Posts Tagged ‘art deco furniture’

By the beginning of the 18th century earrings had become an essential form The girandole of adornment.
The girandole, first seen around the middle of the 17th century, remained the most popular type of earring. As we have seen, it consisted of a surmount, usually a bow motif, with three pear-shaped drops, the larger one at the centre, suspended from a hook. The hook allowed the drops to be detached, so that the surmount could be worn on its own when occasion required it.
There are several explanations for the popularity of the girandole. The first has to do with fashion in clothes and hair. During the 18th century hair was worn gathered up on the head away from the face, leaving the ears uncovered; and the low cut of dresses for formal occasions left the area around the neck and ears perfectly suited for adornment with earrings. Secondly, earrings and particularly girandoles exploited the qualities of faceted stones, especially diamonds, which had become plentiful after their discovery in Brazil in 1723; before that the supply had been limited to the mines of Golconda in India. Also significant was the improvement in techniques for cutting diamonds: around 1700 it is thought that the Venetian Vincenzo Peruzzi devised the brilliant-cut, a cut that enhanced the optical properties of diamonds, enabling the stone to reflect light and sparkle at its best. The new brilliant-cut diamonds were particularly successful when mounted on girandole earrings with the stones hanging freely on both sides of the face and catching the light. Thirdly, improved domestic candles meant that more social occasions could be held at night, and in these circumstances sparkling diamond-set jewels and especially girandoles were particularly effective. Until the mid-18th century, jewellery was set solely with diamonds. For formal evening occasions, diamond girandole earrings were all the rage, while during the day girandoles set with more sober semiprecious stones such as garnets, cornelians, pearls, aventurine glass and pastes were preferred. For the first time in the history of jewellery a differentiation was made between day-time and night-time jewels, a distinction which remains to this day.
The girandole remained the favoured type of earring throughout the 18th century and in general terms its basic elements — the bow surmount and drops, the emphasis on width rather than length and the practice of wearing matching bodice ornaments called sevignes — are features which had been common since the 17th century. There are, however, certain small differences. The early 18th-century girandole may be distinguished from its 17th-century counterpart mainly by its emphasis on the faceted stones rather than on the setting and enamel-work; in the 17th century the setting was decorated at the front and back with polychrome enamels and engravings, but towards the end of that century enamel-work and engraving were confined to the back and disappeared completely at the beginning of the 18th.
Elements remaining from the 17th century include the rather stiff design with the clearly defined bow and drops as separate units, and the pronounced horizontal de-Engraved design of the ‘Principes de Girandoles’ by L. Van der Cruycen, 1770, showing the proportions of a girandole earring.
Engraved designs for three pearl girandole earrings by L. Van der Cruycen, 177o. The central motifs are flower sprays.
velopment, stressing width rather than length. Such features are clearly visible in the designs engraved by Quien dated 1710 and published posthumously in London in 1762, especially the stiffness of the design, the drops treated as separate elements, the horizontality and the interest in the faceted stone.
Girandoles were popular throughout Europe at the beginning of the i 8th century, but there are small differences which betray their country of origin. In France they were set entirely with diamonds and were characterized by a sense of movement and sculptural quality. In Spain they were sturdier and set typically with a combination of emeralds and diamonds, a fact explained by the relatively easy supply of emeralds from mines in Colombia, which belonged to Spain. Portuguese girandoles were characterized by simple and flat lines and were usually set with topazes and chrysoberyls from Brazil, then a Portuguese colony. In the Adriatic regions and especially Southern Italy girandoles were given bold outlines and were frequently set with seed pearls as opposed to gemstones.
Girandoles of the second half of the 18th century show some slight changes. In France, particularly, they were no longer set only with diamonds but with a combination of diamonds and coloured gemstones such as rubies. Secondly, they gradually develop a more vertical outline with a more elongated central drop, noticeable in the Italian designs of circa 177o and exemplified by the proportions set out in the Principes de Giraindoles designed and engraved by Van der Cruycen in 1770. And thirdly, the basic bow surmount is frequently replaced by a more complex arrangement, for example the combination of ribbon bow and flower spray motif seen in the ruby and diamond girandoles and in Pouget’s designs for girandoles, dated 1762. One of his pages, for instance, shows six different designs for girandoles. The four set with pearls display intricate motifs in the centre other than bows: a floral motif, two hearts, paired doves and a trophy of love with two hearts and arrows. The characteristic intricacy of the central element is evident also in the emerald and diamond examples from Spain; the centre in the form of a flowerhead cluster is set with a large emerald in a border of rose diamonds framed by diamond-set foliate spray motifs. The other typical feature of late i 8th-century girandoles is the working together of the surmount and drops into much more of an ensemble, compared to the early girandoles where they are treated as separate units.
Most girandoles were quite large, and weight was an important aspect which should not be overlooked. It depended on two features, the size of the earring and the setting of the stones. Gemstones were commonly mounted in closed settings with collets closed at the back, which were lined with coloured foils to enhance the colour of the stones and improve the evenness of colour; in the case of diamonds, foils gave a subtle hue to the stones. Gold was used to set coloured stones while silver was normally used to set diamonds, as it suited their whiteness. So much metal was used in the setting that the earrings were inevitably very heavy, something which is stressed by the designer and engraver Augustin Duflos in the ‘Discours Preliminere’ to his
P 56 Recueil des Dessins, published in 1744. The need to alleviate the weight of girandole earrings led to the introduction of a special fitting, consisting of penannular wire hinged on one side to be inserted from back to front into the pierced earlobe. An additional loop soldered off-centre at the top held a ribbon secured to the hair, taking some of the weight off the ears. The Spanish emerald and diamond girandoles illustrated here are approximately 39 grams; today an average of about 22 grams per earring is reckoned to be as heavy as a woman can comfortably wear.
Tolerance of heavy earrings depends, of course, on how long they are worn, how much movement is involved and how the weight is distributed. When the weight of a long earring is concentrated in a small area, it will feel much heavier than when the
P 57 same weight is spread over a larger surface, as in the case of a disc. Duflos mentions this problem of weight. ‘Ladies’, he says, ‘are the principal objects of the Jeweller’s Art, who mainly devotes his work to them. If this work, by chance, falls under their hands, it might perhaps bring them back to noble and simple taste, better suited in differentiating them and in showing their natural graces than the glittering display that has been favoured for some time. Then they will reduce, by their own accord, the enormous size of Flowers and Girandole Earrings, which tires the ears and they will prefer beautiful diamonds, although smaller in size, to a disorderly cluster of small stones which add up to a lot of weight and are ill suited.’
The pendeloque
Another type of earring which became popular in the second half of the i 8th century,
P. 52, 53 although it was well established fifty years earlier, was the pendeloque. Its design is
characterized by a marquise-shaped surmount supporting a central ribbon bow motif
and an elongated drop of a design similar to the surmount, frequently decorated with
