Posts Tagged ‘gateleg table’

THONET’S BENTWOOD
THONET’S DEVELOPMENT OF THE BENTWOOD CHAIR- ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTS EVER CONCEIVED - HAD AN ENORMOUS INFLUENCE ON THE COURSE OF FURNITURE DESIGN.

MICHAEL THONET (1796-1871) WAS BORN in Boppard-
am-Rhein, a picturesque town that was then part of Prussia, now part of Germany. He trained as a cabinet-maker and set up a workshop in his home town as soon as he finished his apprenticeship. However, it was not until he was in his thirties that he began to experiment with steaming laminated wood veneers in order to create bentwood furniture. At first, lie was only able to use this process to produce component parts, such as chair backs, which he incorporated into pieces constructed from
more orthodox, straight, wooden elements. Still, his
work was innovative, and Thonet’s exhibit at an 1841 Koblenz trade show attracted the attention of Chancellor Metternich, who invited him to Austria to make some furniture for the Palais Liechtenstein.

ROCKING CHAIR
The frame of this beech
Thonet rocking chair exemplifies the Thonet technique of using single pieces of wood to create elaborate, elegant, curved structures. The seat and back of the chair arc each made from a simple green fabric sling. c.1880.
TORTUOUS CURVES
To prevent the beech from splitting when it was bent violently into shape, a metal strip was attached to each end of the piece of wood before it was steamed.
BENTWOOD CHAISE LONGUE
Inspired by Arts and Crafts styling, the sinuous lines of the frame and co ms of Thonet’s chaise longue are created from long pieces of bent, solid, laminated beech. The seat is made of woven canc. Suitablefor the conservatory or the garden, this recliner appealed to the taste for more rustic styles of furniture in the late 19th century, although it was, in fact, industrially produced. It is the precursor of Le Corbusiers chaise longue, designed in 1928, which used tubular steel instead of bent wood for the frame. 1883-84.
VERSATILITY AND SIMPLICITY
By 1842, Thonet had perfected his steam-bending process, and in July of that year he was granted an international patent that protected his “chemical mechanical methods” from imitation. The extravagant curlicues of the Kentwood furniture he produced for the interiors of the grand Rococo staterooms at the Palais Liechtenstein are testament to the versatility of his invention.
Once softened through immersion in steam or boiling water, the wood (beech was particularly suitable) could be moulded into almost any shape with the aid of a press. A single piece of timber could be manipulated to form the back legs, uprights, and top rail of a chair. Thonct’s process meant that furniture could be constructed from far fewer members and did away with the need for dovetails, tenons, or any kind of joint; simple screws and nuts would suffice to hold the parts together.
In 1853, Thonet set up his own furniture company — Gebruder Thonet — with his five sons (Franz, Michael, August, Josef, and Jacob) , and designed a factory in Vienna to produce furniture that could be packed flat for shipping and assembled at its destination. Before long, Thonet’s bentwood furniture was being exported all over the world.
WORLD-BEATING DESIGN
Mid-19th-century Vienna was famous for the lively political and cultural debate that found its focus in the city’s cafes, and these establishments proved the ideal testing ground for Thonet’s new bentwood
chairs. Light yet durable, their distinctive but understated style and modest cost made them a hit with the hospitality industry. Thonet’s first large-scale commission was to supply chairs to Vienna’s Daum coffeehouse in the late 1850s, and the world-beating “No.14″ chair was developed for this purpose. It was so successful that before the turn of the century more than 15 million No.14 chairs had been made and sold throughout Europe. This was functional furniture for the masses rather than furniture as a signifier of wealth, and the industrial production lines in Thonet’s factories across central Europe were turning it out in huge quantities.
THE CONTRIBUTION LIVES ON
When compared to the convoluted decoration of so much mid-19th-century furniture, the bentwood designs of Thonet and his sons are positively Spartan. Le Corbusier commemorated this refreshing aspect of Thonet’s oeuvre in 1925 when he used the No.14 chair as part of his hugely influential I’Espirit Nouveau exhibit, espousing his rejection of decoration in favour of function. It is unlikely that John Henry Belter (1804-63) would have had so much success with his carved laminate furniture in New York had Thonet not laid the foundations before him. Thonet’s legacy has endured well into the modern age — he precipitated Charles and Ray Eames’s mass-produced office chairs (see pp.456-57), and, of course, the modern Hat-pack domestic furniture industry.

