Antique Italian console and hall tables

A form of console table although usually much heavier in form and design. Generally rectangular in shape, with scroll or turned legs at the front and flat rear supports. Often fitted with drawers. Many large side tables are nowadays described as hall tables, and the collector should be careful of the converted or incorrectly labelled Victorian washstand.

Similar in design and function to a pier table, a console table is a side table supported on legs or scrolled brackets at the front, usually with the back secured to the wall.

Usually surmounted with a tall mirror, they were made to stand in the piers or divisions between the windows of a drawing room.

Later Victorian versions were often freestanding on a platform base, with straight rear supports to enable the table to stand flat against the wall.

Console tables usually had marble tops. Potential purchasers should be aware that many converted marble top washstands are now marketed more... as 'console tables' or hall tables. less...