Christopher Clarke Antiques

Antique Occasional Table by Ross of Dublin

This walnut occasional table has a hexagonal top with a chamfered edge that stands on three turned columns which in turn stand on a tripod base.  To dismantle the table it is turned upside down and the three long bolts that fix the tripod base to the columns are removed. The column tops are fitted with fixed bolts that, again, unscrew from the table top.  The underside of the top has an enamel plaque (the same as that to the wardrobe No. 28) for Ross & Co, giving the address numbers of 8, 9 & 10 Ellis’s Quay, Dublin. These numbers date the table to after 1864. The plaque also describes Ross as ‘Camp Furniture Makers’. Aside from being a model of campaign table that we have not seen by Ross or any other maker before, this table is also interesting for having a broad arrow stamped to the underside. Although it is known that by 1882 the Army had taken the unusual step of recommending Ross as suppliers in the Report of the Kabul Committee on Equipment (Calcutta), this is the first piece of furniture by the company marked to indicate that it was military issue that we have encountered. The antique period is circa 1870.