Antque French and German Stands of the 17th Century
TABLES AND STANDS About 1500-1630
German table on X-supports, before 1600.
Renaissance: After about 1530, mannerist influence in some examples. No dining-rooms as such in 16thC Italy – meals served wherever convenient, so many tables were still on trestles and easily dismantled; tops spread with damask cloths, oriental rugs, or covered with velvet, nailed on or draped. In some, new interest in classical architecture reflected in columnar legs or end supports based on Roman marble types.
Both features seen in French Renaissance designs by Du Cerceau (about 1550 – shaped ends, decorated with mannerist monsters, and connected by row of turned columns.
In Netherlands, dining-tables on bulbous legs joined by stretchers, some with extending leaves sliding under main part of top when not in use, decorated with carved brackets derived from engravings by Vredeman de Vries, published 1580 (updated by son, 1630), circulating in Sweden and Germany.
Before 1600, trestles of Spanish tables made with turned members, attached to top with curved, wrought-iron stretchers. Peasant type with plain legs, crudely-made drawer under top – still being made in 19thC.
Walnut in Italy, France, Spain. Oak in France, Netherlands, Germany. Chestnut in Spain. Pine in Alpine countries and Scandinavia. Lime in Germany. Ebony and other exotic woods or inlay, especially in Netherlands, Germany. Wrought-iron for stretchers in Spain.
Mortise-and-tenon joints secured by pegs for fixed frames and most trestles; X-shaped trestles made with halving joint. Tops, if not one board, made by joining planks with tongueand-groove or rub joints, sometimes with butterfly ties. For construction of draw-leaf tables see NEW WORLD TABLES, p. 328.
Tops of most tables plain, but some rare examples with intarsia – inlay using very small pieces of wood – practised in Florence, Augsburg, Nuremberg, Wiirzburg, Antwerp. Simple stands plain or turned, grander ones carved. In Netherlands, stretchers inlaid with ebony stringing.
Mainly oiled and waxed, or varnished.
Simpler types not outrageously expensive. Elaborate Italianate types with shaped end supports in Roman style highly priced.
Because so many tops were made to be lifted off, it is often difficult to be sure whether they are originals. Look for marks left by previous stands that do not tally with existing frame.
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Tags: dining tables, french renaissance, mannerist, Netherlands, renaissance designs, STANDS, TABLES, WORLD, world tables