Posts Tagged ‘baroque style’

19th Century Mirrors. Wall Mirrors, Picture Frames. ENGLISH WALL MIRROR, ENGLISH GILTWOOD MIRROR, AMERICAN GIRANDOLE

EARLY 19TH CENTURY MIRRORS
MIRRORS, LIKE PICTURE FRAMES, are decorative so are rarely subjected to much wear. As a result, they are often gessoed and gilded. Painted examples from this period also exist, as well as Empire pier glasses, which often have mahogany frames and ormolu mounts.
From the late 18th century larger plates became available, so early 19th-century mirrors with a divided plate became less common. Although not new, convex plates became especially fashionable in Britain and the United States, and were used in dining rooms to give servants an all-round view of the table. The convex mirror plate was usually framed by an ebonized and needed slip with a gilt frame echoing the shape of the mirror. The frame
The acanthus leaves are pierced and scroll-carved.
was often surmounted with an eagle or similar motif and frequently had candle arms attached to it.
Also fashionable was the use of verrc eglomise in which glass was back-painted in black and then engraved with a design before gilding. Verne eglomise plates were frequently inserted above normal plates. Mirrors with a more rectilinear design were also popular, particularly those intended to stand above pier tables between windows. From the late 1820s, revival styles led to the reintroduction of Chippendale-style mirrors in Britain; these are often difficult to distinguish from the 18th-century originals. In Florence, boldly carved foliate frames were introduced in imitation of the Baroque originals.
The guilloche motif is stylized.

ITALIAN WALL MIRROR
This rectangular giltwood wall mirror has a carved softwood frame featuring guilloche and stylized, scrolling acanthus leaves. The whole frame has been covered in white gesso and then given an undercoat of red paint, before
being gilded. The ornate, sculptural form of the mirror frame is reminiscent of the Baroque style of the 17th century, and harks back to the designs of Andrea Brustolon and the work of the Genoese carver, Filippo Parodi.

REGENCY MIRROR
This giltwood mirror has a moulded cornice with ball decoration above a panel with a shell cresting flanked by latticework. Columns flank both sides of the mirror. Early 19th century.
ENGLISH PIER GLASS
With a concave cornice above a ring-and-leaf frieze, this giltwood and gesso pier glass has 11 plates of varying sizes divided by astragals and flanked by half columns.

AMERICAN LOOKING GLASS
This simple, late Neoclassical maple looking glass has a rectangular mirror plate set within a relatively unadorned rectangular frame. The top and sides of the mirror frame have corner blocks joined by half-section balusters with
gilded and moulded ends. Like the mirror above, this type of overmantel mirror is sometimes erroneously referred to as “Adam”, perhaps because of its rectilinear Neoclassical styling, or perhaps because such mirrors frequently featured in Robert Adam interiors. c.1835.

This giltwood and ebonized girandole has a convex mirror plate with a reeded slip. The frame is decorated with carved leaves, has four candle arms, and is surmounted by the Federal eagle. c.1825.
The circular, mirrored plate sits within a reeded ebonized slip and a ball-moulded frame. The frame is surmounted by a dragon flanked by two sea serpents. Below is a leaf-carved apron. c.1815.
This mirror is set within a moulded gadrooned frame, surmounted by a painted figure of Neptune. At the base is a giltwood figure of Triton, and foliate arms that end in candle nozzles.
This simple Regency giltwood mirror has a convex mirror plate within a circular leaf-moulded and reeded border. It might originally have had candle arms or cresting. Early 19th century. Diarn:58cm
ENGLISH WALL MIRROR
ENGLISH GILTWOOD MIRROR
OVAL MIRROR
AMERICAN GIRANDOLE

AMERICAN LOOKING GLASS
This tall, narrow, carved mahogany looking glass frame has a moulded cornice above a veneered frieze. The mirror plate is flanked by projecting blocks linked by carved urns and slender pilasters. c.1825.
AMERICAN LOOKING GLASS
The moulded cornice of this giltwood mirror is hung with ball decoration above a wreath-andacanthus moulded frieze. Below this is a tablet. The colonnettes are rope-turned. c.1800.
IRISH OVAL MIRROR
This oval mirror, one of a pair, has its original plate set within a copper frame, which is decorated with applied, alternating blue and clear crystal facets. Late 18th–early 19th century.
BIEDERMEIER PIER GLASS
The rosewood-veneered frame of this southern German pier glass has an architectural pediment above an ebonized panel depicting the Goddess Diana in gilded brass. c.1820.
AMERICAN LOOKING GLASS
This Classical mahogany and carved giltwood looking glass has an architectural pediment above a carved eagle tablet and a mirror plate flanked by colonettes. Early 19th century.
This carved and gilded looking glass has a moulded, projecting cornice above a carved frieze, with a verre tablet, and reeled pilasters. Early 19th century.
AMERICAN GILTWOOD MIRROR
This Federal mirror has a broken pediment with ball decoration above a verre eglomise panel depicting Hope with an anchor, flanked with festoons. The columns have spiral beading.

