Regency tilt top table with calamander and brass inlay

• Calamander / Coromandel - Calamander wood, also known as coromandel wood or coromandel ebony, is a type of hardwood that comes from the Calamander tree (Diospyros quaesita), which is native to Sri Lanka, India, and Southeast Asia. The wood is known for its dark brown or black colour and its distinctive figuring, which can resemble a snakeskin pattern.
  
  The wood is highly prized for its beauty and durability. It is often used in fine furniture making, particularly in the production of inlaid and marquetry work, as well as in the making of boxes, cabinets, and other decorative items. It is also used in the manufacture of flooring, paneling and other architectural applications.
  
  Calamander wood is a very hard and heavy wood, it has a density of around 1.04 g/cm3. Its density and high natural oil content make it resistant to decay and insects, which is why it is a popular choice for outdoor furniture, flooring and other decorative items.
  
  The wood is also used for turning and carving, but is difficult to work due to its high density and interlocking grain. However, it takes a high natural polish and has a beautiful lustre, which is why it is so sought after.
  
  Due to the high demand and over-exploitation of the natural resources, the calamander tree is now a protected species, and the harvesting and export of the wood is heavily regulated.
• Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
• Platform Base - Flat-surfaced bases supporting the pedestals of dining tables and some other smaller occasional tables, including console and pier tables. Introduced during the Regency period, they continued in popularity throughout the 19th century. On tables, platform bases are usually of triform, or three-cornered shape, supported by bun, turned or carved claw feet. They may be either of veneered box-like construction, or formed from the solid timber.
• Acanthus - A stylized leaf motif, one of the primary decorative elements of classical Greek and Roman architecture, derived from the genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Mediterranean area. It is a common element in classical Greek and Roman design, and is often seen in Corinthian and Composite order columns and used as a decorative element in English, European and Australian furniture, particularly on the curve of a leg, and as decoration for a corbel.
• Inlay - Decorative patterns inserted into the main body of a piece of furniture, generally in wood of contrasting colour and grain, though brass, ivory, ebony, shell and sometimes horn have been used. Inlay may consist of a panel of well figured timber inset into a cabinet door front, geometric patterns, or complex and stylized designs of flowers, swags of foliage, fruits and other motifs. As a general rule, in pieces where the carcase is constructed in the solid, the inlay is relatively simple such as stringing, cross banding and herringbone banding. Where more elaborate and decorative work was required veneer was used. Inlay has been fashionable from at least the latter half of the 17th century, when a variety of elaborate forms were developed
• Amboyna - Amboyna is a tree native to Indonesia (named after the Indonesian island of Ambon) and South East Asia, and when harvested the timber has a fragrant rose-like scent, and is of a rich brown colour, usually harvested from the burl of the tree with "birds-eye" markings . In furniture is is usually veneered and used for decorative effects on top quality pieces.
• Gilding - Gilding is a method of ornamentation whereby a thin sheet of gold metal is applied to items made of wood, leather, ceramics, glass and silver for decorative purposes.
  
  For furniture including mirrors, the sheet of gold is usually applied over a coating of gesso. Gesso is a mixture of plaster of Paris and gypsum mixed with water and then applied to the carved wooden frames of mirrors and picture frames as a base for applying the gold leaf. After numerous coats of gesso have been applied, allowed to dry and then sanded a coat of "bole", a usually red coloured mixture of clay and glue is brushed on and allowed to dry, after which the gold leaf is applied. Over time parts of the gilding will rub off so the base colour can be seen. In water gilding, this was generally a blue colour, while in oil gilding, the under layer was often yellow. In Victorian times, gilders frequently used red as a pigment beneath the gold leaf.
  
  Metal was often gilded by a process known as fire gilding. Gold mixed with mercury was applied and heated, causing the mercury to evaporate, the long-term effect of which was to kill or disable the craftsman or woman from mercury poisoning. The pursuit of beauty has claimed many victims, not the least of which were the artists who made those pieces so highly sought after today.
• Skirt - In furniture, the skirt is a strip of wood underneath the top or front of the item. On chairs, the skirt is the support under the seat joining the legs, while on tables, the skirt is the support under the top, that assists in supporting the top and also joins the legs. On carcase furniture such as chests and cabinets, the skirt is the timber strip immediately under the drawers or cupboard.
• Stringing - Fine inlaid lines, in contrasting colour to the carcase timber, found mainly on furniture made in the styles of the later 18th and early 19th centuries. Stringing, which may be of satinwood, pine, ebony, horn, brass or occasionally ivory, is found principally on drawer fronts, around the outer edges of usually tapered legs and French bracket feet, around the edges of inlaid panels and between the joint of the cross banding and carcase timber on table tops, chests of drawers, cabinets etc. The effect is to emphasize the line of the piece and add to the impression of lightness and elegance. Stringing also occurs in Sheraton-revival-style furniture of the later 19th and early 20th centuries.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• furniture, material or decoration - calamander wood 10
• tables, purpose or type
  • gilt 86
  • pedestal, side and centre 143
• tables, small, period or style - Georgian 262