This table leg illustrates the lively and flowing design of pieces made in the rococo style in the middle of the 18th century. As it has been stripped of the gesso (chalk compound) layer and gilding that it would originally have had, we can see the level to which the woodcarver worked. Finer detail would have been carved into the gesso layer before it was gilded. This table leg was collected in the 19th century as a good model for carvers and decorators. It is one of several hundred carvings given to the Museum in 1921 by Sir Charles Allom and his wife, in memory of their son, who died in the First World War. From 1893 Sir Charles headed White Allom & Co., one of the most successful firms of architectural decorators in Britain, specialising in the copying of historic styles. Between 1900 and 1914 he also began to work for clients in the United States and after the First World War he spent time in both countries. The collection of carvings seems to have been put together as a study collection for his son, perhaps in the expectation that he would follow in his father's footsteps and take over the firm.