MID 19TH CENTURY LOW COUNTRIES FURNITURE

THENEOCLASSICAL REVIVAL persisted in
the Netherlands under the auspices of the Waterstaat ministry, who presided over church construction until 1875. This Waterstaatstjil was primarily inspired by Grecian temple forms and became firmly entrenched in the Dutch consciousness, informing furniture design throughout the mid-19th century.
HISTORICISM BY NUMBERS
The interiors of many Catholic churches constructed at this time were decorated in an approximation of the Baroque style, although many of the features were false: plaster vaulting and walls painted to look like marble were common. This falsification was also a feature of Willem II Gothicism, an early Dutch Gothic-revival style that was championed by Pierre Cuyper among others.
Despite having studied under Viollet-le-Duc, the architect of so many sympathetic restorations, Cuyper’s work was more of a pastiche than a genuine representation of the Gothic era. Native oak was used to construct Gothic-revival furniture, often with a similarly scant regard for the fundamental principles of the Gothic style.
INFLUENCES FROM THE EAST The Dutch enjoyed their privileged position as the only Western people to trade with the Japanese until the 1850s. They imported lacquer furniture inlaid with fine pieces of shell, and restrained, plain versions of Western forms such as chairs, tables, and high cabinets finished in the finest lacquer.
Other colonial interests in the region, particularly in Indonesia, provided the Netherlands with fine exotic hardwoods. These were often quite different from the woods used elsewhere in Europe, where they were imported predominantly from the Caribbean and Africa. Dutch cabinet-makers used satinwood from the East Indies to create copies of 18th-century Neoclassical furniture, with slim, tapering legs. metal mounts and fine inlays, and stringing made from contrasting timbers.
A PASSION FOR MARQUETRY The main centres of furniture production in Belgium were Antwerp and Malines. Many of the craftsmen active in these areas were very adept in marquetry techniques, a perennially popular form of surface decoration in the Low Countries. Apart from the appearance of Neoclassical elements in the late 18th century. the distinctive style of Dutch marquetry did not change much from the early 18th century to the end of the 19th century. Ebony, kingwood, satinwood, and other fine and exotic timbers were used to create intricate and arresting floral designs, often in a variety of colours.
This practice was not limited to new furniture – demand was such that these same craftsmen adapted older pieces of plain walnut furniture and made them more saleable through the application of their art. Table tops, drawer fronts, back splats, friezes, and skirts were all considered appropriate places for marquetry design. However, With the advent of mass production in the late 19th century, the quality of the marquetry work deteriorated.
Brass, ebonized, and tortoiseshell mirror This wall
mirror has raised foliate brass decoration centred and surmounted by a mask motif. The bevelled rectangular plate sits within a brass and ebonized frame, which in turn is surrounded with a further panelled and moulded tortoiseshell frame. The piece is Baroque in its overall appearance.
CORNER CABINET
This satinwood corner cabinet is painted to simulate marquetry decoration and has leaf-cast, gilt-brass mounts. The shaped triangular top is centred by an oval panel of oak leaves and has padouk banding. It sits above a frieze
of scrolling roses issuing from a basket of fruit, below which is a single door centred by a putti mask in a panel. The case is raised on pyramidal legs with small, brass bun feet. Predominantly Neoclassical in style, the central mount is
distinctly Rococo in design. Late 19th century.
MARQUETRY CABINET
he rectangular top of this mahogany and marquetry cabinet sits above a single, long gee frieze drawer, below which is a pair of cons, flanked on each side by a pilaster. The ase is supported on a plinth and turned feet.
All the surfaces of the chest are richly decorated with a marquetry design of baskets, flowers, and birds. The moulded frieze drawer is typical of 19th-century designs. The marquetry on the doors is a little awkward but still identifiably Neoclassical in style. Mid 19th century
The cartouche crest is carved
with scrolls and acanthus.
SIDE CHAIR
This early 18th-century-style floral marquetry side chair has a solid vase-shaped back splat and drop-in seat. The shaped seat rail is supported on cabriole legs, which
terminate in claw-and-ball feet. Mid 19111 century DN
The top of the lower cabinet has a serpentine edge.
RECTANGULAR SIDE TABLE
This ebony and floral marquetry side table takes inspiration from the late 18th century. The table top is centred with marquetry birds on an urn and has a moulded edge above a frieze drawer of similar decoration. The table top is supported on spiral-turned legs, joined by a flat cross-stretcher, and terminating in bur feet.
The lower cabinet is bombe in form, which is typical of Dutch furniture.
The moulded cornice is in the Baroque style.
The arched door and shaped edge are a mixture of Baroque and Rococo styles.
The glazed front door opens on to a shelved interior.
The velvet-lined interior is intended for the display of porcelain artefacts.
SPANISH MOORISH DRESSING TABLE
This walnut and ebony dressing table is inlaid with intarsia. The cabinet is surmounted by an arched mirror, at the base of which are two small drawers. A frieze drawer sits above a pair of panelled doors, which enclose a fitted interior. The case stands on block feet with casters. Mid 19th century.
SPANISH CABINET
The parquetry top of this tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, and walnut cabinet has projecting corners. The case has seven drawers, flanked by free-standing columns, and arranged around a central door and two drawers below. The Moorish influence is apparent in the Arab-style design. Mid 19th century.
PORTUGUESE COMMODE
This is one of a pair of carved Rosewood petite commodes. The exaggerated waisted shape is a very common Portuguese form during this period. The ball-and-claw feet on cabriole legs are taken from mid 18th-century English designs. Late 19th century.

Barometers
The barometer – an instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure – was invented by the Italian philosopher and mathematician Evangelista Torricelli in 1643-4. Torricelli discovered that the height of mercury in a glass tube immersed upside down in a cistern of mercury is dependent on atmospheric pressure. The British scientist Robert Boyle was the first to relate changes in the height of the mercury to variations in the weather, and the first domestic barometers were made from the 1670s. Barometers were often fitted with a thermometer, calibrated with the Royal Society scale from 0 to 90 degrees until c.1725 and the Fahrenheit scale thereafter.
STICK BAROMETERS
The stick barometer, the earliest and simplest type, consists of a long, straight, glass tube of mercury immersed in a glass cistern full of mercury. Late 17th-century British examples are mounted on a wooden walnut-veneered frame, decorated with Baroque-style twist pillars and fretted scrolls, and have a solid walnut cistern cover and a silvered-brass graduated scale (the “register plates”) at the top with a recording pointer. Made by clockmakers, most follow the form of contemporary clocks.
The closed-cistern stick barometer is usually attributed to Daniel Quare (16491724) in 1695: being sealed, it was more easily transportable. Most early 18th-century barometers found today are of this type. Made mainly in London, they are similar to late 17th-century models but tend to have shorter hoods, gilt finials, and plainer cases. Mahogany veneer was used from c.1740.