Early chairs
Before the 16th century rooms were sparsely furnished, and the range of furniture was limited. Chairs were scarce and, like stools, were viewed as symbols of authority. It was not until the 16th century that more comfortable chairs were made. At this time the major artistic impetus spread northward from Italy, and chairs were made in quantity only in southern Europe. By the I7th century, as lifestyles became more settled, there was a greater demand for comfort in seat furniture.

A Turner’s or “thrown” chair
s of this type were produced in Britain from the 16th century, and
still made in provincial areas into the 19th century. “Throwing” was early term for turning. These chairs were often made from ash, which strong and ideal for turning, although susceptible to woodworm. late 17th century; ht Iml3ft3in; value H)
SOUTHERN EUROPE
The earliest prototype was the 16th-century Italian X-frame folding chair, usually in walnut, Inch was adopted in northern Europe from the end of the century. Spanish examples exist that are inlaid with ivory and metals in stellar and geometric designs in the Moorish fashion.
Armchairs of the 16th and 17th centuries were refined versions of the carved chaise caquetoire (gossiping chair) which, with its solid, carved back and trapezoidal seat, was not very comfortable. As revealed by the engravings of the Flemish designer Hans Vredeman de Vries (1526-(.1604) in his Differents Pourtraicts de Menuiserie ((.1585), the earliest-surviving traditional easy chairs were executed principally in Tuscany, Spain, Portugal, and The Netherlands in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Known as the sillon De fraileros (”monk’s chair”) in Spain, this type of chair was usually of walnut, with scrolled and acanthus-carved stiles. The upper section Was supported by plain legs joined by waved stretchers, and the chair was upholstered with
intricately tooled and embossed leather stretched by ornamental heavy brass nails. Examples from The Netherlands often have lion finials surmounting the stiles.
NORTHERN EUROPE
Turning on a foot-operated lathe (which revolved the legs while the wood was cut to the required shape) became an increasingly popular decorative technique in northern Europe, and by the early 17th century most legs were turned. This form of decoration remained fashionable until the end of the century. Designs became increasingly intricate at this time, culminating in the “barley-sugar” (spiral) twist.
Peculiar to the 17th century is the oak joined chair with arms, often called a wainscot chair in Britain. Similar designs were made in many countries throughout northern Europe, and examples are still found in some numbers. This type of chair commonly has a scroll-carved toprail, sometimes inscribed with initials or a date. Its characteristic feature is a panel back, often symmetrically carved with stylized
leaves, lozenges, roundels, and lunettes. The seat
is solid, but would originally have had a squab cushion, and the front supports are ring-turned, with the legs joined by stretchers. Chairs of this type were made until the end of the 17th century and represent the final stage of the age of the joiner, as this period is often called. Designs and techniques changed considerably after this time, but in many provincial areas the traditional methods of construction continued to be used.

•    woods invariably indigenous – walnut in southern Europe and oak in northern Europe; rosewood was used to a limited extent during the 17th century in Portugal
•    DAMAGE examples that pre-date 1600 are extremely rare, and 17th-century examples should be examined closely for repairs; age, wear, and tear will have taken their toll – the legs and the lower part of the back are particularly vulnerable
•    DECORATION painted decoration, upholstery, leather, and caning have often been changed; if the originals remain, they increase the value
•    COPIES AND FAKES most 17th-century chairs are stylistically of a very simple form, the same designs being produced over a long period, making them difficult to date; turners’ chairs arc popular with collectors and are often faked – copies are difficult to detect as they may be quite old themselves, and tend to be in the same woods as the originals (ash or oak, not walnut), with good-quality carving; the colour of the wood on all unpolished surfaces should be closely examined, as should the overall patina

Middle East Pottery

The countries and regions that embraced early Islam were ideally located to absorb the cultural, commercial, and technical cross-currents of the early medieval world. Chinese commodities were one of the major influences in Islamic lands – an area that stretched from India to the Atlantic Ocean. Trade with China was well established by the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906), since many Arabs were resident in Guangzhou (Canton), and in addition to spices, perfumes, and silks the Chinese sent ceramics to the Middle East.
