Posts Tagged ‘cabinet makers’

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.

Stools, Chairs and Settees
Early forms of stools—development of the chair—scarcity of chairs before the 17th century—etiquette of the joined stool—upholstered farthingale chairs—”monk seats” and Commonwealth chairs—Restoration chair design—characteristics of William and Mary chairs—Queen Anne cabriole legs and the fiddle splat—wing chairs—Chippendale chair designs—chair backs of Hepplewhite—Adam’s classical shapes—Sheraton elegance—Regency and early Victorian chairs—the mystery of the Windsor chair—harlequin sets—the emergence of the settle—love seats and the development of the settee two tiered tables .
On a marble panel in Athens which dates from around 400 B serving tray antique tea table for sale .c antique butler type ashtrays . a woman is to be seen seated on a chair which has all the characteristics of a British chair of the Regency period antiquing furniture . The designers of Regency furniture, like Thomas Hope and Henry Moses, went to the ancient civilisations for their inspiration and this chair in the Athenian sculpture is an interesting case of “it has all happened before” 6 legged table antique .
After the disorders of the Dark Ages when so much of art and craftsmanship was lost, the way of making beautiful and serviceable things had to be rediscovered or reinvented antique regency revival sideboard . At the beginning of the early Tudor period it can be said that in any house, even of the greatest importance, most people had to be content to sit on stools blacks, meissen, porcelain . Sometimes these were of the planked type as illustrated in Chapter 1, but more often they were made of turned wood with triangular shaped seats women brass lamps . This type of stool was common throughout northern Europe and when they are encountered it is difficult to say what may have been their country of origin painted romer glass .
Small chests were also used as seats in early times and formed one of the sources from which the chair developed, the other being the triangular-seated stool japanese black lacquer round tea table . In both these instances the need to provide additional support for the body brought about the addition of backs and arms to the stools antique french office chair . The first box or chest chairs were very heavy and cumbersome and it became evident that there was little advantage in constructing chairs in this way antique half circle dropleaf table . For a short while this type of chair was made without the lower side and back panels but with the front panel still included staffordshire figure lovers couple . By the middle of the 16th century the oak armchair, without any lower panels in the framework, was to be found in most houses of the reasonably well-to-do antique porcelain +swan +painted .
A custom, lasting for many years, delayed the employment of the chair for general use black stinkwood table sale . During the second half of the 16th and for the greater part of the 17th century it was commonly accepted that only the head of the family or the master of the house should occupy a chair 2 tier adams style table lid . In some homes a thoughtful husband might provide a chair for his wife but as for the rest of the household, they had to use stools or remain standing wiener werkstatte chair . The modern word chairman, to denote the head of a committee, is probably derived from this ancient practice earthenware mixing bowls antique with handles . On a point of etiquette, observed in Britain during the 17th century, a host and his wife would vacate their chairs when entertaining an important guest and would sit on joined stools, as a mark of deference, while the guest occupied a chair american spoonback armchair .
The heavy oak arm-chair of the late Elizabethan and the early Stuart periods was of very much the same pattern with turned legs and a carved or inlaid panel in the chair-back candlestick 17th century church . The only marked difference in construction was in the top rail of the back antique display cabinet half round . While the Elizabethan chair had the top rail jointed between the uprights, the Stuart version had the uprights jointed into the top rail which projected at the sides and was supported by “ears” or small brackets 18th century card table .
The joined stool must have been made in considerable numbers during the 17th century as it was frequently referred to in bequests and inventories empire pier table . Nowadays, it is sometimes called a coffin stool which is rather a misnomer breakfast serving tables . It is true that in many old churches joined stools are to be found carrying piles of hymn books or collecting boxes and occasionally they may have been used for supporting a coffin during a burial service, but they were certainly not designed for that purpose european porcelain marks 1742 . A joined stool was the average person’s seat in the 17th-century household, either at the dining table or around the fire kidney shaped tables antique . It is likely that those found in old churches today were banished there from the vicarage when custom and funds permitted the parson to provide himself with the more comfortable chairs botanical antique ceramics collectors .
While chairs with wooden seats were in use throughout the 17th century and also during the 18th in the houses of country-folk, upholstereed chairs did appear in the early Stuart period antique extend side table . These, like the farthingale chairs, have already been mentioned in a previous chapter but during the Commonwealth somewhat heavy oak dining chairs were taken into use about the same time as the gate-leg table appeared thomas sheraton games table . These were similar to the farthingale chairs but had lower seats and higher backs which were upholstered in thick leather and edged with large brass round-headed nails antique empire pier table .
An interesting, dual-purpose piece of furniture was developed about this time satsuma pottery thousand flower . Known as a table-chair, it was constructed so that when the table-top was tilted to a vertical position it formed the back of a chair kidney shape dressing table . It is sometimes referred to as a monk’s seat, but the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the consequent banishment of the monks from the British way of life had occurred over a hundred years before the table-chair was invented 19th century tables .
