pier table

{{Short description|Table designed to be placed against a wall}}

File:Pier Table, Boston, 1815-1825, mahogany with mahogany veneer, marble, semiprecious stones, ormolu, brass - National Gallery of Art, Washington - DSC09746.JPG, Massachusetts, between 1815 and 1825.]]

A pier table is a table designed to be placed against a wall, either between two windows{{sfn|Kenny|Brown|Bretter|Thurlow|2011|page=236}} or between two columns.{{sfn|Miller|1937|page=830}} It is also known as a console table ({{langx|fr|console}}, "support bracket"), although furniture historians differentiate the two types, not always consistently.{{sfn|Hinchman|2013|page=146}}{{Efn|Furniture historian Edgar G. Miller argues for a distinction between a console table and a pier table. Pier tables are designed with a flat edge to be against the wall, whereas a console table may have any edge against the wall or be freestanding.{{sfn|Miller|1937|page=830}} Ralph Edwards and John Gloag say console tables should only have legs at the front, and be fixed to the wall, or held in place by gravity.}}

File:Gyldenholm Sal.jpg]]

Above the table there was very often a tall pier glass on the wall, the two typically made to match.Gloag, 516

The pier table takes its English name from the "pier wall", the space between windows.{{sfn|Kenny|Brown|Bretter|Thurlow|2011|page=236}}{{sfn|Hinchman|2013|page=146}} The table was developed in continental Europe in the 1500s and 1600s, and became popular in England in the last quarter of the 1600s.{{sfn|Kenny|Brown|Bretter|Thurlow|2011|page=236}} The pier table became known in North America in the mid-1700s, and was a popular item into the mid to late 1800s.{{sfn|Kenny|Brown|Bretter|Thurlow|2011|page=236}} It was common for the space between the rear legs of the pier table to contain a mirror to help hide the wall.{{sfn|Hinchman|2013|page=146}} Later pier tables were designed to stand in any niche in a room.{{sfn|Miller|1937|page=830}}{{sfn|Marshall|Leimenstoll|2010|page=121}}

The pier table may often be semicircular, the flat edge against the wall.{{sfn|Miller|1937|page=830}} Pier tables from later periods are often large and quite ornate.{{sfn|Miller|1937|page=830}} Well-known designers such as Duncan Phyfe,{{sfn|Kenny|Brown|Bretter|Thurlow|2011|page=236}} Robert Adam, George Hepplewhite, and Thomas Sheraton all designed and manufactured notable examples of pier tables.{{sfn|Miller|1937|page=830}}

Over time, the pier table evolved into the sideboard.{{sfn|Kenny|Brown|Bretter|Thurlow|2011|page=236}}