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Sofa Table

1800-1820 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Tables of this elongated, rectangular form, with drop-leaves to either end, were highly fashionable in the first twenty years of the nineteenth century. They were a development of the smaller, often square, Pembroke tables, with similar hinged leaves, and gained their name because they were commonly used in front of sofas or settees, to hold books or needlework. Nowadays, they are often placed behind a sofa or settee to hold a lamp that gives good light to those seated, but this was not their original placement.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Kingwood and amboyna, veneered on mahogany; knobs of brass
Brief description
Sofa table veneered in kingwood on a ground of mahogany, with banding of amboyna. The table is of oblong form, the leaves at either end with rounded corners. At either end is a rectangular support forking into curving feet, with brass-toed castors. On one side there are two drawers, each with a turned brass handle. On the other side the frieze is fitted with dummy drawers.

Physical description
Sofa table veneered in kingwood on a ground of mahogany, with banding of amboyna. The table is of oblong form, the leaves at either end with rounded corners. At either end is a rectangular support forking into curving feet, with brass-toed castors. On one side there are two drawers, each with a turned brass handle. On the other side the frieze is fitted with dummy drawers. On the top, the kingwood veneer is set in narrow sections with the grain running across the table. The table was originally fitted with a longitudinal stretcher but this was missing by the time that it came to the museum.
Dimensions
  • Height: 72.4cm
  • Open length: 150cm
  • Closed length: 89.5cm
  • Drawers open width: 73.7cm
  • Drawers closed width: 130cm
Style
Credit line
Bequeathed by V. B. Crowther Esq.
Object history
This came to the Museum as part of a bequest by Mr V.B. Crowther-Benyon F.S.A. (See Registered File 52/1176 on Nominal File MA/1/C3396). The Museum nos. for the bequest of furniture run from W.14 to W. 23-1952. He also bequeathed paintings, miniatures and other items, including a beadwork basket to the Museum. The correspondence suggests that all the items had been inherited by Mr Crowther-Benyon.

The table was on long loan to Castle Ward, the National Trust, Northern Ireland, from 1955 to 2018 (See Registered File 55/515A).
Summary
Tables of this elongated, rectangular form, with drop-leaves to either end, were highly fashionable in the first twenty years of the nineteenth century. They were a development of the smaller, often square, Pembroke tables, with similar hinged leaves, and gained their name because they were commonly used in front of sofas or settees, to hold books or needlework. Nowadays, they are often placed behind a sofa or settee to hold a lamp that gives good light to those seated, but this was not their original placement.
Collection
Accession number
W.22-1952

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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