Credenza

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Not to be confused with Cadenza.
Credenza

A Credenza is an American.[1] genteelism to describe a dining room sideboard cupboard, particularly one where a central cupboard is flanked by quadrant glass display cabinets,[2] and usually made of burnished and polished wood and decorated with marquetry.[3] The top would often be made of marble, or another decorative liquid- and heat-resistant stone. The term credenza became very fashionable in the US during the second half of the 19th century.[citation needed]

Modern free-standing credenza

In modern times, a credenza is more often a type of sideboard used in the home or restaurant. In dining rooms, it is typically made from wood and used as a platform to serve buffet meals. In restaurant kitchens, made from stainless steel, it provides a side surface and storage cupboards.

Etymology

Originally in Italian the name meant belief. In the 16th century the act of credenza was the tasting of food and drinks by a servant for a lord or other important person (such as the pope or a cardinal) in order to test for poison. The name passed then to the room where the act took place, then to the furniture.[4]

See also

Look up credenza in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

  1. ↑ Credenza does not appear in OED nor in John Gloag, A Short Dictionary of Furniture (London, 1977), where Credence is described as "a small side-table for vessels, used as a serving table," noting 16th-century usage and quoting John Britton, A Dictionary of the Art and Archaeology of the Middle Ages 1838: "a shelf-like projection placed across a piscina, or within a niche as a place for sacred vessels used at mass; also a buffet or sideboard for plate."
  2. ↑ Merriam-Webster online: Credenza: "a sideboard, buffet, or bookcase patterned after a Renaissance CREDENCE; especially : one without legs".
  3. ↑ The Parisian late 18th-century commode à vantaux was soon imitated in London and in the early 19th century in the United States.
  4. ↑ Definition at Dizionario Etimologico Online


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