table centre

plural table centres

1. datedA decorative covering for the centre of a dining table, usually made of fabric or lace.First known use late 19ᵗʰ century.

   […] she also […] did exquisite fancy needlework. Arthur once showed me a table-centre she had given him for Christmas which was quite a work of art.

   1935, Christopher Isherwood, chapter 8, in Mr Norris Changes Trains, pages 122-123

   2 more examples

   If a table-centre be used, it should to my fancy be washable […]. Very beautiful ones may be manufactured by outlining white damask with coloured silk, as suggested for sideboard cloths […]

   1892, Ethel Earl, Dinners in Miniature, page 20

   No silken table-centre is needed when the flowers are so decorative in themselves, but a transparent cloth is often used, laid over a foundation of coloured silk.

   1903, Lucie Armstrong, Etiquette and Entertaining, page 39

2. A three-dimensional decoration (such as a flower arrangement or candelabrum) for the centre of a dining table.First known use 20ᵗʰ century.

   The epergne was probably the best-known Victorian table centre. Built like a multi-storey vase, an epergne housed huge, tiered arrangements.

   1986, Sue Phillips, chapter 1, in More Than Meets the Eye: A New Look at Flower Arranging, page 20

   1 more example

   While these vases were being made, some other table-decorations had begun to take a new and more representational form. In 1743 was made for Brühl a great table-centre in the form of a grotto with figures about it […]

   1934, W. B. Honey, chapter 4, in Dresden China, page 108