Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
20th Century French Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Silver Plate
1870s French Other Antique Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Walnut
19th Century British Antique Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Linen, Wood, Mahogany
19th Century British Antique Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Mahogany
Mid-19th Century English Regency Antique Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Paper
Late 20th Century Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Walnut
20th Century Philippine British Colonial Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Bamboo
Late 20th Century Hollywood Regency Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Bamboo, Wood
20th Century English Regency Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Metal, Silver
1880s Victorian Antique Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Faux Bamboo
Late 18th Century English Georgian Antique Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Mahogany
Early 19th Century English Georgian Antique Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Mahogany
1960s American Vintage Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Brass
Late 20th Century Baroque Dessert Tables and Tilt-top Tables
Iron
Antique and Vintage Dessert Tables and Tilt-Top Tables
In preparing for your next holiday party or dinner party, an antique or vintage dessert table might just be the perfect finishing touch.
Dessert tables are elegant pieces essential for hosting both formal and casual gatherings. Also known as tilt-top tables or loo tables (named for the card game), these eye-catching furnishings make it easy to host large parties so that guests are not confined to a single space for the night. The top of a tilt-top table is typically hinged to a pedestal in the structure’s center so that its surface can be turned from a horizontal to a vertical position and parked in the corner of a living room or dining room. This gives it an advantage over a traditional side table and allows it to take up less space when it’s not in use.
Dessert tables are deliberately built small or narrow so that they are easy to maneuver. These compact tables were especially prominent in the 18th century in the United States and England where they regularly accompanied social interactions like tea drinking. During the early 1920s, the sterling-silver full tea service and tray designed by Tiffany & Co. set atop your dessert table might include a hot-water kettle on a stand, a coffeepot, a teapot, a creamer with a small lip spout, a waste bowl and a bowl for sugar, which the British were stirring into tea by the 1720s and ’30s.
Older dessert tables often feature intricate carvings and motifs, making them enduringly popular through the decades. Many tilt-top tables likewise have elaborate veneers for a decoration that can be viewed when they are tilted down and stored against a wall.
Find antique and vintage tilt-top tables and dessert tables in various styles and finishes on 1stDibs.