Quintessential Things

Who doesn’t love versatility? Especially in tight spaces. On offer here is an elegant flip-top piece that folds open with a gate-leg mechanism to serve as a full-size table for games or intimate dining. Then, with good manners, it folds back up to be tucked against a wall as a console table. Crafted in Michigan by Big Rapids Furniture...

This breakfast or dinette table exemplifies the California Modern aesthetic pioneered by architect and designer Cleo Baldon (1927–2014). Crafted in the 1960s by Baldon’s Los Angeles-...

On offer is a hand-carved and gilded-frame mirror in the classic Louis Philippe style. This was an eclectic and practical style of French architecture and decorative arts that emerge...

This 1920s Chinese wedding cabinet is an example of an antique lacquered storage piece, likely originating from Fujian, an eastern coastal city known for the distinctive red and blac...

Oh, to be a skilled wood carver in the 19th century. One would never lack employment. When it came to doing up their new homes, well-to-do folk then were inspired by European grandeu...

This 19th-century folk art chest exemplifies traditional chip-carved furniture, most likely originating from Scandinavian or Friesian (Northern European) woodworking practices. Measu...

Very few furniture makers get a revival of their best work a century after their death. Other than France’s André-Charles Boulle, only Great Britain’s Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779) ...

It’s hard to imagine a more quintessential expression of American rural tradition in furniture than this down-to-earth, hardworking table. No nonsense. No elaborate carving of shells...

19th Century Mahogany Serving Tray on Folding Stand English serving tray on folding stand The tray is made from solid mahogany This would make a handsome bar / cocktail stand Tr...

You can almost see this 20th-century, carved gilt wood mirror reflecting a gathering of well-coiffed socialites, cocktails in hand and just the top of their off-the-shoulder shantung...

She’s certainly no beauty, possibly in her 30s, but there’s a strength and clarity about this woman. She does her long hair into a complex chignon, a practical style in those years p...

On offer is a Mid-Century Modern bronze sculpture, titled a "Reclining Form (Thorns)" created in 1976 by British artist Robert Adams (1917–1984). The work features an abstract, aerod...

This elegant leather document holder, ornamented with a romantic inset watercolor, contains a formal presentation address written in a decorative 19th-century German script. The docu...

Fabulous Edwardian revolving bookstand. I believe this is from the late 19th century. Beautifully curved legs and feet. I’m not sure what kind of wood. It looks like mahogany. It mea...

On offer is a handmade Parcheesi game board signed on the back by Alice Muckelston, whose love of the game is expressed in the painted hearts. Parcheesi is an American adaptation of ...

Celebrate your Scandinavian ancestry with this set of amber-colored glassware on tall columned stems. Each of the six goblets is etched with a frosted Viking longship, complete with ...

On offer is an amphora, an ancient Greek form. Such two-handled pots had a narrow neck accessing a larger bag-shape body. So, if you wanted to ship grains from your vast estates in S...

Imagine lightly clad maidens dancing together in the sun amid the spring grasses. Some scenes never lose their allure, even after 2600 years. Nineteenth-century Europeans were inspir...

If you adore the exuberance and gilded grandeur of Louis XV’s reign, but your home’s style and scale is more Cleaver Family than a Bourbon residence, this is for you. Over your livi...

Beautifully carved details on the exterior, hinged lid that folds back and a drop front that opens to a fitted interior with small compartments. Maker’s mark: nonexistent. Clearance...

These striking chairs are high-quality Brutalist-style dining chairs attributed to the renowned Israeli designer Ilana Goor (b. 1936). A multidisciplinary artist, sculptor, and desig...

Theater operators! Restaurant owners! Or those of you secretly possessing a lost Vermeer. (You know who you are.) In fact, anyone with items of very special notice to share with thos...

On offer is a George III-style tea table featuring a scalloped gallery with two functional pull-out trays and a small but deep drawer with an oval punched brass pull at the center. C...

This wrought iron mirror is styled in the manner of the preeminent metalworker of the Art Deco period Edgar Brandt (1880–1960) who was credited with transforming wrought iron into a ...

You are looking at the 20th-century “great-great granddaughter” of the classic ballroom chair. This specific design by Giuseppe Gaetano Descalzi originated in 1807, about the time th...

Furniture had to be adaptable and hardworking in sparsely furnished 18th-century English and Colonial American homes. This was not the time for stunning ‘sculptural” chairs nobody si...

This set of carved wood chairs manage to be both rustic and refined. Done in Baroque style with nail head-trimmed velvet upholstered seats in the color of a fine pinot noir to compli...

On offer is a classic Art Deco chest of drawers, remarkable for its geometric interplay of rosewood and walnut among the piece’s mixed woods. On top, blonde walnut “spears” are inlai...

