Antique 11ft Extending Dining Table C1835 Set

A very rare opportunity to own a superb dining set comprising an early antique William IV flame mahogany extending  dining table in the manner of Gillows of Lancaster, with a Vintage set of 12 Wheatsheaf Shieldback Dining Chairs.

The table top having  a moulded edge with a pul out action and four  leaves, with brass clips. The leaves can be added or removed as required to suit the occasion. The table has been hand-crafted from solid flame mahogany which  has a beautiful grain, and is raised on five substantial ring turned and tapering reeded legs that terminate in heavy brass cup castors

The superb set of twelve Vintage wheatsheaf shieldback dining chairs, date from the mid 20th Century.

Masterfully crafted in beautiful solid mahogany throughout, the finish and attention to detail on display are truly breathtaking.

The set comprises ten side chairs and two armchairs, all featurimg  attractive carved wheatsheaf  decoration with 'drop in' seats that have been  reupholstered in the finest teal damask.

It is a very impressive dining suite which is sure to contribute to successful dinner parties.

Condition:

In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished waxed and the chairs reupholstered in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.
 

Dimensions in cm:

Height 77 x Width 334 x Depth 138 - Fully extended

Height 77 x Width 135 x Depth 138 - With all 4 leaves removed

Height 97 x Width 52 x Depth 58 - Side chairs

Height 97 x Width 25 x Depth 58 - Armchairs

Height 47 - Seat height

Dimensions in inches:

Height 2 foot, 6 inches x Width 10 foot, 11 inches x Depth 4 foot, 6 inches - Fully extended

Height 2 foot, 6 inches x Width 4 foot, 5 inches x Depth 4 foot, 6 inches - With all 4 leaves removed

Height 3 foot, 2 inches x Width 1 foot, 8 inches x Depth 1 foot, 11 inches - Side chairs

Height 3 foot, 2 inches x Width 10 inches x Depth 1 foot, 11 inches - Armchairs

Height 1 foot, 6 inches - Seat height

William IV - the brief reign of William IV (1830 – 1837) marked a period of transition between the Regency period (which had been an age of innovation based on revivalist styles such as ancient Egypt, and the Grecian designs) and the Victorian era.

William IV furniture is similar in style to Regency furniture with many of the designs from the Regency period being copied but often executed in a much heavier manner with chairs, tables and other items being coarser and clumsier in appearance when compared with those made during the Regency period.

Popular pieces produced during this period include tilt top dining tables and pillared extendable tables. Sofa tables and drum tables were also favoured at the time as were sideboards and card tables. Heavy brass fittings were a prominent feature such as lion's paw feet on tables.  Chairs frequently sported sabre legs to the back with stumpy bulbous turned legs to the front.  The rope twist carved back was also much in favour.

This period also saw the introduction of the more exotic timbers such as zebra wood.  With the Industrial Revolution getting under way furniture making saw the increased use of mechanisation a trend set to accelerate during the Victorian period.

This short, but important transitional period eventually gave way to the romanticism of the Victorians but the furniture it produced was usually of good quality and it remains sought after and desirable today.

Robert Gillow (1704–1772) was an English furniture manufacturer. He joined with a family of traders called Sattersthwaite and sailed with them to the West Indies as a ships carpenter. In Jamaica he became interested in mahogany and brought samples of the wood back to Lancaster in 1720. This may have been the first mahogany to be imported to England.

He founded the luxury furniture and furnishings firm Gillow of Lancashire in 1730. During the 1730s he began to exploit the lucrative West Indies trade exporting mahogany furniture and importing rum and sugar, in addition to fitting out ships cabins and doing finishing work in construction. The firm rapidly established a reputation for supplying high quality furniture and furnishings to the richest families in the country. They also had a London workshop in Thames Street. In 1764 a permanent London branch of Gillow's was established at 176 Oxford Road, now Oxford Street, by Robert's son, Thomas Robert Gillow, and William Taylor.

As well as working in solid mahogany, Gillows made veneered and painted furniture, and often used japanning to imitate inlay. As textiles came down in price, the firm moved into upholstery – staying ahead of the game in 1785 when it sent an upholsterer from London to work in the Lancaster factory. Gillows can be credited with many innovations. In the mid-1760s initiated and exploited the craze for billiard tables and produced a ladies' version, the trou-madame. He invented the extending dining table – including, in 1800, the telescopic version, the “Patent Imperial.” The firm was inventive in adapting designs to customer's requirements – 1795 saw a round library table with a revolving top. It fitted secrétaires with movable drawers and partitions, like early filing cabinets, and it even made a bureau bedstead that served as a desk but pulled out to a bed.

The social or “gentleman's” table, horseshoe-shaped with japanned ice buckets, appeared around 1800, as did bonheurs du jour (ladies' writing tables). Another version of the social table was semi-circular, with a firescreen along the straight side and a sliding holder for bottles. The Davenport, a lady's desk, was featured in the sketchbooks from 1816. Gillows made medicine chests, powdering closets, linen presses, clothes horses, squirrel cages, meat safes, and boot jacks, not to mention coffins. 

For over a century, the firm was known for its luxury furniture and furnishings. During the final years of the 19th century the company ran into financial difficulty and from 1897 began a loose financial arrangement with Waring of Liverpool, an arrangement legally ratified by the establishment of Waring & Gillow in 1903.
 

Flame Mahogany
Thomas Sheraton - 18th century furniture designer, once characterized mahogany as "best suited to furniture where strength is demanded as well as a wood that works up easily, has a beautiful figure and polishes so well that it is an ornament to any room in which it may be placed." Matching his words to his work, Sheraton designed much mahogany furniture. The qualities that impressed Sheraton are particularly evident in a distinctive pattern of wood called "flame mahogany."

The flame figure in the wood is revealed by slicing through the face of the branch at the point where it joins another element of the tree.