The armorials are those of Sir Richard Price Puleston, Bt., of Emral Hall, Flintshire, Wales. The house had been the seat of the Pulestons for 700 years but in 1860, the family fled their overburdened estate for London. Lady Puleston rturned in 1895 and in 1930, the Hercules Hall was rescued for Portmeirion.

Wine or 'Social' tables evolved from the 'Gentleman's Social Table' illustrated in A. Hepplewhite & Co.'s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, London, 2nd ed., 1788. This type of dining-room table, intended for fireside drinking is discussed in R. Butler, The Book of Wine Antiques, Woodbridge, 1987, p. 223.