From Architectural Fixture to Domestic Chameleon, The Evolution of the Console Table

“ The console-table was originally so called because the slab was supported upon a scroll-shaped bracket, or upon legs which in form and contour answered roughly to the idea of a bracket. A console-table has a front and two sides; the back, which remains unornamented, always stands against the wall. ”

“ The console was derived from the credence, and was even in its earliest form a large table with a marble top, jutting out like a bracket and serving to support a bust or vase. The three visible faces of the console were in the early days frequently supported with chimæras, fauns, etc. The word table was gradually dropped and the article was known as console.
A variety of table, known as the guéridon, was also 34popular. This is a small round table mounted on a stem or baluster that ends in three legs (Plate III., No. 2) . ”

“ Console, kon′sōl, n. (archit.) a projection resembling a bracket, frequently in the form of the letter S, used to support cornices, or for placing busts, vases, or figures on: the key-desk of an organ.—n. Con′sole-ta′ble, a table having one of its sides supported against a wall by consoles or brackets. [Fr. console; prob. conn. with Consolidate.]
Consolidate, kon-sol′i-dāt, v.t. to make solid: to form into a compact mass: to unite into one.—v.i. to grow solid or firm: to unite.—adj. made firm or solid: united.—p.adj. ”

“ A feature which was strongly developed in the sixteenth century furniture is the architectural character of the outlines. It has already been observed that in the fifteenth century, chests, screens, stall fronts, doors and panelling followed or fell into the prevailing arrangements of architectural design in stonework, such as window tracery, or wall tracery. But in the cinquecento furniture an architectural character, not proper to woodwork for any constructive reasons, was imparted to cabinets, chests, &c. ”

“ The great Past supplies us with the raw material, with orders, colonnades and arcades, pediments, consoles, cornices, friezes and architraves, buttresses, battlements, vaults, pinnacles, arches, lintels, rustications, balustrades, piers, pilasters, trefoils, and all the innumerable conventionalities of architecture. It is plainly our duty not to revive and combine these in those cold and weary changes which constitute modern design, but to make them live and speak intelligibly to the people through the eloquent modifications of our own instinctive lines of Life and Beauty. ”

“ Virtually all of the eighteenth-century furniture-makers constructed console tables. Gilded furniture in all its gorgeousness found favor in England shortly before 1720, and the consoles and console tables were unusually well adapted to finish and decoration of the sort that suggested the magnificence of Louis XIV and, later on, the elegance and richness of Louis XV. During the Empire period some were elaborately decorated in white and gold. With the advent of the Napoleonic era, the console and the console table still held sway. ”

“ The furniture of the time of Louis XIV, having so much that is magnificent about it, is especially well suited to large rooms for state occasions, great ballrooms and state drawing-rooms. These rooms not being destined for everyday use should be treated as a brilliant background; paneling, painting, tapestry, and gilding should decorate the walls, and beautiful lights and mirrors should aid in the effect of brilliancy. It must be done with such knowledge that there is no suggestion of an hotel about it. Console tables, and large and dignified chairs should be used for furniture. ”

“ The Renaissance made a great change in furniture making. Cabinets and paneling were done in the outlines of palaces and temples. In Florence, Rome, Venice, and Milan there began on a large scale the manufacture of sumptuous cabinets, tables, chairs, and chests. Spain, France, and Germany soon followed the fashion, and in England Henry VIII greatly encouraged the art of furniture making.
Then came the great period of furniture, the eighteenth century. From being massive and exceedingly scarce and costly, furniture became light, plentiful, and cheap. ”

“ Inventories during the latter years of the seventeenth century speak of a “sideboard cupboard,” “sideboard table,” and “side-table,” but the sideboard, in our acceptance of the word, dates to the latter half of the eighteenth century. Chippendale designed no sideboards with drawers and compartments, but he did design side-tables, or sideboard tables, with marble or mahogany tops and carved frames. A Chippendale side-table is shown in Illustration 73. ”

