Bouillotte round marble topped table LXI style c.1960. Bouillotte (pronounced “boo YAHT”) was a card game (similar to today’s poker) that was wildly popular in France in the 18th century. In fact, this form of gambling became so popular that they created both a table and a lamp specifically for the game.

A bouillotte table is a small round marble-topped card table with a pierced metal gallery above a paneled frieze. This gallery allowed for a bouchon (pronounced “BOO shon”) felt top to be placed securely on top of the marble when the table was being used for the game. Without the bouchon, the marble-topped table worked perfectly as a side table, server, or candle stand. These tables were created in the Louis XVI neoclassical style and were raised on four cylindrical tapering legs.These table legs either terminate in sabots (pronounced “suh-BOWS” and meaning applied decorative bronze shoe-mounts a the base of each leg) and they are sometimes fitted with casters. Courtesy of Buzz Kaplan, of C. Mariani Antiques, San Francisco