VicDesign with Scott Brebner: Antiques Hunter

All images from Trade Me Auction page displayed above

This small table was advertised to be in the Gothic Revival style by the seller and in many aspects the item follows this. It is constructed out of English oak, one of the features of the Gothic Revival being the use of "heavy woods finished in a dark stain, such as rosewood, oak and walnut" (A. S. Mills, n.d.). Mills also describes how the style employed "heavy, intricate carvings on tables, chairs and beds", this being evident on the top of the table.

Another classic trait of Gothic design and decoration is to take inspiration from nature to produce simplified imagery. Owen Jones specifies that “natural objects should not be used as ornament”, rather simplified forms that are “suggestive to convey the intended image” (The Grammar of Ornament, 1856), and the carvings pay heed to this. These stylised sunrise/sunsets, however, are also where the design of the table begins to stray away from Gothic Revival and more into the "Jacobean Revival" style mentioned in the Trade Me article.

Also referred to as "Jacobethan", the Jacobean Revival was essentially a hybrid of Elizabethan and Gothic styles. While it borrowed attributes from both, they weren't necessarily applied in the same way. The sunset patterns take up a large portion of the tabletop, disrupting the table's functionality as a desk. The size of the table removes the possibility of it being used for meals associated with the dusk/dawn pattern (those being dinner and breakfast, therefore making the patterns arguably illusionistic). The Gothic style is associated heavily with practical design whereas this table seems to function primarily as an ornament. It becomes even more Jacobean with the use of spool turnings; “Lathe turnings with spool forms or spiral twist patterns were often used for legs and stretchers"(J. F. Pile, 2005) within the style.