EARLY WARES
From the 9th century, potters in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) were so inspired by Chinese wares that they strove to imitate them. The first types of ware made were buff or red earthenwares covered with a tin glaze. In an effort to simulate metals potters also developed the lustre technique, and during the next 300 years this method of decoration spread through Islamic countries, reaching Spain in the 13th or 14th century. Tin-glazed earthen-wares and lustre wares were two of the most important types of pottery bequeathed to Europe by the brilliant Islamic ceramic tradition. In eastern Persia (now Iran) the crisply contoured 10th- and 11th-century slipwares of Nishapur and Samarkand were subtly decorated with abstract leaf or geometric motifs and Kufic script.
PERSIAN WARES
Unique to the Islamic world is fritware, a glassy composition perhaps developed to copy imported Chinese porcelains produced during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). This grainy, white-bodied ware is often covered in a viscous, deep turquoise-blue glaze. Between c.1215 and 1334 plain and lustred wares were made in the town of Kashan, south of Tehran; the technique was probably introduced to Persia in the 12th century by Egyptian potters.
The sophisticated polychrome Mina’i (enamel)
wares of late-12th- or 13th-century Persia may often
seem crowded and confused, but they are nonetheless
outstanding examples of the Islamic decorator’s art.
Mina’i pottery was made in Rayy (now Rhages) near
Tehran, and is decorated with figures and painted in a wide range of colours. Many examples of early Mina’i ware are painted with large-scale figures in the manner of contemporary lustreware, but later the emphasis was
on small-scale, narrative subjects.
Later Persian wares, made during the
Safavid (1501-1732) and subsequent periods, include those from Meshed (eastern Persia), Kirman (western Persia), and Kubachi (northern Persia), most of which were painted in the style of late Ming and Transitional Chinese porcelains. The bodies, glazes, and decorations of these Persian wares Lire very similar and it is difficult to tell them apart.
IZNIK AND KOTAHYA
In the 16th century, extremely fine copies of blue-andwhite Chinese wares were made by the potters in Iznik (east of  Istanbul) and Kutahya in central Anatolia. The potters in these towns created superb, crisply painted
wares with swirling and scrolling foliage, painted either in blue or in a combination of turquoise, green, and, later, a thick red (Armenian bole). In addition to conventional decorative pottery vessels and dishes, Iznik and Damascus potters produced some of the finest tileworks for mosques and secular buildings. These latter wares were highly influential in late 19th-century Europe, as seen in, for example, the work of the English designer William De Morgan (1839-1917).
KEY FACTS
Early wares
•    BODY buff or red earthenware
•    GLAZE tin oxide
•    LUSTRE ruby, brown, yellow, black, red
•    TYPES tin-glazed wares; lustre wares
•    DECORATION fusion of Chinese and Islamic designs, usually abstract
Persian wares
•    BODY Mina’i: coarse; Meshed, Kirman, and Kubachi: white frit paste
•    GLAZE Mina’i: creamy; Meshed, Kirman, and Kubachi: thick and soft
•    DECORATION Mina’i: underglaze colours and overglaze enamels; Meshed, Kirman, and Kubachi: resemble each other; black design outline may suggest a Meshed piece
Turkish wares
•    BODY Iznik: greyish buff, grainy, and absorbent; Kutahya: buff and thinly potted
•    GLAZE Iznik: translucent, but slightly bluish tone; Kutahya: irregular, gathers in bluish or greenish pools
•    STYLES Iznik: “Golden Horn” (c.1530) decorated with knotted pencilled scrolls; “Damascus” (c.1550-70) very sumptuous, with large-scale floral subjects and saw-edged leaf (saz); “Rhodian” (c.1555-1700) mainly floral; Chinese-style blue-and-white wares
•    PALETTE Iznik: wide range of colours dominated by turquoise and a scaling-wax red (Armenian bole)
•    DECORATION Kutahya: crude, floral, and figural
Marks
Islamic pottery is rarely marked, although individual potters’ marks do occasionally appear; corruptions of late Ming seal marks are used on Persian pottery

Antique Mirrors
Although German glassmakers produced convex mirrors from the 15th century, it was not until c.1500 that flat mirror plates were made using the broad-glass technique. This was invented in Venice, and revolutionized mirror production during the 16th and 17th centuries. The technique was later replaced by the plate-glass process first used at the Saint Gobain Glasshouse (est. 1693), in Paris, which allowed the production of larger and more even mirror plates. The Parisian makers enjoyed unchallenged prosperity until the late 18th century when the British Plate Glass Manufactory in London succeeded in manufacturing the large plates, which were so admired.
