Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”
Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.
Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.
It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Travertine, Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Brass
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Metal
Late 20th Century American Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Nickel
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Steel
20th Century Unknown Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Aluminum
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Aluminum
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Metal
1990s Italian Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Ceramic
1970s American Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Oak, Walnut
1970s American Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Faux Leather, Wood
Late 20th Century American Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Mahogany
20th Century American Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Rattan
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Crystal, Steel
1970s Slovak Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Wood
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Travertine
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Walnut
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Travertine
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Wood
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Wood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Steel, Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Smoked Glass, Wood
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Formica, Wood
Late 18th Century English Antique Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Mahogany
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Lacquer, Burl
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Glass, Wenge
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Glass, Teak
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Metal
1990s Italian Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Ceramic
1990s American Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Mahogany
Late 20th Century American Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Steel
Late 20th Century American Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Chrome
Late 20th Century American Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Mahogany
Late 20th Century American Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Rosewood
1970s Slovak Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Wood
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Steel
1970s European Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Metal
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Aluminum
1970s American Vintage Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Marble