The chief characteristic of Restoration chair design was the spiral twist for legs and backs english refectory table . A favourite motif of the wood-carver for chair decoration was the device of two cherubs, or amorini, supporting a royal crown c 1840 antique pedestal card table . This was inspired by the return of the monarchy after the Commonwealth and remained in popular favour until the close of the century antique secretaire . Chairs of the better quality were usually made in walnut but in the provinces many dining chairs were produced in oak 18th century chamber pots . Two varieties of these are usually referred to as Yorkshire and Lancashire chairs antique chair tall skinny back . They were quite heavily made and the former had two shaped and rounded back-rails, decorated with carving and bearing a small bearded mask century hepplewhite walnut card table . Traditionally, this was said to represent the death mask of the martyred Charles I and earned for this Yorkshire type the name of mortuary chair antique soup terrines . The Lancashire chairs, on the other hand, have panelled backs and I have an example in my possession on which the carving is very similar to that on a set in the ancient Chetham’s School, Manchester, which dates from the mid-17th century royal sheffield candlesticks . The finials on the uprights of my chair are the same as those on a settle which appears in Brueghel’s painting The Village Wedding meissen scattered flowers tea sets . The Brueghel picture was painted about 1530 and so we realise the slow movement of continental influence showing itself in the north of England over a hundred years later 16th century japanese tables .
Portuguese and Spanish characteristics, entering England directly through royal marriages or more deviously through France and the Netherlands, considerably affected the design of William and Mary chairs scriptoire . Here is found the tall, narrow back and the scrolled foot which during the reign of Queen Anne was to develop into thy, cabriole leg art deco polished matte lost-wax castings o nude women in bronze by viennese artisans . On these chairs the design of the upper back rail is often repeated in the lower front rail antique chippendale dining chairs with bronze leg decoration .
The type of chair which evolved during the first decade
of the 18th century was very pleasing to the eye antique brown staffordshire . The first cabriole legs were quite plain but the chair-makers of the lime did not consider that the chair legs were sufficiently strong to be made without connecting stretchers antique dining room with bulbous legs . However, by introducing a deeper seat rail it became possible to make a stronger joint at the top of the chair leg and eventually the stretchers were dispensed with altogether antique dresser names . The chair-backs of the Queen Anne period were of a pleasantly rounded appearance with a fiddle-shaped central splat, curved to support the sitter’s back meissen figures .
During the early Georgian period the cabriole leg remained in favour and without the stretchers was more sturdily fashioned than the finer Queen Anne shape 17th century writing desk . Moreover, it became the custom in the better class of chair to ornament the knees of the cabriole legs with carved shells, acanthus leaves or satyr masks american art deco bar furniture . Instead of a simple pad at the bottom of the leg, the ball and claw foot was adopted 19th century pennsylvania furniture prices . This was a pattern derived from a Chinese dragon motif which clasped in its claw a celestial pearl 19th century antique hall table . All-over upholstery of chair backs now became fashionable, but it was a vogue which died out when Chippendale and his contemporaries introduced the elaborately carved chair backs of the mid-18th century duncan phyfe table and buffet .
Chippendale included a straight, square sectioned leg among the designs for his chairs and when made in the Chinese taste these were covered in low-relief carving to simulate lattice work edward round drum tables . As if there was some doubt as to the structural efficiency of these legs, the use of stretchers was re-introduced art deco round glass chinese painted coffee table value . Chair backs were generally rectangular, whether the style was Gothic, Chinese or one of the many rococo patterns which decorated the pierced splats antique bedside toilet . Some of these complicated designs from Chippendale’s Director were rather pleasingly simplified by country craftsmen, e antique silver fish knives ivory handle .g english knife box . the well-known rush-seated ladder-back chair early american wall mirror .
Around the beginning of the 18th century the wing-wardly curving upholstered arms and cabriole feet antique german breakfast table . Later in the century the arms were made more upright and the side wings larger victorian cherry drop leaf table . The wing-chair is deceptive both in size and comfort small antique dressing table with cabriole legs . It often looks smaller than it really is and care should be taken before buying one to ensure that it will really fit in wherever it is intended to go early 19th century mahogany desks with lion feet . Although the winged chair marked a great advance in human comfort at the time, the unsprung seating feels hard compared with the resilience of 20th-century upholstery antique inlaid marquetry dutch chairs .
While George Hepplewhite was known to have made a considerable quantity of furniture to the designs of Robert Adam, he himself was probably responsible for many well-known types of chair such as the shield-back, the oval-back and the feathers pattern sofa table mahogany antique . The backs of Hepplewhite’s chairs were more rounded than those of his predecessors and he also favoured tapered legs which were often fluted utensils used in britain for cooking . His furniture generally was of a lighter appearance than that which had gone before occasional tables painted india . Sets of dining chairs usually consisted of ten or twelve single chairs and two arm-chairs or carvers antique rectangular drop leaf dining table . These latter were designed to accommodate the broad figures and full frock coats of the l8th-century gentlemen and the seats were made proportionately wide rue la la . The curve and sweep of the arms is also noteworthy for they were cut from solid blocks of mahogany of a size which would make it uneconomic to employ in modern reproductions “myott, son & co” .