“ I have had many interesting old console-tables of wrought iron support and marble tops copied, and I have designed others that were mere semi-circles of white painted wood supported by four slender legs, but whether they be marble or pine the effect is always simple. There are charming consoles that have come to us from the Eighteenth Century, consoles made in pairs, so that they may stand against the wall as serving-tables, or be placed together to form one round table. ”

“ CHIPPENDALE CANDLE, TEA AND MUSIC STANDS.
Card-tables were also made in great varieties and numbers by this same maker, and his graceful designs were copied by other and less well-known makers, so that these tables, at least in "Chippendale style," are not uncommon. His card-tables were of two styles, with leaves which folded together on top when not in use, and a plain oblong table without leaves. As card-playing was one of the most fashionable pursuits of the day in England, which fashion was followed with becoming promptitude by us. ”

“ Remember that simplicity depends on balance and space. If the walls balance one another in light and shadow, if the furniture is placed formally, if walls and furniture are free from mistaken ornament, the room will be serene and beautiful. In most other rooms we avoid the "pairing" of things, but here pairs and sets of things are most desirable. Two console tables are more impressive than one. There is great decorative value in a pair of mirrors, a pair of candlesticks, a pair of porcelain jars, two cupboards flanking a chimney-piece. ”

“ Black console tables with a pair of marble vases stand against the walls right and left of centre doors at back. Hanging above the consoles in black oval frames are two old-fashioned pictures of flowers. A three-piece Chippendale settee is against the wall left above the door. Lace curtains and blue rep hangings on window up right. When centre doors are opened you see a large handsome mantel at back with windows right and left hung with red rep curtains. Two small square tables in front of windows, and a large mahogany table in centre in front of fireplace. ”

“ One must be careful not to choose anything with a too modern air, and a plain wall is always safe.
The average hall will probably need a pair of console tables and mirrors, some chairs, Oriental rugs, a tall clock if one wishes, and, if the hall is very large and calls for more furniture, there are many other interesting pieces to choose from. A hall should be treated with a certain amount of formality, and the greater the house, the greater the amount ”

“ It is really preferable to a small table because it is not always full of a nondescript collection of ornaments, which seems to be the fate of all small tables. It has also the advantage of being low enough to push under a large table, when need be, and it occupies much less space than a chair apparently (not actually) because it has no back. ”

“ Make the best of the opportunities offered for built-in furniture before you buy another thing. If you have a built-in china closet in your dining-room, you can plan a graceful built-in console-table to serve as a buffet or serving-table, and you will require only a good table—not too heavily built—and a few chairs for this room. There is rarely a room that would not be improved by built-in shelves and inset mirrors. ”

“ One or two pieces of painted furniture may be used in a room with other furniture if they happen to be just the thing needed to complete the scheme. A console table, for instance, with a mirror over it and sidelights, might be just the touch needed between two windows hung with plain taffeta curtains. Like all good things there must be restraint in using it, but there are few things that have greater possibilities than painted furniture when properly used. ”

“ Genuine antiques are the things we naturally strive for first of all, and consoles present a field that is, as yet, by no means prohibitive, even for the moderately filled purse. To be sure, the rare French consoles of the early Louis periods are not to be had at every turn (the war has rendered them still{166} rarer) , but there are English consoles and console tables and others by early American furniture-makers that are surely worth hunting out. Their appropriateness to the scheme of the small house commends their preservation and insures a revival of interest in their modern use. ”

“ There is no sound artistic or practical objection to the use of pieces from different suites in the same room; provided, of course, that the resemblances in proportion, line, and coloring are sufficiently marked to ensure harmony. This is the only way in which antiques can be used, and it is no less effective with modern pieces. This point is particularly important in the sale of furniture for a child's room or a small guest room, which will not take a full suite in any case, but which will offer a valuable opportunity to sell broken lots. ”

“ The pieces of furniture used throughout a house, no matter what the period may be, are more or less the same, so many chairs, tables, beds, mirrors, etc., and when one has decided what one's needs are, the matter of selection is much simplified. Of course one's needs are influenced by the size of the house, one's circumstances, and one's manner of life. To be successful, a house must be furnished in absolute harmony with the life within its walls. A small house does not need an elaborate drawing-room, which could only be had at the expense of family comfort ”

