Posts Tagged ‘antique split barrel dining table’

Art Nouveau English Furniture: OCCASIONAL TABLE, TWO-TIER ETAGERE, DISPLAY CABINET, REVIVAL FURNITURE

WHILE SOME EDWARDIAN households
embraced the latest Art Nouveau forms, many returned to the furniture styles of the past and the latest Classical revivals. Designs from various historical periods were dusted off and reworked by companies throughout Britain. Inspiration ranged from the distant past – Renaissance, Elizabethan, Jacobean, and even Gothic – to the more recent Neoclassical work of Sheraton, Hepplewhite, and Robert Adam. The result was comfortable rather than cutting-edge, and less cluttered than the Victorian ideal.
Art Nouveau and Revival furniture were made in parallel to satisfy the needs of the less adventurous Edwardians as well as those who subscribed to
the latest fashions.
REVIVAL FURNITURE
The Revival trend had started in the late 19th century after a new series of interior design books, aimed at the middle classes, reignited the fashion for the three great names of British Neoclassical furniture. Then, in 1897, Sheraton’s The Cabinet-Maker and
Upholsterer’s Drawing Book and Hepplewhite’s The Cabinet-Maher and
Upholsterer’s Guide were reprinted and the Revival was confirmed. The result was a fusion of the work of these three designers, adapted to suit smaller
Edwardian rooms and a desire for comfort. It was also a rejection of the heavy, sombre furniture popular in Victorian times.
Revival furniture was often made from light mahogany, satinwood, or satin-birch, and decorated with stringing, crossbanding, and wooden inlays of fans or shells, set with bone, or painted with flowers and foliate scrolls. Decoration was often elaborate. Sometimes pieces were made from less exotic and expensive wood and
painted to resemble satinwood. Some designers slimmed down Sheraton’s designs to make them more delicate. This occasionally went too far and resulted in pieces that were spindly and out of proportion.
Others took the path of true imitation
and aimed to recreate Sheraton and
other Neoclassical designers exactly
Some of these pieces are so faithful to
the original that it takes an expert to tell them apart. Gillow of Lancaster and Edwards and Roberts of London are among the best of these furniture-makers, but many other firms made inexpensive copies for the mass-market. Many pieces were not marked by the makers, so attributing them can be difficult.
A STEADY DEMAND
Despite the volume of furniture made, much Edwardian furniture was of
good quality However, veneers were sometimes used to disguise poor construction. There was a great demand for desks; bookcases; chests-of-drawers; display cabinets; commodes; side, dining, and other chairs; tables including dining, occasional, and dressing; marble-topped washstands; bedside cupboards; and wardrobes that were frequently part of a bedroom suite.
Sofas were often based on Sheraton and Hepplewhite styles, but were less overblown than Victorian examples. Manufacturers made suites of chairs with matching sofas, usually from
mahogany, but sometimes walnut or satinwood. Seats were often upholstered in silk or damask, while the backs and sides were caned.
PRINCIPAL MAKERS
Important names in Edwardian furniture included Waring and Gillow and Maple and Co. Maples was based in Tottenham Court Road, London, and was the largest furniture store in the world. It made its own furniture
for sale at home and abroad, and drew its customers from both the middle and upper classes and even royalty – Tsar Nicholas of Russia furnished his Winter Palace with furniture from its workrooms. Maples also furnished British Embassies, even going so far as to arrange for a grand piano to be carried up the Khyber Pass on packhorses.
For those whose taste did not fit in with either the Revival or Art Nouveau movements, there was an opportunity to furnish their homes in an exotic
manner using the new bamboo and wicker furniture, or pieces with a Moorish or Japanese influence.

SIDE CHAIR
This is one of a pair of Sheraton Revival satinwood side chairs. The pierced, oval back is centred by a portrait of a young girl, and the seat is covered with caning. The front legs are turned. Early 20th century.
SATINWOOD VITRINE
The elegant proportions of this cabinet are characteristic of the Edwardian era, when furniture became more slender and delicate. Influences were diverse, but the painted swag decoration, medallions, and motifs typical of
Glass panels allow treasured objects to be displayed.
Painted swags and medallions are Classically inspired.
The casing and legs are slender and delicate.
the period, are Classical in style. The cornice and pediment are decorated with portrait-style paintings. Vitrines did not become common until the second half of the 19th century. This one bears a label from Maple & Co.
OCCASIONAL TABLE
This circular table is made from mahogany and has satinwood banding and floral marquetry. The square tapered supports are united by stretchers. Early 20th century.

