Beschreibung:

Axel Einar Hjorth, A red limestone top and stained pine side table, Nordiska Kompaniet, Sweden 1929.
The base marked with maker's metal label, 75 x 45 cm, height 56 cm, the actual stone slab top 75 x 40 cm.
Krister Littorin (1879-1939) In 1929 Krister Littorin ordered a set of pine furniture from the "Sandhamn" series to his newly built hunting lodge on an island in the Stockholm archipelago. The set was comprising the limestone top table, a pair of lounge chairs, a dining table and four chairs (these were all ordered in 1929) and in 1931 the corner cabinet and the long bench, a special made to order, were added to the set. The model "Sandhamn" was the first of the "Sportstuge series" that Hjorth designed. It was in 1929 and "Sandhamn" was a model actually executed by the Nordiska Kompaniet's carpentry in Nyköping. The other models in the "Sportstuge series" were most likely executed by local carpenters after the drawings executed by Hjorth. The Sandhamn pieces are more exclusive, seen to details and craftmansship, compared to other models in the stained pine series. The Sandhamn pieces from the same estate in this sale are executed during the first years after designed, and the execution is made with a more refined effort, regarding the carved surfaces and finish. Krister Littorin was an engineer and he was the closest man to the finance magnate Ivar Kreuger, they were associated for a large number of years. Littorin was the deputy managing director at "Tändsticksaktiebolaget" (Swedish Match) and the one who found Ivar Kreuger dead at the Paris hotel on the 12th of March 1932. Littorin was considered to be co-responsible for the Kreuger crash in 1932 and he was sentenced to prison and a damages of SEK 200 million. Subsequently Krister Littorin's substantial collection of antiques was sold at "Bukowskis Konsthandel" on September 7-9 1932.
This model is called "a smoking table" in the Nordiska Kompaniet's register and the drawing is dated the same year as this table was executed, in 1929.