Games table - Wood - System “pull-out action”

French mahogany gaming table with a “pull-out action” system — Louis XV / Rococo Revival style, c. 1850–1870.

Object: gaming table / folding card table
Origin: France
Dating: c. 1850–1870, probably c. 1860
Style: Louis XV Revival / Rococo Revival
Historical period: Second French Empire
Wood: mahogany and, possibly, a mahogany veneer on some surfaces
Interior: gaming surface covered with green fabric/felt
Mechanism: pull-out action, with extendable frame and rear legs
Closed dimensions: 72 × 80 × 40 cm
Open dimensions: 72 × 80 × 80 cm

Elegant nineteenth-century French gaming table, executed in mahogany, serpentine in form and inspired by Louis XV, featuring a folding top and an unusual pull-out action mechanism.

When closed, it presents the appearance of an elegant sideboard/console table, with a depth of only 40 cm. The rectangular top has a pronounced serpentine outline, rounded corners, and successive peripheral moldings.

The tabletop wood presents a pleasing figure and a deep reddish-brown tone, with patina acquired from use.

The front waist follows the movement of the top, describing a wavy line with a slight central descent. In the center is a decorative carved and pierced composition, consisting of a central flower, leaves, scrolls and symmetrical volutes.

At the starts of the front legs also appear carved flowers and vegetal elements, creating continuity between waist and supports.

The four legs are tall, elegant and strongly arcuate, cabriole in type, ending in narrow feet that are slightly scroll-shaped. The design is very characteristic of the nineteenth-century revival of French Louis XV furniture.

The mechanism — one of the piece’s fortes: here the table becomes more interesting. The top consists of two halves hinged together. To transform the table:
- the rear frame is pulled horizontally;
- the two rear legs shift together with that frame;
- the depth increases from about 40 to 80 cm;
- the top is then opened over the expanded framework;
- a nearly square gaming table is obtained, 80 × 80 cm.

This mechanism is documented in eighteenth/nineteenth-century French furniture, described as pull-out action, serpentine top, cabriole legs with carved flowers and a central carved pediment.

Interior: Open, the top reveals the gaming surface covered in blue-green fabric, delimited by the mahogany frame itself. Signs of use and tonal alteration of the covering are visible.

Louis XV features are evident in: cabriole legs; curves and counter-curves; serpentine waist; carved flowers; volutes and vegetal motifs; light and elegant overall design.

Historical context is chiefly the Second French Empire, when Louis XV and Louis XVI styles returned to fashion in strong measure.

The combination of construction, mechanism, moldings, carving, proportions, type of legs and aging is consistent with the early to mid-nineteenth century.

Condition—The piece shows visible signs of use and aging, but retains very well the original readability and elegance.