Posts Tagged ‘amboyna’

SHERATON PERIOD
THE last of the eighteenth century designers, Thomas Sheraton, came to London from his native town of
Stockton-on-Tees about 1790 rare antique marble . Although he had undoubtedly been a practical cabinet maker, there is no evidence that he ever made any furniture in London myott son & co from the 1920s . Certainly he never had a prosperous business such as Chippendale and Hepplewhite had had antique gilt wood mirror frame . His fame in the furniture world rests upon his book, The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book, published in 1791-1794, and appearing in further editions in later years antique mahogany tea table with glass tray .
It was essentially different from Chippendale’s book, the purpose of which was mainly that of a catalogue to appeal to wealthy patrons 1700’s trestle table . Sheraton’s drawing book was primarily a trade book intended to help the practical man, not only in providing designs but also in supplying a treatise in geometry, perspective, and drawing eighteenth century tripod table . In the long run it brought him posthumous fame, but as a commercial proposition it was a failure 17th/18th century style, open-rack oak dresser . Probably few practical men were interested in learning to draw in perspective or to know of the problems in geometry (except in the limited way it affected the setting out of their work), and in looking back the whole thing certainly seems an ambitious undertaking wellinton chest of drawers .
So far as the designs were concerned, Sheraton certainly showed originality in many of the mechanical movements he introduced, and in the design of his chairs, but it must be confessed that the general run of furniture was little more than a representation of the general style prevailing at the time antique oak drawleaf trestle table . It was noted in Chapter VIII that Hepplewhite and Sheraton furniture (excepting chairs) had a great deal in common ; so much so that it is often impossible to say to which it belongs for sale louis 16th walnut sideboard cabinet . It will be realised then that in speaking of Sheraton furniture it represents for the most part the work of a school of craftsmen working in a certain style sheraton 18th century dresser .
antiquegames writing table . BEECHWOOD
ARMCHAIR antique tripod tilt table .
About 180 mahogany bow fronted chest of drawers scottish .
The chair is painted In
black and gilt, and the
rails of the back have
small decorative panels
painted with floral and
musical Instrument sub-
jects masons patent ironstone chinese peony .
FIG english antique reproduction dining table round with add on leaves . 142a carved seating . MAHOGANY
ARMCHAIR where can i buy a rennie mackintosh table with brass lion paws .
Late 18th century thonet bentwood rocker .
The backs of Sheraton chairs were usually lower than those of other contemporary work cutlery boxes . The sweep of the arms into the back is a characteristic Sheraton touch central part of the library has a display cabinet .
Details found in Sheraton Chairs
In his chairs, however, he undoubtedly did strike an original note georgian kneehole cabinet . They are lighter than the majority of other late eighteenth century examples, the backs are lower, and instead of the top rail forming a more or less continuous sweep with the uprights (see Fig french console table 1830 . 131) it was frankly a separate item tenoned between the uprights dining tables art deco . The legs were either turned or square tapered (see Fig antique 2-tier pedestal table . 151), and the arms, instead of bowing out sideways, were usually shaped in
FIG antique maple desks . 143 arts and crafts +jupe table . MAHOGANY CHAIR art deco kneeling dancer lamp .
Late 18th century georgian peat bucket .
Sheraton used both square tapered and turned legs horses as allegorical figures in art . The cabriole
type was never used old english pattern forks with four tines .
side elevation only, generally springing from the back in a continuous sweep fine porcelain arc .
A good example is given in Fig smith furniture gateleg drop leaf table . 142 empire hall bench . Note the obvious way in which the back rails fit between the uprights (compare with Fig fake brass antiques . 131), and the sweep of the arms into the uprights spanish lacquered cabinet inlaid . The whole thing is different from anything else being made at the period art deco console and germany . The curve of the arms into the turned uprights, the curved turned legs, and the graceful design of the pierced back are typically Sheraton 19th century american rosewood rococo console table . It is painted all over (something else that no other designers SIDEBOARD DECORATED WITH SATINWOOD INLAY BANDINGS catherine the great of russia plates . Late i8th century charles neo classism boulle .
The bow front sideboard became extremely popular at this time antique trestle refectory table . Sometimes the space between the centre
legs was title in with a cupboard having a tambour front made to slide sideways pottery german weimar art deco .
