Table [tilt-top]

This tilt-top table by the South Australian cabinet-makers Henry Hugentobler and Conrad Sturm was made as an exhibition piece and shown at the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879 and at the Melbourne International Exhibition, held the following year. As an exercise in technique and to showcase the high level of craftsmanship and skill by the makers, the table features a complex inlaid geometric design, which includes some 30,000 pieces of cedar, red cedar (Toona ciliata), pine, stringy bark, red gum and black gum. Not all were impressed by the extravagance of the piece however, with John Pluman in his article, ‘Some lessons from the Garden Palace’ in The Sydney Mail, writing: ‘as an example of patient ingenuity, the table deserves every praise, but as a specimen of taste or skill properly applied it occupies an inferior position’.

Hugentobler & Sturm worked together for a brief period in the 1870s in Blumberg in the Adelaide Hills (renamed Birdwood in 1918). Also in the Gallery’s collection is a companion chest of drawers, also shown at the Sydney and Melbourne International Exhibitions.

Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts & Design