Portuguese Folding-Top Table in Walnut with Detached Columns and Stretcher, 18th Century.

This table features a rectangular walnut top composed of two leaves hinged by metal hinges, one folding over the other to double the depth once the table is opened. The apron, animated by two button pulls with metal knobs supporting the unfolded top, rests on an original base with solid-wood columns doubled by detached colonnettes, joined by a robust H-shaped stretcher close to the ground. This type of folding-top table, also called Italian-style, is characteristic of Iberian furniture of the Ancien Régime: the solid walnut, the turned columns and the frank construction make it a piece of domestic architecture typical of 18th-century Portugal, at once an occasional piece and a games or writing table. Condition report: Good overall condition given its age. Walnut with a deep, nourished patina, top marked with wear and traces of use testifying to its authenticity, folding mechanism functional and to be handled with care. A piece of character, as a console behind a sofa or as a side table in an entrance.