Side table or low buffet, oak, English, early 16th century

Side table or Low Buffet. The front is arranged as follows: in the centre is an oblong space filled by a modern panel; on each side are two panels of openwork carving, consisting of a crowned 'IHS', a shield bearing three fleur-de-lys, a rose, and tracery. At either end is a panel of linenfold ornament set horizontally. The bottom rails have channel mouldings, which are continued on the inner sides of the legs and terminate in moulded stops. The top is not the original one, and the framework has been partly restored.

West Country. Macquoid (1904) suggested that this kind of table may have frequently incorporated a draw-leaf mechanism.
Charles Tracy, cat. 319

Examination in 1997 suggested that the table has been made up using various pieces of old, church woodwork.

CESCINSKY& Gribble (1922), say that this has been 'badly restored at its ends, by a workman unacquainted with the fact that the true mitre (as distinct from the mason's mitre which is worked in the solid after the framing is put together) was practically unknown at this date. Little remains of the original except four pierced and carved panels with their framings and the front legs. No reason to doubt that the piece was in much the same form as at present, when it was made.'

Purchased from T. Charbonnier, The Art Gallery, Lynmouth, Devon, for £35. See Nominal File MA/1/C1032/1, RF 2389/08

RP 65/1619, 10/3016, 10/M.2124

'Wormeaten; broken; the middle panel, restoration'.

See also Circ. 49-1919 which may have been created in imitation of W.47-1910.

Murray Adams-Acton ('Early Oak', The Connoisseur, June 1945) says (p.84) that early tables of this form and 'constructed in the solid' are very rare. 'As a rule they conform to almost identical size and formation, the top often in one piece, like a refectory table, oversailing the underframing by a few inches at either end; the fronts vary in design; as a rule it is the side panels (unlike the taller cupboards) - which form part of the structure, being immoveable, while that in the centre forms a door, of which the original hinges have seldom been preserved. ...beginning of the Sixteenth Century...mason's joints throughout and - what is typical to the majority - the rounded angle to the moulding on the lower framework where it unites with the front legs. Additional interest is provided by the linenfold being used on its side (an anachronism, of course, as it evolved from a hanging serviette) though the emphasis thus given to the horizontal line is far from displeasing....I have come across two specimens surmounted with Victorian additions...Personally - and I write with considered caution - I think that these low Henry VIII pierced side tables are the rarest of all survivals of English domestic furniture; on the Continent they have no counterpart."

Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture. The British Tradtion (Woodbridge, 1979) p.287 categorises such pieces as 'shallow panelled chests or cupboards (aumbries) with extended legs, and...not fitted with stretchers. The term 'counter' frequently appears in early inventories, and has been equated with this form of table; though usages of the word are so varied that it is difficult to draw any precise conclusions.'

Restored in 19th century or assembled in 19th century using old parts

W.47-1910