P. 57 a swing centre. Variations include one model which has a more elaborate central sec-
tion with a combination of bow and floral spray motifs, and pear-shaped drops. The
pendeloque seems to have come into fashion because its elongated outline counter-balanced the extreme height of hairstyles around the 1770s. This style reached its peak among the upper classes in 1778. A pad made of wool, hemp and wire was placed on the head and either natural or horse hair with pomade and powder was stretched over. They must have been extremely uncomfortable and unhygienic, since they were often kept in place for weeks at a time, becoming breeding grounds for lice and fleas; furthermore, they were highly impractical, obstructing one’s view and making it difficult to fit into a coach. Caricaturists showed servants employed to hold up the weight of the hair, or attending to their mistress’s hair from ladders, and ladies travelling in carriages with the roof opened up for the high coiffures to stick out. But comfort was not the main concern of the fashionable lady; she delighted in the way the sweeping high line of her hair was perfectly counterbalanced by the elongated drops of her pendeloque earrings.
Most of the pendeloques were set with diamonds but few have survived, since the settings were melted down and the stones reset. The great majority of extant examples are set with colourless pastes or crystals such as white topazes and rock crystal imitating diamonds. The interest in imitation diamonds is typical of the 18th century; and paste jewellery of this period can be considered the forerunner of modern luxury costume jewellery. Another favourite type of pendeloque besides those set with dia-P 49 monds or pastes is the one with a pear-shaped pearl drop usually set as a swing centre in a diamond-set frame. In design books one frequently finds variations of girandoles
P 57 and pendeloques illustrated together. In those of Quien (dated 1710) and Saint (dated 1759), there are engravings of three variations of girandoles and six slightly differing pendeloques all on the same page. Similarly, in the designs of Maria, active 1751-70, eight variations of girandoles and three pendeloques are depicted.
Pendeloques were set in much the same way as girandoles with the stones mounted in closed collets, but they were lighter, having a single drop from the bow surmount instead of three. This explains why one frequently finds a different fitting; instead of the hook with additional loop to alleviate the weight, there is a plain long S-shaped wire hook soldered to the surmount of the earrings. This is clearly depicted in some coloured designs of pendeloques (1760-70) by an anonymous Italian jeweller, in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
The ‘two-stone’ earring
Another popular mid to late 18th-century earring is the type known as the ‘two-stone’ earring. This consists of two large oval faceted gemstones, the larger one on top, with the plane joining the two embellished with various decorative motifs. The simplest version of this decoration comprises just two small lozenge-shaped stones filling in the gaps at the sides where the two larger stones meet; the more elaborate type, as seen in Duflos’ engraved designs of 1744, presents lateral floral and foliate spray motifs. This type of earring was suited for the display of large and important stones, especially diamonds, but hardly any examples have survived, because such large and important stones tend inevitably to be reset in more up-to-date settings. The extant examples mostly contain pastes and garnets and have survived because there was no advantage in melting them down and resetting the gemstones. Nevertheless even the low value ‘two-stone’ earrings are very attractive: a pair set with translucent blue opaline paste may be seen in the Museum of London; it is also interesting to note how sometimes the simple ‘two-stone’ motif is repeated to form a necklace usually worn en suite with the earrings.
From the 18th century onwards, girandoles and pendoloques continued in favour, though modified as one could expect to meet changing tastes. One finds a variation of the girandole in the I 83os and again in the late 1920s, while the pendeloque enjoyed particular favour in the 18 2os and 18 8os.
A lasting tradition
In certain peripheral areas, however, fashion evolves more slowly than in courtly and
international circles, and the form of the girandole and the pendeloque has remained
p. 63 virtually unchanged from the 18th century to modern times. This can clearly be seen
in provincial jewellery of the Iberian peninsula where one finds a recurring girandole
design: a central stylized bow motif with three pear-shaped drops, pierced in gold
Engraved designs by J. D. Saint, for three girandoles and two pendeloque earrings, 1759.
Two types of earring dominate the i 8th century: the pendeloque and the ,irandole. pendeloque earrings had been ;n favour since the early part of the century, but their greatest popularity came in the 177os. Their basic design consisted of a circular or oval surmount supporting an elongated drop which counterbalanced the excessively high hairstyles of that time. The pair shown here represent one of the commonest of ,he many variants. A diamond and pearl cluster supports a diamond ribbon bow motif suspended with a pear-shaped diamond drop with a pearl swing centre.
decorated with small rose diamonds. Dating these earrings can be problematic. Earlier examples have engraved scrolling on the back, while later ones are stamped out from a die and are coarser in appearance. They are frequently accompanied by a bodice ornament of ribbon bow known as a ‘lava’ which derives from the traditional s6vign6. These Iberian examples are not particularly heavy, having pierced mounts and being set with fewer stones; this explains the fitting which, unlike the conventional i 8th-century girandole, consists of a gold hinged hook which is inserted into the ear from back to front without any additional supporting device.
Other pendeloques follow closely the traditional i 8th-century prototypes. Some have a ribbon bow and pear-shaped drop, others a much more elongated pendant, as long as 8 cms. A typical Portuguese earring derived from the pendeloque is the Brincos a Rainha’, ‘Queen’s earring’. It has a bow surmount and a swing centre, but the drop is usually wider and stones are replaced by faceted gold bead motifs. All our examples are made from a sheet of high carat gold (usually 20 carat) from which the design has been cut out by means of a saw and file, producing a lace-like effect. Inlays were skilfully chiselled by hand and the collets that were placed round the stones, usually rose diamonds, were made separately and embellished by the burin. Later examples in the 19th century were frequently cast in the chosen shape and then finished with the chisel and burin.
In another area of the Iberian peninsula centred around Catalonia, during the late i 8th century, the girandole was the inspiration for the design of the extremely popular ‘Catalan earring’, which remained in vogue virtually unmodified up to the end of the 19th century. Unlike the Portuguese examples, Catalan earrings are extremely long and resemble later 8th-century Spanish girandoles. They are mounted with an abundance of gemstones in closed settings and chased mounts. The stones are never diamonds but semiprecious stones such as hessonite garnets and amethysts. The central ribbon bow motif is greatly stylized, the emphasis being on length rather than width, and all the elements are integrated into the overall design. Some examples have a very large central drop flanked by two smaller ones, thus retaining the structure of the girandole, while others have only a single large drop and are closer in conception to the pendeloque. The long popularity of this type of earring in Catalonia is demonstrated by numerous surviving examples and by its frequent appearance even in i 9th-century portraits, e.g. , the Flower Woman from Valencia by Joaquim Argasot y Juan. The sitter is wearing typical Catalan earrings mounted in gold with dark green gemstones, the usual stylized ribbon bow surmount suspending three drops-, they are so long that they nearly rest on the shawl draped over the woman’s shoulders. Indeed, these Catalan earrings could measure up to 14 cms and were often so heavy that they had to be supported by an additional hook placed over the ear. Sidney Churchill, in an article on ‘Peasant Jewellery’ published in The Studio, mentions the practice of alleviating the weight of a heavy earring by means of a ribbon tied round the ear, which he saw in Nicosia as late as 19 12.