Tapered Legs in Sheraton Chairs
attempted), and some extremely fine art work is put into the small panels of the back florence lamps giuseppe antique .
Another Sheraton chair, this time with tapered legs, is given in Fig who sells maggiolini furniture . 142a decoration metal bureau table desing . In this case the arms meet the turned uprights more or less at right angles, but they sweep into the back as in the previous example extending glass table with wrought iron legs . The back is practically square, and the uprights which continue down to form
II how drop leaf table evolved .C; antique serving cabinet . 1 a & s smee finsbury .15 round “dining table” “six legs” . WHEEL BACK CHAIR irish cabinet makers antique wine coolers .
About i800 antique porclean handled sheffeld flatware .
The finest chairs of this kind came from Norfolk and Suffolk value of primitive antique work bench . They became popular towards the end of the 18th century, and into the 19th century lowenfink . Earlier models had curved arm supports at the front instead of turnings antique drum shaped table .
the legs are shaped only in side elevation wood furniture legs clawfoot . They are straight when looked at from from the front art glass vases antique . This is another feature invariably found in Sheraton chairs, and never in contemporary work of other designers scriptoire . All these features also appear in the chair in Fig oak table 5 legs built in leaves rectangular antique . 143•
Sheraton died in i8o6, and it is unfortunate that towards the end his designs suffered severely decorative spindle legs from antique card table . Probably no man, no matter how individual, is quite free from extraneous circumstances bread/cake baskets 17th century . Prevailing fashions exert their sway, and designers
146 varguenos . TWO WRITING DESKS IN MAHOGANY WITH SATINWOOD BANDINGS antique pedestal mahogany table .
Late i8th century bauhaus style furniture +scale .
The Importation of Ykirious foreir4n fancy woods, satinwood, am boyna, rosewood, ebony, and so on led to the free use of
these for use in inlay bandint!s art nouveau antique drinking cabinet . Satinwood, too, was freely used in the solid, entire pieces being made up in it antique 17th century dresser .
Deterioration of Late Sheraton Work
are often faced with the choice of either following them or retiring from the scene antique mahogany card table, imperial . Many things were happening in Europe at the close of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century which were to affect design gilt metal mounted pier table . The French revolution, culminating in the establishment of the First Empire, produced a style in France which rapidly found its counterpart this side of the Channel, and the naval victories of this country had an extraordinary effect on furniture 1800 hundred french mantel and candle clock .
FIG antique art deco furniture black lacquer . 147 maurice adams art deco . MAHOGANY SIDE TABLE WITH BANDED DRAWERS anglo indian cabinets .
Late i8th century vintage buttterfly dropleaf tables .
A prominent feature of the Sheraton school was the very limited use of
carving antique 17th century dresser . Probably it was a reaction from its free use in the Chippendale
period dutch cabinet marquetry 18 .
Just as topical events of thirty or forty years ago were commemorated in fretwork designs, so the furniture of the early nineteenth century showed its reaction to the events then happening gillows bow front mahogany chest drawers .
Sheraton fell into the general line and published his E’?IcYc10P,Tdia of 1804-1807, in which was one of the most extraordinary collections of furniture designs ever put together regency occasional table . Naval emblems of all kinds—anchors, lifebelts, pulley blocks, ropes, and so on—abound, and it is a mercy that more of them were not made up,
To revert to his earlier and happier period, Sheraton’s chief form of decoration was inlay 19th century parian busts . Cross-bandings of fine
MAHOGANY WARDROBE WITH BUILT-UP VENEERED
DOORS
Late i8ti century antique chinese circular revolving bookcase .
The fine mahogany imported at this time led to the revival of the built-up
patterns in veneer as the grain had splendid decorative value 17 century elm gateleg table .
foreign woods, such as satinwood, rosewood, tulip wood, ebony, amboyna, and so on, were inlaid around the edges of drawer fronts and panels, and various built-up patterns in veneer were made use of with great effect period style display cabinets . The bow front sideboard in Fig antique ceramic tambour german mantle clocks . 144 shows the use of this cross-banding italy spoons that might be antiques . Painting also he used considerably, naturalesque floral subjects and panels in the style of Angelica Kauffman being the chief forms it took nicholas sprimont solid silver . Carving he used
E; <
FIG value of an antique pembroke table . 152 antique mahogany french bedside commode . MOULDINGS OF THE SHERATON PERIOD dutch 18th century walnut chest on chest .
