The authentic Biedermeier furniture on 1stDibs is representative of the first modern European decorative style not dictated by the tastes of the aristocracy. Following the Napoleonic wars, a growing, wealthy urban middle class in the German-speaking states of Central Europe began to demand rights and privileges once granted only to nobles. To avoid trouble, the upwardly striving confined their political discussions to one another’s homes. And so the salon was born.
Cabinetmakers in cities such as Vienna, Berlin and Mainz began to offer goods that reflected the tastes and needs of the new class. The makers of Biedermeier chairs, tables and other furniture used little or no gilding, silver hardware or other lavish ornament. Ebonized trims are common on Biedermeier cabinetry, and neoclassical elements — lyre-shaped chair splats, carved scrollwork, table supports shaped like Greek columns. But the strongest aesthetic statement came from the wood — richly-grained, honey-colored, often book-matched veneers of walnut and fruitwood.
There are two iconic Biedermeier furniture forms, both made to outfit rooms designed for conversation. One is the sofa, deeply upholstered with a strong, architectural wooden frame. The second is the circular pedestal table, which stood at the center of the room, offering a surface on which to place coffee and cake services; or to roll out a map, or sketch out ideas on paper.
“Biedermeier” was originally a derogatory term — it derives from the pen names of two German magazine writers who mocked bourgeois manners. Looking at the elegant and refined antique, new and vintage Biedermeier furniture offered on 1stDibs, that is now an amusing irony.
19th Century Italian Biedermeier Antique Card or Tea Table in Walnut, Extendable
Located in Casale Monferrato, IT
We present this refined antique Italian coffee table dating back to the early 19th century. It features the stylistic and construction characteristics typical of the Biedermeier peri...
Walnut
Early 19th Century Game Table, South German, 1810-20
Located in Belmont, MA
This unique game table dates back to the early phase of the Biedermeier period. It comes from Southern Germany. The game table has a beautiful walnut root veneer on top and apron. ...
Walnut
19th Century antique Marquetry Table Around 1850/60
Located in Berlin, DE
Antique marquetry table Complex inlay work Probably Italy around 1850/1860 Walnut and many fruit woods such as plum Cherry pear etc. Age...
Wood
Austrian 19th Century Biedermeier Walnut Game Flip Top Table
Located in Berlin, DE
Austrian/Vienna 1st half of 19th century Biedermeier walnut game flip flop top table, ca. 1840: A Biedermeier extending game table made of wal...
Felt, Glass, Walnut
Custom Walnut Game Table with Ebony Backgammon and Chess Table
Located in New York, NY
Custom walnut and mahogany backgammon table that converts to chess with a slide out board. New production. Made to order in walnut and mahogany. Designed and made in NYC, each tab...
Walnut
Italian Marquetry Center Table – 19th Century
Located in Lisboa, Lisboa
Origin: Italy, circa 1850–1890 Materials: Elm burl and oak top with intricate marquetry in exotic woods (including rosewood and kingwood); turned baluster column; carved tripod base ...
Wood
Early 19th Century Flip-Top Game Table with Inlaid Chessboard
Located in Stahnsdorf, DE
Early 19th Century Flip-Top Game Table with Inlaid Chessboard Refined early 19th-century game table, designed for chess and card games, exemplifying the understated elegance and fin...
Cherry, Maple, Walnut
19th Century Two-Tier Solid Quarter Sawn Oak Accent Table
Located in Germantown, MD
This late 19th century 2 tier table includes a large table top of 23.5" square with carved edges, as well as a second bottom tier shelf with. It is made off of 100% solid oak wood, and suitable for any occasion, cocktail snacks, flowers or even a cup of tea depending on how you want to use it for the occasion. The top is large enough to accommodate many people sharing it for a tea party as well. The table has been refinished, legs reinforced with L brackets...
Oak
19th Century French Marquetry Card Table, Louis XVI Period
Located in Sofia, BG
A good quality French marquetry inlaid card table. The top revolves and opens to reveal an inset baize covered card playing surface. Raised on inlaid square tapering legs, France, c...
19th Century English Rosewood Game Table
Located in High Point, NC
A fine 19th century rosewood game table from England. The curved front has a hand beaded edge and wonderfully grained as well. The table top is constructed ingeniously to fold open a...
