These small tables with their tray-tops relate to 'jardiniere' flower-stands discussed by J.C. Loudon in his chapter on Grecian and Modern Villa Furniture in his Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm and Villa Architecture and Furniture, 1839 (no. 2126, fig. 1970). They were noted as being fitted with tin pans, which could be 'fitted with a cover of trelliswork or pierced tin, through which cut flowers are put into wet sand', or else fitted with a loose top when it is not wanted for flowers, 'in order to render it useful as a small table'. Their reeded columnar legs reflect the early 19th Century Grecian fashion adopted by Gillows of London and Lancaster in the furnishing of houses such as Tatton Park, Cheshire (see N. Goodison and J. Hardy, 'Gillows at Tatton Park', Furniture History, 1970, pp. 1-39).