Haida Copper
Antique Early 1900s Jugendstil Glass
Copper
People Also Browsed
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Pillows and Throws
Wool, Nylon, Polyester
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Pillows and Throws
Wool, Polyester
Early 20th Century Japanese Art Deco Jewelry Boxes
Mother-of-Pearl, Wood, Lacquer
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Pillows and Throws
Wool, Nylon, Polyester
Mid-20th Century Japanese Showa Textiles
Silk
Antique 15th Century and Earlier Japanese Other Vases
Pottery
Antique 1880s English Anglo-Japanese Fireplace Tools and Chimney Pots
Walnut
Antique 1890s Japanese Arts and Crafts Quilts and Blankets
Wool, Cotton
2010s Mexican Post-Modern Floor Mirrors and Full-Length Mirrors
Oak
Late 20th Century Japonisme Tapestries
Silk
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Paperweights
Glass
Antique 19th Century Japanese Meiji Textiles
Silk
Antique 19th Century Japanese Meiji Tapestries
Silk, Glass, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Japanese Tapestries
Fabric, Yarn, Thread, Silk, Tapestry, Textile
Antique Late 19th Century Japanese Late Victorian Paintings and Screens
Silk
20th Century American Adirondack More Folk Art
Iron
Recent Sales
Antique Early 1900s Czech Jugendstil Glass
Copper
20th Century North American Modern Blanket Chests
Copper
Mid-20th Century Canadian Native American Decorative Boxes
Copper
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
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.