Mouldings were invariably small and delicate islamic influence furniture . Occasionally carving and inlay
were introduced, though they were usually plain dining tables with wood inlay work .
sparingly and never in the full scrolling form favoured by Chippendale french console table 1830 .
A small Sheraton side table is given in Fig arts and crafts furniture, antique collectors . 147 flemish refectory table . Here again the drawers have an inlaid cross-banding around the edges antique german breakfast table . The turned legs are reeded down their length dresser accessories . Two other Sheraton pieces are given in Fig russian chippendale trays . 146 silver candleabras made in england . Note the inlay again decorative writing styles . Desks of this kind were often fitted with elaborate secret contrivances in which stationery boxes, drawers, and cupboards rose up at the touch of a spring how common is walnut drop leaf table .
The Sheraton Wardrobe
Fig antique chinese chamber pot . 148 shows a fine inlaid wardrobe in which built-up patterns in veneer are used effectively myott son&co hanley 1880 . The dentils in the cornice and the flutes in the frieze are carried out entirely in inlay american crafts armchair upholstered . The curved bracket feet are a typical feature of the late 18th century 17th century oak side table .
CHAIR WITH SABRE LEGS AND
CANED SEAT rococo style flower arranging .
About i8io pembroke style end tables .
This is an extremely fine example of the chairmaker’s craft 18th century marquetry . Despite the somewhat complicated curvature of the back the construction follows conventional methods, the tops of the back legs being tenoned into the cresting rail and the moulded shaping worked across the joints mark vezzi porcelain . The curved rails fit together with a form of halved joint cylindrical crock eared handles cobalt blue .

Art Deco Cabinets and Sideboards: BRITISH WALNUT SIDEBOARD, BURLED MAPLE CONSOLE, FRENCH COMMODE, FRENCH SIDE CABINET, BRITISH SIDEBOARD, BRITISH DISPLAY CABINET, BRITISH SIDE CABINET.

THE CLEAN LINES and geometric shapes of Art Deco cabinets gave free reign to the prevailing taste for luxurious finishes. The cocktail cabinet made its first appearance in the jazz age. Featuring mirrored interiors and door panels, it contained enough shelving to house all the accoutrements for making cocktails.
REFINED OPULENCE
French furniture designers, such as Paul Follot and Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, created cabinets that were veneered in a wide range of exotic timbers, including amboyna, bird’s-eye maple, mahogany, zebrawood, rosewood, and sycamore, which were admired for their distinctive markings and lustrous sheen. Understated and refined decorative features adorned their cabinets. Crossbanding was used as edging along the top of a cabinet and delicate marquetry flower
bouquets appeared sparingly. Drawer pulls were defined by their contrasting shapes or finishing material. Decorative motifs were created from rare and
expensive materials, such as ivory, shagreen, tortoiseshell, and wrought iron. Oriental lacquerwork in strong colours was also used by some cabinetmakers, especially Jean Dunand and Eileen Gray.
CLEAN LINES
Furniture-makers working in the Modernist strand of Art Deco, such as Sidney Barnsley in Britain and Paul Frank] and Eliel Saarinen in the United States, created streamlined cabinets in geometric shapes. These designers still used lacquerwork and exotic veneers, but they combined them with modern materials, such as Bakelite, mirror glass, and tubular steel. Ivory, metal, and chrome were used to provide decorative details.
The stepped top of the cabinet is a distinctive Art Deco feature.
The cabinet is veneered with conornandel, an unusual variety of ebony.

The handles are painted red to look like lacquerwork.
The bracket feet are similar to those on late 17th- and 18th-century case furniture.
BRITISH SIDE CABINET
This rectangular side cabinet, flanked with a further two slim cabinets, is veneered with Coromandel, a variety of ebony sometimes known as zebrawood because of its distinctive striped markings. Below the stepped top, there
is a central drawer and the main cabinet, which has two doors. Two cabinets compose the outer sides. The bracket feet and the door and drawer handles are painted red, the only obvious form of decoration. The cabinet was designed by Whytock and Reid of Edinburgh.

BRITISH DISPLAY CABINET
This stylized display cabinet is veneered in walnut. The upper section of the cabinet is circular in form, with two glazed doors enclosing two glazed shelves. The cabinet is raised upon a panelled base and has block feet.