While earlier barometers followed clock styles, later 18th-century examples were influenced more by furniture. After the mid-18th century cases became plainer, the engraving on the register plates less ornate, and trunks narrower; the influence of long-case clocks disappeared. From c.1750 the Vernier scale, accurate to one-hundredth of an
inch, was used for mercury readings, and the principal weather indications of “fair”, “changeable”, and “rain” were standardized. Hinged glass doors to protect the register plates appeared at the end of the 18th century.
In the early 19th century finely crafted barometers featured stringing in dark ebony or lighter woods. From c.1840 rosewood as well as mahogany was used for cases, and ivory or paper for the register plates. The “Admiral Fitzroy” barometer, a popular design by the British meteorologist Admiral Robert Fitzroy (1805-65), featured a glazed, rectangular oak case, paper register plates, a thermometer, and a storm glass – a bottle of crystals in a camphor solution that supposedly forecast weather changes. Two recording pointers allowed atmospheric pressure to be recorded on successive days.
The stick barometer went out of fashion in favour of the aneroid barometer in the early 20th century, but earlier designs were reproduced on a limited scale.
ANGLE BAROMETERS
The angle or “signpost” barometer uses the same principle as the stick barometer, but the upper part of the tube is bent. Invented in the 1670s and made until c.1880, this design was intended to give a more accurate reading,
as the mercury moved over a greater length in the upper part of the tube. However, it was less accurate than hoped and never widely popular because of its expense and its unwieldy shape. Rarer than other types, angle barometers are particularly collectable today.
Barometer-makers invented new designs to obscure the awkward form: in the early 18th century the maker John Patrick mounted the angle barometer on a square or rectangular wooden frame with a large mirror in the centre and a thermometer on the other side to balance the design. To reduce the horizontal part of the arm without reducing the scale, some makers used two or three tubes, set side by side and angled at different heights, so that the tubes would cover the full scale.
WHEEL BAROMETERS
The wheel barometer, invented in 1663 by Robert Hooke (1635-1703), featured a U-shaped tube with long and short arms. A float resting on the mercury in the short arm is attached to a lighter counterweight by a thread over a pulley wheel, which in turn is connected to a pointer on a dial. The movement of the mercury in the tube raises or lowers the float, rotating the pointer. The wheel barometer was not made in large numbers in Britain until c.1770, when the “banjo” design was introduced by Italian glassblowers and instrument-makers. The “banjo” wheel barometer, [lie most popular type of wheel barometer in the 19th century, consists of a dial and thermometer in a banjo-shaped wooden case. The silvered-brass dial has a blued-steel indicating hand and a brass fixed hand for recording readings. The scale, measured in inches, ranged from
-1 to 79cm (28-31in), the average atmospheric pressure in northern Europe, and was divided into tenths or twentieths of a inch. Later examples are usually equipped with more detailed scales graduated to hundreths of an inch.
Many wheel barometers were also fitted with a spirit lei el at the bottom for checking that the barometer was hung vertically - if it was not level, the float would jam. Another useful device was the hygrometer, indicating
humidity (which, like temperature, affected the height of the mercury): a beard of oats, which curled and uncurled with changes in air moisture, was set on a dial with the indications “moist” (”damp” from c.1800) and “dry”.
Before c.1825 most wheel barometer cases were veneered in mahogany, with the best examples made in Satinwood, maple, or pearwood. From c.1815 to c.1825 “Sheraton shell” inlay, copied from Regency furniture, was especially fashionable as a form of decoration. The mid-19th century saw the appearance of the “onion” or “tulip” top case, and the finest examples were veneered in mahogany or rosewood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, and brass. Later 19th-century cases, influenced by the 1851 Great Exhibition, tended to use solid wood (often oak) cases, with increasingly elaborate carving. The wheel barometer was superseded by the aneroid barometer in the late 19th century.
ANEROID BAROMETERS
Invented by the French engineer Lucien Vidie in 1843, the aneroid (”liquid-free”) barometer completely transformed barometer making. Instead of mercury, it featured a small, vacuumed, metal chamber that rose and fell with atmospheric pressure change. Very accurate and easily portable, by c.1900 it was the most successful type of barometer. Aneroid barometers were initially used by scientists, surveyors, and engineers, but from c.1860 models were made for the home in a wide variety of case designs, from round brass cases to marble mantel ornaments; some were fitted into mantel or carriage clocks. Imitation “banjo” wheel barometers were also Popular. Domestic versions featured silvered-brass or less expensive cardboard dials; marine barometers had enamel or porcelain dials, less likely to corrode in sea air. Pocket aneroid barometers, used by travellers and climbers, were produced c.1860 by the firm of Negretti & Zambra. Most were fitted in leather-covered wooden cases; some also had a scale on the dial for measuring altitude, a curved mercury thermometer, or a compass.
Stick barometers
• DESIGNS the Vernier scale was used from c.1750; register plates were usually made of silvered brass until 1840, bone and ivory thereafter
• COLLECTING ING barometers made in the late 17th to early 18th century are very rare and valuable today
Angle barometers
• DESIGNS some were mounted on a wooden frame with a mirror and thermometer
• COLLECTING few were made after c.1880, and fewer were made than other types, so they highly sought after
Wheel barometers
• DESIGNS the “banjo” shape was the most popular design from the late 18th century; scroll pediments were fairly standard after 1825; “Sheraton shell” inlay was used c.1815-25; convex glass mirrors were put in the centre from c.1840; best later Victorian examples are inlaid with brass, mother-of-pearl, and tortoiseshell
• COLLECTING most British barometers are signed by Italians, who dominated the industry
Aneroid barometers
• DESIGNS case shapes were varied, but the “banjo” style was especially popular; wheel barometer types were made from the 1860s; pocket examples were produced from c.1860

