Long before the guéridon served as a table for holding a lamp, a vase, or perhaps your apéro, the fictional character Guéridon was making his debut on a French stage — turning up in farces, songs, and even the 1614 Ballet des Argonautes, where Guéridon appears in the Branle de la Torche — the Torch Dance. Not exactly where you’d expect the story of a side table to get its start.

But here’s where the plot — and the furniture — thickens. In the Branle de la Torche, a lone performer stood holding a flaming torch to light the room while couples circled around him, dancing and stealing kisses. Early guéridon tables performed a remarkably similar role, acting as tall, decorative stands designed to hold candles, candelabra, vases, and other objects. With their height and light-bearing purpose, these early forms were close cousins to what we now call a torchère.

Many early guéridons were anything but ordinary. A single carved figure — sometimes mythological, sometimes a Moor — might form the entire support, holding the top aloft. This has given rise to another explanation for the name: historical sources suggest guéridon may also have been used as a generic name for African or Moorish attendants or pages. Whether the name came from the theatrical torchbearer, these figural attendants, or some mingling of the two traditions remains open to interpretation.