Centrepieces both as functional and decorative objects start to make their appearance during the second quarter of the eighteenth century along with the new style dining tables, but it was not until the middle and third quarter that they became popular amongst the wealthy. At that period centrepieces normally took the form of what is known as an epergne.
The epergne usually took the form of a large central basket mounted on a decorative footed frame and from that frame branches, usually four – sometimes more, radiate upon which detachable smaller dishes are placed or sometimes suspended. Occasionally the epergne will be fitted with candleholders.
The oldest epergnes are virtually all finely pierced and made of silver but by the early nineteenth century they start to appear with glass dishes. For a very fine example of a mid-eighteenth-century epergne see our website for one by the specialist Huguenot partnership of Herne and Butty from 1768. By the nineteenth century the table centrepiece takes so many forms it would be difficult to single out a type as the variety in form and indeed size is enormous.
At William Walter Antiques we have a large variety of centrepieces for sale from the mid eighteenth century right up to the early part of the twentieth
