Figure 682 shows a simple gate-leg table of maple, the property of Mr. Dwight Blaney. The legs and stretchers are delicately turned in the vase, ring, and bulb pattern. It is this form of gate-leg table which is most commonly found in this country, although it is unusual to find one with so narrow a frame.

Figure 682. Gate-Legged Table, last quarter seventeenth century.

Figure 683. Gate-Legged Table, late seventeenth century.

Another gate-leg table in the writer's possession is shown in Figure 683. It is small, measuring but 3 feet 6 inches by 3 feet, and is made of walnut. The turnings are of the type found almost exclusively in the South.

A rare form of gate-leg table is shown in Figure 684. It has eight Spanish feet and the turnings are in the vase-and-ring pattern. The frame is of cedar and the top is of walnut. At each end is a drawer with a heavy outstanding moulding which acts as a handle. It is the property of the writer.

A small table of the same variety is shown in Figure 685. It likewise has eight Spanish feet, the projection of which beyond the plane of the legs is obtained by applied pieces, while those in the preceding figure are cut from the solid. The turning is in the usual vase, ring, and bulb pattern. It is the property of Mr. G. W. Walker, of New York.

Figure 684. Gate-Legged Table with Spanish feet, 1690-1700.

Figure 686 shows another gate-leg table with eight legs, made of maple. The turnings are bold and in the usual vase, ring, and bulb pattern, and the corners of the top are rounded.

At Boston, in 1669, "an ovall table £3 10s"; at Philadelphia, in 1688, "a walnut table £2 10s"; at Yorktown, in 1667, "1 ovall table with bolts & catches £3"; at Salem, in 1690, "a round black walnut table £2 5s"; at Boston, in 1699, "a walnut oval table £2"; at Philadelphia, in 1705, "a large oval table £2"; at Providence, 1727, "an ovell table £2 5s," are items which doubtless refer to tables of the gate-leg variety. They are always valued rather high, very seldom under two pounds. These large round and oval tables superseded the long tables and were very generally the dining-tables of their day. Their curved edges must have required the use of chairs rather than the forms used with the long tables. The inventories wherein they appear are those of the well-to-do, and they may be regarded as the fashionable dining-table of the seventeenth century. The dining-table used by the Van Cortlandt family at the manor-house, Croton-on-Hudson, New York, since early in the seventeenth century, is one very like that shown in Figure 677.

Figure 685. Gate-Legged Table with Spanish feet, 1690-1700.

Figure 686. Gate-Legged Table, late seventeenth century.

Folding-tables are also often mentioned, and were so constructed that one half of the turned frame folded against the other, and the top fastened by hinges to the frame dropped at the side. The table, when so folded, could not, of course, stand. At Philadelphia, in 1686, a folding-table is valued at six shillings, and, in 1709, "a black walnut folding table" at £1 5s. The "ovall table" at York town, in 1667, "with bolts & catches," above referred to, may have been a folding-table.

Folding-Table, third quarter seventeenth century.

Figure 687 shows an early folding-table in the Bolles Collection. It has two turned legs and a gate, all turned, including the upper stretchers, in the sausage pattern. When the gate swings closed the hinged top falls and the piece folds up. It is made of walnut.

Figure 688 shows another folding-table of a little different construction, the property of Mr. H. W. Erving. The pairs of legs are pivoted at the centre, so that when closed the shorter pair fit inside the longer ones and the top falls.

Another form of table, which is practically a folding-table, is shown in Figure 689. It is made on the gate principle with a gate at each side to hold the two leaves. The centre portion, however, is narrow and consists of a large turned post with a trestled base. This table, when the leaves are down, is much smaller than the usual gate-leg table. It is the property of Miss C. M. Traver, of New York.

Figure 688. Folding-Table, late seventeenth century.

Figure 689. Folding-Table, last quarter seventeenth century.

Figure 690 shows another of these tables, from the Blaney Collection, in which the only turning is on the two under posts, the gates and base being of straight strips of wood.

Folding-Table, last quarter seventeenth century.

Figure 691 shows one of these tables which, when the leaves are down, is but a few inches wide. The table is supported by one leg on each side, as is usual in this type, but it differs from the others in that it has but a single turned stretcher connecting the two legs, and the gates, when closed, are in the plane with them. This type of folding-table was more practicable than those shown in Figures 687 and 688, because when closed it will stand while the others will not. This table is in the Bolles Collection.

A unique table with two leaves is shown in Figure 692, the property of Mr. H. W. Erving. The turned legs are raked after the manner of the so-called "butterfly" table (Figure 693). The legs are braced on the ends and through the centre, and from the centre of the middle stretcher is a turning, placed at right angles, to which is fastened the support for the leaves which swing in a similar manner to the gate-leg table. The turnings are in the familiar vase, ring, and bulb pattern.

Figure 691. Folding-Table, last quarter seventeenth century.

Figure 692. Turned Table with leaves, last quarter seventeenth century.