Baroque Furniture
The principal characteristic of Baroque is its rejection of the rationalism of the Renaissance. Baroque is much more dynamic and lively, particularly with its use of light and shade in the manner of a painter. The design of a piece and its detail were subjugated to achievement of dynamism, which was at the core of Baroque. The eye for the main lines was expressed through the materials used. Wood was inlaid with gemstones or semi-precious stones, tortoiseshell, precious metal, and ivory. Light was reflected by polished wood. Supports were turned as scrolls and an overall impression of curved form was created by the use of projecting pediments, plinths, and cornices. Much use was made of acanthus stems with broad leaves and conch shell motifs.
It is difficult to determine with furniture when Baroque replaced the Renaissance because the two styles co-existed for a time. Furthermore the characteristic Baroque elements only became fully apparent during the late eighteenth century.
France
Most of Europe, with a few exceptions, fell sway to the dynamism of Baroque. France though preferred more rigid classical lines. This found its expression in an individual French style of furniture. It was precisely at this time that greater power came into the hands of the French king and with it a greater role in artistic commissions and hence of trends at the hands of the French court.
The best artists and craftsmen worked in the Royal studios — with the establishment in 1677 of the Manufacture Royale des Meubles de la Couronne. Cabinet making became regarded as an art in itself, with cabinet makers also working as ebeniste (specialist in inlay or marquetry — the name is derived from the
French predilection for ebony inlay) and woodcarver.
In addition to the importance of construction and decoration in the making of furniture, consideration was also given to the location in which the furniture was to stand. The ebeniste, designer of the ornamentation, and the architect all made decisions about the final form of a piece. In the Middle Ages furniture had been largely portable or easily moved but during the Renaissance furniture was made for a more set place in the interior of homes. Now the far extreme was reached in which it was no longer intended that the piece should ever be moved.
A strange schism arose between furniture for the citizenry and very luxurious pieces. This also meant that different materials were used in the making of these different items. Instead of the customary walnut, more exotic types of wood were now used.
A good example of this is the use of ebony, which by the time of Louis XIII was already being decorated with coloured inlays.
The artist Andre Charles, who worked for the court of Louis XIV was exceptionally talented, and stood out from the other ebenistes. In his early period he also used Dutch motifs such as vases of jasmine, roses, and tulips in his mosaic woodwork. Later he was influenced by the designs of Berain and Marot and replaced his motifs with banding linked together with acanthus stems. His designs were formed with both negative and positive inlays such as light pewter in tortoiseshell and vice versa. Later still he replaced the marquetry of the 1660’s and 70’s as it became less fashionable.
The bed was an important piece of furniture as the whole morning ceremony of rising or lever occurred around it. The enclosed square form of the bed remained with four posts and both outer and inner curtains. The bedroom had several ante-rooms attached in which there was much coming and going of court functionaries. The chest was banished from the furnishing of rooms and was replaced by the commode which became popular in France around 1700. The commode was a development of the chest with drawer which Boulle placed on legs. In the French salons table commodes also appeared, set on tall legs, encrusted with inlays of metal and tortoiseshell. These legs were furthermore decorated with bronze mascarons or grotesque masks. The drawers too were fitted with bronze handles which also held the encrusted decoration in the veneer.
The most important piece of salon furniture was a superbly made cabinet with drawes. At first the Boulle cabinets had separate plinths but later these were integral.
Tables were adapted to the considerable demands of the time and there were numerous variations. In common with other furniture, tables too were inlaid with metal and the same was equally true of cashier’s tables, most of which had a small drawer. The older-style baluster legs were considered too plump and were replaced by cabriole legs.
Other rooms than the salons were often used for a number of purposes and as required night and toilet cabinets might be placed in them.
There were also heavy tables with marble tops plus smaller tables for lamps and suchlike. Console tables provided an architectural element.Seating in the form of fa u teu ils (armchairs), tabourets, sofas, and chairs formed part of the interiors of the homes of the wealthy and the aristocracy but cabinets did not. These were found in the homes of the citizenry but the new item of luxury furniture was the bookcase.
Many different types of armchair and chair were made. Armchairs with turned legs were widely used but later these legs were replaced with richly decorated baluster legs. These were joined together
with diagonal carved stretchers or with H-form stretchers but these disappeared with the arrival of cabriole legs.
The backs of armchairs became more all encompassing and were upholstered and rounded off at the top in an arch. The curved arms of the chairs also became upholstered.
French furniture makers were also influenced by English furniture makers. This led to the introduction of the commodite — a kind of wide armchair — into France. The canape was also partially developed from the English day bed or lit de repos.
German-speaking Europe and the Low Countries
Baroque expressed itself in Germany through very excessive and lively inlay and carving and was of considerable influence there. The elements of the Baroque style were incorporated with both imagination and consistency. The output of German furniture makers was equally diverse as German politics. Designs based on the Renaissance endured for a long time but alongside this a new style developed in the palaces, castles, and grand homes of the countless principalities, which adopted a great deal of the influences from elsewhere. Furniture was imported into northern Germany for some considerable time from the northern Netherlands. After the death of Frederick I of Prussia in 1713 late Italian Baroque started to become more widespread and the artistic centre moved to Dresden, which became one of the most important artistic centres in Europe under Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony.
The Bavarian court in southern Germany was strongly influenced by French examples and items such as console tables with French baluster legs and lighter tables in the style of Boulle were made. The encrusted decoration of this maker and also of Marot found favour here too. Cabinets in ebony from Augsburg of this period are exceptionally fine. They have inlays of polychrome stones, ivory, wood, and pietra dura (mosaic of semi-precious stones).
Furniture was largely made from walnut with intarsia inlays of other wood. Great care was taken to ensure that the beauty of the grain of the walnut was revealed to its fullest potential.
The cabinetmakers achieved considerable results in such furniture. German Baroque ornamentation was dominated from the 1660’s by heavy use of acanthus leaf motifs that had replaced conch shell forms, and by small arrow-like columns. Intarsia decorations became figurative from the start of the eighteenth century (bouquets of flowers were very popular) and no longer utilised vines, squares, or rectangular patterns. Baroque became increasingly more valid in Germany and this is clearly apparent with cabinets.
The older-style cabinet on bun feet was drastically altered. It changed into a four-door — later two-door — cabinet with heavy cornice, turned pilasters or columns, and angled fronts.
In terms of furniture, the northern parts of the Low Countries can be considered as an entity with northern Germany, although there were local style variations of course. Hamburg was an important furniture-making centre. The Hamburg four-door cabinet closely resembled Dutch Renaissance cabinets. In addition to these a fine two door cabinet appeared from Hamburg around 1700 with a straight cornice. The faсade comprised large decorated areas with continuous pilasters. A similar cabinet from the Dutch Republic of this time is the linen cabinet for storing pillows.
The partial cornices of cabinets from Dantzig (Gdansk) gave them a less fussy appearance and their square panels were decorated with mythological scenes. By contrast, cabinets from Lubeck had arched cornices. The Baroque influence ensured that cabinets from Holstein and Westphalia were embellished with figurative decorations.
The influence of the naturalistic Dutch floral intarsia decoration remained apparent throughout the eighteenth century. In addition to the main show pieces many painted and non carved pieces were made in northern Germany.
In southern Germany, new life was given to Renaissance cabinets at Ulm and cabinets from Augsburg were smaller and sometimes overwhelmingly decorated. The popularity of the Wellenschrank originating from Frankfurt was great from the beginning of the seventeenth century. This is a simply decorated cabinet in walnut veneer with an attractive curved front. Cabinets were also the most important item of furniture in northern Germany too.
There were various variants of these as elsewhere. Those from Hamburg were decorated with acanthus stems while Dantzig cabinets were smaller with one or two doors.
Commodes with pull-out leaf for writing and bureaux formed important pieces of furniture in the homes of the middle classes. Their chairs had spiral, turned, or cabriole legs and leather seats and these were also used to sit at table.
These chairs had high backs with heavy armrests and were decorated with carved banding and acanthus stems.
Many canopy beds with turned posts had large panels that were usually copiously decorated with intarsia inlay or carving. Gradually beds began to be made without valances.
Carving fell out of favour over the years so that cabinets had large plain surfaces on their fronts which gave them a monumental appearance.