BAROQUE MIRRORS
Late 17th-century southern European mirrors are usually of rectangular form, with the central plates invariably “bevelled” or chamfered at the edges and contained within mirrored borders; the plates are often engraved or etched with mythological or pastoral scenes. The carved frames, either giltwood or silvered, usually display a Baroque exuberance, with acanthus, putti, masks, and cornucopias. Late 17th-century northern European mirrors were often conceived of as dressing mirrors, designed en suite with matching dressing tables and torcheres (candle stands). Of rectangular form, frequently with convex or cushion-moulded frames and usually crowned by shaped crestings, which was often similarly carved, these late 17th-century mirrors display remarkable inventiveness in their use of materials. The production of larger plates led to the introduction of pier glasses, placed between the window piers, the culmination of which are the mirrors in the Galerie des Glaces at the palace of Versailles. Although Paris’s lead was followed throughout Europe, particularly in Italy, Britain, and Germany, with mirrored borders often enriched with coloured or engraved glass, the plates were almost always divided.
EARLY 18TH-CENTURY MIRRORS
Although French mirror-frames during the Louis XIV (1643-1715) and Regence (1715-23) periods are usually of carved and gilded lime, pine, or oak, enriched with masks, dragons, and serpents, Charles Crescent (1685-1768), the cabinet-maker to the Duc d’Orleans, supplied his patron with vast pier glasses with gilt-bronze frames. These important mirrors, so widely copied in the 19th century, were also produced in Germany and Sweden. However, in the main, German, Swedish, and Danish mirrors made in the first half of the 18th century tended to follow the lead of Paris, although in execution the carving is often slightly flatter.
During the Queen Anne and early Georgian periods a distinctive national style emerged in Britain. Thus, although tall pier glasses with bevelled, divided plates, and mirrored borders, enriched the window-piers of the great aristocratic houses, their frames began to be decorated in gilt-gesso, with finely etched and pounced decoration. This gave way between
c.1725 and 1750 to the fashion for more architectural mirrors in the Palladian style advocated by Lord Burlington (1694-1753) and William Kent (c.1685-1748). These mirrors often display triangular or scrolled, swan-neck pediments, centred by the mask of a Roman god, an acanthus spray, or an armorial cartouche. Although often gilded or painted cream, these mirrors are most frequently of walnut, with gilding usually reserved for the carved architectural mouldings and cresting. In North America mirrors with simple frames topped with arched crests were popular from the 1730s. Carved and gilded openwork shells were often inserted in the crests.
CHIPPENDALE AND ROCOCO MIRRORS
In the 1740s Palladianism gave way to the Rococo style. Inspired by the designs of Nicolas Pineau (1684-1754) in France, Johann Christian Hoppenhaupt (b.1719), in Germany, and Matthias Lock (c.1710-65) in England, the new vocabulary incorporated flowers, acanthus, C-scrolls, and even chinoiserie figures from the 1750s. Even the mirror-plate was decorated, and rare examples survive where the surface was painted in oils with putti and floral garlands. But it was the Chinese who perfected this art with their reverse-painted mirror pictures, which were exported to England from the mid-18thcentury.
The name of Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) is synonymous with the carved giltwood mirrors of the 1750s and 1760s. His designs were influential throughout Europe, particularly in Portugal, and North America, and indeed served as the inspiration for several 19th-century revivals, most importantly those of the 1830s, 1840s, and c.1900.
