Stately and Formal: Side, Pier, and Console Tables in England, 1700- 1800

Among the most important pieces of furniture appearing in European residences of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were the wall-oriented side, pier and console tables. These were integrated with the interiors of the formal or state rooms and placed at precise positions around the walls. Such tables were often the most expensive furnishings, since they were usually elaborately carved and gilt wood or even occasionally made of silver and frequently they supported expensive marble tops. As significant furniture forms, they received the attention of the leading architects, designers, carvers and even silversmiths to a greater extent than chairs and most other furnishings. A considerable body of examples survives, in addition to design drawings and prints, which consequently permits an unusually detailed examination of a single furniture form. This study investigates the evolution of these tables by focusing on contemporary documents and English examples, which in many cases survive in situ. These demonstrate their development through the baroque, rococo and neoclassical styles as well as their use from earliest origins to their decline in the late eighteenth century, when, with changing lifestyles, they were largely supplanted by more convenient functional furniture forms. Possible Continental sources and the influence of design books receive special attention. The roles of designers and craftsmen and the increasing industrialization of the English furniture industry are also considered. The concluding chapter confirms the function and important status of such tables in contemporary society, most notably as reflected in portraits. The Appendices include an annotated chronological list of published design books, ca. 1560-1803, relating to the tables, and reprints of selected period documents indicating their cost and construction.