A pier table is a table designed to be placed against a wall, either between two windows [1] or between two columns. [2] It is also known as a console table ( French: console, "support bracket"), although furniture historians differentiate the two types, not always consistently. [3] [a]
Above the table there was very often a tall pier glass on the wall, the two typically made to match. [4]
The pier table takes its English name from the " pier wall", the space between windows. [1] [3] The table was developed in continental Europe in the 1500s and 1600s, and became popular in England in the last quarter of the 1600s. [1] The pier table became known in North America in the mid-1700s, and was a popular item into the mid to late 1800s. [1] It was common for the space between the rear legs of the pier table to contain a mirror to help hide the wall. [3] Later pier tables were designed to stand in any niche in a room. [2] [5]
The pier table may often be semicircular, the flat edge against the wall. [2] Pier tables from later periods are often large and quite ornate. [2] Well-known designers such as Duncan Phyfe, [1] Robert Adam, George Hepplewhite, and Thomas Sheraton all designed and manufactured notable examples of pier tables. [2]
Over time, the pier table evolved into the sideboard. [1]
References
- Notes
- ^ Furniture historian Edgar G. Miller argues for a distinction between a console table and a pier table. Pier tables are designed with a flat edge to be against the wall, whereas a console table may have any edge against the wall or be freestanding. [2] Ralph Edwards and John Gloag say console tables should only have legs at the front, and be fixed to the wall, or held in place by gravity.
- Citations
Bibliography
- Gloag, John, John Gloag's Dictionary of Furniture, 1990, London, Unwin Hyman, ISBN 0044407742
- Hinchman, Mark (2013). The Fairchild Books Dictionary of Interior Design. New York: Fairchild Books. ISBN 9781609015343.
- Kenny, Peter M.; Brown, Michael K.; Bretter, Frances F.; Thurlow, Matthew A. (2011). Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker in New York. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780300155112.
- Marshall, Patricia Phillips; Leimenstoll, Jo Ramsay (2010). Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color. Chapel Hill, N.C.: North Carolina Museum of History. ISBN 9780807833414.
- Miller, Edgar George (1937). American Antique Furniture: A Book for Amateurs. New York: Barrows.