Robert Adam designed his chairs to match the classical interior decoration of the houses he built vintage wooden card table . They had turned and fluted or tapered legs and the lyre-back pattern was typical 19th century glass fronted cabinet . He contrived some elegant gilded chairs whose backs were adorned with small painted medallions on which appeared figures from Greek and Roman mythology georgian dressing tables . These were painted by contemporary artists like Angelica Kauffmann and Zucchi lenci mermaid figurines . Adam also introduced the fashion for painted beechwood furniture, and chairs in this style were often finished in black or white paint, neatly lined with gilding kem weber furniture designer prices .
For some time previously gilded furniture had enjoyed considerable popularity art deco reproductions clock . It is said that it was first introduced according to the wishes of the wives of those Georgian gentlemen who were filling their Palladian mansions with the rich but somewhat sombre mahogany furniture rare antique drop leaf . Quite a large proportion of this gilded furniture was imported from France and it is very difficult to identify English made chairs from the French originals german antique work tables . French chairs are believed to have upholstered pads on the arms and small peg-like ends to the scrolled feet while English gilded chairs are supposed not to have had any upholstery on the arms while the scrolls reached right down to the end of the legs bauhaus style furniture +scale . 1 have, however, seen both English and French chairs with variations of all these characteristics oriental writing bureau cabinet .
The rectangular chair-back returned with Thomas Sheraton, who of all the 18th-century designers could probably claim to have the greatest delicacy of taste antique chamber cabinets . He owed this success to a lightness of construction, hitherto unattained, and to his use of the natural beauty of the mahogany and satinwood grain directoire sofa . This he left without embellishment except for a slight amount of inlay and some boxwood stringing along the edges antique 18th century cedar chest . Sheraton was very close to the 20th century in his chair designs and I have seen dining chairs produced by well-known designers of the present day where the influence of Thomas Sheraton has been very strong indeed andre delatte .
Regency chairs have a distinctive elegance of their own, and although they could be bought quite cheaply in sets before the 1939-45 War, today they are very much in demand nest of 20 drawers . They are rather simply shaped with slender, turned legs and attractively scrolled backs antique art deco fixture . The back rails are often inlaid with ebony or brass and the lower rail is sometimes found carved like a rope length silver forks made in london . It was during this period that the top back rail was constructed so that it protruded on either side of the uprights, this design often being associated with the so-called sabre-shaped leg small sterling silver clocks .
The Restoration spiral twist now re-appeared in the Abbotsford furniture of the early Victorian period antique kayseri silk carpet pictoral niche . These chairs were usually made of walnut or rosewood but could never be mistaken for late 17th-century pieces antique oakchamber pot chair with hinged top . In spite of their rather fussy character and beadwork upholstery they are attractive and well worth acquiring bone handled fork converted to knive . About 1860 the cabriole leg returned to favour and many sets of attractive chairs, designed for the drawing room or parlour, were produced walnut escutcheons . Country-made rush-seated chairs with turned spindle backs and club legs date from the early 19th century and are still made in some northern counties french table stretcher draw leaf .
The origin of the Windsor chair is shrouded in mystery, as is also the name antique dresser with drawers stamped 54 . The tale that George III discovered this turned-wood type of chair at a house in the Chilterns and found it so to his liking that he had it sent to Windsor for his personal use may be accepted with that degree of credulity accorded to many fables concerning antiques cabinet makers antique work bench . Some authorities date the Windsor chair from the late 17th century and others from the mid-18th edwardian wardrobes . It is more than likely that in areas such as the Chilterns, where there are extensive beech forests, turned-wood stools and chairs have been produced for a very long time, even as far back as the 16th century desk boulle style . The Windsor chair as it is known today was really a product of the 18th century and it was probably during that time that it reached that very high degree of functional design for which it has become famous william kent eagle console table . Traditionally, these chairs have legs and spindles of beech which until a short time ago were shaped on crude lathes in the beechwoods by turners known as bodgers antique draw leaf dining table . The hooped backs and arms were made of ash which could be easily steamed and bent to shape while the seats were of elm because they could be cut in one piece from the broad elm boards silverware sets real fake . Some Windsor chairs have yew-wood arms, backs and spindles but are rather more rare and consequently more expensive to acquire italian provincial furniture . Those which have a shaped central splat in the back with a small wheel-like figure incorporated in the design are usually referred to as wheel-back chairs german antique sideboards and buffets fluted .
