Georgian Oak Snap Top Tea Table

The circular edged top bearing wear and old chips, resting on a square block to which the long bearers under the tabletop are pivoted, on a baluster-turned pedestal, raised on sweeping cabriole legs on slender pad feet. The original snap mechanism is intact and
fully functional.

Tea tables developed in response to the growing popularity of tea-drinking in the late seventeenth century and the first decades of the eighteenth century. Still an expensive commodity, tea drinking and the associated display of imported Chinese porcelain and other accoutrements required elegant and adaptable furniture. Smaller tilt-top tables, such as the tea table, were soon incorporated into the décor of the fashionable multi-purpose parlours of town and country houses.

This table is a fine example of early-eighteenth century taste and the exquisite use of oak before imported mahogany became the fashionable timber for quality furniture. Might the stain rings on the top be a lingering reminder of the presence of a hot water or
tea urn?