Wheat-Sheaf Dining Table with Oval Glass Top, Elinor McGuire, United States, circa 1975

Elinor McGuire was one of the most distinctive American furniture designers of the mid-twentieth century, celebrated for her organic, nature-inspired forms and her masterful use of natural materials, above all bamboo and rattan. This dining table, dating to the 1970s, exemplifies her signature approach: a monumental wheat-sheaf base formed from densely bundled bamboo poles, tightly bound at the waist and splayed at top and bottom to evoke a harvested grain bundle, supporting a large oval glass top with elegant bevelled edges.

The base is constructed from scores of individual bamboo rods arranged in the unmistakable wheat-sheaf silhouette that became one of McGuire’s most enduring and recognisable motifs. The poles are cinched with leather thonging at their narrowest point, creating both structural integrity and a refined decorative detail. Above, the clear glass top — oval in form and measuring 202 by 111.5 centimetres — rests with an air of weightless elegance, its bevelled perimeter refracting light and animating the surface.

A rare and monumental example of American Mid-Century Modern design at its most sophisticated, this table would command immediate attention as the centrepiece of any important interior. McGuire furniture has attracted growing collector interest in recent years, and large-scale pieces of this quality and presence are seldom available on the market.