Dictionary of English Pieces - Chiffonier,
Coasters, Coffee Tables, Commode, Console Tables, Cradles
Chiffonier
A small bookcase or cupboard with an upper part of
open shelves. A decorative piece of furniture that was first made about 1800, and
continued to be popular throughout the nineteenth century.
Coasters
Wine-coasters are stands for bottles or decanters for use at the
dining-table. Some took the form of wooden trays with rims, others were of japanned
papier-mache, silver or plate. Cheese coasters were usually made of mahogany and date from
about 1790. They are boat-shaped with a square base raised on small casters. Today, they
are rarely used to hold the large round cheeses for which they were designed, but have a
fresh lease of life as fruit containers.
Coffee Tables
While any small and low table can be, and is, called a coffee table,
the term is applied particularly to the sets of three or four tables made from about 1790;
of which the latter were called 'quartetto tables'. As their name implies, they were made
in sets of four, and were so designed that each slid into the other. When so placed they
took up no more room than the largest. Made in mahogany and in rosewood, they have been in
production almost continuously and old sets are scarce.
Commode
This is a French word describing a type of chest of drawers made in that
country. In England, it was applied in the eighteenth century to pieces of furniture
designed in the style of Louis XV or Louis XVI, and fitted with drawers or with doors to
form a cupboard. Such pieces were highly decorated with carving, marquetry, lacquer or
inlay, and would have had pride of place in the most important room of a house.
Console Tables
Tables made for fixing against a wall and having no legs at the
back. They came into fashion early in the eighteenth century, and were made often in
pairs.
Cradles
These small beds for children were usually made to swing; achieved either
by mounting them on rockers, or suspending them in a framework. Early ones of oak are
rare, but eigh- teenth-century specimens made of mahogany are sometimes to be seen.
Collectable Antiques: