Rolex Highlights Book
Antique 19th Century European High Victorian Sideboards
Leather, Oak
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21st Century and Contemporary English Modern Armchairs
Leather
Antique Late 19th Century English Victorian Card Tables and Tea Tables
Lacquer
20th Century English Victorian Armchairs
Leather
Antique Early 1900s English Edwardian Wingback Chairs
Leather, Hardwood
Antique Mid-17th Century British Charles II Cabinets
Walnut
Early 20th Century English Charles II Settees
Tapestry, Velvet
Antique 17th Century Italian Baroque Bookcases
Spruce
Vintage 1950s English Renaissance Beds and Bed Frames
Oak
Antique 19th Century Russian Neoclassical Sculptures
Bronze
20th Century English Georgian Bookcases
Glass, Hardwood
Antique Mid-19th Century French Louis Philippe Beds and Bed Frames
Giltwood
Antique 1840s English Early Victorian Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Hardwood
Early 20th Century American Victorian Trunks and Luggage
Metal
Antique 1850s English Desks and Writing Tables
Wood
20th Century French Art Deco Dining Room Tables
Wood
Antique 1790s English George III Desks
Hardwood
Finding the Right sideboards for You
Once simply boards made of wood that were used to support ceremonial dining, sideboards have taken on much greater importance 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.
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. 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 are more to your liking than an 18th-century mahogany sideboard with decorative inlays by Hepplewhite, 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, new and vintage sideboards to choose from.