Table

This circular top table has an inlaid totara knot veneer over a totara carcass. It is supported on a pedestal triform base, on bronze castors.

The table was thought to have been made by Dunedin cabinetmaker John Hill, and exhibited at the New Zealand Exhibition in 1865. It was believed that James Hector, who was the Exhibition's main organiser, acquired the table when the exhibition closed and accessioned it into the collection of the new Colonial Museum.

However, recent research by furniture historian William Cottrell suggests that the table was made by Johann Levien, a cabinetmaker who worked in Wellington from 1841 to 1843. Cottrell has identified similarities in design and construction between this work and another table attributed to Levien, and has traced design elements from both pieces to the same pattern book; John Loudon’s Encyclopaedia of Cottage Farm and Villa Architecture and Furniture (1833).

Research into the history of this object is ongoing.

References

• Cottrell, William. 2016. ‘Patterns and Impressions: an investigation into the copying of British furniture designs, the cabinetmaker’s pattern book and trade catalogue in New Zealand 1820-1920.’ PhD thesis, University of Canterbury.
• Fitzgerald, Michael. 2012. ‘New Zealand Colonial Furniture in Te Papa’s Collection: An Overview and some Highlights.’ In Proceedings of the Inaugural New Zealand Furniture History Symposium & Exhibition, Southland Museum & Art Gallery, 2010, editor Ross Ramsay and convenor Gael Ramsay, 24-31. Invercargill: Southland Museum and Art Gallery.