Group of three high-relief cameos carved from Bullmouth shell Large: 3.5mm x 4.5mm. Medium: 3.4mm x 3.4 × 2.6 Small: 8mm x 2.5mm

You know how you love to shop for a souvenir when you travel. This little micro mosaic brooch—about the width of your press-in wine bottle stopper—would have been just the thing for ...

This century-old, or more, copper and brass kettle recalls an era when savoring tea was central to civilized life—particularly in Great Britain. Based upon its size, this one would h...

It would be near impossible to design seating that conveys the effect of floating on air more effectively than this streamlined, minimalist chair, available here in a pair. A cream-c...

It would be near impossible to design seating that conveys the effect of floating on air more effectively than this streamlined, minimalist chair, available here in a pair. A cream-c...

It would be near impossible to design seating that conveys the effect of floating on air more effectively than this streamlined, minimalist chair, available here in a pair. A cream-c...

Handsome, discreet, tall and even muscular (and we’re describing a mirror here), this piece would certainly make its presence felt in a traditional interior. But imagine it shimmerin...

This tool stands as a silent testament to decades upon decades of back-breaking labor and thrift. Handcrafted, and likely used for pitching hay, it was endlessly stressed under immen...

Our great-great grandparents would have used this wooden scuttle to carry coal to a fireplace grate or stove. There the lumps would sit until someone pulled up the little attached sh...

Two Large Magnifiers With 19th Century Gilded and Mother of Pearl Handles Largest: 4"w x 2"d. x 12.75"h smallest: 3.5" x 1.25"d x 10.25"h

On offer is an antique American Renaissance Revival library or writing table, typically dated to the 1890s. Hand-crafted of solid quarter-sawn oak, this piece has a single drawer for...

Have you noticed that Italian men not only dress with admirable style, but also, appear crisply pleated when suited up. Ecco! The secret weapon. On offer is a gentleman’s rolling va...

On offer are a pair of Louis XIV-style ottomans. Carved scroll cabriole legs with hoof feet connected by serpentine box stretchers characterize the early 18th-century style of these ...

Chippendale/federal style mahogany mirror with a gilt central hand carved eagle finial and accents. 22" W x 47.5" H Mirror: 14" W x 28" H

Likely made by a loving, woodworking grandpa for his little granddaughter more than a century ago, the small scale of this miniature buffet cabinet allows the quarter-sawn “tiger” oa...

Originally designed in the late Georgian or early Regency periods in England to store and transport wine and spirits—let's say, between your house in London for “the season” or your ...

Offered here is an antique Arts & Crafts, Gothic, or Renaissance Revival-style, solid brass "pan" chandelier supporting six lights. Dating from the early 20th century, the light ...

This is the item you didn’t know you needed. But stay with us here. On offer is a 19th-century French walnut rafraîchissoir, French for a wine cooler or literally a “refresher”—the e...

On offer is an armchair that stylistically bridged two royal reigns in English history. The transition took place near the end of Queen Anne’s in 1714 into the early years of her sec...

Long after its initial publication in 1844, Alexander Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers,” continues to inspire with its timeless heroism. This nonstop tale of daring deeds in turbulent ti...

On offer is a marble-topped chest of drawers by the John Widdicomb Company. The design was directly inspired by 18th-century French Provincial aesthetics, specifically the Louis XV p...

Fabulous mid 20th century Rougier artichoke lamp. The artichoke lamp is one of the rarest Rougier lamps. The measurements are approximately 26 inches high by 26 inches wide by 26 inc...

There was a time when mice routinely found a way to one’s bread supply. If you were not of a mind to share, hanging a secure box off the floor was a good start. The Renaissance Reviv...

On offer is a green-painted, cast metal Art Deco style candlestick. Reflecting this refined style’s interest in representing harmony with nature, the sculptural design includes a sta...

If you are an avowed minimalist, move along. If you’re partnered with a minimalist, whom you love anyway, this lady’s desk is petite enough to dwell (relatively) discreetly in your b...

Oh, because the weight of modern life requires that we choose to live with more levity, charm and grace. And having this pair around is sure to help. These chairs, warmed in shimmeri...

This exuberantly carved display case is a magnificent example of a 19th-century French or Italian Renaissance Revival cabinet. This type of piece was especially popular during the Vi...

A very privileged princeling might have first sat upright in this George III-period mahogany highchair with a pierced splat, safety bar, footrest and green leather upholstery with br...

On offer is a set of six dining chairs, two armchairs and four side chairs, each with its own chocolate brown seat cushion, by McGuire of San Francisco. The chairs’ design blends nat...

Oh, the romance of grape clusters and their attendant coiled tendrils with grape leaves—one of Nature’s great gifts—beautifully crafted from molten wrought iron. Evoking the charm of...

On offer is a pair of vintage Neoclassical-style lamps, each featuring brass columns topped by a torchiere (upward-facing) white glass shade. This design style is also associated wit...

While they echo centuries-old designs, this decorative pair is characteristic of mid-20th century glamour. Such Italian painted and gilt wood candlestick lamps are typically referred...