Table: M.10-1977

Maker(s)

Production: Unknown

Entities

• Table

Categories

• Furniture

Description

Folding card table of walnut with splayed legs and quatrefoil stretcher, carved, gilt, and inlaid in the Gothic style. Top of figured walnut with marquetry borders which turns and opens to reveal a red baize surface bordered by tooled leather.

Notes

History note: Nigel B. Mendes da Costa, Peaslake, Surrey, from whom purchased by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam.

Legal notes

Given by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam.

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1977) by The Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum

Dating

Victorian
Circa 1865 - Circa 1870

Note

Perhaps by J. B. Crace

The form of this card table was influenced by the furniture designs of the Gothic Revival architect A.W.N. Pugin (1812-1852). A fervent Catholic, Pugin believed that the Age of Faith could be revived by a return to the Gothic style of the fourteenth century. He designed furniture, metalwork, stained glass, tiles, textiles and wallpapers with archaeological accuracy, insisting on the honest use of materials and undisguised construction. From 1844, Pugin designed the interiors for the new Houses of Parliament. These were executed by the firm of Crace & Son, for whom Pugin also designed ‘a sensible style of furniture of good oak.’ Some of the more ornate pieces used veneer, however, of which Pugin disapproved as being contrary to ‘true principles.’ A more elaborately decorated table of the same type as this one, made in 1867, is in The Higgins Bedford.

School or Style

Gothic Revival