The folding-table is inspired by a table from Hill Hall, Essex that was associated with Thomas Smith (d.1577), Queen Elizabeth I's Secretary of State. The table described by Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick as 'of the Time of Henry 8th', was published in Henry Shaw's, Specimens of Ancient Architectre, 1836 (pl. XIX). The medallion-head of this present table's cupboard door, as well as its flanking vases, are also inspired by the carved panels of the Smith table, which in 1836 was in the possession of the celebrated Wardour Street dealer, Henry Swaby, who supplied furniture in the 1820s and 1830s to antiquarians such as Sir Walter Scott (see: C. Wainwright, 'Specimens of Ancient Furniture, Connoisseur, November 1973, pp. 105-113, and fig. 3)