During the last years of the reign of Louis XIV and the first years of the reign of his great-grandson Louis XV, France was governed by a regent, Philip of Orleans. The furniture made in this period (from about 1710 to 1735) was Baroque in character, but somewhat different from Louis XIV furniture; this division of the Baroque is called the Regency style. The principal cabinetmaker of the Regency period was Charles Cressent (1685-1768). In Regency furniture the tendency towards informality was further developed: it was a style of transition between the Louis XIV style and the Louis XV style that was to follow. The slightly curved outlines of the later Louis XIV furniture were replaced by freer, more graceful curves—the S-shaped legs were not so stiffly upright. But the strict symmetry of the Louis XIV style was retained. Martial motifs were no longer used. Sometimes little monkeys were introduced, suggested perhaps by the paintings of Gillot and Watteau. Not only were the outlines more curved, but the surfaces as well became bombe, or slightly bulging. The typical Regency commode has a slightly bulging front.
It was at this time that the cabinet-makers learned the technique of veneering curved surfaces. Mahogany and rosewood drove out ebony, though gilt was kept for the carved furniture. These woods, imported from the tropics, were found excellent for veneering. Much of the carved and gilded furniture was made, as it had been to some extent under Louis XIV, in beech. This is a wood very suitable for such treatment. It is hard and close-grained enough for delicate carving, and tough enough for a strong joint; and since its grain is uninteresting nothing is lost by gilding it. Moreover it is easily obtainable in Europe, and consequently cheap. For the construction of chairs there are few better woods than beech. It is not often used for carving where strength is not required—for picture frames, for example, a softer wood such as lime is used.
The style known as Louis XV was fashionable from about 1735 till 1750. Louis XV went on reigning till 1774, but there was a complete change of style at about 1750. In Louis XV furniture the symmetry characteristic of the Louis XIV style at last disappears. A general balance was kept in the design of carved decorations, but the parts were not strictly symmetrical. The motifs of the carving included shells, garlands of flowers, musical instruments and gay figures from Greek mythology. Furniture was still partly gilded, but white paint was used with gilt for a lighter effect. Ormolu mounts were placed wherever possible: on the ends of table legs as doe’s feet, on the corners of table-tops and round the edges of commodes. In the search for gaiety of style lacquering was adopted; cabinets were lacquered in the Chinese manner, but there was no general `Chinese style’ as there was at about the same time in England.
The furniture of this period shows the unnatural curves into which ingenious cabinet-makers and joiners can shape wood, a fairly straight-grained material. Everything that could be curved was curved—not only the legs of tables and chairs, but drawer-fronts, the sides and fronts of cupboards, the edges of table-tops. The style was nicknamed Rocaille, or Rococo, from a type of fancy pebble-work fashionable in garden decoration at the time. In the end, the curves became so exaggerated that inventiveness could go no further, and designers began to seek for a new style.
The authority for the change of style did not come from the king, who was a person of weak character, but from Mme de Pompadour, who had great influence at the Court. In 1748 the ruins of buried Pompeii were dug up, and in the same year Mme de Pompadour sent a mission to Italy to study ‘the true beauty of ancient art’. The mission consisted of her brother, the Marquis of Marigny, the architect Soufflot and the engraver Cochin; these envoys were expected to find ideas for a new furniture style.
Louis XVI Carved Details
Acanthus leaf (cf. Renaissance) and Louis XIV acanthus leaves)
Rose of laurel leaves
Egg and dart moulding
CLASSICAL REVIVAL (1750-1815)
The new style which resulted from the researches of this mission came later to be known as the style of Louis XVI, although it began some years before his accession. All the Louis XV curves were now abolished, and chair legs and table legs became straight, and were usually turned and fluted. Gilt was used in smaller quantities, and much of the furniture was painted in pale colours. The decorative detail—the profiles of Carved roses
Arm-chair
with
fluted leg
Ribbon decorating a moulding
also used as decoration, for the chief cabinet-maker of the time, Jean Henri Riesener (1734-1806) worked for Marie Antoinette, and she was very fond of roses. The early Louis XVI furniture, as compared with the grossly elaborate furniture of the end of the Louis XV period, was graceful and light in appearance; yet it was soberly made and gave an effect of dignity and strength.
In the time of Louis XIV the people of the Court had thought of themselves as conquering heroes; and in the time of Louis XV as dallying nymphs and shepherds. They now played the parts of Greek gods, and looked down upon ordinary human affairs with haughty indifference. They indulged themselves in simple tastes and manners, and pretended to be preoccupied with virtue. Superficially they had purer customs than their predecessors; and their furniture was superficially simple. In spite of their affectations, they made their rooms very comfortable indeed. The furniture, smaller than that of any preceding style, was more home-like and gentle.
Towards the end of the reign of Louis XVI more Greco-Roman remains were dug up. Classicism now dominated furniture-making to such an extent that all the natural French graces were suppressed. Ancient designs were exactly copied rather than used as ideas on which to base a native style.
Although the French Revolution was accompanied by many social changes in French life, it had little effect on furniture style: furniture continued to be made in the unnatural late Louis XVI style, except that for a short time revolutionary emblems (clasped hands, workmen’s tools) were used in the decoration. The new rulers, who called themselves friends of `the people’, were as arrogant in their airs as the Court had been, and took over all the trappings of monarchical pomp. There were a few affectations of lower-class simplicity, but there was not sufficient interest in general welfare for the daily habits of life to be much affected. There was no modernization of furniture: it remained ‘antique’. The furniture style of the last years of the reign of Louis XVI and of the First Republic is called Directoire—after the Directorate by which France was governed for the four years preceding the Napoleonic period. Directoire style can be regarded as a version of Louis XVI style.
Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign produced a new kind of antiquity to imitate. The expedition was accompanied by archaeologists, who made drawings of everything they could find. There was immediately an Egyptian fashion in furniture. The Empire style, which lasted from about 1800 till 1820, was perhaps even more pompous than the Louis XIV style. Most of the furniture was of dark red mahogany, decorated with ormolu mounts. Designers sought an Egyptian effect in everything—stern and impressive simplicity. Gilded sphinxes held up the arms of chairs : Egyptian motifs were symbols of Empire. With the imperial manner went the martial manner. France was an armed camp, and the Parisians played at being world conquerors. Stools were made in the form of drums, beds in the form of tents, and ormolu spearheads were stuck on to mahogany panels. So much energy was spent in making furniture express national glories that comfort was neglected. Empire furniture was more uncomfortable to use than any furniture made since the Renaissance, when comfort began to be an important consideration.
NINETEENTH CENTURY
With the fall of Napoleon and the end of the Empire, France relaxed from the efforts and responsibilities of greatness. There was a strong back-to-the-good-old-times movement, but some difficulty in deciding which good old times were best. In the eighty years from 1820 till 1900, France revived all her old styles one by one. There was a Gothic revival, a Renaissance revival, a Louis XV revival, a Louis XVI revival, and then an Empire revival—all in quick succession. Towards the end of the century nearly all French houses contained pieces of imitation period furniture from all the periods. Most of the imitations were rather bad copies of old pieces; many of them were machine-made, and delicacy of detail was therefore lost. Much of the furniture was not even copied from models, but designed ‘in the spirit of the style’ by designers who were too busy to have a very accurate knowledge of any one style. There was no uniformity of fashion; a designer might be working on Renaissance one day and Louis XVI the next.
At this time the production of fake antiques was a flourishing business. The fakes were very well made, often exactly copied from museum pieces—experts are sometimes deceived by nine-Empire Carved Details
Rose from the cradle of the
King of Rome
Arm-chair
Arm-chair
Bed
teenth-century fakes. One enterprising manufacturer pretended
to have discovered a hitherto unknown Louis XV cabinet-maker
and supported the story with faked documents giving the details
of his life. When people became interested in the discovery, the
manufacturer had pieces of Louis XV furniture made in his workshops and offered them for sale one by one as genuine examples of the work of this imaginary cabinet-maker.
Towards the end of the century, French pride reasserted itself. Designers at last grew disgusted with copying and decided to create a new style, one that would take nothing from the past. Nature was to provide the inspiration. The teachings of William Morris were partly responsible for this break with tradition: he attacked the bad taste of machine-production and made designs, for furniture and house furnishings, suitable to hand-production. The French designers, however, were more eccentric than Morris and his English followers, but equally sincere in their resolution to develop a natural beauty of design. They studied the forms and pattern of nature, making careful drawings of roots and twigs to guide them in their work. The furniture they designed is known as Art Nouveau, or ‘Style 1900′. In the furniture made from their designs natural wood was used, without paint or gilt, and it was all hand-made. Forms undreamed of even in the period of Louis XV were imposed on wood; not being furniture-makers themselves, the designers took little thought for the appropriateness of their designs to construction in wood. The style flourished from 1900 to 1905, and then went completely out of fashion. Although this furniture was too eccentric looking for domestic use, it represents the first attempt to abolish the nineteenth-century custom of copying, and, more important, the first realization in France of the bad effects of machine production on style. The Art Nouveau designers tried to solve the machine problem by ignoring machines and designing furniture that could only be made by hand. A better solution still remains to be found.
We have followed, briefly, the history of French furniture styles from the twelfth to the twentieth century. We have studied the way in which the various styles have developed one from another, and we have seen how the impact of new materials and technical advances has influenced furniture-makers in their creation of new styles. But such influences are common to furniture-makers in all countries—they do not explain why particular styles have been evolved in France different from the styles of other countries. The French quality of the styles is due, not to the furniture-makers, but to the people for whom the furniture was made. To complete our picture of the succession of French styles, it is necessary to show why each style in turn became inadequate from the point of view of the users of furniture, and what each new style offered them to satisfy their changing needs.
The first furniture was made in the Romanesque style, which was derived from the remnants of Roman architecture. It was the only possible style at the beginning; in seeking a respectable appearance for their furniture, the first carpenters naturally chose the conventional forms popular at the time.
This style could not long satisfy a people that was gradually coming to be conscious of itself as a distinct nation. A style based on what was to them a dead past, a past during which their country was occupied by foreign conquerors, was not one in which they could take pride. They therefore found a new, French, style : the Gothic style. The principles of Gothic architecture were first worked out in France; the Gothic style is truly French.
The Gothic style became identified with the Church. The desire for freedom from Church authority expressed itself in the Renaissance. Renaissance furniture, in superseding the Gothic, corresponded with a change in domestic life to freer, livelier habits.
Renaissance furniture, though much more elaborate than Gothic furniture, was not gorgeous enough for the Court of Louis XIV. In his attempts to make France the centre of the world, and himself the most conspicuous world figure, he insisted that everything around him should be dazzlingly magnificent. Baroque furniture was designed to flatter the vanity of Louis and his Court.
But the enthusiasm for Baroque furniture declined when people grew weary of the strain of keeping up a constant show of grandeur. In the two later Baroque periods, Regency and Rococo, there was a general relaxation from grandeur. Rococo was not merely informal, but vulgar; there was no discipline of design—the decorations were piled on in a deliberately untidy way.
Rococo became so chaotic in design that it had to be abandoned. The French are fundamentally a very sane people; and in the styles of the Classical Revival they reaffirmed their sanity. Louis XVI and Directoire furniture expressed restraint and self-possession. It avoided the ridiculous errors of taste of Rococo furniture, and had a delicacy that was altogether lacking in the furniture of those periods in which France was striving for national glory.
But Classical Revival was greatly modified during the Empire; all its gentleness was suppressed. Empire furniture was pompous, like Baroque furniture, and designed to dramatize impressive public and martial achievements. There was a new sternness—the pride of a nation of campaigners could not be expressed in Baroque magnificence.
The strong public emphasis of Empire furniture made it impossible for ordinary private use. A domestic version of the Empire style followed. Furniture became heavier, its lines rounder. The period of public glories was over and people turned to domestic pleasures. But private happiness throughout the whole nineteenth century meant chiefly physical comfort, and the furniture showed it. The public dignity characteristic of the Empire style was lost; and the mixed styles that succeeded it did not have private dignity, only a look of prosperity.
Art Nouveau furniture was an attempt to escape from the deadening hold of the traditional styles. People were feeling that in the new century all the stale customs of the past must at last be got rid of, and completely new ways found of doing things—ways so right that they would never need to be changed. The Art Nouveau designers hoped to create an original and perfect style, safe from corruption by outside influences. The style was supposed to be so natural that, like nature itself, it would not degenerate, no matter what changes took place in life. But these designers only succeeded in isolating furniture from the normal activities of life. The style was a failure—because any solution of furniture problems must relate furniture to the world in which it is being used.
Traditional French furniture was closely related to Court life, which was, however, itself isolated from the daily affairs of the world. Much French furniture is beautiful, and the standard of craftsmanship has always been high, but it is like stage furniture. Its chief purpose was to provide a dramatic setting for the Court. French Provincial furniture, although much better than the Court furniture, was too homely in character to be accepted by the French as a standard of good style.