Easy chairs before 1840
As the Baroque movement swept through Europe during the late 17th century, the design of seat furniture became increasingly luxurious, elaborate, and more importantly comfortable. Caned and leather chairs, which until this time had sufficed, were largely abandoned in favour of richly upholstered easy chairs as stiff upright backs were discarded and were replaced by sloped and subsequently shaped backs. The number of types of chairs also increased enourmously.
ITALY AND FRANCE
It was in Italy, particularly in Venice, Florence, and Rome, during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, that the Baroque style found its clearest expression. The most elaborate open armchairs of this period are usually of either boxwood or giltwood. They are carved with scrolling acanthus, espagnolette masks, and even mythological figures emblematic of the four seasons. Some Venetian examples feature seahorses in deference to the city’s seafaring tradition. Such pieces were usually the work of trained sculptors who had turned their hand to furniture-making; the most celebrated of these was undoubtedly Andreas Brustolon (1662-1732).
In France, under the influence of Cardinal Mazarin, the court of Louis XIV (1643-1715) became increasingly hungry for foreign luxuries and fashions, especially those from Italy. In the mid-17th century French easy chairs became increasingly comfortable and elaborate, owing to their generous proportions, richly turned decoration, and lavish use of velvet upholstery from Genoa or Utrecht.
The Regence period (1715-23) saw significant developments in the design of seat furniture. Although the menuisiers (joiners) were slow to abandon the traditional Louis XIV fauteuil (armchair) form, they were increasingly lavish in their carving. Chairs were decorated with gadroons, shells, and rosettes, and even richly upholstered in velvet or lavish textiles made at the Savonnerie in Paris (est. 1604 in the Louvre for the production of textiles; from 1627 at the Savonnerie). The stretcher became more sinuous, and was abandoned by the 1720s. Further changes in form and design were
dictated by the fashion for wearing hooped dresses, introduced c.1720, which resulted in the arms of easy chairs being set back by a quarter of the length of the side-rail. The introduction of upholstery it    allowed the loose covering to be changed according to the season.
Under Louis XV (1715-74) the fashion
for placing chairs around the sides of the room was abandoned in favour of a more relaxed arrangement that encouraged intimate conversation and gave birth to the fauteuil en cabriolet, with its Rococo form and exuberant carving in the round. Louis XV seat furniture is usually made of either walnut or beech, the latter wood
always either gilded or painted; a
pegged construction was used, and pieces are very often stamped by the menuisier responsible, in accordance with the strict rules of the furniture-
makers’ guild (Corporation des Menuisiers-Ebenistes). During the 1730s numerous styles of informal easy chair emerged, all of them richly carved. The most luxurious was the bergere, which was popular throughout the 18th century and characterized by its deep seat, padded back and sides, and squab cushion. Widely copied throughout Europe, it was to prove inspirational to chair-makers during the Regency period (c.1790-1830) in Britain, and was also much copied in the late 19th and
20th centuries.
BRITAIN AND NORTH AMERICA
The earliest-recorded wing armchairs, known as bergere en confessionnal because the identity of the sitter was hidden by the side wings, are French examples from the early 1670s. Invariably of walnut, this form was rapidly adopted in Britain. The wing armchairs made during the late 17th and very early 18th centuries were usually of walnut or, in more provincial examples, of beech stained to simulate walnut. These armchairs are characterized by the exaggerated scroll of the arms, the high, slanted back flanked by high wings, and the stylized carving of scrolls and foliage on the legs and stretchers.
The most celebrated form of wing armchair was made from the early 18th century until c.1750. Examples are usually of walnut, and are
supported on cabriole legs, which, unlike their 17th-century prototypes, are rarely joined by stretchers. Wing armchairs made in Britain during the reigns of Queen Anne and George I are often carved with trailed husks and scallop shells on the top of the knees and stand on pad feet, although some later examples have hoof or claw-and-ball feet. The most refined wing armchairs of this period were upholstered in gros and petit point needlework, often with figures on the back (but never on the seat) within a flower-strewn border.
Wing armchairs continued to be made throughout the 18th century in mahogany, and were widely copied in walnut in the 19th and 20th centuries. North American early 18th-century wing chairs were generally of walnut or maple, with a high arched crest, and block and vase turned legs joined by a stretcher. During the 1720s short cabriole legs with “Spanish” feet, were used and front stretchers were eliminated. From the mid-18th century mahogany was used. Stretchers continued to be used in New England, while easy chairs made in Philadelphia generally did not have them. In 1760 the serpentine crest design was introduced, modifying the verticality, and it was used along with the rounded profile until the 1780s. Between 1780 and 1800 American chair-makers used George Hepplewhite’s design for a “Saddle Check Chair”, an easy chair with serpentine contoured wings, straight legs, and “H” stretchers, a chair design also associated with Thomas Chippendale (1718-79). There are regional differences in construction and upholstery. Maple was often used for the one-piece rear legs and stiles in New England chairs, stained to match the mahogany of the front legs.

