornate frames, veneered tops,$300-500.
Nineteenth century, plain, solid wood, £200-260.
`Spider leg’, £500-750.
Below: the black paint and excessive turning is characteristic of a late Victorian Sutherland.
Below: in contrast to the table on the left, this elegantly turned and inlaid piece dates from c.1870.