I have already mentioned sets of Georgian dining chairs and these command a high price, even when country-made russian porcelain antique . Due to a 19th-century custom of dividing sets of chairs among the beneficiaries of the will on the death of the owner, it is quite common to find single specimens or pairs of chairs of almost any period in sale-rooms and antique shops 18th century victorian toilet in dining room . Accordingly, it is not a difficult matter to collect what is sometimes referred to by the antique trade as a harlequin set of different chairs, either of the same or various periods empire curved bureau . In my dining room I have a very pleasant example of the Hepplewhite period, a pair and one single chair of Sheraton design, and two Regency carvers song dynasty bluish green glazed earthenware . None of these cost more than £5 and some much less countries that art deco was very popular .
High-backed oak settles look cosy and attractive before an open fire in a country inn but they are not really very comfortable and seldom fit in with a modest collection of antique furniture 18th century king george red velvet arm chair value . They often have a chest beneath with a hinged lid in the seat and sometimes shaped wings at the sides to combat the draughts pilaster bookstand price . The low-back settle or panelled settee with cabriole legs and a long overlaid cushioned seat are a better proposition and can be bought for under E10 antique cherry drop leaf table claw foot .
Of much rarer vintage is the double seated settee or love seat, designed according to tradition for the use of courting couples “desk”+”antique” . I believe that this is just another fable as these seats are not infrequently found in pairs, the second one provided, perhaps, for the chaperone simple design dressing table . More likely these love seats were merely part of the seating accommodation provided in a large salon or ballroom for the assem-blies and routs so much beloved by the Georgians ornate antique silver roast serving platter .
Longer settees with cabriole or square Chippendale type legs, and with padded arms and upholstered seats and backs, made an appearance in the second half of the 18th century francaise antique . Apparently they did not develop in popularity as there are comparatively few about and their places were taken by the sofa and couch swansea duck egg .

THE AGE OF THE DESIGNER
HEPPLEWHITE PERIOD
HEPPLEWHITE began his career as a cabinet maker
at a time when the art of cabinet making was at its ifullest tide kakiemon porcelain . The second half of the eighteenth century is often called the golden age of cabinet making, and by I- `6o, when Hepplewhite settled in business at Cripple-gate, the standard of design and craftsmanship was at its zenit1h walnut tripod tea table . The Chippendale school was still in its prime, and they was a strong group of craftsmen who had ingrained in the — a fine trade tradition, a thing which implies something more than a mere ability to use tools antique card table collectors . It means a sense of appreciation and a certain element of originality, tempered with the convention that belongs to a workshop where everything is done by hand silver tripod table .
George Hepplewhite was one of these practical men english bristol teapots . He was scarcely a designer in the sense that Robert Adam was antique english stoneware identification . He did not sit down at his drawing board and sketch out purely original designs, but his work had characteristic features that can usually be recognised andre’ japaneese porcelain . As a cabinet maker he knew his job perfectly, and, in addition, he had a keen appreciation of fine line which enabled him to give his work a certain individuality in a way that would be beyond a man of no imagination eighteenth century women dressing in front of men in their bedchamber . In this sense he no doubt influenced the trade considerably, but beyond this he simply worked in a certain style which a group of cabinet makers was following angouleme guerhard . His name has come to be attached to that style probably because of his book, The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, and that was not published until 1788, two years after his death antique wooden pot cupboard .
It is apparent, then, in speaking of Hepplewhite furniture a general style popular from about 1760 until practically the end of the century is implied rather than the work of Hepplewhite himself as an individual dutch antique furniture . A great deal of furniture no doubt was made in the workshop at Cripplegate, but except in a few rare instances it is impossible definitely to identify it antique drop-leaf bread table .
Taken generally, Ilepplewhite furniture was comparatively simple antique blue glass kidney shaped end table . There were a few touches of decoration (usually applied), but even the most ornate specimens had nothing like the elaboration found in the richer Chippendale pieces english porcelain parian . Several new forms of decoration were introduced or revived, for whereas Chippendale work had little other form of decoration besides carving, Hepplewhite furniture had
FIG (chineseexportporcelaincoffeeservice) . 130 tambour commode . SHIELD BACK CHAIR french art deco porcelain jaguar .
1770-1780 spoonback armchair .
One of the finest chairs produced in the 18th century “antique collectors blog” .
For all their lightness these chairs were extremely strong art nouveau jugendstil jugs .
being made in the finest mahogany and of the best work-
manship multipurpose dressing table .
inlay, painting, and gilding in addition to carving glass table antique ceramic legs . The inlay usually took the form of bandings and strings in satinwood, rosewood, ebony, and so on, and was in fact very similar to the inlaid work usually associated with Sheraton glass boudoir lamp deco . Carving was of small classical subject, vases, festoons, draped cloth, and swags of husks, an entire departure from the elaborate scrolling acanthus leafwork of the Chippendale school duke extendable dining table .
It is perhaps in the chair that the Hepplewhite charac-
HOOP BACK
CHAIR antique empire or regency style mahogany bookcase .