A Library bergere or “Uxbridge” chair
This British armchair is of a style introduced in the early I8th century for use in the library. It has a cane-filled back and sides, and leather-covered cushions, the best examples have reeled or fluted front legs (early 19th century; ht 1.2ml3ft 1 lin; value 1)
Other types of late 18th-century easy chair were based on designs in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book (1791-1802) by Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) including “conversation” chairs, with deep upholstered seats and padded toprails on which the sitter, facing backward, could rest his or her arms. In Sheraton’s The Cabinet Dictionary (1803) there is a reference to a “curricle” chair, so-called after a tub-shaped carriage, which was popular in libraries at the time. About 1810 to 1820 bergere-type armchairs with deep, upholstered or leather seats and backs, and cane or upholstered sides, were also widely used in libraries.
SCANDINAVIA
Trade between England and Scandinavia was well established by  the mid-17th century, and some English furniture had been exported to Scandinavia by the end of the century. Craftsmen in these countries produced good copies of English furniture; the joiners (although not the cabinet-makers) were very conservative, with the result that early 18th-century styles continued to be produced until c.1800. Around this time, too, mahogany was introduced; before this, walnut was used for expensive pieces. More commonly employed, however, were native light-coloured woods such as birch, ash, and pine; these were left bare, stained, or painted in colours.
By the late 1730s French designs had become increasingly popular at the Swedish and Danish courts and also with the upper classes in these countries; the middle classes did not generally adopt the new fashions until the end of the century. French styles were particularly influential in Sweden, and from the Rococo period court architects were trained in Paris. One of the most influential Swedish designers of the period was Jean Eric Rehn (1717-93). Danish court architects learned their trade in Germany, but this situation changed after the reign of Louis XVI, when both countries adopted the French Neo-
classical style. In Sweden the cabinetmaker Georg Haupt (1741-84), who had trained in both Paris and London is well known for his work in the Louis XVI style. This style developed into the Neo-classical Gustavian style during the I 770S.

AMERICAN “CHIPPENDALE”
The carvers of the most elaborate American Rococo furniture were immigrants from England, Scotland, and Ireland, who had served their apprenticeship in London before going to North America. The first of them arrived in the 1740s, but the great wave of craftsmen tsmen was in the 1760s. Philadelphia was the city most hospitable to immigrants, and more Rococo furniture was produced there than in other colonies. The major cities in America developed distinctive furniture styles, due to the taste of the gentry, the mix of native born and immigrant craftsmen, and the availability of imported
furniture and English pattern books. It is known that there were copies of Chippendale’s Director in Philadelphia. The Library Company of Philadelphia acquired a copy between 1764 and 1769, and two cabinet-makers Thomas Affleck (1740-95) and Benjamin Randolph, owned copies. In America furniture was mostly made of solid pieces of primary wood, rather than veneers over a seconday wood carcase as in England.

RUSSIA
Throughout the 18th century Russian furniture was inspired by French and to a lesser degree English designs; by c.1815 German influence is also apparent. Generally the timbers used for Russian furniture were indigenous; during the early 18th century, when designs were dictated by early Georgian furniture from Britain, they included oak, beech, and walnut. By the 1720s Russian armchairs had tall curved backs with a vase splat and cabriole legs. By the mid-18th century, the taste for Rococo and Chinese ornament had spread to Russia due to the publication of such influential pattern-books as The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754-62) by the English cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale (1718-79). English-style chairs with pierced splats and sweeping cabriole legs with claw-and-ball feet, usually made in mahogany, were increasingly popular.
However, from the beginning of the 19th century the clearest influence on Russian furniture manufacture was that of France. Particularly favoured was the Empire style of the cabinet-maker Georges Jacob (1739-1814), who was based in Paris. About this time, light-coloured woods also became popular, anticipating the Biedermeier style in Germany and Scandinavia. From c.1815 chairs were executed in indigenous woods such as Karelian birch, maple, and poplar, decorated with restrained stringing.
HALL CHAIRS
Hall chairs (and also hall benches) were introduced in Britain from the late 17th century. They may have been inspired by similar chairs known as sgabelli, which were popular in the great Italian palaces during the 16th century. Hall chairs were designed to be placed in the entrance hall or passageways used by servants and tradesmen waiting to be called into one of the main rooms. Consequently such chairs were never upholstered, and generally they lacked arms; however, they were increasingly made of mahogany, with solid backs and dished or shaped scats. The designs were bold and simple and were frequently embellished with the painted crest or coat of arms of the family who commissioned them. In some cases they were carved with motifs intended to impress guests and to emphasize the social status of the owner. The importance given to hall chairs is suggested by the fact that there are six designs for such chairs in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director by Thomas Chippendale, three in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide (1788-94) by George Hepplewhite (d.1786), and two in The Cabinet Dictionary (1803) by Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806).

THE BIEDERMEIER STYLE
This decorative style was popular in Germany, Austria, and Scandinavia between c.1815 and c.1848. The name was invented by two German poets who wrote under the pseudonym Gottlieb Biedermeier, formed from a combination of bieder (meaning conventional or honest) and Meier, a common German surname. The solid, comfortable appearance of Biedermeier pieces was thought to mirror the unpretentious elegance of the German bourgeoisie. The simple, geometic designs, which eschewed ornate decoration, were inspired by French furniture of the Empire period. Function and comfort were of supreme importance to the Biedermeier craftsmen and to achieve this end they used coil-spring upholstery.

•    UPHOLSTERY gros and petit point arc very rare and greatly contribute to the value of a wing armchair
•    REGILDING well-executed regilding should not dramatically affect the value of an object; French Louis XV beechwood chairs were usually originally gilded or painted and traces are often found in the crevices
•    HALL CHAIRS these arc usually found in sets of four or more, although it is possible to find single chairs; they are often decorated on the back with a cartouche featuring the armorial of the family who commissioned them; they are generally very good value for money
•    COPIES AND FAKES Brustolon-style chairs were widely copied in the 19th century; Biedermeier chairs have been been widely faked in the 20th century, with many side chairs converted into armchairs – this should be obvious if the proportions seem wrong

