A late Victorian amboyna and mahogany circular expanding dining table by Waring and Gillows, early 20th century and later

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Sotheby's London, 17 September 1999, lot 116;
Acquired from John Hobbs, 2002.

The form of this table was invented and popularised by Robert Jupe, upholder of 47 Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, who applied for a patent for a circular extending dining table with segmented top (no. 6788) in March 1835. The description for the patent stated: "An improved expanding table so constructed that the sections composing its surface may be caused to diverge from a common centre and that the spaces caused thereby may be filled up by inserting leaves or filling pieces."

It would appear that the extending ‘Jupe’ mechanism was adopted by the cabinet-makers Gillows after expiry of the patent, perhaps during the latter part of the 19th century, as a number of late Gillows examples of large extending circular tables are known to have been made. Fourteen were manufactured between 1910 and 1939, including a closely related example which was presented by the Directors of Waring & Gillow Ltd to the City of Lancaster in 1945 to mark the 250th Anniversary of the firm, and which had ‘Waring and Gillows’ impressed into the brass leaf tips. A further example was sold, Sotheby's London, 22 November 2006, lot 134.