Rococo “Chippendale” mirrors of the 1750s, as well as those in the early Neo-classical style of the 1760s, are usually of carved and gilded lime or pine, with filigree applied decoration, often of gesso or plaster applied onto wire;
papier-mache examples also survive. This technique, which enables great depth and quality in the detailing but is much more vulnerable, was superseded by gilt-composition, a plaster that is heavier, solid, and cold to the touch, but which could be cast in moulds. Early North American Neo-classical mirrors had narrow mouldings enclosing rectilinear or oval glass, while later examples became heavier. Often the frame was round, with a convex mirror based on patterns by Thomas Sheraton 1851-1806) and George Smith (active c.1786-1828).
DRESSING AND CHEVAL MIRRORS
It was not until the 17th century that dressing mirrors became free-standing. Initially they were made of silver or silver-gilt with trestle supports to the reverse, and designed en suite with lady’s dressing-sets. During the latter half of he 17th century Venetian and Parisian craftsmen supplied exquisitely decorated toilet mirrors of this design to the ladies of the court. By the early 18th century toilet mirrors had become sturdier, often standing on plinth bases, which contained drawers, the most sophisticated being serpentine wonted; numerous examples, particularly from Britain, survive – either of walnut and parcel-gilt or of plain or carved mahogany, and even with painted or japanned decoration. The mirrors were, however, principally rectangular, and it was not until the 1770s that oval dressing mirrors, later popularized by Sheraton, appeared. Regency and American Federal examples tend to be more rectangular, the plates often positioned horizontally, the decoration restrained in the extreme and often found only in the baluster-turning of the upright supports.
Cheval or standing dressing mirrors were first recorded in Paris at the court of Louis WE and the design was quickly adopted in Britain. Under Napoleon I cheval mirrors reached a new height of extravagance and luxury, being mounted in gilt-bronze with mythological deities, stars, and Classical reliefs, the plates often arched and supported by Classical columns. This style was copied throughout Europe, particularly in Britain, Austria, Germany, and in North America, and it was also revived in the later 19th century under Napoleon III (1852-70).
19TH-CENTURY MIRRORS
In North America mirrors with arched crests in the 18th-century style continued to be made in the early 19th century and had simple ornament, were narrower, and had less top-heavy proportions. The Empire style, which was associated with Napoleon then spread throughout Europe and then to North America. The pier mirrors of the early 19th century are characterized by the use of ebonized and giltwood decoration, often enriched with Classical reliefs and architectural motifs in gilt-composition (gilt-lead in Sweden), or perhaps framing a verre eglomise panel. The mirrors of the later 19th century were almost all inspired by precedents of earlier centuries. However, they usually betray their age by a slight misinterpretation or embellishment of earlier ornament. The Rococo Revival was superseded by the “Jacobethan” or 16th- and 17th-century Mannerist designs in the mid-19th 9th century; toward the end of the century both Neo-classical and Rococo styles prevailed and the revival mirrors of this period are frequently directly copied from published designs.
• MIRROR GLASS 18th-century glass tends to be fairly thin, with the bevelling soft and shallow, and the cutting uneven; 19th-century glass is thicker, the bevelling cut at an acute angle, and the cutting even; original glass is desirable, and if the glass is cloudy it may be possible to have it re-silvered; replacing glass should generally be avoided.
• FRAMES composition frames are vulnerable to damage and are less expensive than giltwood or silvered frames.
• COLLECTING “Chippendale” mirrors are notoriously difficult to date, particularly if they have been re-gilded and a discolouring wash has been painted on the reverse of the frame; 19th-century copies do, however, often betray themselves through a misunderstanding of motifs and ornament; Rococo Revival mirrors tend to have over-fussy decoration and heavier carving.

Dining-tables before 1840.
The gateleg table enjoyed enduring popularity in Britain and The Netherlands well into the 18th century, and indeed the provincial tradition carried on virtually unbroken to today. Although gateleg tables were usually oval or circular, rectangular gatelegs, conceived en suite with U-shaped gateleg end-sections, emerged during the reign of George II ( 1727-60). The earliest recorded extending dining-table was that supplied to Sir Robert Walpole for Houghton Hall, Norfolk, c.1730. Conceived with two single gateleg denn-lure end-sections and two double-gatelcg central sections, which could be easily stored away when not in use, it has a moulded top and is supported on 32 ring-turned columnar legs with bun feet. However, this design had its failings, as the vast number of legs made it awkward for large numbers of sitters to be seated, and it was only with the introduction of leaves that more guests could be accommodated comfortabl,.
