18th Century English Georgian Pie-Crust Tilt-Top Table

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Tea was never simply tea in Georgian England. It was an occasion, a performance, and occasionally an excuse to show … Read more Tea was never simply tea in Georgian England. It was an occasion, a performance, and occasionally an excuse to show the neighbors what had just arrived from the cabinetmaker.

This 18th-century English mahogany tilt-top table understood the assignment. The broad top is surrounded by an exuberantly carved piecrust edge, more shell than pastry, its repeated fluting giving the perimeter an almost feathered appearance. Below, a carved pedestal with a spiral-fluted knop gives way to three long, sweeping legs. Follow them to the floor and things get interesting: each ends in a wonderfully improbable eagle talon, as though the table might take flight the moment the tea service is cleared. And cleared it was. A brass catch releases the top, allowing it to tilt vertically and stand neatly against the wall until summoned again.

Two hundred and fifty years later, the tea is optional. The personality, thankfully, is not. See less