Mahogany Pedestal Dining Table and 6 Chairs
A mahogany extension pedestal dining table and six chairs, 20th century, with one extension leaf, a Duncan Phyfe style turned pedestal table with sabre legs and brass capped, feet, the spade back chairs with ribbed legs and green trellis upholstery, height 29.92 in.l 57.48 in., width 42.13 in. extended length 73.23 in. (table), height 34.25 in. (chair)
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- Phyfe, Duncan - Duncan Phyfe (1768 - 1854) is the best-known New York cabinet maker of the early and mid-19th century.
He made use of the forms and ornament of classical Greece and Rome and gave his name to the generic term for American furniture in the neoclassical style.
Duncan Phyfe style furniture was made into the mid 19th century, with a revival in the late 19th/early 20th century - Mahogany - Mahogany is a dense, close grained red-coloured timber from the West Indies and Central America. It was first imported into Europe in the the early 18th century and its use continued through the 19th century. It was popular for furniture making because of its strength, the wide boards available, the distinctive grain on some boards, termed flame mahogany and the rich warm colour of the timber when it was polished.. The "flame" was produced where a limb grew out from the trunk of the tree, and this timber was usually sliced into veneers for feature panels on doors, backs and cornices.
Some terms used to describe mahogany relate to the country from which it originally came, such as "Cuban" mahogany, "Honduras" mahogany etc. However unless the wood has been tested the names assigned are more a selling feature, rather than a true indication of the timber's origin. - Turning - Any part of a piece of furniture that has been turned and shaped with chisels on a lathe. Turned sections include legs, columns, feet, finials, pedestals, stretchers, spindles etc. There have been many varieties and fashions over the centuries: baluster, melon, barley-sugar, bobbin, cotton-reel, rope-twist, and so on. Split turning implies a turned section that has been cut in half lengthwise and applied to a cabinet front as a false decorative support.
- Sabre Leg - The sabre leg is commonly associated with chairs made in the Regency or classical revival manner of the early 19th century. The form was copied from designs of the ancient Grecian chair known as a klismos found on painted classical vases. The characteristic of the sabre leg is a wide, sweeping backward curve which was frequently reeded, similar to a sabre. The sweep of the front legs was sometimes complemented by a corresponding curve in the back legs of the chair, though on most domestic furniture the sweep of the rear support was not as pronounced. Sabre legs are often encountered in reproductions of the regency style. They are uncommon in Australian furniture where, by and large, colonial craftsmen preferred to use turned legs.
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