18TH-CENTURY DINING-TABLES
During the reign of George II, dining-tables with pedestal supports were introduced. Invariably of mahogany, with D-shaped ends and up to as many as five further rectangular tilt-top central sections, the earliest examples made during the 1750s have a separate pedestal to support each section. These pedestals, closely mirroring contemporary tripod tables in design, were initially simple, with a ring-turned columnar or gun-barrel shaft supported on cabriole legs, and pad feet, often with leather casters. During the 1760s the shafts of the pedestals became increasingly rich in both form and carving, perhaps with a vase-shaped baluster and spiral-fluting, or foliate trails to the knees. The tops, joined together by brass U-shaped hooks, were usually covered with linen tablecloths, and were therefore invariably rather plain, as crossbanding was only introduced in the last quarter of the 18th century. Most examples of this period were made of mahogany, with the best timber available being employed to impress. With the advances of Neo-classicism, the pedestals again became increasing]) restrained in form and decoration, the vase-shaped shafts of the 1780s and 1790s giving way to ring-turned columns with dokvnswcpr reeded legs.
Although, rather surprisingly, designs for dating- tables did not feature in I ;ih-century pattern-books, Thomas Chippendale ( 1718-79) certainly supplied several, Sir Edward Knatchbull being charged f5 for “2 Mahogany round ends to Join his Dining-Tables, with 2 pair of strap Hinges, Hooks and Eyes” in 1769. While the tilt-top central sections of pedestal dining-tables could certainly be stored away when not in use, they were still somewhat cumbersome. A sophisticated refinement, therefore, was the Cumberland-action table, which first appeared in the 17-()s. Named after Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, brother of George III, these dining-tables have double-gateleg scissor-action central sections and single-gatcleg end-sections, which can all support further leaves when opened. They arc more stable and easier to enlarge than pedestal dining-tables; their tops are often both moulded and thinner, the most accomplished examples being veneered with exceptional richly figured timber, particularly fiddleback (flame) or plum-pudding mahogany, often crossbanded with tulipwood, padouk, or ebony. Provincial versions of this table were also made, usually constructed of solid mahogany. However, rather than having rent cable leaves to reduce or enlarge the size, these had instead double-gatcleg-action central sections with attached leaves, which hung down when not in use.
During the late 18th century, dining-tables in the Neo-classical taste were made throughout northern Europe and North America. Usually with two semicircular end-sections, often above a plain panelled frieze, and further leaves, supported on square, tapering or turned and fluted legs, Russian and Louis XVI examples are often enriched with brass collars and flutes. While French and German examples are usually made of mahogany, Swedish, Danish, and Russian dining-tables are often of Karelian birch and cherry.
19TH-CENTURY DINING TABLES
This basic form of dining-table described above could not support more than one leaf between pedestals securely and thus Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) revealed in The Cabinet Dictionary (1803), pedestal dining-tables enjoyed enduring popularity: “The common useful dining-tables arc upon pillar and claws, generally four claws to each pillar, with brass castors. dining-table of this kind may be made to any size, by having a sufficient quantity of pillars and claw, parts, for between each of them is a loose flap, fixed by means of iron straps and buttons so that they arc easily taken off and put aside”. Such massive “pillar” or pedestal dining-tables, often lavishly decorated with classically inspired motifs, such as claw monopodium and Roman acanthus scrolls, as popularized by George Smith (active c.1786-1828), continued to be made throughout the 19th century. In North America, mahogany pedestal dining-tables with columns on platform supports with sabre legs were made in the Federal style, and after 1815 in the Regency style, by such cabinet-makers as Duncan llhxfe ( 1 76 8-1 8 54) in New York. After 1820 this type Was largely replaced by Empire pedestal dining-tables, with heavier carved pillar supports resting on platform hales, often with four curved legs and animal-paw feet.
