Sideboard

Alexander Roux

1 of 2

Object Label

The dining room and accompanying furniture first appeared in aristocratic houses at the end of the eighteenth century. Dining rooms were furnished with a set consisting of table, chairs, and sideboards. The sideboard was often decorated with imagery related to its function.

This sideboard incorporates two hound dogs as front supports, a hare against the lower backboard, and a cricket nestled in the center of the carved vine on the front apron. The dead game animals illusionistically tied up at the crest sound a somewhat more sinister note.

Caption

Alexander Roux American, born France, 1813–1886 (active New York, 1836–1880). Sideboard, ca. 1855. Black walnut, 49 x 49 x 24 in. (124.5 x 124.5 x 61.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Benno Bordiga, by exchange, 1995.15. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1995.15_SL1.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Sideboard

Date

ca. 1855

Geography

Place manufactured: New York, New York, United States

Medium

Black walnut

Classification

Furniture

Dimensions

49 x 49 x 24 in. (124.5 x 124.5 x 61.0 cm)

Markings

Unmarked

Credit Line

Gift of Benno Bordiga, by exchange

Accession Number

1995.15

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • What is a sideboard used for?

    It was used to store dishes for table service. The dining room first made its appearance in aristocratic houses at the end of the 18th century and became increasingly common in the 19th century. These new dining rooms, with their specific purpose (rather than all-in-one, multi-purpose rooms) required the invention of new furniture forms. One was the sideboard, which was used to store and display dining accessories and as a flat surface for the serving of food.
  • Is there any significance to the dogs in this piece of furniture?

    The theme for this sideboard by Alexander Roux is hunting as well as the abundance of nature and man's command over nature. The dogs are actually somewhat uncommon and don't often appear in this manner.
    It was an older motif from the Roman era that furniture makers revived in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is likely that Roux was inspired by both Roman models and the models from his European contemporaries. I think they fit into the overall hunting motif fairly well!
    Very cool! Thanks!
  • Would sideboards like this be modeled after the owner's dogs and favorite things to hunt?

    While I would imagine there were some custom sideboards that did include such personalized details, this particular piece was not designed with a specific customer in mind. The dogs here are generic hunting dogs.
    Instead, Alexander Roux included these full sized dogs as a nod to Ancient Roman furniture and contemporary European models, which demonstrated similar elements.
    Oh thank you, that's very interesting!
  • This is such an elaborate piece of furniture!

    Yes! It is as much a work of art as a piece of furniture! Sideboards (or "buffets") provided a theatrical backdrop for dining rooms in the middle of the 19th century. During meals, bottles of wine, platters of meat and bowls of vegetables would be placed upon them. These foods appear as carvings: the hunting dogs at the base have helped to capture the rabbits and game birds displayed as trophies. The theme of the iconography is man's command over nature.
  • I would like to know more about this piece.

    This sideboard was used to display dishes and as a serving table in a dining room. The plants and animals carved in wood suggest the abundance of nature and man's command of it. Some of these items, such as the hare and grapes, might have appeared in the dishes being served to diners!

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