Nude From Behind

What you put behind a curved couch is largely a matter of personal preference. Place a table lamp behind one to provide task lighting or position a large sculpture or tall potted plant behind it to add interest to your space. Shop a collection of antique and vintage curved couches on 1stDibs.

The story behind Hamilton watches goes back to the late 19th century. As railroad tracks were laid across the United States and steam locomotives began traversing vast distances, the American railroad system ran into a problem. Time was not standardized across the country.

Therefore, in 1883, the railroad companies established the four time zones as we know them today. However, train conductors were not always synchronized, leading to deadly railroad accidents. Enter watchmaker Hamilton, founded in 1892. Railway workers would be required to wear a pocket watch to keep on schedule, and the watchmaking industry — especially pocket-watch manufacturers such as Hamilton — benefitted. The company’s timepieces eventually earned the moniker “The Watch of Railroad Accuracy.”

Hamilton transitioned from pocket watches to wristwatches in 1914, as it supplied timepieces to American troops fighting in World War I. The new style of watch also appealed to aviators, and Hamilton aeronautical watches became all the rage among pilots, particularly those flying for the new U.S. Airmail service.

The general public’s interest in Hamilton watches grew rapidly in the 1920s. Legendary polar explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd timed his historic flights over glaciers and chunks of sea ice with a Hamilton pocket watch in the late 1920s. Hamilton’s Piping Rock watch, an Art Deco-inspired design featuring elegant Roman numerals set in black for the hour markers, debuted in 1928 and was gifted to the New York Yankees to celebrate their World Series win that year. The model was also featured in the film Shanghai Express alongside the brand’s Flintridge watch, further expanding Hamilton’s popularity. (Hamilton watches can also be seen in the films The Frogmen, Blue Hawaii, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Men in Black.) In the second half of the 20th century, Hamilton became well known for several innovations: It developed the first-ever battery-operated electric watch, the Ventura, in 1957, as well as the first-ever digital wristwatch, the Hamilton Pulsar Time Computer, in 1970. Three years later, superspy James Bond donned a Pulsar in Live and Let Die.

Today, the company is part of the Swatch Group, and its headquarters and production facilities relocated from Pennsylvania to Switzerland in 2003.

On 1stDibs, find a wide range of Hamilton watches.

The story behind the Japanese cat traces back to ancient folklore. In the tale, a cat saves the life of a samurai who turns out to be quite wealthy. To show his thanks, the man made a very generous donation to the temple. In Japanese culture, cat sculptures and figurines are symbols of good luck and known as “maneki-neko.” Find a range of Japanese decorative objects on 1stDibs.

A sofa table is a long and narrow table that’s designed to sit behind a couch. They are also called console tables and hall tables because their thin nature makes them great accent pieces in these places as well. Shop a collection of furniture from some of the world’s top sellers on 1stDibs.

The Claddagh ring has been around for centuries with a long and rich history of friendship, loyalty and love. The classic design features two hands supporting a heart topped with a crown that signifies strong friendships. You’ll find a variety of Claddagh rings on 1stDibs.

The story behind Balenciaga begins with Cristóbal Balenciaga.

As a child in the quiet fishing village of Getaria in Spain's Basque region, he worked alongside his seamstress mother. Showing immense talent, he earned commissions as a teenager from local patron Marquesa de Casa Torres, who paid for his tailoring education in Madrid.

In 1917, Balenciaga established his first fashion house, named Eisa, for his mother, in the trendy resort town of San Sebastián. He soon followed it with boutiques in Madrid and Barcelona, drawing such clientele as the Spanish royal family. When the Spanish Civil War put a hold on his prospects in Spain, the designer moved to Paris, opening a house on Avenue Georges V in 1937.

Balenciaga continued designing until 1968, when he retired after three decades of influential work and his fashion house went dormant. The rights to Balenciaga were acquired by Jacques Bogart SA in 1986. Under designer Michel Goma, who focused on ready-to-wear, the brand experienced a resurgence, with his first collection introduced in 1987.

Find a large selection of Balenciaga apparel and accessories on 1stDibs.

The meaning behind the Portrait of Dora Maar is subject to personal interpretation. However, many art historians believe the abstracted portrait represents the turmoil and emotional suffering people endured during the Spanish Civil War. Pablo Picasso witnessed the horrors of the war firsthand, and the experience likely influenced his work. On 1stDibs, shop a collection of Pablo Picasso art.

The piece of furniture behind a desk is usually called a credenza. It typically features cabinets and drawers for storing and organizing paperwork and office supplies. The word credenza originates from Italian and means trust or belief. During the 16th century, Italian rulers and high-ranking clergy often had tasters perform a credenza, sampling food or drink to ensure that it wasn't poisoned. Historians believe that the room where this testing took place became called "the credenza," and that eventually the term got applied to cabinets where tasting supplies were kept within the room, leading to its association with the modern office cabinet. Explore a diverse assortment of credenzas on 1stDibs.

The real story behind Big Eyes is the life of artist Margaret Keane. She was born Peggy Doris Hawkins on September 15, 1927, in Nashville, Tennessee. When she was two years old, her eardrum was permanently damaged during a mastoid operation. Keane learned to watch the eyes of the person talking to her to understand them, influencing the drawings he began creating as a child. At age 10, she took classes at the Watkins Institute in Nashville. At age 18, she attended the Traphagen School of Design in New York City for a year. She initially earned money by painting clothing and baby cribs in the 1950s until she began painting portraits. Early on, Keane experimented with kitsch. She began painting her signature "Keane eyes" when she started to create portraits of children. Keane's works are now in collections all over the world, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo and the Memphis Brooks Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. On 1stDibs, shop a diverse assortment of Margaret Keane art.

The meaning behind Aya Takano's art is open to interpretation. Soon after obtaining her art bachelor's degree, Takano became an assistant of Takashi Murakami and joined Kaikai Kiki, the artistic community and production studio created in 2001 by Murakami for like-minded artists working in the Superflat style. The Superflat movement, popularized by Murakami, emphasizes the two-dimensionality of figures influenced by Japanese manga and anime while simultaneously exposing the fetishes of Japanese consumerism, including the infantilization and objectification of women. With this reference in mind — as well as inspiration ranging from erotic Edo prints and Gustav Klimt to Claude Monet and the manga of Osamu Tezuka — Takano creates her own mythology from a feminine perspective. On 1stDibs, shop a variety of Aya Takano art.

The meaning behind Comme des Garçons relates to the signature style the brand's founder, Rei Kawakubo, is known for. In French, the brand's name means "like the boys." It relates to Kawakubo's androgynous styles with asymmetrical, twisted silhouettes that envelope the body. While she once told the New York Times that the “basics of clothing lie in men’s fashion,” Kawakubo believes in the concept of humanness in clothes (she titled her spring 1995 show “Transcending Gender”). On 1stDibs, shop a selection of Comme des Garçons apparel and accessories.