Although telescopic dining-tables (discussed right) were popular during the 19th century, both in Britain and abroad, their form when extended could only ever be rectangular. It was the inventor and cabinet-maker Robert Jupe of New Bond Street who revolutionized the design of oval and circular dining-tables in the reign of William IV (1830-37). In 1835 he was granted a patent – subsequently known as “Jupe’s patent” – for the design of a segmental extending dining-table. This mechanism, whereby the segments of the top could be pulled out on their brass-channelled runners and further segments could be placed between them, increased the circumference of the table by up to half as much again, and applied equally well to both circular and oval dining-tables. Jupe dining-tables were invariably made of mahogany and were usually supplied with two sets of leaves, together with a leaf-case, which enabled a typical circular table to be approximately 1.41n (4ft 7in) in circumference when closed, 1.81n (5ft I I in) when partially extended, and 2.1m 16ft I fill) when fully extended. Usually supported on baluster shafts and channelled downswept legs with lion’s-paw, feet, most Jupe tables are stamped “Johnstone Jupe & Co., New Bond Street” and numbered. Long admired, this pattern was inevitably imitated by Jupe’s contemporaries, but those that carry the Johnstone Jupe & Co. stamp command a considerable premium.
TELESCOPIC DINING-TABLES
Although the firm of Gillow (est. c.1730) of Lancaster is best known for its restrained and often utilitarian mahogany furniture of superb technical craftsmanship, ri ship, it also manufactured some novel forms. In 1805 Richard Gillow (1734-1811) patented a design for the “Imperial Extending Dining Table”, which was “calculated to reduce the number of legs, pillar and claws and to facilitate their enlargement and reduction”; the perennial problem of enlarging a dining-table without having to store numerous tilt-top pedestals was therefore fully addressed. This new device, “whereby the two ends of the table are connected by pieces of wood, so joined together to form what are commonly called lazy tongs”, meant that any number of leaves could be added to the “telescopic” frame when it was extended. Distinguished by their finely figured mahogany, seeded edges above a plain panelled frieze, and reveled baluster legs, Gillow’s dining-tables are among the most famous and sought after. They were made throughout the 19th century, and their date is usually betrayed by the increasing thickness of the top and the more bulbous, heavier, and often carved legs supported by ceramic rather than brass casters. From c.1780 the firm stamped much its furniture with one of several marks including “GILLOWSLANCASTER” and individual craftsmen often signed their work in pencil.

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Gateleg and dropleaf tables.
Tables that can extend are adaptable, and this quality has ensured the continuous survival of the gateleg for at least four centuries. A gateleg table is one with a flap (or flaps) which, when extended, rests on supports swinging out from the the table’s undcrtrarric. The supports consist of legs, joined by stretchers at the top and bottom to form gate-like structures.
17TH-CENTURY GATELEG TABLES
Small side tables with foldover tops and pivoting gateleg arrangements were already among the luxury furnishings of grand houses in the 16th century. As domestic comfort increased during the 17th century, so such tables proliferated. Early examples tend to be of half-round or half-ellipse shape when folded, with a doubled-over top hinged across the straight edge. When pulled away from the wall and opened out this top forms a circle or an oval, supported firmly underneath by its joined gate-frame, which pivots outward on wooden hinges from the centre of the LinderftarrC at both top and bottom. Variants of this scheme include square or octagonal tops, and tables with baseboards between the stretchers of the main structure.
As dining habits evolved in the later 17th century, and the large communal hall was replaced by more intimate parlours where meals were taken, the long, rectangular trestle table gave way to rounded gateleg tables, convenient and conducive to conversation. They could be moved away from the centre of a room and folded down to a note compact size when space was needed for dancing or music-making.
The later 17th century was the golden period of the gateleg table, with a plethora of variations on the basic structure being made. Foldover tops continued, especially for small tables for gaming and needlework, but they were largely superseded by the type consisting of a fixed central section with a hinged flap and a gateleg on either side. The supports for the flaps generally swivelled out from one end of the central rectangular structure and folded back parallel with it. Extra large tables, which might seat up to twelve people comfortably, would have two gates on each side to support the flap. Rule joins between the flaps and the fixed central sections of good-quality gateleg tables made after c. 1690 gave smooth contact between the edges of the central section and the flaps without leaving any gaps.