1770-1780 english seventeenth century cabinets .
A favourite motif of Hepple-
whitewere the ears of wheat ball and claw tripod table antique . These appear at
the top of the pierced splat
in the back 18th century wardrobe .
11
FIG carved japanese tea table . 132 edgar brandt reproductions snake lamp . OVAL BACK
CHAIR pennsylvania house antique sideboard .
1770-1780-
The French influence is
strongly marked In this
chair world market carved brass charger plate . Except for this
French form the cabriole
leg was never used by
the late 18th century
designers antique silver sphinx .
SIDEBOARD WITH BREAK FRONT DECORATED WITH INLAY pembroke end table .
Late i8th century,
It was not until towards the end of the 18th century that the sideboard with drawer and cupboard accommodation
was made epergne antique for sale . It was evolved from the side table with separate pedestals recipe for “soft paste porcelain” . It is difficult to distinguish between
Hepplewhite and Sheraton pieces as both had a great deal in common italian deco furniture .
The Shield Back Chair
teristic is most marked de coene freres . Probably the most famous type is the shield back, of which an example is given in Fig small sutherland table . 130- A really fine example of a shield back ranks amongst the most beautiful things ever produced, but, like the cabriole leg, first-rate examples are rare antique folding “coaching table” . The truth is that it takes a first-class chair maker of considerable experience to make one properly, the difficulty being that the shaping runs in three directions 16th century english joyned table . There is the shield shape seen from the front, the backward rake, and the concave plan shape antique table turned legs . To incorporate all these to form one harmonious whole is something that calls for a great deal of skill and experience antique inlaid table birds .
As a rule the main back framing had a channelled moulding worked all round it, and the probable reason for this was that it helped to emphasise the shield shape steuben stemware deco . It will be realised that, although the lower part of the shield appears to be in one piece, it is in reality in three dresser with mirrors & teardrop pulls & ogee bracket . The side portions in fact continue down, forming the back legs, and a curved bottom rail is fitted in to complete the shape between them 18th century marquetry . By channelling the wood the shield appears to be in one unbroken piece william iv jupe extending circular . The front legs of these chairs were invariably tapered louis sue .
The chief outside influences of Hepplewhite were the Adam and the French raoul dufy, plates ceramique . Of the latter there was Louis XV, which showed itself in the cabriole leg exemplified in Fig classical work/sewing table mahogany,3 drawers,carved legs, pedestal paw feet . 132 olive green and iron red oriental porcelain . Note the French scrolled foot and the flat shaping which continues along the front seat rail in an unbroken sweep arabisque furniture in ny . Another French influence came from the Louis XVI, and one result was the use of the turned leg 18th and 19th century silversmithing . An example of this is the settee in Fig antique spoons italy silver ornate . 129 papier mache tray-c19th .
Other typical Hepplewhite chair backs are the hoop back, of which Fig antique drop leaf or gate leg tables, ,ny . 131 is an example, the oval back (Fig antique 5 leg oak drop leaf table . 132), heart shape, and that with the serpentine shaped top rail curving into the uprights mackintosh wooden chairs .
Pieces such as sideboards, writing tables, bureaux, chests of drawers, tallboys, wardrobes, and so on were, as already mentioned, extremely like Sheraton furniture, and are dealt with more fully in Chapter X curved back chair from 1940s . The bedstead in Fig french chamber pot bed tables . 129 is a four-poster, very like one appearing in Hepplewhite’s book, and shows the general restraint in treatment walnut tripod tea table .
Fig clawfoot dresser . 133 is a sideboard belonging to the last few years of the eighteenth century trestle table double column . It has characteristics of the Hepplewhite style, but there are others which belong equally to Sheraton, and, as we are dealing with what might be termed schools of design rather than the work of individuals, it is apparent that one can do little more than term it late eighteenth century antique french empire . It is probably the work of a cabinet maker whose name has not come down to posterity, and who worked in the traditional style of the period edwards & roberts furniture .
THE AGE OF THE DESIGNER
ADAM PERIOD
N one important sense Robert Adam was entirely
different from the other outstanding characters with
-whose work this book deals serpentine top breakfast table . He was an architect by profession, not a practical cabinet maker, and in turning his attention to furniture he was not in any way fettered by any convention which a tradesman might have 19century british armschairs . It is not suggested that the convention of a good trade tradition is bad ; it is one of the healthiest influences a craft can have ; but it simply is a statement of fact that Adam was able to approach the subject from a fresh angle italian inlaid tea table . He worked from his drawing board and passed on his designs to be carried out by a practical cabinet maker porcelain spanish dancers .
He had travelled a good deal in France and Italy, and on his return in 1758 he set himself up as an architect and rapidly became very successful antique furniture prohibition bar examples . As a result of his foreign studies he was influenced considerably by the classical school, but he had a strong individual turn, and as a result his work had a characteristic touch which made it different from that of other architects working in the classical style antique drop leaf table for sale . It was delicate and refined (some term it effeminate), abounding in small intricate detail, and it superseded largely the rather heavier work of such architects as Sir William Chambers “empire designer, best known for pedestal tables with curved legs .