Stoneware
Stoneware was first made in Europe in the 12th century by potters in the Rhine valley, where there were abundant supplies of wood for fuel. Steinzeug as stoneware is known in Germany, was made mostly in the Rhineland, but also in Saxony. Cologne was the first important centre for the production of Renaissance-style Rhenish stoneware in the first half of the 16th century. There are obvious regional differences, it is not always easy to distinguish the wares of different Potteries located close to each other. In terms of production, almost the entire output was of drinking vessels fitted with pewter lids. The few exceptions include flasks (resembling tea-caddies), inkwells, table salts, and small tureens. The complete absence of stoneware dishes or plates indicates a German preference for pewter or wood for use on the table.
SIEGBURG
Siegburg became a centre for stoneware production in the I 5th century. The most celebrated wares, dating from the second half of the 16th century, are Schnelle tall, tapered tankards), decorated with shallow reliefs Moulded separately and carefully scaled onto the sides. Subject-matter tends to be either biblical, allegorical, or heraldic. Other wares include Sturzbecber (”somersault cups”) and Schnabelkanne (”beak jugs”). The most important family of potters were the Knutgen, active during the late 16th century. At the beginning of the 17th century the industry declined, owing to increased competition from other Rhenish centres.
RAEREN
Stoneware appears to have been produced in Raeren near Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) from the mid-1 5th century. Early wares arc virtually indistinguishable from those of Cologne or other Rhenish areas, and it was not until after the mid-16th century that an individual style developed. This was a grey-bodied stoneware covered In a lustrous brown glaze. The leading makers were members of the Mennicken family, particularly Jan Emens Mennicken. Wares include handsome, bulbous-bodied drinking jugs, the profiles of which reflect the legs on late Elizabethan tables or buffets; these are decorated with a broad central band of relief-moulded panels containing arcading, religious subjects, Holy Roman Emperors, or dancing peasants. With their complex, graduated borders of tiny medallions and Kerbschnitt (carved, diagonal crosshatching), these vessels have a weighty, architectonic appeal. Raeren continued as a major centre through the 19th century, producing 16th- and 17th-century-style wares and beer-mugs.
WESTERWALD AND CREUSSEN
The region known as the Westerwald is noted for its manufacture of grey stoneware detailed in cobalt blue and manganese brown. From what survives it is evident that the output was almost wholly of hollow vessels such as the Enhhalskrug (narrow-necked jug) and the
(bulbous globular tankard). Many of these jugs are stamped with a date and the monograms of English monarchs, such as “Anna Regina” and “Georgius Rex”, suggesting that they were intended for export to England. Production has continued in the region up to the present day.
Creussen (Kreussen), near Bayreuth, was a centre for the production of stoneware from the late 16th century until the 1730s. The product was a light-brownish-grey ware covered in a rich, chocolate-brown salt glaze,
and output consisted mainly of tankards and flasks with metal screw-tops. Decoration was applied, moulded, or enamelled, and included hunting scenes, the 12 Apostles, and figures symbolizing the planets.
• BODY off-white (Siegburg), grey (Frechen, Cologne, Raeren, and Westerwald), or dark brown (Creussen)
• GLAZE salt glaze
• FORMS tankards, narrow-necked and spouted jugs, bellarmincs (globular bottles with a bearded mask at the neck, made famous by those produced in Cologne)
• DECORATION applied, enamelled, and moulded: strapwork and ornamental motifs taken from pattern books; biblical scenes; Holy Roman Emperors; rich figural scenes; coats of arms
• FAKES beware of 19th-century copies of 16th-century Schnellen, the bases of which are too finely finished and very flat
Marks
Early wares may bear the initials of the potter or decorator incorporated into the design; marks never appear on the base until the 19th century; factory marks
as opposed to individual’s initials were unknown before the 19th century
Faience
The technique of manufacturing tin-glazed earthenware was spread throughout Europe to France, the Netherlands, Britain, and the German-speaking world in the early I 6th century by itinerant potters. German tradition has it that tin-glazed earthenware was first produced by the stove-makers of the south in Bavaria and the Tyrol, and there are a few pieces dated to this time. The majority of German faience, however, dates from the late 17th
I until the early 19th century.
BEFORE 1700
The arrival of Dutch potters in Frankfurt and Berlin in the later 17th century encouraged the development of German pottery. The first centres of production were Hanau (1661), Frankfurt ( 1666), and Berlin ( 1678). Much of the output at this time is in the manner of Dutch Delftware and indeed is frequently wrongly identified as such. Decoration is mainly blue on a white ground, inspired by decoration on Chinese export porcelain, landscapes and figure subjects. Chinese-inspired themes carry on throughout the golden age of German faience in the 18th century, although local themes do sometimes appear. One of the most popular was songbirds among scattered foliage and flowers.
A small proportion of the late 17th- and early 18th-century faience is painted in manganese and yellow as well as blue. Although petit-feu (low-fired) enamelling was developed here at least as early as the 1680s it is
scarce and therefore. As well as plain contoured dishes and hollow-wares the potters made lobed wares – both deep dishes, often with 30 or more lobes, and Enghalskrugen (narrow-necked jugs).
AFTER 1700
In the 18th century a large number of potteries were established; apart from Hanover (1732) these were principally in the southern and central regions, including Ansbach (1708), Nuremberg ( 1712), Bayreuth (1719), Brunswick (1719), Fulda (1741), Hochst ( 1746), and Crailsheim ( 1749). After 1700 the decorators’ repertory included a continuation of their love affair with Chinese ornament – although now in a much-debased form. However, as the century developed, the Chinese designs were gradually replaced by a more native style. Among the most popular themes were birds and foliage, naively painted buildings, figures, landscapes, chinoiserie riverscapes, the double-headed eagle, and coats of arms. Decoration was executed in both the high-fired palette (blue, yellow, and red against a speckled manganese ground) and low-fired enamels.
A considerable portion of the surviving output is the Walzenkrug (cylindrical tankard), one of the most characteristic forms of German faience. Also popular were Enghalskrugen, dishes, tureens in the form of animals, birds, or vegetables, plates, salts, inkwells, and vases (sometimes in garnitures, or sets). Figures were made by some manufacturers, the majority from the north of the region, such as Brunswick and Munden. Although competition from English creamware (cream-coloured earthenware) forced many of the factories to close at the end of the 18th century, some factories actories continued into the 19th century. The potteries in Kellinghusen established in the 18th century made good-quality peasant-style wares decorated in high-temperature colours with bold flowers; one factory continued until -.1860.
• FORMS multi-lobed dishes and hollow-wares, WaIzenkrugen and narrow-necked jugs; figures are rare
• DI CIO RATION based on Chinese wares; from -.1750 replaced by a more native style
• COPIES in the late 19th and early 20th century, copies of the more exotic petit-feu enamelled wares were made; 18th-century wares tend to have a pinkish took where the glaze is thin – most evident on the base
• BASES 18th-century wares, particularly from south ave a s -called “thumb print” on the base,
Germany,have so-calle
when the item was removed with a string from the wheel; these do not appear on 19th-century wares
Marks
Marked examples are rare before c.1700; a considerable number of faience makers used factory marks, but not on every piece
Bayreuth: this is the mark for Johann Georg Pfeiffer, owner between 1760 and 1767Hanau
: mark used between 1661 and 1806
k Dish from Nuremberg
This is a typical example of Nuremberg faience, complex in form and decoration. The finely fluted or ribbed form is washed in pale blue and then painted in greyish cobalt with a highly formalized design - a jardiniere charged with flowers enclosed within a corona of demi-lune panels and a rim of stylized Oriental flower-heads and floral cartouches. This entire arrangement is a fairly stiff descendant of the Rouen or Delft motifs that were dominant at the turn of the 17th century.