BRITISH DISPLAY CABINET
This unusual display cabinet, possibly veneered in walnut, is carried on two, deeply grooved triangular supports that resemble a fish’s fins. The cabinet itself is circular and has two
minimally decorated glass doors, which enclose four wooden shelves.
BELGIAN SIDEBOARD
This Belgian sideboard is crafted from mahogany, and veneered with rosewood. The shape recalls the forms of late 18th-century commodes. The minimalist design of this rectangular sideboard consists of two simple
doors with understated bronze handles, and the whole piece is raised on short, circular bronze feet. The clean-lined, geometric shape of the piece is complemented by the distinctive vertical figure of the lustrous rosewood veneer used all over the case. c.1935.
BRITISH SIDEBOARD
This sideboard, designed by M.P. Davis of London, is crafted in bleached mahogany.The central
pull-out drawers are slightly protruding, arching outwards. The strongly marked, distinctive figure of the mahogany veneer gives the geometric sideboard a rich opulence that needs no additional ornament - a characteristic common of much Art Deco furniture. c.1929.

FRENCH SIDE CABINET
This side cabinet is made from mahogany, with amboyna veneering and a stylized ebony inlay. The three drawers have circular metal handles and the whole cabinet is raised on tall, cylindrical, tapering legs. c.1935.
Designed by Sue et Mare, this rectilinear, mahogany-veneered commode is a good example of their understated yet luxurious style. The two cabinet doors have subtly stylized circular handles, and the legs and the lower edge of the cabinet are lightly embellished with carving. The cabinet is raised on four slightly tapering, moulded legs. c.1919.
This rectangular burr maple console has four centrally placed drawers with nickled brass handles. These are flanked by a pair of cupboard doors with circular wooden handles. The whole console is supported on two rectangular side panels. Beneath the cupboards and drawers there is a lower shelf that connects the two side panel supports.
FRENCH COMMODE
BURLED MAPLE CONSOLE

This sideboard, designed by Whytock and Reid of Edinburgh, has a rectangular crossbanded top, above an ornate, relief-carved cupboard door. Burr walnut doors flank the cupboard door, and the whole sideboard stands upon shaped legs with moulded feet.
This Swedish sideboard is made from birch, a popular light timber native to Scandinavia, with ebony and burr ash details. It has two cupboards with simple rectangular handles, short cabriole legs, and moulded, splayed feet. The centrally placed, geometric, dark wooden motif is influenced by Asian decorative motifs. c.1930.
This mahogany sideboard is a good example of French Art Deco, with its simple elegant forms, rectilinear design, and high standard of craftsmanship. The cabinet has four cabinet doors, decorated with narrow horizontal bands
of chrome and a central circular feature. The whole sideboard is raised on a pedestal block base. It is typical of Art Deco styling in combining fine woodwork with chrome details. c.1925.
Designed by H&L Epstein, this fine rectangular maple sideboard has rounded corners and a stepped top. The central section is made up of two drawers with circular, moulded handles above a cupboard with a decorative vertical,
slatted-wood design. Two more cupboards with moulded oblong wooden handles flank the central section of the sideboard. The whole sideboard is set on a block base. c.1935.
BRITISH WALNUT SIDEBOARD
FRENCH SIDEBOARD
BRITISH SIDEBOARD
SWEDISH SIDEBOARD

French Art Deco Furniture: SOLID ROSEWOOD OFFICE CHAIR, MACASSAR CHAIR, DEMI-LUNE SIDE TABLE, CENTRE TABLE.

FRANCE, ESPECIALLY PARIS, was the hub
of the lavish, or “high-style”, strain of Art Deco. The sumptuous, graceful furniture that was created in the 1920s by Emile Jacques Ruhlmann (see p.393) set the tone for this version of the style.
DUAL INSPIRATION
Using a host of exotic woods for decorative veneers, and embellishments made of colourful and expensive materials, ranging from ivory to lacquer and from leather to sharkskin, Ruhlmann and his colleagues – who included Paul Follot, Andre Groult, Jules Leleu, Leon-Albert Jallot, and Louis Sue and Andre Mare at the
Compagnic des Arts Francais – sought inspiration from the opulent furniture crafted by the fine cabinet-makers of the 18th century, such as Jean-Henri Riesener and Adam Weisweiler.
