A Question of Cricket
"hmmm...time for a glass of 'big red'.....nice cricket table!"
A table to put your TV on while you watch our brave boys trying to regain the small pot with ashes in it???
A table for your wine and strawberries as you relax in the park and try to understand the strange signalling of men in white coats, surrounded by eleven souls who seem to have an issue with two others who are waving weapons of wood in the air???
A table for your ‘best friend’ (Scrumpie-pup) to sip wine from??? (see photo!)
Well…the answer is yes to all these and more….
In general terms, a ‘cricket table’ refers to an occasional table with a round top, set on top of 3 angled legs, usually with an under tier set between the legs.
Sounds quite painful, but actually, cricket tables can be charming and useful.
As you might imagine from the name, it is a quintessentially English piece of furniture which first appeared in the early sixteen hundreds – ok …you can find examples that were probably made in Scotland, Ireland or Wales (or maybe the Caribbean!) and in reality, the three legged table or stool concept was probably developed by early caveman, as three legged forms can stand on uneven ground. Anyway…cricket and Englishness, tea and cucumber sandwiches seem to go hand in hand, ball in glove or something like that.
So why is it called a ‘cricket’ table and which came first??…the game or the table? There is some history of a cricket like game being played by Edward l in 1300, but the game did not establish itself in anything like its present form until the seventeen hundreds.
Assuming the table was named after the game, there is obviously an association between the three stumps and the three wickets. Indeed, the first examples of ‘cricket’ tables had turned legs…but at the end of the day it’s all conjecture really.
If explaining what a ‘cricket table’ is….how much more difficult to explain the game. I owe thanks to ‘Britain Express’ for the following explanation:
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that’s in the side that’s in, goes out, and when he’s out, he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out.
When they are all out the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in out.
Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When both sides have been in and out including the not-outs, that’s the end of the game.
Howzat?
The Design of The Real Wood Furniture Company Cricket Table
Our ‘cricket’ table is a mixture of designs, based on a classic English table, borrowed from a collector of such tables, but also drawing influence from early Chinese furniture in the form of a round 3 leg occasional table dating from the early part of the 19th century, purchased from the original importer, which now resides in my sitting room! It is one of my favourite pieces. It has no under tier, but the typical Chinese triangulated stretchers united by a ‘puzzle’ joint and acutely angled legs. China has a timber very closely related to English elm, called ‘Jumo’. This timber was often used in the making of furniture during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) and my table is one such. As is often the case with Chinese furniture, the heights of their pieces differ from the parameters that define the ‘design map’ of English furniture and it’s not always the case that their furniture is lower than we might expect. Certain chairs (seat height) and tables are much higher than we might anticipate them to be. In this case though, the height of my occasional table is lower than that of most cricket tables. Although we can make our table to any size, we think we have hit a ‘perfect proportion’ at
24” diameter and 24” height, with a relatively steeply angled leg. We are making them from English oak with beautifully figured burr oak, two piece tops.
Anyone for cricket?? Over and out….
Chris
This entry was posted on Sunday, July 19th, 2009 at 4:31 pm and is filed under The World, Wood.