Guéridon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A guéridon is a small, often circular center table supported by one or more columns, or sculptural human, or mythological figures. This kind of furniture originated in France towards the middle of the seventeeth century. Early guéridon were often supported by an African, ancient Egyptian or ancient Greek human figure.
Ranging in style from the humble, used to hold a candlestick or vase, the guéridon could also be a high style decorative piece of court furniture. By the death of Louis XIV there were several hundreds of them at Versailles, and within a generation they had taken an infinity of forms: columns, tripods, termini and mythological figures. Some of the simpler and more artistic forms were of wood carved with familiar decorative motives and gilded. Silver, enamel, and indeed almost any material from which furniture can be made, have been used for their construction. A variety of small occasional tables are now guridons in French.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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