Amidst the 437 lots at de Veres Interiors Auction in The Pavilion at Leopardstown Racecourse, Foxrock, Dublin on October the 21st is lot 44; an Irish mahogany card table. The table is quintessentially Irish with its boldly shaped frieze, central shell motif and acanthus carving to the legs. “Not unusual at all” you might say, “A nice example of an Irish Georgian card table in fact”.
Mid-eighteenth-century Irish mahogany card table.
Stylistically, the legs are typical of what one would expect to see on such a table, however, on closer examination, the lower halves of all four legs are of lesser quality mahogany than the top of the legs and the rest of the table – they have all been scarfed mid-way up. Click on the image for a larger view.
In order to repair a broken chair or table leg, scarfing in a new piece of wood is all part and parcel of a restorer’s lot; however, these legs do not look like repairs. The scarfs are all at the same height and well above the level where typical damage to these types of legs would normally occur. The carving to the feet also appears to be contemporary.
Jack Plane
Must have been short on thick stock,
Seems odd to have the knees carved the way they are and and the feet have that feather pattern. does not seen to be the same “feeling”. If you block out the feet you would not expect to see that design, maybe a ball/claw. I’m not extremly versed in all the possibilities and styles of the period but it does seem to not go together. It’s not a combonation I would have choosen. Would there have been embelishment on the side/rear of the foot?
Joe ..
Ball and claw feet were certainly another popular variation…
Irish furniture was inclined to be a bit more adventurous and fantastical. Lion paws were another common theme…
Drake feet (of which the feet on the table under discussion are a variation) were highly fashionable…
Maybe the legs were repurposed from their intended original project?
I don’t believe that’s feasible as the chances of two sets of legs sharing the identical curvature to enable seamless integration are extremely remote.
JP
The table you show with three tops is as pretty as I have seen. The lack of a carved knee doesn`t take away anything. Are the edged veneered with a ” D ” moulding? They all look alike.
Yes, the leaf edges have cross-grain D-moulding.
JP
Pretty clean, high-angle scarfing, there; guess someone had a change of mind about what kind of feet they wanted? The legs have a bit more curve to them than I would expect to see, giving the table more of a bandy-leg look; some chinese cabriole type legs show this extra curvature, I wonder if there was some influence…