AW true jaw dropper. Four hand-painted tiles sit at the center of the top, set flush into the oak so something hot could be put down without a thought for the wood beneath it. Found in Belgium, this side table has a square oak frame on four turned legs joined by a low box stretcher, the tiles painted in the manganese purple that Delft potters used alongside their better known cobalt blue. Delft tiles were made by the tens of thousands in the Dutch Low Countries, painted freehand so that no two were ever quite alike, and set into walls, fireplaces, and tabletops across northern Europe. Sylvie keeps it next to a chair for the coffee and the candle, the tiles taking the heat the way they were always meant to