Ruhlmann and his associates
were also influenced by Art Nouveau (1880-1910). They took the sinuous lines, organic forms, and naturalistic motifs of that movement and restrained and stylized them, giving their pieces a more geometric form. Their exquisitely crafted Art Deco cabinets, tables, and writing desks were much coveted by an exclusive and wealthy clientele who sought status. Their
work was extensively displayed at the 1925 Paris Exhibition (see pp.392-93), bringing it to the attention of a much wider public.
LUXURIOUS MATERIALS
Jailor – who worked with his son Maurice – and Leleu favoured a rich palette of warm woods, such as walnut, palisander, and amboyna, enhanced With understated marquetry created with ivory, eggshell, shagreen, or mother-of-pearl. This often featured
signature Art Deco motifs, such as stylized garlands or baskets of flowers. Sue and Mare created luxurious, theatrical furniture in the Louis-Philippe style, and the decorating firm of Dominique produced stylish and sophisticated furniture in woods such as ebony and sycamore, upholstered in colourful silks, leather, and velvet.
The most exotic form of French Art Deco was realized in the innovative furniture created by Eileen Gray, Dunand, and Pierre Legrain. Both Gray and Dunand exploited the popularity of Oriental art by creating distinctive lacquered screens, tables, cabinets, and chairs, in which the lacquer was
often combined with other luxurious materials, such as tortoiseshell, eggshell, animal skins, and metal, to create a rather dramatic impression. Legrain was one of several designers inspired by African art.
TOWARDS MODERNISM
After 1925, some of the most committed French traditionalists, such as the
jallots, slowly began to adapt to the changes brought about by both the machine age and the introduction to furniture design of new materials, such as metal and glass. As a result, their later Art Deco designs are distinctly more Modernist in appearance They set the stage for the Modernist furniture created by designers such as Pierre Chareau and Francis Jourdain
Wrought-iron gates designed by Edgar Brandt
The stylized water fountain of these fine gates has swirling stems of leaves and pierced flowers, and vines run along the bottom. c.1924.

CENTRE TABLE
This centre table, designed by Maurice Dufrene, has a veneered table top supported by ornately moulded S-scroll legs. The table top is made from several different pieces of wood, which meet at the centre of the table. The contrasting patterns and textures of the woods used form the main decorative feature of the table
as, seen from above, they create a subtle, radiating geometric pattern. The moulded block feet are carved and support a small circular level with a carved rope design around the outer edge. A centre table was designed to be primarily ornamental rather than functional – to furnish the space in the middle of the room where it would also be the centre of attention. c.1925.
DEMI-LUNE SIDE “TABLE
This Louis Sue and Andre Mare bird’s-eye maple and mahogany demi-lune table has a broad crossbanded top above a thumb-moulded edge and a single frieze drawer. The table is supported on cabriole legs.
AMBOYNA CABINET
This amboyna cabinet has two central doors flanked by five small drawers on each side, each of which is decorated with ivory handles and inlay. The cabinet was designed and stamped by Paul Follot, and its symmetry and restrained style typify the elegant French Art Deco style. c.1925.

TABLE BAR
GILT-METAL TABLE
This table by Rene Prou is rectangular in shape and has elegant cabriole legs reminiscent of the early 18th-century Rococo style. The table is made of gilt metal and has a decorative pierced frieze of linked circles below the table top. c.1937.
MACASSAR CHAIR
This luxurious ebony and rosewood macassar chair, designed by Paul Follot, is one of a set of four. Each chair has a stylized acorn back within a “theatre drape curtain” arched back, carved by Laurent Malcles.
SOLID ROSEWOOD OFFICE CHAIR
This rare Edgar Brandt chair was one of a set designed for Brandt’s own offices. The arched high back extends above boldly scrolling T-shaped arms. The tapering legs terminate in gilt sabots. c.1932.
This Jules Leleu sycamore and mahogany table bar has a rectangular top above a rectangular section column. The fall front encloses a bar compartment with a single drawer below, located in the column. Its interior is veneered in contrasting mahogany.
This low stool is made of rosewood embellished with zebrano banding. The seat cushion is upholstered in a fabric that is typical of an Art Deco printed pattern, with overlapping geometric shapes, inspired by abstract art. c.1928.