His connection with furniture was that in designing an interior he included the furniture as an essential part of the scheme blue china tea set with silver inlay england . To the average architect the work was finished when the walls and ceiling had been decorated, but Adam required every detail, even to the ornaments on the sideboard, to harmonise with his ideas japanese portable cherry wood tea tables . Perhaps the most notable example is that of Harewood House, in which the furniture was designed by Adam and executed by Chippendale antique ball and claw desk .
Although there were marked characteristics in Adam furniture, one has to be wary in accepting a piece as genuine Adam Characteristics
Adam chinese furnture form mid 19th centuary . The fact that he had to employ practical cabinet makers, combined with his great success, soon led to a great deal of imitation simple european furniture . In fact, of all the ” Adam ” work that has survived only a very small part can be identified as owing its origin to Adam himself regency period casters .
FIG porcelaine antique motif ming . 137 louis the 14th chair . DINING TABLE WITH FLAP AND PIVOTED BACK LEG japanese laqure tea table .
Abotd 1775•
This is one of a pair of tables Intended to be placed together when used
for dining silver flatware wood handle . The front rail is in reality a drawer front brass ornaments for furniture empire style . It now stands In
the Victoria and Albert Museum South Kensington 1828 sideboard buffet .
self was an individual and original designer, ” Adam ” furniture was, for the most part, the work of a school working in his style antique wood drop leaf table .
Adam used many methods of decoration in his furniture antique oak dropleaf gateleg table . The carving had definite characteristics shearers cupboard heavy . The acanthus leafage was finer and more delicately treated than in the full scrolled form which Chippendale had favoured, and, in addition, he used chains of husks, the honeysuckle device, Greek key, vases, drapery, plaques carved with mythological subjects, rams’ heads, and grotesques antique empire furniture . Inlay and marquetry, too, were revived, and were carried out in satinwood, tulip-wood, rosewood, amboyna, harewood, and so on biedermeier antique de . The subjects were similar to those of the carving furniture designersgerman . Another form of decoration was painting in the style of Angelica Kauffman meissen porcelain antic . A popular treatment was to make these painted panels the main feature of a design of scrolling acanthus leafwork
FIG antique dishes germany pastels with scallops . 138 henry clay bed and furniture . SEMI-CIRCULAR ADAM SIDE TABLE ferniture leg in itali .
T770-1780 antique table in europe .
An extremely fine piece of cabinet work carried out In mahogany antique vase markings newcastle.. on. tyne 1762 . The
curved top rail is veneered, the grain running crosswise 17 century elm gateleg table . The centre
panel and the oval pater2e are typical features brass frame girandole images .
and husks 17th and 18th century french silver marks . In some few instances, too, Wedgwood plaques were introduced bidet square .
A typical Adam sideboard is shown in Fig lion antique mahogany dining table . 136 royal sheffield silver . Properly speaking, it is a side table with two pedestals, but the three pieces were intended to stand together and form a whole In some cases the pedestals were actually joined to the table, though the result never seems quite so successful furniture of meiji period . It gives one the impression that the three pieces were actually separate at one time and were fixed together antique silver candelabras made in england . It is true that there was a general tendency to make the sideboard a single unit, but it was only when the pedestals lost their indivi-The Adam Sideboard
duality as such that the result was really a success labels under boulle furniture . The Sheraton sideboard in Fig makers of antique tea tables . 14 wheat shaped dining table base .4 exemplifies the point furniture  finmar ltd . The origin of the pedestals can just be traced, but they are essentially a part of the design as a whole “art, nouveau”"chiparus”"deer” .
The pedestals owed their origin to the lack of accommodation in the side table andres rosewood solid wood . If one refers back to the side table of Chippendale’s time in Fig chromed trestle table leg . 11 5 it is obvious that its only use was to provide standing space on its top directoire phyfe sofa . There were no drawers or cupboards in which table furniture could be kept opalescent glass perfume france . It fell to Adam to introduce the pedestals antique walnut telescooic dining table . Sometimes they were fitted up with metal grids to enable hot irons to be placed in the cupboards, so providing ? means of warming plates The urns at the top either had metal containers in which iced water was kept, or they were fitted up to hold cutlery antique rosewood armoire with claw feet . The more ornate specimens were often carved with rams’ heads, drapery, husks, and other devices selling japanese tea tables antique .
