Red marble table. What is it for?

Hello,

Would like to know what this is for or what is called. The inside of the main compartment is lined with white marble. It has nice brass accents, cherubs in front.

And also what style and period is this from. I have included pics of the back and inside of door for your opinion if this would affect value.

Thanks in advance!!

front view by LUCY posted Jan 16, 2018 at 8:19 PM

red marble top view by LUCY posted Jan 16, 2018 at 8:19 PM

inside large compartment by LUCY posted Jan 16, 2018 at 8:19 PM

inside of door by LUCY posted Jan 16, 2018 at 8:19 PM

leg bottom detail by LUCY posted Jan 16, 2018 at 8:19 PM

back by LUCY posted Jan 16, 2018 at 8:19 PM

 

It appears to be a night commode, designed to hold a chamber pot.

Debora

 

Don't know what style to call it, but it looks like a wash stand, with the cabinet holding the ceramic wash bowl and pitcher when not in use.

 

that makes sense, thus the shelf for a towel? do you know why is dark in the inside on the bottom? big mystery to me.

 

Where the chamber pot sat when not in use. Maybe not entirely clean & dry each time it was put away? Can see this also having a basin & ewer set on top. Toilet articles in drawer; mirror on top shelf?

 

Commode Meaning Toilet
A commode’s association with a toilet came from night commodes, a 19th-century Victorian term for a bedside cabinet with doors that was kept in the bedroom. These enclosed cabinets provided an area for storing chamber pots and had a basin and pitcher on top for personal cleansing.

Debora

 

'Commode' & 'toilet' would both be euphemisms. In a painting of The Toilet of Venus, you will not see anything that flushes. And when we say 'toiletries', we don't mean paper on a roll. Etymological question in my mind is how did a plumbing hygiene accommodation come to be known as a toilet?

 

For the same reason that we hear the room where the toilet lives called a "rest room." Euphemisms abound when it comes to bodily functions.

 

Thank you. I guess it can be re-purposed to hold TP.

 

Anybody care to guess the style?? or Victorian it is?

 

Equivalent to Victorian in what ever continental country it came from.

Debora

 

It would still make a great shaving stand. Would let a gentleman clear out of the bathroom while lady uses & continue his grooming routine. The chamber pot cabinet would be a great place to stash that bargain bulk lot of toilet paper.

 

At least we've got past the preciousness of calling teeth the furniture of the mouth. But let's not forget W.C., water closet. There really is no explicit term for the fixture or the room where it resides, is there? Can't think why they didn't name it after the inventor.

 

Is that marble on the inside where the chamber pot sat?
I've not seen that before.

Possibly French. But only a guess.
@verybrad

 

And why use an English name when you can borrow one from the French.

 

Exactement, ma cherie.

 

I also think French circa 1880.

 

it is unpolished white marble on all sides

 

Thank you

 

I love it!!