LADY’S WRITING DESK
Probably made by Maple & Co, this rosewood and marquetry compact lady’s writing desk, or bonheur, du jour, has a raised, galleried back with lidded interior compartments. The inset-leather writing surface sits above three frieze drawers and the piece is raised on slender legs. c. 1905.
Elaborate drop handle
Classical inlay motif
ROLLTOP DESK
TWO-TIER ETAGERE
The lid of this satinwood marquetry-decorated piece opens to reveal a mechanical interior. Initially introduced in the 18th century, the rolltop desk was reinterpreted during the Art Nouveau period to meet changing tastes. Early 20th century.
This etagere is made of inlaid mahogany and satinwood banding. The top is formed from a later glass-based tray, and the piece stands on square, swept supports. Etageres were used for displaying objects or serving food.
Early 20th century.
This impressive mahogany cabinet has fine crossbanded decoration and an astragal-glazed door and panels. The cornice is centred with an architectural pediment and the base is decorated with fiddleback mahogany and satinwood lozenges on the central door and canted sides. The cabinet is supported on slender legs. Early 20th century.
DISPLAY CABINET

NAPOLEON CROWNED HIMSELF Emperor
in 1804. From this date until his abdication in 1814, and final defeat by Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he dominated the European scene. Moreover, his taste, and the Empire style that he cultivated, became omnipresent in Europe.
Already emerging before 1804, this austere style sought to associate Napoleon’s Empire with the glories of ancient Egypt and ancient Rome. This aim manifested itself in an almost archaeological interest in Classical motifs, promoted by Perrier and Fontaine, whose Recueil was
The frieze is decorated with
a central gilt-bronze rosette,
flanked by palmettes.
The protruding columns
have gilt-bronze
capitals and bases.
republished in 1812. The light style of furniture that prevailed before the turn of the century was now transformed into a truly imperial idiom in keeping with Napoleon’s despotic tendencies.
EMPIRE MOUNTS
Neoclassical influences are evident in the ubiquitous bronze dore mounts on Empire furniture: griffons, lions, and sphinxes abound. Martial motifs were especially popular, such as trophies or crossed swords. Some of the best-quality mounts were produced in the
workshop of Pierre Thomire. His mounts appear on furniture by Beneman and Weisweiler. Other Beneman pieces are known to have similar, high-quality applique details made by Antoine-Andre Ravario.
EMPIRE MAKERS
The dissolution of the Guild of Joiners and Cabinet-Makers in 1791 meant that craftsmen could now establish workshops comprising several trades in a single location. The workshops of the ancien regime were quick to
re-open after the Revolution, seeking a wider, often middle-class, clientele, who were sometimes less demanding. Some feared that this might lead to a decline in quality French furniture. However, the finest pieces, made for the Emperor and his circle, reveal the same technical brilliance as items produced in the previous century. Many of the great ebenistes had previously worked for Louis XVI, including Bellanger, Benenian, Georges Jacob, Molitor, and Weisweiler. It was also a period of great productivity between 1810 and 1811, as much as 17,000 francs was spent on furniture for Imperial residences, and half a million francs went to Georges Jacob Desmalter alone for furniture made for the Palais des Tuileries. There
were 10,000 workers involved with furniture production in Paris during the first decade of the 19th century, making pieces for both the local and export markets. Jacob-Desmalter
employed at least 88 workers, some at his Porte Saint-Denis workshop.
Upholstery and drapery sometimes overpowered the Empire room. Ceilings could be tented in strong, usually striped, colours (blues, reds,
The Empire style was born from a merger of art and political aspirations in a heady, post-Revolution atmosphere upheaval. It was
greens, and yellows) to echo tented military accommodation. The embroidered patterns on chair upholstery were both large and bold.
NOVEL FORMS
Several novel forms also appeared. The lit en bateau was very fashionable, often with scrolled ends, raised on a dais, and draped in fabric. It was similar in form to the recamier, or day bed, and the meridienne, a type of sofa with scrolled ends, one higher than the other. For middle-class homes, the less expensive lit droit was popular; it had a headboard under a triangular pediment. For the first time,
bedrooms were furnished with a Psyche mirror, or Cheval glass. The small, round gueridon, or candlestand, served a variety of functions, and sometimes had metal legs, patinated green to simulate ancient metals, possibly set with a porphyry top.
The commode slowly became more functional and occasionally the drawers were set behind doors. Chairs were often supported by Grecian sabre back legs, and had either rectangular or over-scrolled backs. Usually the
arms were supported on human or swan forms. Empress Josephine’s dressing room at Fontainebleau probably houses the most famous Empire chairs – those with a curved back en gondole.
Finally, there were various furniture forms for writing, from the box-like secretaire d abattant (and its relative the secretaire de compiegne) to the bureau plat, which assumed grand and monumental proportions under the Empire.
ARMCHAIRS “AUX TETES DE LION”
are made of mahogany. Each has
rectilinear back, an upholstered seat
and armrests, upholstered seats are
on sabre legs, with those at the front
terminating in lion’s-paw feet. The chairs are attributed to the maker Jean-Baptiste Demay of Paris. Although lion’s masks appear frequently on British furniture of the period, they are a
relatively unusual feature on French Empire pieces. 1805
This fine-quality flame-veneered tric trac, or games, table has a removable writing table top with inset brass corners and a baize playing-card surface on the reverse. Each side has one false drawer and one drawer for playing pieces. The table stands on square, tapering legs terminating in brass casters. c.1810.

