EARLY DINING TABLES
Great halls were the setting for meals in medieval
times in Europe. Although the lord's table was usually on a dais, he and his family
and the servants all ate at trestle tables - large planks of wood supported by
trestles. Such tables could be easily dismantled so that the hall could be used
for dancing and other popular entertainment. A design characteristic of trestle
tables seen in the 17th century was ornamental wrought-iron stretchers that joined
the trestles. This was characteristic can be seen in both Spanish and Italian
tables.
By the 15th century, the lord and his family began to dine in a separate room
rather than the great hall. This resulted in the emergence of a 'fixed table'
of the type now commonly known as a refectory table, since this sort of table
was used in monasteries, where the monks gathered in the refectory to eat together.
Typical refectory tables were made of oak, although some walnut and yew ones have
been found. They had a plank top above a carved frieze rail and were supported
by 6 legs united by a stretcher. Later in the Elizabethan times the leg design
changed and were cup and cover in style.
As a number of smaller houses increased in the mid-17th century, folding tables
became popular, and gate-led tables were commonly used for dining. At the beginning
of this period tables were often as much as 8' to 10' wide but in time, since
it was fashionable for the company to eat as several small tables rather than
one large ones, their size decreased. The design for the gate-leg was fairly simple,
in-built wooden dowels at both ends of the fixed legs allowed the gate-leg to
pivot outward. By the 18th century advances in construction meant that the stretchers
joining the legs of the gate-led were no longer needed and so the drop-leaf table
emerged.
At first large drop-leaf tables had 6 legs but later only 4, for design modifications
allowed 2 of the corner legs to swing out to an angle of 90 degrees to support
the leaves. There were also often drawers at each end of such tables. A more refined
knuckle joint is used on drop-leaf tables. This is the hinge on which the strut
and the leg swing out to provide firm support for the folding leaf when it is
raised. The classically molded edge of the table top concealed the hinge, giving
a more elegant and refined appearance when the leaf was dropped.
THE 18th CENTURY
In great houses such as Osterley near London in England it remained uncommon
in the middle of the 18th century to keep a large fixed table in the dining room
and it was customary to bring folding tables as required. By the end of the century
however formal dinning rooms were in vogue and it had again become fashionable
to eat at a large central table.
Tables with rectangular or D-ends on either pedestal or tapering legs, to which
additional leaves could be added were popular. They had the advantage of flexibility
since the two end sections could be stood against the wall as side tables or put
together to make tables for six or eight. Often the additional supports were set
slightly back from the table edge for the comfort of the diners.
When it was necessary to increase the size if the tables, additional leaves could
be added. A single extra leaf between two well supported ends would be attached
to them by means of locks - medal straps slotted into brackets on the underside
of the top. When several extra leaves were added, each was supported by its own
pedestal or legs.
Large rectangular, oval, or tilt-top round tables on a single pedestal base, with
a hinged top that folded up vertically so that the table could be stood against
a wall when not in use, were also favored. They are distinguished from similar
tea tables by their size, generally measuring about 4' across and were used for
when 6 or 8 people sat down to eat and for informal meals. For this reason they
became known as breakfast tables.
THE
19th CENTURY
Throughout the 18th century all purpose tables, such as drop-leaf or tilt-top
tables which could be pushed against a wall when not in use, were the most commonly
found. By the beginning of the 19th century round or oval tables that were often
intended to remain in the center of the room were gaining favour. As long as these
tables have a central pedestal and are more than 4.5' across, they are known as
center tables. Most often they are dining tables but the term can also refer to
other types such as library or breakfast tables.
In the early years of the century tables were made of dark mahogany or rosewood.
Later, attractively figured burl walnut was more favoured and tables were often
elaborately decorated with veneers, marquetry and inlays of brass, mother-of-pearl,
tortoiseshell, ebony or other exotic woods. Just as tops became more elaborate
so did the supporting columns and legs. These were often heavily carved especially
as machine carving became more widespread.
The novelty of the 19th century was the rectangular or circular table that used
mechanical action to extend it, allowing extra leaves to be inserted and several
designs for such tables appeared. The leaves rested on bearers under the table
so there was no need for extra legs.
As with other furniture, styles for dining tables were largely derivative: Elizabethan,
classical, a kind of French Rococo - the style known as tous les Louis - and Gothic.
But some of the early commercially made furniture, designed to satisfy the demands
of a moneyed middle class for comfort and the display of opulence, followed exuberant
curving lines and was embellished with naturalistic carvings. By mid-century these
were beginning to be replaced by crisper, more severe styles and a simpler type
of "reformist" furniture developed in parallel with the mass-produced pieces.
THE "REFORMIST" STYLE OF THE 19th CENTURY
Alongside the ornate, eclectic styles of most British furniture, including
dining tables, in the 19th century those developed by various "reforming" movements
are to be found. In the early years the designs of A.W.N. Pugin (1812-1852) reinterpreted
the Gothic style. The architect and designer Charles Eastlake (1836-1906), in
the middle of the century, advocated a return to plain surfaces without polish
or varnish. His ideas were seized upon by both the Arts and Crafts and the Aesthetic
movements and his influence, especially in the United States, was immense.
Philip Webb (1831-1915) was the main designer of furniture within the Arts and
Crafts Movement, whose figurehead William Morris (1834-1896) introduced the idea
of simple, "honestly made" domestic artifacts. In the 1870s, E.W. Godwin (1833-1886),
a disciple of the Aesthetic Movement, in common with designers all over Europe,
began to incorporate elements of Japanese style into his otherwise European furniture
design. By the end of the century this trend evolved into Art Nouveau, another
pan-European and American movement. Both Louis Majorelle (1859-1926), Vice-President
of the Nancy School in the early 20th century, and Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928),
founder of the Glasgow School of design, are known as masters of the Art Nouveau
style.
