Irish Campaign Tripod Table

An Irish, mahogany Table with drawer, made to dismantle for travel.

It is not obvious on first sight that this side or occasional table is made for campaign but turning it upside down reveals its secret. The four legs are each made with a dovetail joint to fit them to the bottom of the table's column. They also have an iron band screwed to their underside that extends beyond the dovetail. When all four legs are fitted to the column, their iron bands crossover each other and a large brass thumb bolt can be screwed through the overlapping holes cut to them. The underside of the table top is fitted with a central, wide wooden support bar. It has a hole to the centre with an inset brass nut to fix to the brass bolt to the top of the table's column.

The quality of the cabinet work to this table is very good from the thick brass plate to the bottom of the column where the legs fit to the detail of five rings turned to the brass collar to the top of the column. Gillingtons have taken the design of this table from a domestic version and cleverly adapted it for travel without making it apparent. The top is crossbanded in faded rosewood and the ring turned design of the column echoes the reeding to the top edge of the sabre legs. Good castors have been used. The drawer has knob handles and is lined in cedar wood. The drawer is lined in a patterned wallpaper with evidence of newspaper underneath it. This is a later addition and might have been added to hide a restoration splice to the base, where it has shrunk.

The top of the drawer edge is stamped Gillingtons 8856. The number is more likely an order rather than a model reference. A number of other Gillingtons' pieces were stamped in a similar manner. This table may have been made as a one off piece by the company, perhaps as a bespoke order for an officer, but it is possible they made other campaign furniture pieces. Certainly, their business was mainly concerned with the production of domestic furniture. Circa 1825.