The Victorians didn't cover table/piano kegs etc for modesty.
My Aunt, who knew many Victorians, thought that was why they did it. It is clear that it was a fashion, at some stage, in the Victorian era. And fashion never was allied to function, other than as an extremely short-lived fad.

Martin Graebe has done a lot of research on the Sabine Baring Gould collection. There is a contact page on his website.