Art Deco Tables: DINING TABLE, MAPLE CONSOLE TABLE, BRITISH DRUM TABLE, FRENCH MAHOGANY TABLE, BRITISH DINING TABLE

ART DECO TABLES
AFTER WORLD WAR I, designers working
in the Art Deco style created tables of extraordinary richness and originality. continuing the Art Nouveau tradition in a less flamboyant manner.
TRADITIONAL FORMS
Many Art Deco furniture designers based their designs on traditional table forms, such as the early oak trestle table and the drop-leaf designs of the 18th century. They used richly figured timbers, such as walnut, yew, and mahogany, and decorated their tables with crossbanding in exotic woods, such as ebony and tulip wood.
Emile-Jacques Ruhimann and Jules Leleu created writing tables, dressing tables, and pier tables that echoed the forms favoured by the French ehenistes of the l8th and I 9th centuries. They used exotic materials, such as lacquer and expensive wood veneers, and their tables often featured decorative details, such as drawer pulls of ivory, slender legs terminating in sabots of gilded bronze, and table tops covered with leather, sharkskin, or marble.
The Irish-born designer Eileen Gray designed finely crafted and exquisitely lacquered tables whose abstract shapes
were frequently defined by different-coloured lacquers and costly inlays of foil and mother-of-pearl.
BOLD INNOVATIONS
The furniture designers who followed a more Modernist Art Deco path, such as Marcel Coard and Pierre Chateau in France, and Donald Deskey in the United States, made tables for a wide variety of uses in bold geometric shapes, such as cubes, cylinders, and pyramids. They used innovative materials characteristic of the machine age, including mirror glass, chrome, and tubular steel, and interpreted traditional forms, such as the tilt-top table with great ingenuity.
Pierre Legrain combined luxurious and machine-age materials with severity of form in a striking low table entitled “Python”, which he designed in 1928 for Pierre Meyer. Made entirely of wood, the long, rectangular top and two supports are entirely sheathed in snakeskin. The supports fit into a rectangular base, which is the mirror image of the top, but is veneered in nickel plate. Two nickel-plated ovoid discs encircle the square supports, completing the symmetry of the design.
The stepped top of the table is a distinctive Art Deco feature.
The octagonal shape of the table top is innovative and striking.
The substantial apron adds strength to the table design.

BRITISH DINING TABLE
This solid, architectural table is from a table and six chair set designed by H&L Epstein. Made from walnut, the table top is octagonal in shape, with black-lacquered banding running around the edge. Two rectangular block legs
with block feet, connected to each other by a rectangular panel, support the table top. The crossbanding around the edge and the thick inlaid band of crossbanding across the table top add a subtle but decorative touch to the distinctive markings of the walnut veneer.
c.1935.
The overhanging top is reminiscent of early trestle and refectory tables.
The two box-shaped table legs replace the usual four
supports at either end
The central support links the two table legs.

FRENCH SIDE TABLE
This rosewood side table, designed by Michel Dufet, is composed of geometric forms, which are characteristic of the Art Deco style. The circular rosewood surface has a glass top, and is placed on two rectangular supports. The
whole table is supported on a lipped tray base. Furniture designers who favoured the Modernist thread of the Art Deco style created all kinds of tables with strong geometric outlines, including interlocking circles, triangles, and cubes. c.1930.
This 12-sided table is decorated all over with mirrors to create an unusual, completely mirrored surface. The table top is supported by slightly tapering square legs. c.1930.
This geometric occasional table is made from walnut and has an octagonal, crossbanded top that is raised on a rectangular column. The column is centred on a square, spreading base.
This Lucie Renaudot rosewood, mahogany, and ivory-inlaid side table, has a circular top with ivory dentil edging. The stepped, square-section legs are united by a square undertier. c.1925.
This table is made from walnut and has a circular top, attached to tapering square legs that support the whole table. The table top is covered with a mirrored surface. c.1930.
OCCASIONAL TABLE
WALNUT TABLE
Maker’s label
FRENCH MAHOGANY TABLE
MIRROR TABLE

BELGIAN COFFEE TABLE
FRENCH U-SHAPED TABLE
Designed by De Coene Freres, this Belgian lyre console table stands on a lipped tray base. The base supports a highly polished lyre-shaped frame, a popular feature of the Art Deco style. The frame in turn supports a narrow, rectangular table top. c 1930.
This rosewood coffee table, designed by De Coene Freres, is veneered in walnut and has two legs made of chrome tubing. Two crossed, lipped tray bases support the U-shaped structure. The chrome tubular legs reinforce the rectangular table top, which has rounded corners. c.1930.
This graceful French side table has a rectangular top with a stepped edge. It is supported by a tulip-shaped structure, rather than conventional legs, with decorative chrome detailing at the base. The table has been restored and piano varnished, hence its glossy black appearance. c.1930.
BELGIAN LYRE CONSOLE TABLE

BRITISH DRUM TABLE
This sturdy oak drum occasional table is designed in the style of Betty Joel. A broad central oak cylinder supports three circular table tops, each arranged one above the other. c.1935.
BRITISH QUARTETTO TABLE
The quartette table is designed by H&L Epstein and is made from burr maple. The set of four small tables of graduated size nest together and are supported on square legs. c.1930.
CHROMIUM TABLE
This chromium-plated occasional table has a circular top inset with a black glass panel above three curved supports. The supports are attached to a circular ebonized base on flattened bun feet.
MAPLE CONSOLE TABLE
This console table has a maple top with a moulded mahogany edge, and a single drawer at the front. The two U-shaped supports are united by a stretcher beneath and have arched feet.
AMERICAN DINING TABLE
This extension dining table, designed by Paul Frankl, has a white rectangular gesso top with gently bowed edges and two 30.5cm- (12in-) long leaves that rest on two curved mahogany supports. Each of the mahogany supports
incorporates three V-shaped slats. The robust, architectural nature of this piece is typical of Paul Frankl’s furniture designs, which reflected trends in contemporary architecture. The chevron pattern of the supports is reminiscent of key design elements on the Chrysler Building.
DINING TABLE
This elegant dining table is part of a table and eight chair set. The table has a simple rectangular top, with pull-out extensions. A pedestal base, with two C-shaped supports, carries the solid table top. The eight chairs
that accompany the dining table have solid backs with upholstered seats. The graceful interaction of interlocking arcs and rectangles adds a powerful three-dimensional and
distinctively avant-garde element to the shape of the conventional rectangular dining table.

Art Deco European Furniture: ITALIAN CABINET, WALNUT EASY CHAIR, ITALIAN BUFFET, SWEDISH CHAIR, BELGIAN DESK, ITALIAN COFFEE TABLE

TREMENDOUS UPHEAVALS came about
in Europe in the wake of World War 1. The need for change was keenly felt by architects and designers from Italy to Belgium and the Netherlands, and from Germany to Scandinavia.
At the heart of this longing for change lay a functionalist ideology and a desire for art to accommodate the exciting technological advances of the early 20th century Mass-produced, functional furniture designs became the order of the day, a philosophy that was realized by Alvar Aalto in Finland and with the formation in 1919 of the Bauhaus by Walter Gropius. Internationally acclaimed, the Bauhaus sought to
bring together the talents of creative artists, designers, and craftsmen, to create prototype designs suitable for industrial mass production (see p.426).
Although the Modernist Bauhaus style prevailed in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s, there were also architects and designers working in a more decorative manner. Using vibrant colours, and drawing on the Rococo and Biedermeier styles for inspiration, German Art Deco furniture exhibited Oriental touches in its use of lacquer, together with Cubist detailing. Bruno Paul’s “Room for a Gentleman”, shown at Macy’s department store in New York in 1928, was typical of the
restrained form of Art Deco that was pursued by these German designers. The room contained lacquered furniture with inlay work, and a rug with a geometric design. Many German and Austrian – mainly Jewish – designers emigrated to America in the late 1.920s and early I 930s, and joined Paul Frankl (see p.397) in developing the Art Deco style there.
NORTHERN EUROPEAN TRENDS It was in the Netherlands that the concept of abstraction was first applied to furniture design. At the helm of this revolutionary artistic idea was the avant-garde De Stijl group, formed
in 1917 by the painters Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian. The functionalist furniture designed by the group was conspicuously absent from the 1925 Paris Exhibition. The Dutch pavilion there was designed by J.E Staal, a member of the Amsterdam School, which favoured the use of theatrical, expressionist, and Oriental motifs in furniture designs. Among the exhibits was furniture by C.A. Lion Cachet, designed for a Dutch ocean liner. He used dark tropical woods inlaid with ivory and lighter woods in traditional-shaped pieces with Oriental decoration and parchment panels. Jaap Gidding’s cinema and theatre interiors also followed the French Art Deco style. The Tuschinski cinema in Amsterdam (1918-21) was typical, with its decorative, opulent interior, and special light effects.
In Scandinavia, Art Deco took a more classical turn with an emphasis on elegance, proportion, luxurious materials, and hand-crafting. In 1930, British writer, Morton Shand, defined the Swedish restrained Neoclassical style prevalent at the 1925 Paris
Exhibition as a “line characterized by its slender and almost elfin grace”. Exhibiting a similar style, Otto Meyer’s and Jacob Petersen’s graceful, curving chairs crafted out A sycamore and
mahogany were superbly set off by the batik wall-covering of Ebbe Sadolin in the Danish pavilion.
ITALIAN BALANCE
Italian furniture designers struggled to find a balance between the demand for classical elegance and the language of the sophisticated modern style.
Although ill at case with the display of sumptuous luxury that was the hallmark of French Art Deco, Italian cabinets, tables, writing desks, and chairs made full use of the beauty of lustrous local and exotic timbers. Many of them were embellished with bronze mounts, or lightly carved or
inlaid patterns of flower baskets, garlands, or geometric motifs that were typical of Art Deco.
The Italian version of Art Deco reached its fullest expression in the hands of the innovative architect Gio Ponti. He successfully managed to combine the functional, geometric, spare structure promoted by the Wiener Werkstatte designers with the sophisticated and elegant refinements of the French Art Deco style.