Derby
William Duesbury the younger succeeded his
father in 1786 and guided the Derby factory through its best and most significant period. Production was aimed only at the wealthiest customers, with every piece finished to the highest standards.
DOMESTIC WARES
The speciality of Derby was cabinet wares, particularly cups or cans and saucers, or cabaret sets – far too expensive to use and intended purely to be admired. Decoration in panels or reserves was executed by such superb artists as Zachariah Boreman (1738-1810) and Thomas “Jockey” Hill (1753-1827) who painted landscapes, Richard Askew (active 1772-95) who was famous for figures, George Complin (active c.1755-95) who painted birds and fruit, and William Billingsley (1758-1828),the greatest of all English flower-painters. Derby rediscovered the charm of botanical decoration, and flower prints were accurately copied onto wonderful dessert services. Derby’s glaze was creamy white and very soft, accounting for a delightful, smooth, and subtle feeling quite unlike any other English porcelain. In consequence its wares are much in demand today, and the best vases and cabinet cups are hugely expensive.
During the early 19th century Derby excelled at copying colourful patterns inspired by old Japanese wares and really took this form of decoration to heart. Combinations of Chinese and Japanese designs were brought together in a totally English way to suit the
T The “Bemrose” garniture designed by Jean-Jacques Spangler (b.1752)
Named after William Bemrose, the collector and writer on Derby, this garniture borrows heavily from continental porcelain styles. These vases are also known as “Kedleston” after those in Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. (c.1790-92; ht of vase 38.5cmll5in; value L)
Regency taste for Oriental styles. Derby sold its Imari patterns in competition with Coalport and Worcester, and mass-production methods were used to keep costs down. As a result the patterns were painted quickly,
giving each piece a spontaneity that can be highly decorative. Some of the Derby Imari designs have name such as the “Old Witches”, the “Tree of Life”, or the “Kings” pattern, which was a particular favourite.
FIGURES
Figure-making was always important at Derby, and in the 19th century the factory was still Britain’s principal producer; however, there was now serious competition from two other quarters. Staffordshire potters copied every new Derby figure in inexpensive earthenware as soon as it came on sale, and seriously threatened Derby’ monopoly. At the same time Meissen figures were imported in great quantity into Britain and found an appreciative market. Derby countered this new competition by copying other factories’ works. During the 1820s and 1830s the reproductions of the latest Meissen models even carried the Meissen crossed sword mark. However, the great period of Derby had ended in 1797 with the death of Duesbury, and the factory went into a steady decline, eventually closing in 1848. Other factories were subsequently established in Derby, the trios successful being the Derby Crown Porcelain Co. (est. 1870), which was styled Royal Crown Derby in 1890.
• pure white soft-paste porcelain (post-1770)
• GLAZE creamy; frequently stained by surface crazing
• DECORATION gilding is of the very best quality; some gilders are identifiable by a number; fine botanical studies; birds; landscapes; Japanese Imari patterns
• LEADING PAINTERS Boreman and Hill (landscapes), Askew (figures), Complin (birds among fruit), Billingsley (flowers)
• FIGURES style after Meissen; rich colouring, including use of deep blue and gold
Marks
1782-1825: marks carefully painted in blue or purple; after 1800 usually painted in red with less care
c.1820-40: although Robert Bloor suffered from mental illness from 1826, the period through to 1840 is named after him; mark printed in red

