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]
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