ITALIAN COFFEE TABLE
This fine Italian coffee table has a rectangular glass-topped surface on tapering plank legs. It has been crafted from bird’s-eye maple and ebony veneer. Exotic wood veneers, such as the ebony used in this piece, were commonly used
in European Art Deco furniture. The dark ebony highlights the simple geometric structure of the coffee table.
This Swiss walnut desk has a rectangular top with rounded corners. The central drawer and two flanking cabinets have decorative “English-style” handles, and the whole piece is raised
on square feet. The grain of the walnut has been highlighted, providing additional visual interest. c.1925.
BELGIAN DESK
Designed by De Coene Freres, this Belgian desk has four drawers, tapering legs, and nickel feet, and is covered in black lacquer. The sleek black design demonstrates a relinquishing of unnecessary decoration in favour of pure functionality. c. 1930.
SWEDISH CHAIR
This Swedish Art Deco chair is upholstered in brown leather and supported upon tapering legs, with two slightly splayed rear legs, and curvilinear arm rests. The backrest has a
central panel with burr wood and satinwood details. c.1920.
This bridge chair is one of a pair designed by De Coene Freres. The curved armrests form a continuous “U” shape with the bowed seat frame. The chair is upholstered in a red, checked fabric and has tapering front legs.

The rectilinear structure of the buffet is emphasized by the austere placement
of the doors and drawers.
The ivory inlay used for the drawer pulls is a typical Art Deco detail.
ITALIAN BUFFET
The shelf structure of this Italian buffet is characteristic of Art Deco design, combining clean lines and asymmetry with a luxurious and decorative burr wood finish. The shelf structure contains a mirror on a case with four small drawers and a twin
cabinet door enclosing an adjustable shelf. Subtle, inlaid handles are attached to the four drawers and the cabinet doors. The geometric shape is typical of Italian Art Deco, which took its lead from the Wiener Werlkstatte. The use of exotic timber is more typical of the French style.
The burr wood veneer
makes a boldly
luxurious statement
ITALIAN CABINET
This rectangular Ulrich Guglielmo cabinet has two doors and is supported on a square plinth lined with goat parchment. The doors have ivory mounts and the plinth is veneered with kingwood. Round ebony knobs, with gilded bronze mountings and keys, are attached to the 14 interior drawers. c.1930.
WALNUT EASY CHAIR
This continental walnut easy chair is upholstered in cream, a popular colour in Art Deco furniture design. The chair has broad, curving armrests, each supported on three vertical fluted rods, and moulded sledge-like block feet.

American Art Deco Furniture: MAPLE DESK, CHINA CABINET, PAINTED SCREEN, COMMODE, ILLUMINATED BAR.

ALTHOUGH THE UNITED STATES did not
participate in the 1925 Paris Exhibition, the Exhibition was still hugely influential there. Many American designers, including Eugene Schoen, visited it, and it was covered by American newspapers and magazines. Also, the following year, a tour of more than 400 objects that had been displayed in Paris was organized by Charles Richards, director of the American Association of Museums. He had been impressed by the Exhibition and hoped to initiate
“a parallel movement” in the United States by mounting the tour.
New York department stores, such as Lord & Taylor and R.H. Macy Company, also helped to publicize the Art Deco style by putting on exhibitions in the late 1920s of Art Deco furniture by leading Parisian designers. Eugene Schoen emulated his French contemporaries by creating pieces in rare and exotic woods, incorporating marquetry and inlays, coloured lacquers, and subtle carvings. His forms were architectural, with
their clean lines and restrained, stylized decoration, and his cabinetmaking was of the highest quality.
A NEW DIRECTION
A parallel Art Deco movement did blossom in the United States, but it developed along different lines to those of Europe. A handful of innovative designers, such as Paul Frankl, K.E.M. Weber, and Josef Urban, who had been born in Europe, combined the French Art Deco style with those of the Bauhaus (see p.386) and the Wiener
Werkstatte in their designs. Instead of producing expensive luxury pieces, they created well-crafted, functional pieces that could be mass produced.
Donald Deskey, the principal interior designer for New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, created dramatic, highly charged furniture. It combined the luxurious elements of French Art Deco with the more functional and rectilinear features of the Bauhaus style, which made full use of the latest technology. Deskey used the rare woods, lacquer, and glass loved by French designers but combined them with modern materials, such as aluminium and Bakelite, to embellish his opulent furniture designs.
American designers welcomed the machine age with open arms. They decorated their furniture with machine motifs, such as interlocking cogs and wheels. They celebrated speed and dynamism with the increasingly streamlined look of their furniture inspired by automobiles, ocean liners, and locomotives, and motifs based on dramatic bolts of lightning. They made bold use of Cubist-inspired geometric shapes and jazzy abstract patterns, arid iucludcd iconic American molds based
on the modern city and way of life, such as the skyscraper.
The industrial designer K.E.M. Weber established a Californian version of Art Deco. His distinctive furniture was mostly made from metal and glass and often had skyscraper-like features. Weber created sleek, functional furniture for private commissions as well as designs intended for mass production, using new materials such as chromed metal, sprung steel, and laminated wood. He also designed lavish Art Deco furniture for dazzling Hollywood film sets, which were largely responsible for transmitting the American Art Deco style to the world.

Eugene Schoen designed this maple desk for Schieg Hungate and Kotzian. The heavy rectangular desktop, with moulded sides, sits on block feet. The supporting table underneath, which has a semi-circular cut-out, carries the desktop section. c.1935
Signed and dated Robert W Charter
1928.
CHINA CABINET
This simple, rectilinear cabinet was designed by Paul Frankl. The limed, slate grey base and case of the lower section provide a striking contrast to the three ivory doors with semi-circular brass pulls. On top of this is is an unadorned china cabinet with a limed ivory finish. The three shelves of the cabinet are enclosed by two sliding glass doors.
MAPLE DESK
PAINTED SCREEN
This dramatic, three-panelled wooden screen by Robert Winthrop Chanter features two zebras locked in combat, painted in black and tan on an ivory background. The back of the screen is decorated with diagonal stripes in black with silver foil, in imitation of a zebra’s stripes.
The screen is signed and dated in the lower right corner. Chanter’s screens were greatly admired, and this example was commissioned by the Broadway composer Kay Swift and her husband. Screens were popular during the Art Deco period and this particular piece is of the utmost luxury, as emphasized by the use of silver foil. 1928.

PAINTED CHAIR
This William L. Price painted chair has moulded legs and an intricately carved backrest. It was designed for the dining room at Traymore Hotel, New Jersey, which was demolished in 1972.
STEEL STOOL
One of a set of four patinated steel stools, this stool has an upholstered, padded seat and a pierced apron cast with scrolling foliage. The stool has turned supports, linked by stretchers, with a maker’s label.
COMMODE
Designed by John Widdicomb for a department store, this commode has a geometrically inlaid top above a single long drawer, with stylized inlay. The twin inlaid and figured panel doors enclose three drawers. H 111.75cm (44in). FRE
ILLUMINATED BAR
Made from black lacquer with an exotic wood veneer, this illuminated bar has a central cabinet with fluted doors and a mirrored interior.
It was in 1925 that Frankl really came into his own as a furniture designer with his renowned range of custom-made furniture inspired by the New York skyline and the skyscrapers that soared above his New York gallery. Typical Frankl “skyscraper” designs, which frequently evoke the pure lines found in the work of the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, include tall, stepped chests of drawers, cabinets, and bookcases boasting an architectonic, rectilinear form. They were made from oak or California redwood and were sometimes
“Skyscraper” chest This rare Paul Frankl chest is asymmetrical, with long and short drawers, a single cabinet, a pull-out enamelled shelf in red and black, and geometrically shaped brass pulls.

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.

Antiques: Furniture, Tables, Cabinets, 18th Century Furniture, Art Deco Furniture Recently Featured at Antcollectors (3)

Early 19th Century Chairs

ALL “THE CHARACTERISTICS oF Regency
and Empire furniture, from the Neoclassical motifs – often on pierced backs – to the choice of timbers, are displayed on early 19th-century chairs.
One of the most typical types of chair of the period is the Trafalgar chair, which was made in Britain and used for dining. The chair had two horizontal splats – one usually of bar form, the lower one sometimes a rope-twist, set above a caned or drop-in seat. Caning, with all its exotic overtones, was revived again during this period, particularly on British or Cape furniture. During the first two decades of the century the front and back legs were usually of sabre form, but turned or ring-turned legs, which are Structurally stronger, were used later.
These chairs, and many that they inspired, were often made of solid mahogany or rosewood, with veneered
panels on the bar back. Beech was used, and was often painted; light-coloured woods were favoured outside Britain. Chairs from this period rarely had stretchers.
One type of armchair, inspired by Georges Jacob, had a rectangular, scrolled, upholstered back and open arms with straight supports, often carved with sphinx heads or female masks. It also had turned and tapered front legs. These more comfortable fauteuils might be used in the drawing room, whilst Regency bcrgeres, which had caned backs, sides, and seats, were probably made for the library. These chairs had squab cushions, often covered in leather and buttoned. Other pieces might be upholstered in silk or velvet. Needlework was rare, although a suite of furniture from the Winter Palace in Russia, was covered in tapestry, in a mixture of wool and silk.

