In Python2 this declares Table to be a new-style class (as opposed to “classic” class).
In Python3 all classes are new-style classes, so this is no longer necessary.
New style classes have a few special attributes that classic classes lack.
class Classic: pass
class NewStyle(object): pass
print(dir(Classic))
# ['__doc__', '__module__']
print(dir(NewStyle))
# ['__class__', '__delattr__', '__dict__', '__doc__', '__format__', '__getattribute__', '__hash__', '__init__', '__module__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', '__weakref__']
Also, properties and super do not work with classic classes.
In Python2 it is a good idea to make all classes new-style classes. (Though a lot of classes in the standard library are still classic classes, for the sake of backward-compatibility.)
In general, in a statement such as
class Foo(Base1, Base2):
Foo is being declared as a class inheriting from base classes Base1 and Base2.
object is the mother of all classes in Python. It is a new-style class, so inheriting from object makes Table a new-style class.