Louis XV Side Tables
Louis xv side tables bring French Rococo flair to a room, offering small-scale elegance for bedside or lamp placement.
What Louis xv side tables are
Louis xv side tables include bedside cabinets, lamp tables and night stands created in the French Rococo and Louis XV style. These pieces emerge predominantly from nineteenth-century revivals and twentieth-century interpretations.
The inventory on this page centres heavily on pairs, spanning bedside tables and lamp tables. Forms range from kidney-shaped bodies and bow fronts to serpentine and bombe profiles.
Origins trace back to French cabinet-making traditions, though construction dates span the nineteenth century, nineteen hundred, nineteen twenty, and nineteen thirty.
What varies in quality
The refinement of the marquetry and the choice of timbers define the upper tier of production. Dense kingwood and intricate floral or geometric inlays separate standard workshop output from finer examples.
Chasing and weight of the ormolu mounts indicate craftsmanship levels. Heavy, detailed bronze and brass work paired with fitted marble slabs denote superior construction.
Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for louis xv side tables, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
Materials recorded on this page include kingwood, marble, walnut, brass, ormolu, fruitwood, oak, and marquetry.
F. Linke
The Louis XV Side Tables Glossary
- Ormolu
- Gilded bronze mounts applied to furniture for decorative effect. The technique involves mercury amalgamation on cast bronze.
- Marquetry
- The art of applying thin veneers of various woods to form decorative patterns. Craftsmen piece together floral or geometric motifs.
- Bombe
- A swelling, outward-curved furniture profile associated with Rococo design. This curved shape requires considerable skill in veneer matching.
- Serpentine
- A wave-like curved outline featuring alternating convex and concave sections. It appears frequently on the fronts of cabinet furniture.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are louis xv side tables used for?
These tables function primarily as bedside cabinets, night stands, or lamp tables in domestic settings. Their compact proportions make them suitable for holding bedside essentials or small lighting fixtures.
Historically designed for private chambers, they continue to serve practical surface and storage needs while adding decorative character to modern bedrooms and living spaces.
How do I identify louis xv style?
The style reveals itself through characteristic serpentine and bombe curves, cabriole legs, and asymmetrical Rococo ornamentation. Floral marquetry and decorative ormolu mounts further define the aesthetic.
Cabinetry from this tradition avoids straight lines in favour of flowing contours, organic motifs, and rich timber veneers.
Are these tables usually found in pairs?
The surviving evidence shows a strong prevalence of pairs among these bedside and lamp tables. Cabinet-makers originally produced many of these items to flank a bed.
Finding matched pairs remains common across nineteenth-century revivals and twentieth-century interpretations.
What materials are used in these pieces?
Construction relies on a foundation of solid woods like oak or fruitwood, faced with decorative veneers. Kingwood, mahogany, walnut, rosewood, and tulipwood appear frequently.
Surfaces are often finished with marble tops, while brass and ormolu provide metallic mounts and handles.