Featured New user - hello - could anyone kindly advise re: painted table

hello everyone.

Glad to be a member of your forum - thank you for having me.

The reason I’ve chosen to register today is in order, hopefully, to gather a little more information about a table I’ve recently acquired. If anyone can help then I’d be immensely grateful.

The table has a square, planked top with a shaped edge and a planked undertier. Turned legs. Pegged construction. Complete, tapered feet. Top measures 2ft square; height is around 30 inches. Pine construction throughout.

What appeals to me most about the piece is the combination of turquoise and brick-red/brown paints and in particular the lozenge motif painted onto the top. These paints have not been scraped back - the patina and wear appears to be entirely naturally produced. I think that I recognise both the paint colours and the lozenge motif as 1700’s/1800’s design tropes but wondered whether you could perhaps help me any further in terms of age and likely origin?

You are seeing it in the condition I found it and so hasn’t yet had a wax and polish. One other detail - the turquoise appears to overlay the red/brown, not just on the table top but elsewhere. In places the turquoise has rubbed away, leaving red/brown paint beneath. Presumably the table was wholly red/brown at some point, with the turquoise added later?

Very many thanks in advance and apologies for the crummy photos. I can provide more at the weekend if anyone wishes.

Phil, Lancashire, England.

 

Called a "thumb nail" molded edge here in the States. Common on 17th-18th century american tables.
With what looks like a 5 board? top I'll guess 19th century however, the top could be replaced.
It's probably english so wait for others to post as it's not in my field of interest or knowledge.

 

Thank you for replying - ‘thumb nail’ moulding; yes, that rings a bell. Thanks for clarifying. Appreciated.

 

If you could turn the table upside down & get some photos of the underside of the top that would help.

 

Will do. These are actually my sellers images - the table is currently en route to me.

 

And what did the seller say about the table?

 

Very little. It was an ebay sale and he’d described it in the vaguest possible terms. Not having the time to ask additional questions I decided to take a punt, persuaded mainly by the paintwork and the patina. I’m a sucker for that ‘country/primitive/folksy’ aesthetic and the price wasn’t anything stupid.

 

Yeah, I hear you. Well, the good news is, it is an antique table i am pretty sure with the M&T pinned joinery on the aprons so, you got THAT goin for you. Hopefully you didn't pay alot for it.

 

Yes, that was my minimum requirement and I felt fairly safe on that score. To be honest, it’s the combination of paint colours that intrigues me most, along with the diamond/lozenge motif. I’m hoping someone can tie that combination of colours and design to a particular period and country of origin. I bought the table from London, so there’s a chance it could conceivably come from anywhere in Europe, or even beyond.

 

No, it was around £45 or $60

 

Yes, I wondered about something like that. A tavern table or suchlike.

 

From a practical view, the form looks like a work table such as used in a butlery, pantry, scullery. But I think it is a bit too decorative for that purpose. Maybe a "middle-class" kitchen?

 

That’s interesting. The undertier would suggest that utility was at least as much a consideration as aesthetics. But I think you’re right, the decorative elements in the legs suggest something beyond the merely utilitarian, right from the moment it was built., with the painted decoration coming an unknown time later. The closest thing I can find online (and it isn’t very close, really, basic form and colouration apart) is this:

 

The round legs/feet on your table are Sheraton style i'd say.
Here is a federal American Sheraton stand/worktable with a medial shelf about 1810






Minus the drawers, the fluted legs & "cookie" corner top

 

I know, i got A LOT of minuses in there! but, similar form.

 

Just based on the tapering leg structure - the way that it swells before then tapering - and the extended, tapering feet, I’d wondered the same thing. My hunch - and that’s all it is - has always been circa 1800, for whatever that’s worth.

 

Well, that 5 board top argues against that time period unless replaced. I realize England isn't America timber wise but still, 5 boards in a 2 foot span? That's a lot of boards, how about that medial shelf, how many boards?

 

I think the shelf is also five boards. But, being pine, wouldn’t the planks have to be narrower? The pine is not a tree with a lot of girth. I keep wondering if it may be Swedish? Pine is a pretty slender tree. I guess that’s why it gets used for floorboards so often, in Europe anyway. To be honest, the mere fact that it isn’t oak, in England, suggests at least the possibility that it originated in Europe.

 

Sorry - keep screwing up the image size. I’ll get there.