Antique Victorian Burr Walnut & Floral Marquetry Loo Table Circa1860

This is a stunning and rare antique Victorian marquetry loo table, circa 1860 in date.

Thestriking burr walnut top has the most wonderful hand cut floral marquetry decoration and sits on a hand carved solid walnut base. The base is raised on three carved cabriole legs fitted with recessed brass and porcelain castors. The foliate carvings on the base have been beautifully done. The table top is secured to the base with a catch, which can be released so that the top can be stood on end. This can be useful if you need the space for a party.

Condition:

In really excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.

Dimensions in cm:

Height 74 cm x Width 137 cm x Depth 137 cm

Dimensions in inches:

Height 2 foot, 5 inches x Width 4 foot, 6 inches x Depth 4 foot, 6 inches

Burr Walnut refers to the swirling figure present in nearly all walnut when cut and polished, and especially in the wood taken from the base of the tree where it joins the roots. However the true burr is a rare growth on the tree where hundreds of tiny branches have started to grow. Burr walnut produces some of the most complex and beautiful figuring you can find.

Loo table is a table model from the 18th and 19th centuries, originally designed for the card game loo, which was also known as lanterloo.

The typical loo table has an oval or round top, and a hinged mechanism fitted to a pedestal base, enabling the table to be easily stored when not in use. Sometimes, antique dealers call any table with a folding mechanism for a "loo table", even if the table top is square or rectangular.

A loo-table stands in the hall at Midnight Place in the children's fiction book Midnight is a Place by Joan Aiken.

Game loo, formerly lanterloo -  gambling card game often mentioned in English literature. The name derives from the French lanturlu, the refrain of a popular 17th-century song. Popularity of the game faded in the 20th century.

The players may number from five to about nine, each playing for himself. A standard 52-card deck is used. In the simplest form of the game, three cards are dealt to each player, and the next card is exposed to establish a trump suit. The player to the left of the dealer leads, and one-third of the poolgoes to the winner of each trick. The pool is formed by antes before each deal and may be increased by payments for loo (failure to win a trick) and fines for irregularities.

Marquetry

is decorative artistry where pieces of material of different colours are inserted into surface wood veneer to form intricate patterns such as scrolls or flowers.

The technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th century Florence. Marquetry elaborated upon Florentine techniques of inlaying solid marble slabs with designs formed of fitted marbles, jaspers and semi-precious stones. This work, called opere di commessi, has medieval parallels in Central Italian "Cosmati"-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as pietra dura, for the "hardstones" used: onyx, jasper, cornelian, lapis lazuli and colored marbles. In Florence, the Chapel of the Medici at San Lorenzo is completely covered in a colored marble facing using this demanding jig-sawn technique.

Techniques of wood marquetry were developed in Antwerp and other Flemish centers of luxury cabinet-making during the early 16th century. The craft was imported full-blown to France after the mid-seventeenth century, to create furniture of unprecedented luxury being made at the royal manufactory of the Gobelins, charged with providing furnishings to decorate Versailles and the other royal residences of Louis XIV. Early masters of French marquetry were the Fleming Pierre Golle and his son-in-law, André-Charles Boulle, who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian