What is a bijouterie table?

It is a small table whose top is a glazed case, hinged or lift-off, for showing jewellery and small collectables under glass. The word appears in 174 of 366 titles on Sellingantiques, which makes it the term that carries the category. Dealers spell it three ways, bijouterie, bijoutiere and bijoutierie, and sometimes use more than one spelling in the same listing.

Why are some listed as cabinets or vitrines?

Because the same object goes under four names. Cabinet appears in 35 titles, vitrine in 12 and case in 10, alongside show case and display case phrasing. The words describe the glazed top section rather than a different kind of furniture. A table, a cabinet and a vitrine in these listings can be the same slender-legged piece.

Are all display tables glazed?

No. Roughly half the category has a glass display top. The rest takes in plain occasional, side, lamp and centre tables, plant and vase stands, tiered stands and shop counters. Those pieces are listed as display furniture on the strength of what they were used for. Occasional appears in 40 titles and is the term growing fastest in current stock.

What period do most examples come from?

The weight sits at the very end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th. The dated field records 71 Edwardian pieces and 55 from the 1900s, then 27 from the 1910s, 24 from the 1890s and 22 from the 1920s. A fifth of the record gives only a century or a reign, with 46 listings as 19th Century and 27 as Victorian. Dealers hedge further with phrasing like late 19th/early 20th and c.1900-20. A few titles claim Georgian or Regency dates, but several of those describe revival work made much later, so early dates in titles read better with that in mind.

Which makers turn up in this category?

None with any regularity. A scan for maker names across the archive returned nothing consistent, and the few firm names that do appear in titles come from single listings. Around forty display tables come to market on Sellingantiques in a year and 116 different dealers have listed one, so almost every dealer who handles them handles them singly. Descriptions lean on timber, shape and period instead of a name.

Do shop and trade display tables appear?

They do, as a small but steady thread. Shop occurs in only ten titles in all. The samples include French drapers' and tailors' shop tables, a boulangerie table, a patisserie console, a jeweller's countertop shelf and a showcase eight feet eight long. Glazed counters served commercially what the bijouterie table served at home.

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Antique Display Tables

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A display table is a small side table whose top is a glazed case, made so jewellery, coins, fans or miniatures could be laid out in a drawing room and looked at without being picked up.