LOW ROSEWOOD STOOL
BUTTON-BACKED CHAIR
One of a pair of square button-backed chairs by Marc du Plantier, this chair has square-section legs at the front and sabre legs at the back. The legs are made from painted wood and terminate in parchment sabots. The chair is newly upholstered in calfskin. c.1935.

Beds
From the earliest times beds have been endowed with particular importance: as places of rest and privacy, or as symbols of power. The bed was
often the most important legacy, as it was regarded as a possession of consequence, representing the continuity of the family.
EARLY BEDS
The earliest European free-standing beds were basic structures comprising roofs, posts, and bases; the fabric hangings that decorated them were of greater value, and when noblemen moved around the country, they took their bedding, curtains, and valances with them, leaving behind the plain wooden construction. An early type of bed was the truckle or trundle bed on wheels, which conveniently slid under a standing bed when not being used by a servant. By the early 16th century most beds in northern Europe were made from oak; the heads were panelled and decorated with coats of arms, lozenges, chevrons, and lettering; squat, carved posts were placed at the corners, and testers (canopies) were added in the middle of the century. This form was replaced during the 17th century with a beech frame, with tester, ornate cornice, and a back covered in the same fabric as the curtains. On grand beds the posts were tall and more slender, with luxurious hangings crowned with finials, covered with the same material as the valance, from which issued ostrich feathers. More ordinary beds were hung with cloth, linen, or moreen.
18TH-CENTURY BEDS
British beds became more subdued at the beginning of the 18th century. Cornices became straight and projecting, and fringes and tassels disappeared in favour of plain trimmings. “Angel”, or half-tester, beds, without posts at the foot, imitating the French lit a la duchesse, retained the height of their four-poster counterparts.
The panelled back was reintroduced on mahogany bedsteads of the first half of the century, with cabriole legs ending in lion’s-paw feet, and slender posts with vase-shaped plinths replacing silk-covered uprights. By 1775 the cornice had become simple in outline, straight or serpentine, still complemented by vase finials at the four corners; the surface was carved and/or gilded, and cheaper wood frames, such as beech, were painted. On Neo-classical beds the posts were often very elaborately carved with such ornament as fluting, paterae, lion masks, and acanthus. Red damask and moreen were the favoured materials for ordinary beds, although in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide (1788-94) George Hepplewhite (d.1786) recommended the use of white dimity for “an effect of elegance and neatness”. Late 18th-century beds had a much lighter feel, with decoration taking the form of narrow, fluted posts delicately carved with wheat ears or husks or painted with ribbons and garlands of flowers. These clean light lines were echoed in the Federal period beds made in North America by such makers as Samuel McIntire (1757-1811) in Salem, Massachusetts, and Duncan Phyfe (1768-1854) in New York, the posts often decorated with Classical urn-form turnings with delicate reeding. Hangings were based on the designs in The Cabinet Dictionary (1803) by Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) and Hepplewhite’s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide.
19TH-CENTURY BEDS
Beds in the French Empire style, particularly lits en bateau, are usually richly and exquisitely decorated in a restrained manner; the structure had large unbroken panelled surfaces veneered in both light and dark woods, which were sometimes used in combination, and decorative themes, usually represented in ormolu, included oak, laurel, and olive wreaths, shields, helmets, swans, lions, sphinxes, and vine-leaves. Beds were made in two principal types, both of which were meant to be placed in alcoves and seen from the side; therefore only one of the four faces was properly decorated. The first type was influenced by the beds of the Louis XVI era, with straight uprights in columnar or pilaster form, no roof or curtains or excess fabric, but lavishly decorated with bronze mounts. The second type was the lit en bateau, as it vaguely resembled a small boat, with two straight ends of equal height, and rolled over, linked by a steeply curved traverse. Both types were sometimes overhung with canopies in the style of earlier fashions. This is a type of bed particularly associated with the Biedermeier period.
The Empire style was the most important influence on English beds of the early 19th century, and numerous examples can be found in A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1808) by George Smith (active c.1786-1828), and in the journal Repository of Arts (1809-28) by Rudolf Ackermann (1764-1834). The desired goal was to achieve “tasteful simplicity” by having less drapery; mahogany, or rosewood posts decorated with bronzed or gilded “Grecian ornaments”; domed testers, and hangings of red, yellow, or blue silk or calico trimmed with lace or a fringe. By the 1820s the French couch form beneath a canopy was used, although this fashion was short lived.
