Antique Chinoiserie Red Lacquer Tray-Top Table I Ornate Cast Iron Base Coffee/Tea Table I Vintage English/French Accent Round Table I Circa 1880-1910

Details

Description

This is a rare and striking antique chinoiserie tray-top accent table,
comprising a hand-decorated round wooden tray in rich vermillion … Read more This is a rare and striking antique chinoiserie tray-top accent table,
comprising a hand-decorated round wooden tray in rich vermillion red lacquer with gilt butterfly, flowering branch, and bird motifs,
encircled by a pierced brass gallery with a heart-and-diamond lattice pattern
— all resting on an exceptional cast iron base with 4 S-scroll legs, rosette bosses, urn-form central finial, and shell paw feet.

Style: Chinoiserie / Victorian
Period: Late Victorian / Edwardian, circa 1880–1910
Origin: European (English or French), retailed Boston, Mass.
Materials: Red lacquered wood, pierced brass gallery, cast iron
Tray: Removable, with reeded wood apron and brass gallery
Provenance Partial retailer label verso: "[—]ey Co., Boston, Mass."

Dimension: Diameter 23.5 in (59.7 cm), Height 24.25 in (61.6 cm)

Details:
The tray top is decorated in the chinoiserie taste with hand-applied gilded motifs — butterflies, blossoming branches, and birds — set against a deep red lacquered ground showing a beautiful aged craquelure consistent with genuine antiquity. The red colorway is notably rarer than the more commonly found black chinoiserie ground, making this an especially desirable example.

The tray sits within a reeded wood apron ring, itself encircled by a finely pierced brass gallery with a repeating heart-and-diamond lattice — a hallmark of quality Victorian decorative metalwork.

The base is an exceptional piece of Victorian cast ironwork: four elegantly scrolled legs in the S-curve form, each anchored to the apron ring with decorative rosette bosses, meeting at a central urn-form finial with ball drop, and terminating in shell-form paw feet. The iron retains its original dark ebonized and gilded finish with a rich aged patina.

A partial paper retailer label is preserved on the underside, reading "[—]ey Co., Boston, Mass." — consistent with a prominent Boston importer active in the Gilded Age, when such European decorative pieces were retailed to wealthy New England households. The tray and base are a period-compatible "marriage," a very common and accepted practice of the era. See less