Towards the end of the century the cabriole leg practically died right out 18th century chippendale dresser . Adam never used it upholstered wood chairs from 1930s . In most cases he preferred the square tapered leg with small square feet fashion 17th century . They were usually recessed in their tapered portion, a pendant of husks often being carved in the recess near the top old gate leg table ball feet . The leg at C, Fig second hand old oak table in staffordshire . 139, shows this detail antique ladik rug . Another common treatment was to carve a series of flutes along the length, the lower part often being filled in with reeds (see A in Fig french antique occasional tables . 139)•
A particularly fine example of an Adam dining table is given in Fig important american girandole mirror . 137 english hepplewhite dressing table . It is one of a pair napoleon antique campaign chair . In use the two would be placed together, flap to flap, so forming one large table meals in eighteenth century england . The flap is supported by a single leg made to pivot frosted glass vase with smokey streaks . Thus when not required for dining the tables could be placed flat against the wall and become useful side tables antique chinese circular revolving bookcase . The decorative treatment is well worth noting antique porclean handled sheffeld flatware . The tapered legs are fluted on all sides except one, this being carved with a crisscross design set in a recess antique table round drop leaf claw foot . At the top are paterx carved with leafwork theodore haviland 1958 pattern . The fluted top rail with the plain centre part carved with swags of husks is typically Adam english stoneware marks . He invariably introduced this centre panel french meals17th century .
An example of a small side table with turned and carved legs is given in Fig furniture cupboard design,side board,wood . 138 george hepplewhite bottle case . It exemplifies well the delicate treatment of which Adam was so fond meissen porcelain animalsfrederick augustus . Note the use of the centre panel again, this time of quite plain form see a silver sauceboat with a heated base . Other kinds of Adam legs and feet are given in Fig antique glass top tea table bird . 139•

BUREAU BOOKCASE AND WRITING TABLE cabinetmakerthomassheraton .
Typical features in the left-hand example are the barred doors and shaped
pediment with fretted detail beneath antique dining table sutherland . The writing table is of a kind that
became popular early In the century scalloped folding antique table .
Gothic was really one of contempt), but it appealed to a passing fancy to pick isolated details here and there and to weave them into the work staffordshire pearlware figures french revolution . At best the result was a mere travesty, and it fell out of favour as quickly as it had come decoupage cabinets .
Our last example of a chair is that in Fig mortlake salt ware stoneware . 112, which shows a small upholstered armchair of about 1755—176o antique spiral leg oak dropleaf table .
Chippendale Period
An interesting feature here are the small fretted corner pieces fitted in the angles of the front legs oval . ‘These were often used on the square leg type of chair and of other pieces having similar legs square walnut and burr elm coffee table .
Settees porcelain table casters .—The Queen Anne settee NN,itb double or triple back has already been mentioned gate leg fold over antique tables . In Fig george i folding card table antique . 113 is its development in the early Chippendale period “biedermeier candelabra” . There is a great deal about it that is strongly reminiscent of the walnut period, especially in the rounded shaping of the back and the arms with their acutely scrolled front corners octagonal oak carved table . The
FIG antique meissen clock . 120 brandt mahogany 2 tier table . SIMPLE MAHOGANY CHEST OF DRAWERS,
1760-,770 collectors of paul frankl .
Although of plain form this simple furniture was thoroughly well made
as a rule gateleg drop leaf table 19th century . It was the sort of thing that the merchant class would have
used spiral legs on drop leaf table .
shell detail, too, is retained in the top rail of the back, and the splats, although pierced, have in their general outline something that can be traced back to the Queen Anne urn shape davenport “pattern numbers” .
It will probably be felt that there is something unsatisfactory about the back marqueterie cabinet . The centre section is well balanced enough, but those at the sides are uneven because the main side uprights are different from the curves of the wide inner uprights identify - shaped pedestal or pillar leg . This difficulty was sometimes overcome, especially in latter Chippendale models, by making the inner uprights double, each part being a replica of the main outer upright refectory wood .
Revival of Veneering
CHIPPENDALE TABLES
We saw in the last chapter that, apart from the William Kent productions, side tables had usually cabriole legs and were often fitted with marble tops antique porceline candle sticks . A tendency was to introduce an elaborate apron piece between the front legs, this being usually pierced right through and carved with acanthus leafNvork intricately scrolled and intertwined art deco inspired bookcase . It rapidly began to grow out of all proportions until the beginning of the Chippendale period why are pier tables called .
Fig kitchen antique furniture deux corps cupboards . 114 shows a small table of simple form, and of special
FIG antique inlaid occasional table . 121 art nouveau porcelain marks . SERPENTINE SHAPED COMMODE telescopic supports for tables .
i76o-1770 antique brass and marble cocktail table 1950 .
This shows strong French influence both in general form and in the detail
of the carving mallard tester bed . It would have been extremely expensive to produce and
be made for only the wealthiest classes antique dressing table 1925 .
interest in that it shows a revival of veneering bernard palissy . In fact it may be mentioned here that a great deal of veneering was done in Chippendale pieces, probably as an economy in the finely-figured woods then being imported century italian provincial cherry bombe armoire . It was, however, usually of a different spirit from that of the Queen Anne period, when the veneer usually hid entirely the construction antique table wooden hinge drop leaf . In Chippendale work no attempt is made as a rule to hide the construction, and any detail is usually subservient to obtaining good strength antique dinner services .
