The Victorian sideboard is an often monumental piece of furniture, and at the time was one of the most expensive pieces in the Victorian household. Everything about it had to be impressive, and its main function was to showcase the family silver, glass and tableware. However, it also performed every day functions from where meat could be carved and food could be served.
The flamboyance of the Victorian sideboard, in true Victorian revivalist tradition, was reproduced in a wealth of styles for the growing Victorian market. Chronologically these revival styles included Early English, Elizabethan, Queen Anne, French Rococo and Regency. Mechanisation meant that sideboards could now be manufactured reasonably cheaply in any of these styles. Many pieces were also (more…)