A Regency Mahogany Triple-Pedestal Dining Table, Late 18th Century

Christie's London, Apter-Fredericks: 75 Years of Important English Furniture, 19 January 2021, lot 98.

The Regency ushered in new attitudes toward the interior that included a stronger sense that individual rooms had a dedicated purpose, which was reflected in the development of specialised furniture that would cater to specific mealtimes or domestic activities. Dining was a key component of this: by the end of the eighteenth century and the Regency, the previous dining custom of using “a series of tables that, when not in use, could be folded up and used as side tables”¹ was replaced by the extending dining table of the same form as the present lot. It is easy to understand why this practical form of table became so popular: the additional leaves required for larger dinner parties could be removed and stored flat, the castors made adjustments to sizing and positioning smooth, and the pillar supports left plenty of space under the table for seats and legs. First patented by Robert Gillows in 1800, a design for Lady Blount from 1798² proves that the firm were already creating tables of this form in the final years of the eighteenth century. The present lot is an early example that anticipates later fashions: it has the reeded decoration and barrel supports that would characterise these tables in the coming decades, and even has the sabre legs that would become typical of Regency taste.

Similar late-eighteenth-century extending dining tables with sabre legs and reeding that anticipate later Regency tastes were sold at Christie’s New York, 15 April 2005, lot 235 and Christie’s New York, 14 October 2004, lot 61. While the flexible use of the additional leaves on tables of this form means that they are commonly lost and replaced over time, this table’s leaves and accompanying brasswork are all original.

¹ E. Eerdmans, Classic English Design and Antiques: Period Styles and Furniture; The Hyde Park Collection, New York, 2006, p.248.

² L. Boynton (ed.), Gillow Furniture Designs 1760–1800, Royston, 1995, fig. 55.