Summary:
• Item: Serving Table / Sideboard
• Circa: 1920
• Provenance: England
• Influence: Queen Anne Style
• Wood: Burr walnut
• Cabinet Maker: Maple & Co.
• Size: 3ft 6⅝” wide x 1ft 10½” deep
• Small up-stand to table top
• Stunning burr walnut quarter veneers
• Serpentine design & cross-banding
• Two hand dovetailed drawers
• Original working locks (with key)
• Baize lined cutlery drawer
• Shaped apron
• Vine carved handles
• Barley twist legs
• Connecting turned central stretcher
• Elegant block carvings to stretchers
• Decorative & functional item
• Stunning colour & patination
• Original condition
• Free 14 day UK returns
Description:
This is a superb quality antique English burr walnut Queen Anne influenced serving table, circa 1920, in good original condition, made by renowned cabinetmakers and retailer, Maples & Co. Incorporating a small up stand above stunning quality burr walnut quarter veneers to the tabletop, the table benefits from a serpentine design with two large drawers and a shaped apron below. The left houses a newly baize lined cutlery drawer and the right drawer has a brass plate displaying the makers “Maple & Co.”. The drawer front’s boast lovely walnut cross-banding with further top quality burr walnut veneers and the original heavy cast brass swan neck handles and open back plates, which is typical of the Queen Anne period. The drawers are constructed from solid oak with dovetailed joints. The drawers retain their original working brass lever locks, with a working key. The table is raised on fine cabriole legs, with shaped carvings to the knees and terminates on pad feet.
This table is ideal to be used in the dining room as a serving table or as a hall table. It would look ideal in either a traditional or contemporary setting.
The table boasts a rich walnut colour. As it boasts the original polish, it has a fantastic colour and patination; this can only be achieved through age and years of care and cleaning it has received.
This item would compliment any home or office. So, don’t miss out on your chance to own a lovely piece of furniture!
Provenance:
Sir John Blundell Maple (1845-1903) was a furnishing storeowner, perhaps the most successful of all Victorian retail entrepreneurs. He achieved great wealth, became a politician, a horserace breeder and a member of the Prince of Wales’s set, and his emporium in 149 Tottenham Court Road, London, furnished everyone who was anyone in Victorian society.
Maple was born in 1845. His father, John Maple, had come from Horley, Surrey, where he had been apprenticed before opening a small shop there. John Maple senior moved to London, working first as a shop assistant, and then moving to Tottenham Court Road where he set up in business with James Cook. Within a few years the partnership had split and John Maple decided to run the business on his own. He began to succeed with what was at first a very small business, despite a fire and a building collapse. In fact, he was so successful that he was able to afford a good education for his son, John Blundell Maple (Blundell was his wife’s maiden name).
At the age of 16, John Blundell Maple joined his father’s business, which began to take off in ways never before imagined. John Blundell Maple had exceptional business skills and while still a young man was running the company. The British Empire was spreading round the world and Maples seized the opportunity – by the 1880s it was the largest furniture store on the planet. John Blundell Maple’s skills and vision were crucial and the moment was right for expansion.
Maples manufactured their own luxury furniture in a complex eventually so vast that by the 1880s it occupied an area where once stood 200 houses. They were timber importers, and exporters of furniture and fittings to all parts of the world. They used steam power and electricity, had a fleet of horse-drawn vans, depository and showrooms, and employed a vast workforce.
Maples’ market was the middle class and upwards – anyone anywhere who had money. They furnished palaces all over the world, including Tsar Nicholas’s Winter Palace, the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, all the great hotels, and town and country homes. Maples furnished all prestigious British embassies, even if it meant carrying a grand piano up the Khyber Pass on packhorses.
After the end of World War II and the change in tastes and the manufacturing cost factors, the decline started. In 1980 the furniture maker Warring & Gillow joined with Maple & Co., to become Maple, Waring & Gillow. It subsequently became part of Allied Maples Group Ltd, which includes Allied Carpets. In 1997 it went into administration and was taken over by the retailer Allders (Source: BBC & Wikipedia).
Condition Report:
This table is in good original condition. Nominal old use marks to the leading edges, but nothing significant considering the age of the item. There are no watermarks or scratches to the top of the table. The left hand cutlery drawer has been lined with new baize material and is therefore clean and free of any marks or wear. The two drawers retain their original brass lever locks (with working key) and they close flush to the frame. The table boasts its original polish; it has a fantastic colour and patination to the top. The table is solid in joint (does not wobble) and is ready to use.
Dimensions:
Gallery Height = 86cm or 33⅞” or 2ft 9⅞”
Table Height = 81.5cm or 32” or 2ft 8”
Width = 108.3cm or 42⅝” or 3ft 6⅝”
Depth = 57cm or 22½” or 1ft 10½”
Terms & Conditions:
Before you purchase this item, please ensure you have read and are in agreement with our Terms & Conditions of Sale. If you have any questions regarding our Terms & Conditions of Sale, please contact us to discuss them, before purchasing this item.
Ref. Table Serving 15
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.