Tables Entry & Hall

The first piece a guest meets is the one that talks. Entry and hall tables run widely: Chinese incense tables with stone tops and elmwood altar tables have the narrow depth a hallway needs; Indian consoles come in teak, brass and chased silver, from a tradition of silver-clad furniture made for princely and merchant households from Rajasthan to Kolkata. Naga carvings from northeast India, a Baga piece from Guinea, and French and Belgian demilune tables, parquetry consoles and marble-topped bases bring Europe and Africa to the door.

Contemporary designs such as the Alhambra and Anni consoles and the Jett half-round tables use marble, limestone, brass and iron. A pair of demilunes flanking a doorway, an altar table beneath a gallery wall of prints, a heavy stone-topped console in a limewashed entry: the tone is set before anyone sits down.