“ Illus. 288.—Combination Piano, Desk, and Toilet-table, about 1800.
Illustration 288 shows one of the curious combinations which the cabinet-makers of about 1800 seemed to be so fond of designing. Their books have complicated drawings of tables and desks with mechanical devices for transforming the simple-looking piece of furniture into one full of compartments, [295] drawers, and boxes, with contrivances which allow surprising combinations to spring out. Sheraton, who was a shrewd observer, said, “A fancifulness seems most peculiar to the taste of females” ”

“ These long side-tables were designed not only by Chippendale, but by the other cabinet-makers and designers of the day, Ince and Mayhew, and Manwaring; but the tables of these less noted men usually are made after the prevailing Chinese style, with applied fretwork and legs which are pierced, thus depriving them of the strength necessary in so large a piece. Chippendale made these also, but in this table the cabinet-maker chose a design which looks and is strong. The carving is in scrolls done in the solid wood, and is French in design. ”

“ His individuality of shape is always pleasing, even if he did not concern himself about making his furniture structurally correct. He claims, and indeed with absolute correctness, "to unite elegance with utility and blend the useful with the agreeable."
In Figure 31 is shown one of a pair of card-tables, Hepplewhite design, made of mahogany and inlaid with ebony and satin-wood. ”

“ Convenience was not sacrificed to beauty in either desk or chair; but both the old pieces, being designed by skilled cabinet-makers, were as decorative as they were useful. There seems, in fact, no reason why the modern den should not resemble the financiers' bureaux seen in so many old prints: rooms of dignified plainness, but where each line of wall-panelling and furniture was as carefully studied and intelligently adapted to its ends as though intended for a drawing-room or boudoir. ”

“ THE MODERN STYLE (L'ART MODERNE)
"Modern art" is a term used to include aspects of present-day practice which depart widely from traditional or conventional models. It regards period styles as survivals of a past, dead and gone. Avoiding mere prettiness, it seeks dominant simplicity through elimination of ornament on structural forms, and an adaptation of design to function as complete as that revealed by today's motor car or skyscraper. Literally, it is streamlined for comfort and beauty in the modern way.
Broadly speaking there are two modern developments in functional furniture ”

“ Now, all furniture that has any permanent value has been designed and wrought to meet the ends it had to serve, and the careful elaboration of it gave its maker scope for his pleasure and occasion for his pride.
If a man really likes what he has got to do, he will make great shifts to express and realise his pleasure; he will choose carefully his materials, and either in playfulness of fancy, or in grave renunciation of the garniture of his art, will put the stamp of his individuality on his work.
An example of living art in modern furniture is a costermonger's barrow. ”

“ The first principle here is to discourage undue naturalism in ornamental design by withdrawing the decorative arts from the influence of painting, and attaching them rather to the arts of construction, under the beneficent control of which they did so well in the middle ages. The next principle, which is equally important, is to foster the personal element in decorative work, but at the same time to prevent individuality from becoming self-assertive and running into vagaries, by insisting on the vital connection of ornament with material and technique. ”

“ Farewell to your marqueterie and Boule, your ribbons, festoons, and rosettes of gilded bronze; the hour has come when objects must be made to harmonize with circumstances."
Thus it is hardly too much to say that designs were governed by the politics and philosophy of the day; and one finds in furniture of this period, the reproduction of ancient Greek forms for chairs and couches; ladies' work tables, too, are fashioned somewhat after the old drawings of sacrificial altars; and the classical tripod is a favourite support. The mountings represent antique Roman fasces with an axe in the centre ”

“ The old ways are still the only ways. When we care for art sufficiently to summon her{273} from her state prison-house of exhibitions and galleries, to live again a free life among us in our homes, she will appear as a controlling force, using not only painting and sculpture, but all the decorative arts to shape room and furniture under one purpose of design. Whether we shall then give her the time-honoured title of architecture, or call her by another name, is of no moment. ”