19th c. Coffee Table

No one in the 19th century owned a coffee table, so a low piece like this began another life entirely, most likely a serving or side table stood against a dining-room wall where its drawers kept the linens and silver close to the room that used them. Found in Belgium and dating to the 19th century, it is dark, richly grained wood, a molded top with clipped corners over one long shallow drawer and three deeper ones below, all pulled by round wooden knobs, standing on square tapering legs carved with grooves. A bank of drawers like this was a quiet kind of wealth, somewhere to keep the good linen and the good silver in a house that had enough of both to put away. Sylvie sets it in front of a sofa, the long shallow drawer for coasters and the deep ones for everything a living room never has room for.