Ti-glazed earthenware was produced in France from at least the beginning of the 16th century when itinerant potters from Italy first introduced the technique. The ware is called “faience”, since much of the early ware resembled maiolica made in Faenza, Italy.
THE 16TH CENTURY
The dominant style for most of the 16th century was Italian; craftsmen from Italy appear to have settled in Lyons (1512), Nevers, Montpellier, and Nimes, and the output of these centres closely reflects the contemporary Italian polychrome maiolica of Urbino, Faenza, and Savona. The Italian istoriato (narrative) style is found on wares made in Lyons and Nevers, while the panelled a quartiery style associated with Faenza is seen on the faience of Nimes and Montpellier. However, in the north of France at Rouen around the middle of the century the work of Masseot Abaquesne (active 1526-59) is more sombre, and the designs show a strong affiliation with the Mannerist work of the Fontainebleau School. Early Rouen was noted for the manufacture of tiles some still extant in chateaux), albarelli (drug jars), saucer dishes, and flat-rimmed dishes.
THE 17TH CENTURY
The first half of the century continued to be dominated by the Italian tradition, but from the mid-17th century a more native French Baroque style developed. Mythological figures after contemporary prints were Popular subjects; drawn in a bold, muscular style in which ochre and blue are often dominant, they are somewhat livelier than their Italian istoriato predecessors. Dishes, which greatly outnumber hollow-wares (except apothecaries’ wares), were typically embellished with heavy foliated borders, usually interrupted with cartouches enclosing diverse subjects. During the second quarter of the century the influence of imported Chinese porcelain is evident, both in decoration and in form, and consequently the “hot” Italian colours declined in favour of blue and white. Nevers was probably the most important centre until the last 20 years of the century and was one of the first French pottery centres to decorate its wares with Chinese motifs. Here the earliest manifestations are garbled versions of the many imported late Ming blueand-white wares. A large proportion of production was painted in cobalt blue, sometimes outlined in manganese brown with figures in the manner of Chinese Transitional porcelain. Alongside the Italianate and Chinese styles, faience with solid-coloured grounds was made, including, most commonly, bleu persan (Persian blue), cobalt, and, more rarely, ochre.
Rouen, close to Paris and the French court, developed as a prominent centre for faience at the end of the 17th century. The Rouen style of the late 17th and early 18th centuries is formal, utilizing intricate motifs resembling ironwork (forronerie) or lacework (lambrequin) but probably owing as much to contemporary Chinese ceramic ornament. The lambrequin rayonnant style, so-called because of its radiating “snowflake” complexity, was copied by many other manufacturers in France, including those in Strasbourg and Moustiers. At its height (c.1695-1725) Rouen combined this style with vessels based on the shapes of silverwares because the French nobility had been ordered to melt down its silver in order to finance the wars of Louis XIV. Faience therefore became a fashionable substitute for silver.
THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES
Between c.1710 and 1720 polychrome wares became fashionable once again. For the next 20 or 30 years bold chinoiseries in high-fired (grand-feu) colours eclipsed the blue-and-white wares. From c.1750 low-fired (petit-feu) enamelled decoration became the focus of the leading faience factories of the day, located in Strasbourg, Niderviller, Luneville, Sceaux, and Marseilles. In an ultimately futile competition with porcelain, these manufacturers decorated their wares with botanical flowers, chinoiseries, and fantastical landscapes in the most delicate brushwork. Forms from the mid-18th century, in keeping with the innate intimacy of the Rococo, were diverse and lively, almost matching porcelain in some instances.
However, in the late 18th century, competition from porcelain and English creamware (cream-coloured earthenware) proved too much for faience manufacturers, and many failed around the turn of the century. Some potteries survived the onslaught from English creamware by manufacturing the same material, known
as faience fine, which although clean and crisp was never as creamy or warm as the English ware. In France, factories such as those in Creil, Pontaux-Choux, and Montereau, some active before the
mid-18th century, made great quantities of faience fine, thus helping to accelerate the decline of faience. Many of these factories decorated their wares with transfer-printing in the style of creamware from the Wedgwood factory (est. 1759) in Burslem, England.
By the mid-19th century Quimper was one of the few surviving faience factories in France, producing wares with simple figural subjects loosely imitative
of I 8th-century Rouen. Gien, active toward the end of the 19th century, appears to have concentrated on the manufacture of wares in revival styles, using printed designs based on classic Italian maiolica. The output of historicized faience was fairly limited as many factories preferred to produce the fashionable styles current in the dying years of the 19th century. The firm of Samson (est. 1845) in Paris made a wide range of good reproductions of faience. Although this factory applied the original marks, it usually put its own monogram alongside.
• BODY Rouen: red; Nevers and Marseilles: buff;
Strasbourg: creamy white; Moustiers: greyish
• GLAZE Strasbourg: thick and creamy white; Moustiers: creamy grey
• PALETTE “hot” colours inspired by Italian maiolica; from c.1625 blue and white inspired by imported Chinese porcelain; high-fired colours: cobalt blue, manganese purple, ochre, yellow, green, and iron red; enamels: from the late 1740s a wide range of colours
• DECORATION Rouen: lainbrequins and arabesques; Nevers: narrative style; Strasbourg: botanical studies; Marseilles: naturalistic flowers, bouillabaisse; Moustiers: potato flowers, fantastic creatures, Classical figures, and festoons
Marks
These were very randomly applied; marks arc usually the initials of the proprietor of the factory; most are in puce, blue, or black; care should be taken since marks of such collectable factories as Strasbourg, Sceaux, Marseilles,
Rouen, Lille, and Nevers have been widely copied on 19th- and 20th-century fakes
Strasbourg: Paul Hannong factory (c.1740-60) Marseilles: Veuve Perrin factory (c.1740-95) Moustiers: Olerys factory (1 738–c.1790) Quimper: Antoine de la Hal (est. 1782)
Quimper: Fougeray factory (est. 1872): copies of 18th-century originals