Beautiful 1800s Swedish Biedermeier Tables
As fashions change, the ubiquitous whites of the Gustavian era that were purloined into the horrors of shabby chic are finally starting to give way to something new.
There is a move back towards natural woods and lighter colours and away from the farrow and ball neutrals that have dominated the market for so long.
Swedish Biedermeier furniture is a perfect example for this new trend. Unlike the later victorian furniture that featured predominantly mahogany veneered furniture polished in very dark sombre and funereal colours, the Swedish Biedermeier movement concentrated on lovely light honey and and mid oak stains that are light, rich ,lustrous and bring a sparkle to the eye.
The predominant woods that were used were either Golden Birch that was easily available in Sweden or some of the lighter show woods like Birds eye maple or Cherry wood. Golden Birch is a great wood for veneers as it has amazing movement in the grain with swirling quilts and flames that make for great decorative and eye catching furniture.
The light colours in the french polishing really bring out the movement in the Golden Birch making it almost 3D to look at and it changes as you move around the room.
This beautiful 1800s Biedermeier table we have for sale is a very good example of the wild movement in the golden birch veneers. Its really eye catching to look at especially when bookmatched to create visually interesting designs and patterns.
Heres another view of the table:
You can also see here how the use of ormulu really pops out against the light golden birch creating a great counterpoint as part of the Biedermeier Design. Incidentally in Sweden, the style is known as ‘Karl Johan’ after the Swedish king (who was actually french) who began his reign in the 1820s.
The Swedish Biedermeier style as you can see above was heavily influenced by the Empire movement in France at that time but as usual took a Swedish approach to the design making it alot less ostentatious and blingy than its french counterparts.
Here’s another Swedish Biedermeier antique table this time with a double posted base showing both the lovely swirls of teh Golden Birch and the traditional Biedermeier ormulu accompaniment. Really lovely!
Bothe these tables and the rest of our stock can be seen at https://www.swedishinteriordesign.co.uk/swedish-antiques/antique-table.html