ENGLISH TRAFALGAR CHAIR
FRENCH DIRECTOIRE CHAIR
This Regency mahogany dining chair has a plain top rail and a rope-twist back rail. The needlework-covered drop-in seat is supported on a plain seat rail and sabre legs. One of a set of four. Early 19th century.
This is one of a pair of Directoire side chairs, each with a rectilinear back rail and splat inlaid with brass musical instruments. The upholstered stuffover seat is supported on sabre legs. c.1800.
SWEDISH BIEDERMEIER ARMCHAIR
CHINA TRADE ARMCHAIR
This birch open armchair has a stepped yoke backrest with a decorative oval inlay and scrolled armrests. The drop-in seat has a plain seat rail and is raised on sabre legs. c.1825.
This Asian hardwood armchair, has a Greek-key carved top rail and a shaped, carved back rail. The cane seat rests on a reeded seat rail above slender reeded legs joined by an T-stretcher. Early 19th century.
All the surfaces of the chair are carved and decorated in shades ofgreen, blue, and red, highlighted with gold.
INDIAN THRONE CHAIR
This polychrome-painted, ivory-veneered chair is in an exaggerated Regency style. It has an arched, slightly panelled back with a reeded top rail, carved uprights, sabre legs, and paw feet. c.1830.

AMERICAN FEDERAL SIDE CHAIR
This walnut and fruitwood side chair has a gently reclining back with a rectangular top and back rail. The padded seat is supported on a plain seat rail above stylized cabriole legs. Early 1901 century.
These Biedermeier mahogany-veneered dining chairs were made in Berlin. Each chair has a bar top rail, a solid, shaped back rail with a central oval, and elegant, slightly sweeping uprights. The shaped caned seats are set
within a curved frame with a rounded seat rail and are supported on tour outswept sabre legs. 1820-30.
This mahogany side chair has a moulded and rope-carved shield back around an urn, Princeof-Wales feathers, draped swags, and leaves. The serpentine seat rests on reeded, tapering legs. Early 19th century.
FRENCH RESTAURATION CHAIR
GERMAN BIEDERMEIER CHAIRS

AMERICAN GONDOLA CHAIR
ITALIAN GONDOLA CHAIRS
GEORGE III SHIELD-BACK CHAIR
This is one of a pair of Neoclassical figured mahogany gondola chairs, each with a curved back and vasiform, solid splat, a padded slip seat, and downswept stiles continuing into shaped sabre front legs. c.1830.
These six dining chairs are made of walnut and are designed in the Neoclassical style. Each chair has an unusual fluted, rectangular backrest positioned above a pierced, stylized leaf border. The cane seats have an applied
roundel at each side and are supported on plain seat rails. The chairs are raised on sabre legs. The elegant sweeping uprights give the chairs their characteristic shape, which is reminiscent of the style of the gondola boats found in Venice.
Early 191h century.
This mahogany armchair has a shield-shaped, curved back, outlined with guilloche moulding, with five reeded splats, curved downswept arms, a bowed seat rail, and reeded, tapering front legs.
RUSSIAN OPEN ARMCHAIR
AMERICAN DINING CHAIRS
SWEDISH GUSTAVIAN SIDE CHAIR
This birch open armchair has a stepped yoke backrest, with carved fan detail, and slender, scrolled armrests. The upholstered seat is raised on sabre legs. It is one of a pair. Early 19th century.
These eight Neoclassical-style dining chairs are made of mahogany. Each chair has a flat curved top rail carved with a foliate pattern and a slender horizontal splat, also decorated with leaf carving, plus a rosette. The seats
are upholstered with black Naugahyde and are showing considerable signs of wear. The seats are supported on plain seat rails and raised on sabre legs. The armchairs have gently curving supports. The set comprises two armchairs and six side chairs, and is attributed to Anthony Quervelle. c.1820.
This white-painted side chair has a shield-shaped back with a solid, carved splat. The padded seat is supported on a moulded seat rail and is raised on stop-fluted legs joined by an H-stretcher. Early 19th century.

