Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art
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American Walnut Gate-Leg Table, 1675-1700 |
American Pine and Walnut Chair-Table, cicra 1700 |
American Cherry and Maple Gate-Leg Table, 1675-1700 |
be inserted on pedestal tables. At this time centre-tables came into vogue. These were ordinarily circular in shape and usually rested on ornate pedestals rising from a plinth supported by winged claw feet. Some of these tables were rectangular and some had double tops that folded out or could be turned up against the wall. The “sofa tables” of Phyfe’s design were oblong and had narrow drop leaves at both sides, the ends supported by the Lyre motif.
CHAPTER IV
TEA AND ANTIQUITY
ONE afternoon of a day late in autumn we were having tea in Camberwell. The home of our English friends was a house redolent with memories. The Brownings, Carlyle, and many others had in days gone by gathered beneath the hospitable roof. It was one of those houses whose exterior gave hint of an interesting history. Not all interesting houses do that. This one particularly did, so much so that it lent much of its fascination (or appeared to lend it) to its neighbors.