Robert Kuo Copper Pear
2010s Screens and Room Dividers
Copper
Vintage 1980s Italian Bohemian Figurative Sculptures
Copper
People Also Browsed
2010s Canadian Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
2010s Chinese Mid-Century Modern Sculptures and Carvings
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Side Tables
Terrazzo
Vintage 1960s European Belle Époque Screens and Room Dividers
Hardwood
Antique Late 19th Century French Louis XVI Beds and Bed Frames
Giltwood
2010s Organic Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble
2010s Danish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Sheepskin, Beech
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Sectional Sofas
Alpaca
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Dining Room Chairs
Brass, Metal
Vintage 1970s French Mid-Century Modern Living Room Sets
Stainless Steel
Early 20th Century Chinese Chinese and East Asian Rugs
Wool, Cotton
Antique 1660s German Mid-Century Modern Credenzas
Aluminum
Mid-20th Century Turkish Kilim Turkish Rugs
Wool
Late 20th Century Organic Modern Figurative Sculptures
Porcelain
Vintage 1980s Italian Organic Modern Animal Sculptures
Silver
Recent Sales
1990s American More Furniture and Collectibles
Copper
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Still-life Sculptures
Copper
Materials: copper Furniture
From cupolas to cookware and fine art to filaments, copper metal has been used in so many ways since prehistoric times. Today, antique, new and vintage copper coffee tables, mirrors, lamps and other furniture and decor can bring a warm metallic flourish to interiors of any kind.
In years spanning 8,700 BC (the time of the first-known copper pendant) until roughly 3,700 BC, it may have been the only metal people knew how to manipulate.
Valuable deposits of copper were first extracted on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus around 4,000 BC — well before Europe’s actual Bronze Age (copper + tin = bronze). Tiny Cyprus is even credited with supplying all of Egypt and the Near East with copper for the production of sophisticated currency, weaponry, jewelry and decorative items.
In the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, master painters such as Leonardo da Vinci, El Greco, Rembrandt and Jan Brueghel created fine works on copper. (Back then, copper-based pigments, too, were all the rage.) By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, decorative items like bas-relief plaques, trays and jewelry produced during the Art Deco, Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau periods espoused copper. These became highly valuable and collectible pieces and remain so today.
Copper’s beauty, malleability, conductivity and versatility make it perhaps the most coveted nonprecious metal in existence. In interiors, polished copper begets an understated luxuriousness, and its reflectivity casts bright, golden and earthy warmth seldom realized in brass or bronze. (Just ask Tom Dixon.)
Outdoors, its most celebrated attribute — the verdigris patina it slowly develops from exposure to oxygen and other elements — isn’t the only hue it takes. Architects often refer to shades of copper as russet, ebony, plum and even chocolate brown. And Frank Lloyd Wright, Renzo Piano and Michael Graves have each used copper in their building projects.
Find antique, new and vintage copper furniture and decorative objects on 1stDibs.