A charming and highly decorative pair of painted side tables, dating from the 1920s.
The design is wonderfully architectural: each table stands on four slender square legs, with small block feet and stepped, arch-like aprons beneath the top. These serrated cut-out forms together with the decoration on the tops give the tables a distinctly Amsterdam School character.
The tabletops show geometric borders in black, grey and soft contrasting accents. The decoration differs slightly between the two tables: one has orange details worked into the border, while the other is more restrained, with black and grey accents. This difference is part of their charm - the tables are not exactly identical in height either: one is slightly lower than the other (1 cm). This subtle variation underlines their artisanal nature. Each has its own little personality.
The original paint has been preserved for over 95%. The surfaces have been carefully, expertly touched up where needed, without stripping away the age, texture or authenticity of the pieces. The result is clean and highly presentable, while still retaining the character of painted furniture from the period.
They work beautifully as side tables beside a sofa or armchair, but they are perhaps even better as bedside tables. Their shapes make them easy to combine with both historic interiors and more modern spaces.
A rare and playful pair of Amsterdam School tables, full of rhythm, geometry and eccentricity.
About the Amsterdam School style
The Amsterdam School was the expressive Dutch design and architectural movement that flourished roughly between 1910 and 1930, with influence continuing into the 1930s. Although best known through architecture, the movement also shaped furniture, metalwork, sculpture, lighting, textiles and smaller interior objects.
Its language is instantly recognisable but not always easy to define. Amsterdam School design can be organic and geometric at the same time; modern yet influences from medieval times and orientalism. It often gives everyday objects a surprising amount of personality. A wastepaper basket, pedestal or lamp could become a small creature, full of stepped forms, sculptural details and decorative rhythm.
Important figures associated with the movement include Michel de Klerk, Piet Kramer, J.M. van der Meij and Hildo Krop. The style began in Amsterdam but spread throughout the Netherlands, where local workshops, craftsmen and decorators translated its expressive language into furniture and interior objects.
