A combined writing and work table, with rising top, incorporating an adjustable fire screen and a bag to hold needlework in green silk.

A combined writing and work table, with rising top, incorporating an adjustable fire screen and a bag to hold needlework. The body of the rectangular table shows a fictive drawer to the front, but a real drawer is fitted to the right (PL) side, with writing equipment, and the bag for needlwork, of pleated silk on a wooden frame, pulls out to the left (PR). The top can be raised on an easel to provide a reading stand, covered in green leather, and behind this a frame with pleated silk panel can be raise as a fire screen. Beneath the top, to either side, is a swivelling small shelf which might hold a candlestick. The table is raised on very thin, square-sectioned legs, the whoel veneered in satinwood, inlaid with mahoganhy, and set with brass handles. The pleated silk sections are green.

Given by John Garwood (Frank and Helen Lloyd Bequest)

See Registered File 70/1613
On loan to Bath Preservation Trust at 1 Royal Crescent, Bath.

This delicate looking table is a real compendium, providing the first owner with what was needed for writing and for needlework, while providing space to hold candles to light her work and a rising panel of pleated silk to act as a fire-screen and protect her delicate complexion from the heat while she remained close enough to the fire to enjoy its warmth. The top could be raised on an easel to provide a reading stand, while writing materials were at hand in a drawer to the right of the user. The pleated silk bag underneath slides out to the left, allowing untidy needlework materials and equipment to be easily tidied away. It is just the sort of piece for a Jane Austen heroine.

On loan to Bath Preservation Trust at 1 Royal Crescent, Bath.

W.59-1927