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Enamelled glass
The process of enamelling has been known since Roman times, and from the end of the 13th century was used to great effect by Islamic glassmakers to decorate mosque lamps. In Europe enamelling first appeared in Venice in the 15th century, and spread elsewhere during the 16th century. In Vienna in the early 19th century beakers were decorated with transparent enamels
in the Biedermeier style by such artists as Gottlob Samuel Mohr and Anton Kothgasser and in the later part of 19th century copies of earlier styles were made by manufacturers all over Europe, the most outstanding of which were Islamic- and Iznik-style wares, which were made in France, and Histortsmus wares, which were produced in Germany.Enamelling
, which can be used to decorate both colourless and coloured glass, was used extensively in Europe from the 16th century. It was employed most notably to decorate armorial wares, but it was also used to create bright and colourful decoration in naturalistic motifs; naive and charming designs of flowers and animals are highly characteristic. On many wares enamelled decoration was used in conjunction with gilding.
ITALY
The invention of cristallo glass c.14.50 by Angelo Barovier (4.1460) provided a perfectly clear ground that was ideally suited to enamelling in brilliant colours. Enamelling, a technique that the Venetians probably learned from Islamic glassmakers, was at its peak in Venice from the 15th to the mid-16th centuries. The process involved applying a thick paste of powdered glass and a colouring metallic oxide in an oil medium to the surface of the glass, which was then heated in a furnace, where the enamel and glass fused. Each colour required a different firing temperature, and the work could easily burn if overfired. Enamelling is a notoriously difficult technique, and most enamelling of this period is
restricted to the borders, with simple scale and dot patterns. On much more sophisticated wares, such as specially commissioned commemorative tazze (ornamental serving dishes), enamelling was often combined with gilding, and decoration included portraits, coats of arms, family and guild crests, and mythological figures. Although enamelling fell out of favour by the late 16th century, it was revived during the second half of the 18th century by Oswaldo Brussa, who, with his son Angelo, decorated clear-glass beakers, carafes, and bottles with birds, flowers, and biblical scenes in a charming and naive style.
GERMANY AND BOHEMIA
In the 16th century enamelling was developed as a popular form of decoration in the regions of Germany and Bohemia. From the mid-16th century German glass decorators, inspired by finely decorated wares from Venice, used brightly coloured enamels to decorate large, simple shapes made from coarse, robust soda glass. The technique was especially popular for decorating traditional drinking glasses or goblets, particularly the Humpen (simple, cylindrical drinking vessels, the foot rims of which are decorated with white enamelled dashes). Variations on the Humpen include the Reichsadlerhumpen (”Imperial Eagle Beaker”), which was designed to toast and show allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor, and featured the double-headed Imperial eagle with outstretched wings from which hang shields showing the constituent parts of the Empire; the Hofkellereiglas (decorated with armorial decorations), Wilkommhumpen (”greeting glass”), usually of large proportions, and Kurfturstenhumpen (”Elector’s beaker”), decorated with depictions of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Seven Electors of the Empire.
Other German drinking vessels that were enamelled Include goblets and beakers such as the Passglas (a tall cylindrical beaker decorated with horizontal bands, which indicated the amount of beer to be consumed by a drinker before they passed the glass on to the next person) and the Stangenglas (a long narrow beaker on a pedestal base). These wares were enamelled in very bright colours with decoration such as dated armorial and political motifs, Lind designs commemorating guilds and trades.
In Bohemia in the 18th century enamelling was mostly used to decorate flasks, bottles, and tankards made of opaque-white Milchglas (”milk glass”). The white body imitated porcelain, and the decoration featured people, animals, and flowers painted in a naive folk style in bright polychrome enamels.
In the 17th century Johann Schaper (1621-70),
a Hausmaler (”home painter”) based in Nuremberg, developed an enamelling techniques which he used to decorate both glass and porcelain. Schwarzlot (black-lead) enamelling involved decorating glass vessels (mainly tumblers) with black or brown transparent enamel, and was fashionable from c.1650 to 1750. Designs were typically inspired by engravings and depicted battle scenes, landscapes, and mythological subjects.
In the 18th century the popularity of Schwarzlot decoration spread to Bohemia and Silesia. One of the most celebrated exponents of the technique at this time was Ignaz Preissler (1676-1741), a glass and porcelain painter, who used the technique to decorate glass tumblers and flasks with mythological scenes, townscapes, Laub- and Bandelwerk (decoration of interwoven leaves and strapwork), and chinoiserie.
BRITAIN AND SPAIN
Before 17.50 enamelling was relatively rare in Britain. Among the best-known early British enamellers were the Beilby family. In 1760 William Beilby (1740-1819) and his sister Mary Beilby ( 1749-97) moved from Bilston, in Staffordshire, to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the north-east of England, where they enamelled wares between c.1762 and 1774. Their most celebrated wares are large pieces, Such as the “Royal Beilbys” – goblets featuring the Prince of Wales’s feathers and made from 1763 to commemorate the birth of the Prince of Wales (later George IV); their armorial goblets enamelled on the howl and commissioned by local families are also of note. Typical decoration includes simple borders of thinly applied white flowers, fruits, hops, and barley; more ambitious designs include Arcadian landscapes, ruins, and even sporting scenes.
Other British decorators who painted with enamels include-80) and Michael Edkins
,James Giles (1718
(173 1 34-18 11). Giles decorated glassware for the Falcon Glassworks (est. 1693) in London. Edkins, who worked
in Bristol, painted opaque white glass, both with chinoiseries and with charming, naive designs of insects, birds, and other naturalistic motifs.
In Spain enamelled glassware was produced most notably at La Granja de San Ildefonso near Segovia. Established in 1728 by the Catalan glassmaker Ventura Sit (d.1755), near the palace of La Granja, the factory employed French and German glassmakers, who brought with them a variety of techniques and styles that gave the glass an international character. Typical wares include glasses and tumblers, and although many were embellished with gilded decoration, enamelled floral designs, notably tulips and roses, were also popular.
Italy
• GLASS cristallo glass is most typical; some wares appear slightly cloudy due to Grizzling
• DECORATION many pieces feature naive folk art designs of flowers or biblical scenes; on some examples enamelling is used in conjunction with gilding
Germany and Bohemia
• GLASS Milchglas should be a slightly off-white colour
• COLOUR earlier, more collectable glass is often a smoky greyish-green colour; most later glass is a strong green
• DECORATION commemorative designs, rustic scenes, and flowers in bright colours arc typical
• CONDITION damage to enamelling can greatly reduce
the value; worn gilding is common but insignificant
• BEWARE be careful with .Schwarzlot glass that features transfer-printed decoration, as many reproductions were made in the 19th century
Britain and Spain
• GLASS glass is mostly clear, or sometimes blue or white
• DECORATION Britain: some wares by the Beilby family feature armorials; many pieces depict charming, naturalistic designs; Spain: floral designs, especially tulips and roses, arc highly characteristic; designs should be neat and well drawn; enamelling is often combined with gilded decoration
• COLLECTING Britain: “Royal Beilbys” and armorial goblets with coloured decoration are valuable and highly collectable
Styles of enamelled glass produced after 1800 are many and varied. In Germanic Europe (a region that included such cities as Prague, Vienna, Copenhagen, and Berlin) the period known as the Biedermeier period (c.1815–c.1848) was one of middle-class prosperity, and this ensured the continued popularity of such decorative arts as glassmaking. Enamelled wares from the early 19th century are typically decorated with topographical scenes, floral designs, and portraits in bright colours. Following the re-establishment of the German Empire in 1871 there was a revival of the production of traditional German styles of glass; this revival is known as “Historismus”. Exceptional enamelled wares were produced in France in the 19th century, notably elaborate Islamic designs and some delicately decorated opaline wares. In Britain enamelled decoration was mainly restricted to monochromatic transfer-printed patterns on opaque white grounds.
GERMANY AND BOHEMIA
During the Biedermeier period Samuel Mohn (1762-1815), a Hausmaler (”home painter”) in Dresden, pioneered the use of a thin, transparent enamel decoration, which he used to great effect on tumblers and beakers. His son Gottlob Samuel Mohn (1789-1825) learned the technique from his father and in c.1811 went to Vienna, where he
met Anton Kothgasser (1769-1851), a painter at the Royal porcelain factory. Both men used the technique to decorate simple, straight-sided beakers and,
from 1814, a type of beaker known as a Ranftbecher, with a waisted or tapered body and a thick cogwheel-cut base. Kothgasser’s enamelled decorations resembled romantic watercolours; his designs included fine landscapes,
cityscapes (particularly of Vienna), portraits, and allegorical and Neo-classical subjects. Mohn used silhouettes and allegorical subjects as decoration but is best known for his tumblers decorated with topographical motifs – palaces, cityscapes, and tourist views; his beakers typically have gilded borders. Other distinguished contemporary enamellers include Carl von Scheidt and Andreas Mattoni (1779-1864), 79-1864), who established a school at Karlsbad where Ludwig Moser (1833-1916) was a pupil.
Following the unification of Germany in 1871, there was a fashion for reproducing “historic” styles to create a sense of national identity; this trend (which also appeared in Italy in the mid-19th century) is known as “Historismus”. Glassware was just one of the media in which designs were reproduced in the “old German” style, characteristically with decorations of spurious crests, dates, and national insignia. There was a flood of traditional German drinking glasses made, including Humpen (simple, cylindrical beakers), Romer (drinking glasses with flared feet, wide cylindrical stems, and ovoid bowls), the Kuttrolf (a type of pouring flask), and other vessels made in imitation of 16th- and 17th-century originals, with false dates and inscriptions. These copies can usually be recognized by overelaborate decoration in bright, inappropriately coloured enamels, fictitious crests, crests of large towns rather than families, and heavy glass that is free from imperfections (early glass is frequently flawed). Wares, which are often of a very high quality and collectors’ items in their own right, may bear enamelled signatures identifying the manufacturer. The leading producers included the Rhenish Glasshouse (1886-92) in Ehrenfeld, Koln-Ehrenfeld, situated on the Rhine, near Cologne, and Meyrs Neffe of Bohemia (1841-1922) in Adolfov, known for producing copies of goblets with Hochschnitt (”high cut”) decoration during the 1890s. Hausmaler who worked on “Historismus” wares include Fritz Heckert, a glass enameller who established a glass-decorating works in Petersdorf, Bohemia, in 1866 and a glass factory in 1889. The company was active until c.1890 and specialized in the production of Humpen, enamelled with designs copied from traditional woodcuts and engravings. The strong Bohemian enamelling tradition was also continued late into the 19th century by such companies as Ludwig Moser & Sons (est. c.1857) in Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic).
FRANCE AND AUSTRIA
In the 19th century French enamellers gained international renown for their fine wares, receiving
commissions from all over the world, particularly
from Arab states, in the Near East. Much French
enamelling was executed on the finest opaline
glass. Some of the best examples arc Vases
decorated with animals, birds, and sprays of
wild flowers. Some of the most impressive,
although quite rare, French enamelled wares
pre produced by Philippe Joseph Brocard
(4.1896) and I.J. Imberton Inspired by 13th-
and l4th-century Islamic lamps, which were
elaborately decorated with arabesques, stylized
scrolls, and floral designs in thick, opaque
enamel, Brocard experimented with this style
from the I 860s. His designs included copies
of mosque lamps, vases, ewers, and dishes;
these pieces, decorated with thick enamelling,
jewelling, and gilding, won first prize at
the Paris Exhibition of 1878. Imberton also
decorated fine Islamic-style wares with stylized
motifs. In Austria the style was taken up by
the glass company of J. &’ L. Lobmeyr- (est. 1823) in Vienna, which designed a range of Islamic style glassware for the domestic and export market, and also won prizes for its Islamic-style wares at the Paris Exhibition of 1878.
BRITAINIn
Britain the firm of W.II.., B. Richardson (est. c. 1836) near Stourbridge, was famous lot- it, high quality wares and patented designs. It produced glass using many patented techniques. One was known as “vitrified colours”, the finest examples of which were shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The commercial process involved transfer printing [)lack or coloured designs such as a pictorial scene onto the glasse
hebody
(which was i opaque:), and then firing the design. Sometimes the enamels were hand-painted onto the body, although this is not so common. The firm of Bacchus (est. c.18 16; later George Bacchus & Sons) in Birmingham also produced a series of wares in the 19th century, which were decorated with transfer-printed enamels, most of which feature Neo-classical scenes.

The late 1920s saw the emergence of a Modern movement” of innovative American furniture designers. Inspired by European immigrants, including several key members of the Bauhaus, they explored new materials such as tubular metal. American Modernism was relatively small-scale, but it set the stage for a generation of industrial designers who from the mid-1930s reshaped interiors with enormous flair.
American Art Deco furniture falls into three broad categories: commercial copies of formal French pieces in exotic wood veneers and inlay; innovative and avant-garde work, which was never produced in large quantities and is scarce today; and industrially produced, mostly metallic and laminated wood furniture, based loosely on Bauhaus concepts. Produced from the 1930s until after World War II, this third category is much collected today.
PAUL T. FRANKL
Frankl (1886-1958), an Austrian architect and engineer, emigrated to the USA at the outbreak of World War I. He began designing and manufacturing furniture in New York City c.1920, working in a traditional European formal style. By the mid-1920s he was designing economical, compact, practical, modular furniture, inspired in part by the architect–designers Walter Gropius (1883-1969) and Le Corbusier (1887-1965). The best Frankl furniture (1925–c.1930), produced Linder the tradename “Skyscraper”, was inspired by the evolving New York skyline. Bookcases and tall cabinetry of stepped, rectilinear form are typical, often with a black, red, or pale-green lacquer finish with silver-leaf edging. Natural woods, including California redwood and oak, were also used, with a red, black, or silver trim.

