Table with folding top, English or French, walnut and oak, 78/1629 & 61/2797

Centre table with folding top on four columnar legs.
The hinged top, of walnut, when closed consists of three isosceles triangle, the apices meeting at the centre. To each section is hinged a leaf of identical shape, to be supported when extended on a runner (fitted with a stop-peg), providing a hexagonal top with all three extended. The top rests on a triangular frame with a plain columnar leg at each apex, and a central columnar support, apparently of oak. Three flat stretchers of oak with moulded 'toe' ends meet in a triangle and receive the lower end of the central support, whcih sits in a round dish. Between the table top and the legs is a concealed T-shape subframe (in oak) which is dovetailed into the rails, which are glued onto a triangular block. The metal hinges are rivetted.

Given by Brigadier W. E. Clark CMG, DSO through Art Fund

Given by Brigadier W.E. Clark, C.M.G., D.S.O., D.L. through the National Art-Collection Fund (RF 61/2797).
On loan to Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincs. since 1978, and displayed (2014) in the upstairs study room, returned Feb 2018.
Label (1968): 'Folded' tables are frequently mentioned in inventories and bills of the period. This example is based on French models.

Comparable tables: Burrell Collection Glasgow, 14/310; hexagonal top; walnut, oak with metal elements; possibly German 16th century or English c1630-80. Bought from Acton Surgey for £150 in 1947.
illustrated in Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture, The British Tradition (Woodbridge, 1979), fig. 3:212
This table apparently identical to W.14-1961

This small table is of particularly sophisticated design, with elegant columnar legs and a folding top made up of 6 isoceles triangles hinged together. It required meticulous care in construction because many of the joints had to be cut, very precisely, to non-standard angles. Open, it provides a hexagonal table top that would have served for an intimate meeting or games-playing; when closed, it reveals more fully the purity of its striking triangular form, which perhaps carried symbolic meaning for the owner. Small, folding tables that could be moved around to suit the occasion are often mentioned in the inventories of wealthy homes in the early 17th century.

W.14-1961