A rare padouk topped octagonal table.
English, late 17th / early 18th century

The well-patinated octagonal boarded top above a moulded frieze, raised on baluster-turned legs joined by stretchers and block feet; the dense padouk timber with rich reddish-brown colour and fine figuring.

Dimensions:

This unusual table form, with its distinctive octagonal top and robust turned understructure, reflects the inventive spirit of English furniture design around 1700. While most surviving examples are executed in oak or walnut, the top of this present table is fashioned in padouk, an imported exotic hardwood prized for its hardness and colour. Such timbers were favoured by wealthy patrons in the later Stuart and early Georgian periods, reflecting the increasing availability of luxury imports through East India trade.

Comparable walnut and oak examples are illustrated in Percy Macquoid, A History of English Furniture: The Age of Walnut (1905), and Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture: The British Tradition (1979). The use of padouk in this form, however, is particularly rare.

Condition report: Expected surface wear and abrasions; old marks and scratches to the top; minor shrinkage; later repairs to stretchers and feet; overall sound and stable.