Dressing tables, desks, and mirrors arc also found, often with mirrored-glass tops or shelving and Bakelite drawer-pulls, which suggest a slightly later date. Bookcase cabinets usually have simple wooden pulls. Skyscraper furniture was designed to be economical, and standards of cabinetry are basic.
During the inter-war years Oriental interiors were extremely fashionable in the USA, and Frankl produced lacquered furniture such as dining-chairs, cocktail bars, dressing-tables, and small tables, usually in black, pale green, or red with gold- or silver-leaf details, sometimes with brass fittings. This furniture is less popular than the Skyscraper range, because collectors prefer pure, Modernist lines, particularly if they evoke the works of the Dutch
painter Piet Mondrian, who was
also inspired by mid-1920s New
York architecture.
DONALD DESKEY
The designer Donald Deskey
(1894-1989) collaborated with Frankl during the late 1920s,
designing screens and large
cabinetry in lacquered and metallic-leaf finish with vivid, jazzy
decoration featuring zigzags. He also produced more mainstream designs for numerous other American manufacturers, working mostly in hardwood veneers. He is best known as the principal interior designer for New York’s Radio City Music Hall,
which preserves many of his pieces in situ. Pieces with Radio City provenance occasionally appear on the market and are eagerly sought.
Between 1927 and 1931 Deskey worked in partnership with Phillip Vollmer, designing furniture in Bauhaus taste, made of metal and glass, sometimes together with Bakelite and cork. Most of Deskey’s work is unsigned, but his designs are well recorded in contemporary catalogues, and many specialist dealers in the USA recognize them.
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is one of the best-known and most influential American architects and designers. Any designs attributed to him command a premium, particularly the Modernist oak creations from the first decade of the 20th century. However, his later post-war commercial furniture, mostly oak and maple tables and low, horizontal seating, is currently of little more than decorative value.
Most of Wright’s work cannot be considered Art Deco, but some of his furniture of the inter-war years appeals to Art Deco enthusiasts. The best examples were designed for Wright’s residential buildings, and are therefore extremely scarce. Pieces for commercial interiors were made in larger numbers and are more common today. Enamelled metal furniture, such as that made for Wright’s S.C. Johnson Administration Building (Wisconsin) in 1937, and several types of wooden chair are relatively common on the market.

THE CRANBROOK ACADEMY OF ART
In 1925 the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen (18731950) began work on the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, near Detroit, Michigan. In 1932 he became president and art director of the academy, serving there until his death. The building retains many of the original furnishings that he designed.
In most of Saarinen’s designs a formal, Scandinavian influence is evident in the elegant lines and relatively small scale, although some are comparable to the more organic style of the Wiener WerkstRte designer Dagobert Peche (1887-1923). Saarinen preferred rich wood veneers and natural materials, which he sometimes Used in combination with steel or polished metal.
The Cranbrook Academy, like the German Bauhaus school, is best known for its influential alumni. The most celebrated Cranbrook graduates from the 1930s are Florence Knoll (b.1917), whose name appears on much American Modernist furniture made under her direction; Charles Eames (1907-78), who designed laminated wood, leather, and fibreglass furniture for the Herman Miller Co. and others from the late 1930s; and Eero Saarinen (1910-61), Eliel Saarinen’s son, who collaborated with Eames as well as pursuing an independent career as both an architect and a furniture designer. Popular designs were produced over several decades (some are still made); earlier pieces can be identified by tags and generally higher-quality craftsmanship, as well as by wear and tear. Followers of Eames whose work is of interest to collectors include Gilbert Rohde (1894-1944), who designed Bauhaus-influenced tubular steel furniture produced by the Herman Miller Co., and George Nelson (1907-86).
OTHER AMERICAN ART DECO FURNITURE During the 1930s, American Modernism took root throughout the USA, partly because so economical a style of design was appropriate to a country in the grip of the Depression. Leading designers include Russel Wright (1904-76), Walter Dorwin Teague (1883-1960), and Raymond Loewy (1893-1986), who all specialized in industrial-style commercial products and lighting, using new materials such as aluminium, chrome, and plastic. Karl Emmanuel Martin (”Ke”) Weber ,1889-1963) studied under Bruno
Paul in Berlin before moving to California in 1914. He designed both individually commissioned and mass-produced furniture, typically in laminated wood, chromed metal, and sprung steel.
The architect Eugene Schoen 1880-1957) designed elegant furniture in Modernist materials including glass and nickel. Examples of tubular steel furniture influenced by the
Bauhaus include -pieces designed by Wolfgang Hoffman (1900-69), son of the famous Austrian designer Josef Hoffman (1870-1956), during the 1930s. Prestigious firms included John Widdicomb, Johnson Furniture, and Barker Brothers Furniture Co., all in Los Angeles, and S. Karpen of Chicago, all of which employed leading designers.

Paul T. Frankl
•    COLLECTING rarely found outside New York City; Oriental style is less popular than Skyscraper; collectors prefer signed pieces in unrestored condition; surface restoration is common as decoration is easily worn
Marks
Authentic Skyscraper pieces are stamped “SKYSCRAPER FURNITURE, Frank) Galleries, 4 East 48th Street, New York”
Donald Deskey
•    VALUE interesting provenance, such as Radio City Music Hall, adds greatly to value
•    COLLECTING Deskey-Vollmer signed pieces are more desirable than Deskey’s later, traditional designs; vivid, jazzy designs are very collectable – beware of fakes
Marks
Some pieces of Deskey-Vollmer have a metal tag
Frank Lloyd Wright
•    COLLECTING Art Deco style is less valuable than pieces from c.1900 to 1910, but more valuable than post-1945 pieces; original condition is all-important; provenance from notable interior schemes adds greatly to value
Marks
Wright furniture is rarely marked, but is well documented and easily identifiable through style
Saarinen and The Cranbrook Academy of Art
•    COLLECTING Saarinen: designs are scarce but well documented; Eames: very collectable, particularly early work
Other designers
•    COLLECTING identifiable pieces by lesser-known American designers are rare but still not greatly sought after; provenance is important in determining value; commercial furniture is less valuable than domestic
Marks
Pieces are rarely signed by the designer but may bear a maker’s or retailer’s mark; Weber pieces may bear a tag from Lloyd Manufacturing Co.

Many major British designers used elements of the Art Deco style in their furniture, while remaining true to their Arts and Crafts roots and making little use of lavish ornament or exotic woods. Art Deco furniture was more typically produced by minor makers, whose work included copies of popular pieces shown at the 1928 Exhibition of Modern Art in Decoration and Furnishing. Held in London, the exhibition introduced decorative, continental Art Deco furniture into Britain. The Modernist influence of the 1930s is seen in the mass-produced furniture by Isokon (1932-9).
TRADITIONALISTS
The designers of the Cotswold School concentrated on the Arts and Crafts tenets of truth to materials, form derived from function, and traditional construction techniques. Native woods such as oak and walnut were favoured, and decoration was minimal. Luxury furniture was made by, among others, Sidney Barnsley (1865-1926), Peter Waals, and Robert Thompson (d.1955), the Houseman”, who used a carved mouse as his signature. Gordon Russell (1892-1980) made the most successful transition to both traditionalist and Modernist styles of Art Deco. While using traditional construction techniques, he incorporated such exotic materials as Macassar ebony and ivory into some pieces, together with Art Deco motifs like sunbursts and chevrons. His belief in the need for good-quality, mass-produced furniture led him to develop a range of furniture that used tubular steel and other synthetic materials, with machine-made parts.
Heal & Son (est. 1800), in London, maintained its role as a major manufacturer and retailer. Oak, especially limed oak, was most commonly used for a range of traditional Arts and Crafts designs with some Art Deco features. Again, decoration was minimal, and although contemporary construction techniques such as screw-fixing were used, pieces were hand-finished.

MODERNISTS
In 1934-5 Finmar Ltd was
set up in Britain to distribute Alvar
Aalto’s moulded plywood furniture. The plain, simple pieces had clean contours, decorated with blocks of colour; solid wood was often combined with laminates. The firm of Isokon (Isometric Unit Construction), founded in London by the architect Jack Pritchard (b.1899), produced a range of simple furniture, generally more adventurous than that distributed by Finmar. Designers associated with the company include Marcel Breuer (1902-81). Typical of the period are its lightweight stacking “cutout” tables and chairs made from a single sheet of cut and moulded plywood.
More exclusive Modernist Art Deco furniture was designed by Betty Joel (1896-1984), who used curving shapes, minimal decoration – wood grain or contrasting veneers – and native woods such as sycamore; from the 1930s she also used chromed steel and plywood laminates. One of the few truly innovative British Art Deco designers was Gerald Summers (1899-1967). In the 1930s he designed side-chairs and open armchairs, cut and shaped with curved backs and seats, in laminated birchwood. The Birmingham firm of PEL (Practical Equipment Ltd, est. 1931) commissioned collectable steel-frame furniture from such designers as Oliver Bernard (1881-1939) and Wells Coates (1895-1958).

•    MATERIALS light woods were popular – sycamore, limed oak, walnut, and burr-walnut
•    CONDITION plywood furniture must be in good condition: check laminated pieces for chips or flaking
•    COLLECTING one-off, commissioned pieces by well-known makers are very expensive; minor furniture is collectable if well designed and in good condition; pieces by members of Cotswold School most desirable; forms associated with Jazz Age most sought after
Marks
Heal & Son: work is stamped with this mark, inset in a circular ivory plaque on the insides of doors or inside drawers