Rosewood
$3,150
H 22 in W 24.5 in D 21 in
19th Century English Sutherland Drop-Leaf Table in Walnut and Kingwood Veneer
Located in Dallas, TX
A small scale 19th century English Sutherland table with lovely walnut and kingwood veneer, two drop leaves, supported by turned shaped column ends, turned swing out leg, original ca...
Kingwood, Walnut
Antique Queen Anne Style Mahogany Tea Table, 19th Century
Located in Astoria, NY
Queen Anne Style Mahogany Tea Table, 19th century, paper label to underside. 27.25" H x 32.5" W x 23" D. Provenance: From a Madison Avenue Collection.
Mahogany
Early 20th Century Carved French Games Table with Leather Top
Located in San Francisco, CA
Early 20th century carved French games table with leather top, circa 1920 Beautiful games table with a leather top, four corner pull-outs and a single drawer on each side. Dimensio...
Leather, Wood
19th Century French Louis XVI Style Demilune Flip-Top Game Table
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Fine 19th century flip topgames table, card table, dining table, or console table featuring a demilune form. Crafted from radiant grain mahogany having bronze mounts on the frieze and legs. The top opens to 48 inches round...
Brass, Bronze
Irish Mahogany Game Table
Located in Woodbury, CT
This handsome 18th century Irish flip top game table on cabriole legs features a swooping acanthus carving on the knees of the front legs which end in foliate carved pad feet. The ba...
Mahogany
Antique Folding Pedestal Card Table Mid 19th Century
Located in Tilburg, NL
Antique Folding Pedestal Card Table, Mid 19th Century. This is a wonderful folding card table with a very distinct pedestal base. Made in the middle of the 19th century, this is a t...
Brass
19th Century Walnut / Burr Walnut English Game / Card Table
Located in Savannah, GA
This is a game table made in England, circa 1870. The table is made of walnut and burr walnut. The top has a fabulous quality cut of the finest burr walnut. The 4 sides of the top ar...
Walnut, Burl
Pair of Early 19th Century Mahogany Game Tables
Located in High Point, NC
Pair of wonderful early 19th century mahogany game tables from England. This is a gorgeous pair of game tables that can be used as ...
Mahogany
$4,571
H 29.14 in W 35.04 in D 18.9 in
Antique Victorian Mahogany & Inlaid Card Games Table 19th Century
Located in London, GB
This is a fabulous antique Victorian mahogany, satinwood and marquetry games table in the manner of Edwards & Roberts, circa 1860 in date. It is made of beautiful flame mahogany and satinwood with elegant satinwood inlaid and penwork floral and foliate decoration of ribbons, bellfowers and garlands.. The shaped hinged top opens to reveal a fabulous green baize lined gaming interior for playing cards, above a frieze fitted with a drawer and decorated by a beautiful classical urn. The table is raised on elegant square tapering legs terminating in spade feet. It is an elegant piece which will enhance a special room in your home. THE BOTANICAL NAME FOR THE MAHOGANY THAT THIS ITEM IS MADE OF IS SWIETENIA MACROPHYLLA AND THIS TYPE OF MAHOGANY IS NOT SUBJECT TO CITES REGULATION AND DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY RESTRICTED MATERIALS. Condition: In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned and polished in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 74 x Width 89 x Depth 48 Dimensions in inches: Height 2 foot, 5 inches x Width 2 foot, 11 inches x Depth 1 foot, 7 inches Marquetry is decorative artistry where pieces of material (such as wood, pewter or brass silver) of different colours are inserted into surface wood veneer to form intricate patterns such as scrolls or flowers. The technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th century Florence. Marquetry elaborated upon Florentine techniques of inlaying solid marble slabs with designs formed of fitted marbles, jaspers and semi-precious stones. This work, called opere di commessi, has medieval parallels in Central Italian "Cosmati"-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as pietra dura, for the "hardstones" used: onyx, jasper, cornelian, lapis lazuli and colored marbles. In Florence, the Chapel of the Medici at San Lorenzo is completely covered in a colored marble facing using this demanding jig-sawn technique. Techniques of wood marquetry were developed in Antwerp and other Flemish centers of luxury cabinet-making during the early 16th century. The craft was imported full-blown to France after the mid-seventeenth century, to create furniture of unprecedented luxury being made at the royal manufactory of the Gobelins, charged with providing furnishings to decorate Versailles and the other royal residences of Louis XIV. Early masters of French marquetry were the Fleming Pierre Golle and his son-in-law, André-Charles Boulle, who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers (ébénistes) and gave his name to a technique of marquetry employing brass with pewter in arabesque or intricately foliate designs. Edwards & Roberts The firm Edwards & Roberts was one of the best English antique furniture cabinet makers of the second half of the eighteenth century. The company was founded in 1845 and by 1854 was trading as ‘Edwards & Roberts’, 21 Wardour Street, Antique and Modern Cabinet...
