Late C18th Swedish Tilt Top Occasional Table by Sjölin

A quite unbelievable late 18th Century Swedish tilt-top occasional table, the circular pine top veneered with a patchwork of burr-elm, on a stylised pine column and tripod base terminating in characteristic elongated pad feet.

This table demonstrates the remarkable genius of uniquely Swedish methods of construction, the rails avoiding any screws, having been dovetailed across the grain of the pine underside, holding the top firmly and remaining flat without the need for any attention in 250 years, and the use of a simple tapered wooden peg to secure the top, rather than the problematic leaf-sprung ‘banjo catch’ used on English tilt top tables of the same period.

In extraordinarily perfect original condition and of beautiful colour throughout, stamped in black ink underneath ‘JACOB SJÖLIN’, circa 1780