Loo Table, c.1840
Oyster Bay pine, blackwood and cedar
Diameter: 121.5cm

The cedar top is veneered with Oyster Bay pine (callitris rhomboidea) in fourteen sections forming a star figure and cross banded with Oyster Bay pine. Oyster Bay pine comes from the east coast of Tasmania and was a wood described by contemporaries as being suitable for boats, cabinet work, furniture, picture frames and even agricultural equipment.

This Loo Table has a tilt top. Loo was a popular nineteenth century card game. The table stands on a tapered hexagonal column, has a blackwood collar above a triform base terminating in three blackwood scrolled feet decorated with paterae with concealed castors. As one of very few objects (including a recently identified matching Library Table) ever made in this gorgeous golden coloured Australian timber, this Loo Table is not only a fine example of colonial furniture, but a visually spectacular piece.