Mahogany, Satinwood
Fine Swedish Biedermeier Walnut Games and Console Table
Located in Houston, TX
A sophisticated and highly versatile Swedish Biedermeier console table, mid 19th century. Executed in richly figured walnut veneer, the surface displays a striking book-matched star...
Fruitwood
19th Century Austrian Biedermeier Walnut Game Table - Antique Center Table
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
An early 19th Century Austrian Biedermeier game, card table made of hand crafted polished, partly veneered Walnut in good condition. The round center table is composed with a thick t...
Ebony, Walnut
Sold
H 30.5 in Dm 49.25 in
19th Century German Biedermeier Antique Polished Mahogany Round Center Table
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A dark-brown, antique German Biedermeier center table made of handcrafted shellac polished Mahogany, in good condition. The top is particularized by a star shaped veneer pattern. The small game table is supported by an arched wooden...
Mahogany
Biedermeier Chess Table, Germany 1820-1830
Located in Belmont, MA
This unique Biedermeier chess table comes from Southern Germany and dates back to around 1820-30. The round table has a central column and a pretty walnut veneer. The top is decorated with an inlaid chess board...
Maple, Walnut
Antique Square Wood Tooled Leather Top Game Table
Located in Chicago, IL
Antique square wood tooled leather top game table. Original tooled leather top game table, Biedermeier Style. The table has a single drawer and tapering and fluted legs, terminating in brass sabots and antique casters...
Leather, Wood
19th Century Biedermeier Side Table
Located in Richmond, VA
19th century rosewood Biedermeier side table with inlaid checker board top and faux grained base.
Rosewood
19th Century Unique Restored Czech Biedermeier Mahogany Card Table, 1840s
Located in Brandys nad Labem, Středočeský kraj
Biedermeier card table Completely restored. Material: Mahogany veneer, lacquer Source: Czechia (Bohemia) Period: 1840-1849.
Wood, Lacquer, Mahogany
Biedermeier Card or Console Table, South German, 1820, Walnut
Located in Belmont, MA
Biedermeier card or console table, South German 1820. The table has beautiful walnut veneer on top, sides and legs. The top can be folded out and rests on the pulled out apron and ...
Walnut
Oval Swedish Black Painted Biedermeier Style Table
Located in Haddonfield, NJ
A Swedish black painted Biedermeier style oval table from circa 1920s-1930s.
Birch
Danish Faux Bamboo Biedermeier Game Table
Located in Haddonfield, NJ
Danish faux bamboo Biedermeier game table. Table has a flip-turn option, please see detailed images enclosed.
Birch
Sold
H 45.66 in W 39.4 in D 30.7 in
Swedish 19th Century Biedermeier Tilt-Top Table in Flame Birch Wood
Located in Haddonfield, NJ
An early 19th Century Swedish Biedermeier tilt-top table from early 19th century. With typical Scandinavian "flame" birch wood veneer applied for the tilt-top surface of the table. ...
Birch
Biedermeier Tea Table, circa 1840
Located in Greding, DE
Low Biedermeier salon table standing on a trefoil base, the round tabletop shows vine inlays and three-quarter columns surround the Stand. Very beautiful veneer pattern. The table wa...
Wood
Biedermeier Games Table with Mahogany Veneered Lyre Base on Scroll Feet
Located in Astoria, NY
Biedermeier games table in blonde burl with a mahogany veneered lyre base atop scroll feet with metal embellishments and a flip top. The piece dates from the early 19th century and i...
Metal
English High Society Games Table from the 19th Century
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
English High Society games table from the 19th century, decorated and painted in exceptional quality. Three drawers.
Wood
Antique Pair of Biedermeier Card Tables
Located in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire
A good quality mid-19th century pair of Biedermeier card tables. Probably North German.