AN EARLY VICTORIAN MAHOGANY EXTENDING DINING-TABLE

In 1804 Gillows illustrated and patented their Imperial dining-table in which a variable number of loose leaves were fitted between fixed end leaves, a design which, within a few years, largely superceded most earlier ones. Initially such tables had an arangement of as many as ten or twelve legs to support the central leaves when extended, but as the design was improved and the mechanism became more sturdy the centre legs were gradually removed. The form remained popular and an 1849 drawing from Ferguson & Co, one of the successors to the Gillow family business, for an Imperial telescopic dining table with four legs, for their client Mr. Allfrey, is an almost exact design for the present table (Susan E.Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, 2008, vol.I, p.247, pl.244).