Throughout the later 19th century revivalism dominated fashions. ln Italy the Renaissance Revival, known as “Dantesque”, was interpreted in heavily carved beds and others decorated with ally certosina, a style of ivory and bone inlay, which had been popular in the 16th century. In North America such firms as Berkey & Gay (est. 1859) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, designed suites of bedroom furniture in the Renaissance Revival style, while the firm of Prudent Mallard (1809-79) made high-post beds at his workshop (est. 1838) in New Orleans. In Britain the “Jacobethan” Revival gave rise to the production of heavily carved four-poster beds. Tubular brass was used for bedsteads from the 1820s, and as manufacturing techniques improved during the century, cast-iron beds were made. Iron campaign beds, first made in the early 19th century, were designed to be easily assembled and transported for use on the battlefield.
• ALTERATIONS four-poster beds have often been reduced in height because of changing circumstances; check that the decoration and carving continue up the piece completely; also check to see where any reductions have been made, as the frames may have been cut to make the bed narrower or have added sections of wood to make the bed wider or longer — look along the rails for tell-talc signs in the colour and wear of the timber.
• MADE-UP BEDS these can be made up of elements from other beds, and usually it is only the front posts that will be original; the most commonly found made-up beds are tester beds from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Bureaux after 1840
The development of the bureau during the mid-19th century was more a matter of changes in decorative style than of any major technical advance. Desk forms of the 18th century, such as the French bureau de dame and bureau a cylindre, and the English fall-front bureau, were still current. As an important item of furniture in the middle-class interior, the bureau reflected the prevailing diversity of styles and techniques and was often fashioned with consummate craftsmanship.
MID-19TH-CENTURY BUREAUX
Mahogany and rosewood were still used for a considerable amount of writing furniture, but walnut was most fashionable and provided a greater diversity of figured surfaces, from the relatively plain straight-grained varieties to the variegated dappling of burr veneers. Yellow-toned woods such as satinwood, amboyna, and, especially in eastern Europe, maple, poplar, and birch, were much favoured. Locally available fruitwoods, yew, and oak were occasionally used.
The flat-topped writing-desk seems mainly to have been a feature of the male-oriented study, and was often of strikingly plain design, in keeping with the businesslike and usually private nature of this room. The bureau, on the other hand, often of small proportions and delicate decoration, appears generally to have been kept in the drawing-room, where it struck a distinctly feminine note. The influence of the French Rococo style is seen in the contoured aprons, and tapering cabriole legs with gilt-metal mounts, of bureaux made in England, The
Netherlands, Italy, and eastern Europe, as well as in France, between the 1840s and 1860x. Floral marquetry was the usual surface decoration, and was often more lavish in the 19th century than it had been in the 18th.
There was great variation in the superstructures of these bureaux, which were far from being slavish copies of 18th-century patterns. Some had arrangements of small drawers and pigeon holes around the writing areas; the very best examples might be fitted with gilt-bronze candle sconces or even clocks to match the highly elaborate cast-metal mounts and handles of
the main carcases. Others had superstructures of tiered drawers, or combinations of cupboards, drawers and pigeon holes; a central mirror in the upper part suggests a dual purpose bureau-cumdressing table. More restrained were those bureaux with shelves edged with gilt-metal or brass galleries for books or ornaments. Mechanical features such as rising or sliding sections, and concealed compartments, were sometimes included.