Cabinets-on-stands
Created for the storage of papers and valuables, the earliest cabinets, known as “table-cabinets” as they stood on tables rather than stands, came into fashion in the 16th century. During this period they were made in Tuscany with inlaid architectural decoration, and in Augsburg with stylized Mannerist marquetry depicting architectural ruins and mythical beasts in the style of Lorenz Stoer’s Geometrica et Perspectiva ( 1567); in Spain cabinets were made with Moorish-inspired mudejar (marquetry), or in ebony with parquetry (these were also produced in the Spanish Netherlands).
MARQUETRY AND LACQUERED CABINETS
The Baroque love of rich, florid decoration led to the fashion for oyster-veneered and marquetry cabinets-on-stands, the production of which was dominated by Huguenot craftsmen trained in Amsterdam and The Hague. In the late 17th century oyster-veneering was gradually superseded by such elaborate decoration as “seaweed” marquetry, which in turn gave way to Boulle marquetry on a tortoiseshell or kingwood ground. Interestingly the illusionistic floral marquetry panels executed by Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) at the Gobelins workshops in Paris were no doubt inspired by Dutch 17th-century  still-life paintings. Floral marquetry cabinets, often enriched with mother-of-pearl or green-stained ivory, were executed throughout Europe from the 1660s, but the most celebrated makers were Jan van Mekeren (1658-1733) in Amsterdam, and Pierre Gole c.1620-84) in Paris. Often decorated with flowers and birds, even exotic parrots, Dutch and English examples of the William and Mary period (1689-1702) arc usually of walnut with oak-lined drawers, the stands enclosing two drawers and supported on four, five, or six baluster or bar-twist legs with waved stretchers and bun
Japanese and Chinese lacquer cabinets were first imported by the Fast India companies in the 17th century. Usually decorated with gilt chinoiseries on aubergine, black, or red lacquer grounds, they were mounted in silver, copper, or brass, with chased hinges and escutcheons. Oriental cabinets were exported without stands, and late 17th-century stands made in The Netherlands, Britain, and Germany tend to be in the florid Baroque taste, with caryatids in the angles and deep, pierced foliate aprons.
In the late 17th century, in response to the demand for and cost of Oriental lacquer, European craftsmen created japanning. This technique was first practised in Berlin by Gerard Dagly (1657-1710, and in England by John Stalker and George Parker who wrote A Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing (1688). Later 18th-century examples are distinguished by the design of their stands, which were usually also japanned, and often enriched with Chinese fret angle-brackets.
In the 19th century the cabinet-on-stand was replaced by the display cabinet. As a result, 19th-century cabinets-on-stands tend to hark back to 17th-century prototypes, in particular those with ebony-and-tortoiseshell veneer, or of a full-blown Baroque character, with Boulle or floral marquetry and Pietro dure plaques.
• MARQUETRY CABINETS a flat stretcher is commonly used on the stand; frequently the legs have been replaced, and this will reduce value; ivory inlay is a sign of good quality; the marquetry on the inside of the cabinet should be of a rich contrast to the outside, as it has not been exposed to sunlight, and should retain its vibrant colours; during the 1770s and again in the 1840s there was an interest in antiquarianism, and 17th-century marquetry door panels were often removed and reused in more fashionable pieces of furniture.
• JAPANNING when chipped, it reveals a whitish gesso.