Guéridon

A guéridon is a small, often circular center table supported by one or more columns, or sculptural human, or mythological figures. This kind of furniture originated in France towards the middle of the seventeeth century. Early guéridon were often supported by an African, ancient Egyptian or ancient Greek human figure.

Ranging in style from the humble, used to hold a candlestick or vase, the guéridon could also be a high style decorative piece of court furniture. By the death of Louis XIV there were several hundreds of them at Versailles, and within a generation they had taken an infinity of forms: columns, tripods, termini and mythological figures. Some of the simpler and more artistic forms were of wood carved with familiar decorative motives and gilded. Silver, enamel, and indeed almost any material from which furniture can be made, have been used for their construction. A variety of small occasional tables are now guridons in French.

References

• Abbott, James A. A Frenchman in Camelot: The Decoration of the Kennedy White House by Stéphane Boudin. Boscobel Restoration Inc.: 1995. ISBN 0-9646659-0-5.
• Kenny, Peter M., Frances F. Bretter and Ulrich Leben. Honoré Lannuier Cabinetmaker from Paris: The Life and Work of French Ébiniste in Federal New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Harry Abrams: 1998. ISBN 0-87099-836-6.
• Monkman, Betty C. The White House: The Historic Furnishing & First Families. Abbeville Press: 2000. ISBN 0-7892-0624-2.