Sutherland Tables
The Sutherland table is supposed to be named for Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland (1806 to 1868). It is a folding table whose top is so narrow that, when folded, it can be stood against a wall without taking up much space. When the leaves are swung up to sit on their gate-legs, it becomes large enough to be a small breakfast table. The earliest versions were commonly solid mahogany, later ones sometimes veneered (often with bird’s-eye maple), but various woods were used, including yew and fruitwood. “Country” pieces were often made of oak. The two main legs of a Sutherland table are turned baluster uprights on bracket feet, connected by a stretcher, sometimes having castors and a drop finial on the undercurve of the bracketed feet. The table is often in the neighborhood of forty inches long and around the height of a dining table.