By the mid-19th century writing
furniture with brass-and-tortoiseshell marquetry, known as Boullework, was produced both by French cabinetmakers, who enjoyed a lively export trade, and by English firms, some of them employing French craftsmen. Boullework, used in France throughout the 18th century, was revived in England (where it was known as “Buhl” work) by George Bullock (c.1777-1818) during the Regency period. The best Boullework-revival pieces are close copies of the originals; the poorest examples have repetitive designs. Elaborate tours de force in ebony, brass, and tortoiseshell were seen in the major exhibitions of London, Paris, and other centres during the 1850s and 1860s. Writing furniture, including some monumental desks and bureaux, was among these extravagant examples of virtuoso craftsmanship. The English firms of Town & Emmanuel (1830-40), Wright & Mansfield (est. 1860), Jackson & Graham (1836-40), Hindley Wilkinson, and Holland & Sons (est. 1803) were some of the foremost manufacturers of high-quality reproduction Buhl and other French furniture, and the fashion for such pieces continued for the rest of the century. Another cabinet-making firm, Edwards & Roberts, was among the few English companies that regularly marked both the furniture it made and the items it restored. Edwards & Roberts used brass inlays with more restraint and practicality than other cabinetmakers, generally in the form of stringing lines on dark rosewood surfaces. Desks and bureaux in this style provide an elegantly muted contrast to the luxury of full-blown Rococo Revival, lending a note of gravitas to the inevitable abundance of decoration.
LATER 19TH-CENTURY BUREAUX
The Renaissance Revival stimulated ivory-inlaid furniture as well as the heavily carved oak associated with the later 19th century. While carved oak bureaux were produced, the eye-catching qualities of the more unusual ivory-inlaid pieces must have pleased the Victorians. In Italy, where walnut furniture with floral inlays of ivory and bone had a long history, the technique was revived with particular enthusiasm.
While wholly painted surfaces tend to be seen more often on folk and vernacular furniture than on typically middle-class pieces such as bureaux, painted flowers often embellished the delicate ladies’ writing furniture of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, much of it in the Sheraton Revival style. Painted panels were a feature of the Gothic Revival furniture of the 1870s and 1880s, Lind massive bureaux and roll-top desks in this style are occasionally seen.
Another 19th-century revival was the technique of arte povera in Italy, in which Oriental lacquer was
(very loosely) imitated by using paper scraps and painted vignettes applied to bright- or light-coloured painted grounds and covering the whole surface in varnish. This colourful form of decoration was sometimes applied to bureaux and bureau cabinets of traditional 18th-century design, and even to old items thought to be in need of “improvement”.
In The Netherlands, the bureau decorated with floral marquetry remained popular throughout the 19th century. The typical Dutch bureau is based on the English model, with a chestof-drawers surmounted by a sloping-topped writing section, with or without a cabinet on top; however, its shape, with a bombe swelling low in the base, is of French inspiration. The all-over design of flowers in different woods, usually on a walnut ground, is wholly Dutch. During the 19th century old pieces were often revamped with new marquetry, while new ones were produced with well-executed but rather mechanical flower designs.
From the late 19th century the vast majority of bureaux were made using factory methods, with all the variations of quality and design that a highly competitive industry implies. Most producers followed
the prevailing historic Revival, Aesthetic, Arts and Crafts, and progressive trends, tailoring their output to the economics of a growing mass-market. They were rarely innovative. Among the later 19th-century developments was the roll-top desk, a commodious but hardly decorative office cabinet with a kneehole arrangement of drawers beneath a slat-shuttered writing surface fitted with drawers and compartments. These functional desks, in oak, walnut and mahogany, sold in their thousands on both sides of the Atlantic.
Progressive designers of the late 19th century in Britain and on the Continent produced bureaux that met the reformers’ dictum of “fitness for purpose” and at the same time reinterpreted historical models in a highly original way, combining vernacular honesty with sophistication. Much of this furniture was sold by Liberty & Co. (est. 1875) in London, while the designers of the Vicuna Secession in the early 1900s made a further impact on design philosophy. The effects of the Arts and Crafts Movement have reverberated throughout the 20th century, with individual designer-
craftsmen producing bureaux and other furniture of simple, functional design from solid, often locally available timbers.
• FORMS most 19th-century bureaux were based on 18th-century designs; roll-top desks were mass-produced in late 19th century.
• STRUCTURE URE cupboards, drawers, and pigeon holes were commonly used; many examples have galleries to hold books and ornaments; examples featuring gilt-metal mounts with matching candle sconces are sought after.
• DECORATIVE STYLES marquetry decoration and gilt-metal mounts were fashionable during the Rococo Revival; 19th-century floral marquetry tends to be more elaborate than that of the 18th century; “Buhl” work was widely employed in the mid-19th century by French and English cabinet-makers; inlays of ebony and brass were popular during the 1850s and 1860s; ivory inlays arc associated with the Renaissance Revival; painted panels are seen on Gothic Revival furniture of 1870s and 1880s.