Vintage Dining Table Information

Vintage dining tables were created over the past centuries of decorative periods, mostly in America and Europe. Many of these antiques are very rare and extremely expensive. The more affordable vintage tables are reproductions of are styled from these period pieces. They are available in many woods, including mahogany, walnut and maple, and shapes as rectangular, oval and square. Vintage tables represent styles from as early as 16th century Elizabethan England to as late as 20th century America. Does this Spark an idea?

Earliest Tables

The most common dining tables in the Middle Ages--from the 5th century to, roughly,the 15th century--were the large communal tables--simple boards placed on trestles, the framed and braced supports. Marble tables--with marble tops supported by marble slabs--were also in use. The gate-leg table appeared in America and England in the late 16th century. With two to four leaves, or extensions, it had movable legs that looked like narrow gates and was, for a time, the fashion in dining tables.

17th Century

Tables from this period were often styled like 16th century pieces. The 17th century hall table, for example, evolved from the medieval communal table. Today's reproductions are often called "refractory" tables. Toward the later part of the 17th century, table design became more decorative. The cabriole leg (curved and with a decorative foot) appeared, veneering became popular and the scalloped table debuted.

18th Century--First Half

Many new features and styles evolved for dining tables in the 18th century. During the first half, pedestal tables were made--round or square tables with a central, supportive column usually with tripod, or three, legs. Cabriole legs became more decorated. In New England, the tables made were small, with three legs, and some had octagonal tops. In 1720, Chippendale tables appeared. Chippendales usually had four cabriole legs, often with ball-and-claw feet, and sometimes were carved extensively.

18th Century--Second Half

By the mid 18th century, the pie-crust table was popular in America and England. A circular table with scalloped edges, it had a tripod, pedestal base. Around the same time, the Pembroke table debuted. It was an elegant, drop-leaf table that contained rectangular leaves and a frieze, or decorative band. The drum table--round, with drawers and usually a tripod base--came next. Then, Hepplewhite and Sheraton tables appeared and cabriole legs were transformed into slender, tapered ones.

19th Century

Ornate French Empire tables replaced the simpler lines developed during the late 18th century. In America, the ornate Empire tables became simpler. Beauty of grain, rather than carvings, are stressed in these pieces as are veneered central pedestals, including lyre-shaped ones, and scroll-like feet.