DESIGN VARIATIONS
In many gateleg tables there was a drawer, or even two, in the frieze of the central section. Small foldover tables of exceptional quality might have three or more small drawers opening in the rounded face of a wide frieze. An unusual type of small table had a single central gate that pivoted in the centre of the underframe, to support either a leaf on each side or a vertically tilting solid top, made without flaps. Another rare alternative was a small cupboard at one or both ends of the central scctjnon of a two-flap table.
The greatest variation in appearance was given by the decorative treatments of legs and stretchers. Plain bar supports might be
grooved or given profile shaping, while hamster, bobbin, or spiral turning resulted in some exuberant underframes, which have developed a rich patina over the years. Carving on friezes and stretchers was common on early tables with foldover tops, but not on larger gateleg tables with fall flaps. The most common late 17 th-century gateleg tables were made in oak or elm, while the finest are of walnut, cedar, yew, or some other rare, but usually native, timber. Fruinvoods, such as apple, pear, or cherry, supplemented oak and elm in rural areas.
DROPLEAF TABLES
Gateleg tables, mainly of oak and elm, were made throughout the 18th century, chiefly for the homes of farmers and the more prosperous country people. Their place at the forefront of fashion was taken from c.1720 by the dropleaf table: a type of flap table with a pivoting leg to support the extended leaf but without the under-stretcher, of the gate-Form underframing. Both types of table reflect the increasingly comfortable and civilized surroundings and activities of the 18th-century middle classes – dining, tea-drinking, card-playing, doing needlework, and conversing in small groups.
As with the design of chairs at this time, the understretcher was relinquished. By the end of Queen Anne’s reign (1714), both tables and chairs were usually supported on cabriole legs without understretchers. The undcrfrunung of the table was now confined to the underside of the top, and the moving supports. The supports consisted of legs joined at right angles to sturdy rails, pivoted outward on wooden knuckle hinges set into the central undcrframe. The flaps u; to generally secured to the central section of the top with brass rule
hinges, countersunk into the underside.
Some dropleaf tables were made of oak or walnut, but fashionable mahogany was
the choice for most after c.1730. The outward curves of the cabriole 1( were often embellished with cars I acanthus leaves or lion-masks; carved claw-and-ball feet were a similar decorative change from plain pad feet. Less stylish but eminently serviceable were the square and rectangular dropleaf tables, operating on the same principle as round tables and produced for the rest of the century.
The dropleaf table, like the gateleg, continued to be widely made and used, particularly in provincial districts where both types could be considered traditional rather than fashionable pieces of furniture. Plenty of examples still exist and are to be found in such locally available timbers as fruitwood, ash, elm, yew and oak, as well as mahogany. As with most regional furniture of enduring design, it is often very difficult to attribute anything more than a vague date to them.
SPIDER-LEG AND SUTHERLAND TABLES
The gateleg principle was adopted for an exceptionally delicate form of flap-top table, which was popular during the 1760s and 1770s. Appropriately known as a spider-leg table, from the slenderness of its supports, it was a small occasional table for use in the drawing-room, made in fine timbers. Its turned legs and stretchers were usually quite plain, and it had either one or two flaps; some examples have cleverly curved base stretchers to make space for the user’s legs.
A new form of flap table was introduced during the mid-19th century. Known as a Sutherland table, it was named after the Duchess of Sutherland, Queen Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes, and was a sort of cousin to the Pembroke table. It was characterized b) an extremely narrow central section supported off a trestle-like, cheval or “horse” base . se with a relatively deep flap on either side. The base, with its sturdy supports and splayed feet at either end, was often embellished with carving or turning in the full-blown Victorian manner, while the flap supports, which pivoted outward from the centre of the underframe just below, the top, tended to be comparatively slim. The usefulness of such a table is immediately apparent: its narrowness in the folded position enables it to be tucked away in a small space, while the deep flaps provide a relatively spacious top when opened out. Sutherland tables were made with rectangular as well as rounded flaps. While the best were of figured walnut or some other eye-catching timber, sometimes with inlaid or marquetry decoration as an additional embellishment, more utilitarian versions were produced in oak, chit, or even painted pine. Nearly Lill of these types have casters attached to the feet for extra mobility.
Other types of space-saver on the dropleaf principle included 18th-century North American butterfly tables, named after the shape of the supports for the leaves, and handkerchief tables, with triangular tops and leaves.