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A
coffee table, also called a cocktail table, is a style of
long, low table which is designed to be placed in front
of a couch, to support beverages (hence the name), magazines,
books (especially coffee table books), and other small items
to be used while sitting, such as coasters. Coffee tables
are usually found in the living room or sitting room. They
are available in many different variations and prices vary
from style to style. Coffee tables may also incorporate
cabinets for storage.
The
idiom "Gather round the coffee table" is derived
from the furniture piece and its proclivity for encouraging
conviviality and light conversation.
Origins of the Coffee Table
The first tables, in Europe, specifically designed as and
called coffee tables, appear to have been made in Britain
during the late Victorian era.
Prior
to the late 18th century, the tables used in Europe in conjunction
with a settle included occasional tables, end tables, centre
tables, and tea tables. By 1780, the high backed settle
was being replaced by low back sofas and this led to the
development of sofa tables which stood against the back
of the sofa and could be used by anyone sitting on the sofa
to put down a book or a cup.
According
to the listing in Victorian Furniture by R. W. Symonds &
B. B. Whineray and also in The Country Life Book of English
Furniture by Edward T. Joy, a table designed by E. W. Godwin
in 1868 and made in large numbers by William Watt, and Collinson
and Lock, is a coffee table. If this is correct it may be
one of the earliest made in Europe. Other sources, however,
list it only as 'table' so this cannot be stated categorically.
Far from being a low table, this table was about twenty-seven
inches high.
Later
coffee tables were designed as low tables and this idea
may have been introduced from the Ottoman Empire, based
on the tables in use in tea gardens. However, as the Anglo-Japanese
style was popular in Britain throughout the 1870s and 1880s
and low tables were common in Japan, this would seem to
be an equally likely source for the concept of a long low
table.
From
the late 19th century onwards, many coffee tables were subsequently
made in earlier styles due to the popularity of revivalism,
so it is quite possible to find Louis XVI style coffee tables
or Georgian style coffee tables, but there seems to be no
evidence of a table actually made as a coffee table before
this time. Joseph Aronson writing in 1938 defines a coffee
table as a, "Low wide table now used before a sofa
or couch. There is no historical precedent...," suggesting
that coffee tables were a late development in the
history
of furniture. |
