Copper African Masks
Early 20th Century Congolese Masks
Copper
Mid-20th Century Belgian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Copper
Recent Sales
Vintage 1970s American Tribal Art
Copper
20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Masks
Copper
Late 20th Century Folk Art Sculptures and Carvings
Copper
20th Century Congolese Tribal Masks
Copper
20th Century Kenyan Masks
Copper
Mid-20th Century Malian Masks
Copper
Vintage 1950s American Table Lamps
People Also Browsed
2010s American Animal Sculptures
Feathers
Early 2000s Italian Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
Mid-20th Century French Louis XVI Night Stands
Wood
Mid-20th Century German Armchairs
Steel
20th Century Chinese Chinoiserie Planters and Jardinieres
Porcelain, Paint
Vintage 1960s Danish Scandinavian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Bouclé, Upholstery, Oak
Mid-20th Century French Aubusson Tapestries
Wool, Cotton
Antique 19th Century Russian Religious Items
Wood
Mid-20th Century English Dinner Plates
Porcelain
Antique 19th Century French Other Fountains
Stone
Vintage 1960s Italian Wall-mounted Sculptures
Clay, Rope
21st Century and Contemporary American Victorian Taxidermy
Glass
20th Century Moroccan Moorish Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal
Vintage 1940s American Colonial Revival Trunks and Luggage
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Wall-mounted Sculptures
Clay, Rope
Mid-20th Century French French Provincial Beds and Bed Frames
Wicker
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.
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