Étagère

Consoles such as this one were often used by the elite purely for decoration. Étagères were especially popular in opulent mid-nineteenth-century parlors, where the mirrors reflected light and shelves displayed all manner of ornaments, silver, porcelain, oddities, and objets d’art—symbols of affluence and taste. The curved supports, elaborate floral displays, and cherubic figures that decorated furniture 100 years before were fashionable once again in the Rococo Revival style, this time bolder and more lush, recalling the French Régence models of the eighteenth century. This superb example is identical to the Alexander Roux étagère at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.