A Regency Mahogany Wine Table in the Manner of Gillows, Circa 1810

Mallett, London;

From whom acquired by Aso O. Tavitian, 28 August 2003.

Certainly one of the most convivial types of English antique table, the sight of a ‘hunt table’ (or ‘wine table’) conjures up scenes of cozy merriment among bons vivants around the fire after a long hunt or a splendid feast. Since these tables have quite a specific function and are not a fixed part of an interior, they did not feature as often in pattern books by the likes of Sheraton as more standard types of furniture do, but a drawing for a similar ‘Gentleman’s Social Table’ is included in Hepplewhite’s Cabinet-Maker’s Book of Prices in 1793 (ill. in E. White (ed.), Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design: The Printed Sources, Woodbridge 1990, p.290). With the ends of the horseshoe facing the fire, a hunt table is designed to allow drinking companions to sit in a sociable semi-circle around the exterior and pass the bottle to each other by means of the rotating coaster in the centre. Designs appear to have varied somewhat, and Susan E. Stuart mentions that the table was often fitted with a net to the centre that could hold empty bottles, and even store some convenient snacks to fuel the liquid refreshment as the evening went on (S. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, vol. I, Woodbridge 2008, p.248). Examples with these nets can be seen at Lytes Cary Manor, Somerset (NT 254468) and Powis Castle and Garden, Powys (NT 1180793.3) In printed sources, documented examples of Regency hunt tables are pictured in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. ed., vol. III, Woodbridge 1983 reprint, p.319, figs. 1 and 2, and S. Stuart, op. cit., p.249, pl.247.