Loo table

Folded late 18th century English loo table with Japanese motifs.

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.^[1] Sometimes, antique dealers call any table with a folding mechanism a "loo table", even if the table top is square or rectangular.^[2] In Australia the term used as describing a Victorian tilt-top on a pedestal base. Usually round or oval in shape, the top could be tilted vertically when not in use and the table pushed to one corner of the room. English versions are usually veneered in highly figured walnut, rosewood, mahogany, often with cross banding and stringing. In Australia, the form was much simpler with construction of Australia, cedar. The top, when horizontal, was held in place by brass thumbscrews fixed to the pedestal block. The term derives from a card game 'lanterloo' introduced to England from France during the early 19th century. Quality can vary significantly in loo tables, and in the lesser examples the veneers are not so well figured, construction is lighter, and bases are of plainer design.^[3]

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

References

Lootsberg Pass