Smoking table
A smoking table is a piece of furniture . It is a special table shape or type of table . In the absence of knowledge of the design, function and use, smoking tables are often confused with side tables or game tables. The smoking tables in their original function had their heyday and greatest distribution between the years 1920 and 1960. As a rule, they were part of a middle-class home furnishings, e.g. B. in men's or work rooms .
From around 1970 this special form of the table went out of fashion. Low living room tables and coffee tables below approx. 50 cm in height have dominated the living room facing the television ever since .
history
Especially in North America and the United Kingdom, as well as the colonies , it became a fixed and general social ritual after 1890 at the latest that gentlemen would come together after supper / dinner to enjoy cigars or cigarettes - without women. Staff and servants were not present here, in contrast to supper or dinner. Associated with this was the change from tailcoat to tuxedo in the upper class .
As a rule, a more comfortable and casual posture was adopted to enjoy the cigar or the cigarette than the etiquette required for supper or dinner. Greater closeness and familiarity with the interlocutors was also desired.
While in the upscale society separate rooms, such as B. men's rooms, library and study rooms were used for smoking, this was not spatially possible in this form in middle-class and middle-class households.
The origin of the smoking table can also be traced back to the furnishings of officers' casinos or smoking salons in club facilities or the ocean liners .
From these conditions, a bourgeois functional furniture developed for and around the smoking of cigars and cigarettes.
Comfortable seating was always part of the developing smoking table. The shape of the so-called club armchair prevailed as belonging to the smoking table. An arrangement of armchairs in pairs to the smoking table developed almost to the standard in the spatial furniture arrangement.
In bourgeois and petty bourgeois homes, a tablecloth on the smoking table was quite common to cover up the function and storage of valuable cigars and cigarettes. Tablecloths or tablecloths were actually only common on dining tables.
function
The smoking table is a functional piece of furniture that is used for presentation, storage and storage of cigars and cigarettes and their accessories.
If the function is indirect, the cigars and cigarettes are presented on the smoking table, usually in the form of a so-called smoking set, consisting of a cigar box / cigarette box , table lighter or candle, cigar scissors / cutter and at least one ashtray .
From the 1930s onwards, smoke consumers in different shapes and designs were common on the smoking table. The smoke consumers only went out of fashion again in the 1960s.
If no indirect smoking function is required, cigars and cigarettes as well as the so-called smoking set are kept in a shelf under the table. Because cigars need separate climatic storage, they are stored in the smoking table as a humidor . This is done with a lockable and closed shelf instead of an open shelf. In the case of closed shelves, transparent glazing on the reverse side is usually common.
If the smoking table is arranged in a dining room, it can - in addition to the sideboard - take on the function of a side table .
It is not uncommon for the smoking table to be used as a game table or - because of its lower height - as a dining table for children.
For radios and televisions of the coffee table was a popular site before this special furniture interspersed.
construction
Almost without exception, a smoking table has four table legs connected by frames . This form had largely prevailed because storage and storage under the smoking table was always connected for function and arrangement. There are versions with three table legs or a stamp foot ; however, these are very rare in bourgeois and petty bourgeois households, more typical in officers' messes or the special smoking salons. In Germany, table tops made with natural stone are not common for smoking tables. However, metal cladding, usually made of brass , occurs on the smoking table top.
The dimensions of the table top of a smoking table are never larger than 1.20 × 1.20 m. A diameter of 60 to 70 cm is the most common. The circular shape of the smoking table generally dominates.
In contrast to play tables, side tables and dining tables up to approx. 83 cm high (old German height), a smoking table is approx. 50 to 70 cm high. The significant amount results from the custody function.
A smoking table is made almost entirely of wood . Dark veneer surfaces ( oak , walnut ) and dark colors dominate. Designs with echoes of oriental forms occur.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Rolf Roßmann: An almost forgotten piece of furniture. In: svz.de. Schweriner Volkszeitung, March 18, 2016, accessed June 16, 2020 .