Chinese Alter Sideboard
20th Century Chinese Modern Sideboards
Teak
Antique Mid-19th Century Asian Ming Sideboards
Elm
Recent Sales
Antique Early 19th Century Asian Furniture
Elm, Lacquer
Early 20th Century Chinese Sideboards
Antique Mid-19th Century Chinese Chinese Export Console Tables
Elm
Early 20th Century Asian Chinese Export Sideboards
Wood
Antique Late 19th Century Chinese Ming Side Tables
Metal
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2010s Italian Modern Wall Mirrors
Brass
Antique 19th Century French Louis XV Fireplaces and Mantels
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Side Tables
Steel
Antique 1680s Chinese Qing Ceramics
Porcelain
Antique 18th Century French Louis XV Fireplaces and Mantels
Carrara Marble
Antique Late 19th Century Chinese Qing Ceramics
Porcelain
21st Century and Contemporary French Mid-Century Modern Sofas
Stainless Steel
Mid-20th Century Japanese Organic Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Wood, Ash, Hardwood
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Metal
Early 20th Century Chinese Ming Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
Antique 1890s American Late Victorian Side Tables
Iron
Antique Late 18th Century Swedish Gustavian Desks
Brass, Iron
20th Century Chinese Chinese Export Console Tables
Rosewood
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
Antique 19th Century Chinese Qing Console Tables
Wood
20th Century Asian Moorish Side Tables
Wood, Lacquer
Finding the Right Sideboards for You
An antique or vintage sideboard today is a sophisticated and stylish component in sumptuous dining rooms of every shape, size and decor scheme, as well as a statement of its own, showcased in art galleries and museums.
Once simply boards made of wood that were used to support ceremonial dining, sideboards have taken on much greater importance as case pieces since their modest first appearance. In Italy, the sideboard was basically a credenza, a solid furnishing with cabinet doors. It was initially intended as an integral piece of any dining room where the wealthy gathered for meals in the southern European country.
Later, in England and France, sideboards retained their utilitarian purpose — a place to keep hot water for rinsing silverware and from which to serve cold drinking water — but would evolve into double-bodied structures that allowed for the display of serveware and utensils on open shelves. We would likely call these buffets, as they’re taller than a sideboard. (Trust us — there is an order to all of this!)
The sideboard is often deemed a buffet in the United States, from the French buffet à deux corps, which referred to a storage and display case. However, a buffet technically possesses a tiered or shelved superstructure for displaying attractive kitchenware and certainly makes more sense in the context of buffet dining — abundant meals served for crowds of people.
Every imaginable iteration of the sideboard has taken shape over the years. Furniture maker and artist Paul Evans, whose work has been the subject of various celebrated museum exhibitions, created ornamented, welded and patinated sideboards for Directional Furniture, collections such as the Cityscape series that speak to his place in revolutionary brutalist furniture design as much as they echo the origins of these sturdy, functional structures centuries ago.
If mid-century modern sideboards or vintage Danish sideboards are more to your liking than an 18th-century mahogany sideboard with decorative inlays in the Hepplewhite style, the particularly elegant pieces crafted by designers Hans Wegner, Edward Wormley or Florence Knoll are often sought by today’s collectors.
Whether you have a specific era or style in mind or you’re open to browsing a vast collection to find the right fit, 1stDibs has a variety of antique and vintage sideboards to choose from.
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