Tripod tables were used for the service of tea, a highly fashionable activity in the 18th century. It was usually drunk from porcelain cups, which like the tea itself were imported from China. Tables of this kind were mostly made of mahogany. This example has been japanned, however, in imitation of Chinese lacquer. At first sight this suggests that the original owner chose this treatment to enhance an Asian mood and to create the illusion of being almost in China itself. But closer examination reveals that the table top is made of pine, with a rim of oak, while the stand is mahogany. So it appears that a new top has been added to an 18th-century stand, which was originally polished mahogany. The whole has then been newly redecorated. This may have been done in the early 19th century, perhaps for an owner who again wished to evoke a sense of foreign glamour.