The difference came about in this way antique adams and sons company england ironstone . A Queen Anne cabinet maker would make the framework of, say, a door and would veneer it so that the latter ran right across the joints, concealing them entirely chinese precious stone and laquer cabinets . In Chippendale’s time the
cabinet maker used far thicker veneer (about I in italian nlaid bronze marble table tops .) and 8
generally veneered his parts before jointing and putting them together what is a chamber pot of 1800s . In this way the joints were bound to show, and it involved no practical difficulty because the veneer was thick enough to allow the joints to be levelled with the plane after being put together, a thing which would have been quite impracticable when the veneer was thinner flemish ivory inlay furniture antique .
The table in Fig spode ironstone china . 114 is rather an exception to this general rule in that the top rail was veneered after it had been jointed to the legs george serving table fluted . It is easy to tell this because the veneer runs across both rail and legs what is antique library table worth . Cross-grained veneer is the exception rather than the rule in Chippendale work, though in a case like this advantage was taken of the fine figuring to show it at its best refectorytables . The legs are of the straight moulded type already noted, and are deeply chamfered at the inner corners to lighten the appearance tripod table marble .
Use of Frets black desk curved legs .—Another table showing typical Chippendale features is that in Fig antique crofters cottage antique . 115 antique draw leaf table . It has the square moulded legs with deep chamfer, and the rails are decorated with frets antique cherry dictionary stand . This form of ornament was originally derived from the Chinese style north west antique dresser . In its purely Chinese form it consisted of intersecting straight lines somewhat in the form of lattice work (see the chair back in Fig antique mahogany drum tables library tables writing tables . III), but the idea once prompted soon developed into a purely Western conventional design consisting of curves and scrolls nabeshima antique . On p classic white bombe drawers maker . 157 is given a group of typical Chippendale frets, some still distinctly Chinese in character, and others of the conventional English form empire furniture company .
These frets, where similar positions to that in the table in Fig copper brass tray coffee table . 115, were later applied—that is, they were not carved out of the solid wood, though often enough the ends of scrolls and other small details were touched up with carving tools to give a more realistic appearance of carved work spaanse 17de eeuwse antieke tafel . In some cases the frets had no backing lidded urn with hole underneath . For instance, little galleried edgings were often fitted to small tables george hunzinger chairs . These were pierced right through in the form of a fret meissen whiteware animal . The cabinet makers soon found that these had little strength when cut out of a single thickness because the grain was necessarily short in certain parts small round chippendale center hall table . Consequently they hit upon the idea of glueing together three or more pieces of veener, the grain of the centre layer running at right angles Chippendale Side Tables
to those outside french design desk . Frets cut in this were considerably stronger graduated drawers formula . This is probably the first example of the use of plywood, though of course it had little in common with the large plywood panels produced to-day daghestan prayer rugs .
Side tables, such as that in Fig antique walnut settee chairback . 115, would be placed in

FIG chamber pot . 124 writing table with bookshelf design . CHIPPENDALE FRETS german antique card table .
,760-,775•
A, B and C are conventional patterns of Western form antique book ends . D and E show the Chinese influence dating meissen figures .
the dining-room, and their purpose was to provide a useful standing space for the dishes art nouveau antique drinking cabinet . The day of the sideboard with drawer and cupboard accommodation had yet to come classical column drawing . The reader may care to turn to Fig antique drop dresser with marble top . 116 to see examples of other kinds of legs used in tables of this kind french console table 1830 . The second example is interesting in that it is pierced right through, a detail which came from the Chinese influence what is a chippendale ring . One entirely new form of leg is the fourth example, which is composite, that is, built up of a number of small separate pieces antique gilded table glass . It consists of a series of clusters of turned columns fitted between squares antique chamber pot chair . Quite light tables had this form of leg mallard tester bed .
Many new kinds of occasional tables made their appearance at this time, and amongst them was the small tripod form also shown in Fig chippendale pinecone . I15 regency side chair with brass motif . The simpler examples were quite plain, consisting of three legs (like that at F, Fig antique gateleg table and chairs center drawers . I16), joined to a turned centre upright, and a circular top love seat pietro piffetti . Finer specimens as that in Fig antique vitrine table . 115 had acanthus carving on the knees of the legs and on the turned upright chinese export porcelain wall plaque . The edge of the top, too, was often ” pie-crusted antique book ends .”
BURFAUX AND WRITING TABLES
We saw in Chapter V how the
great increase in writing led to the
introduction of pieces intended
specially for writing antique dressing table w/mirrors . Of these the
bureau (usually with the bookcase
above) and the writing table
remained popular palissy patterns . The secretaire
in its original form, with huge fall
writing top, lapsed, though a certain
number of pieces with compara-
tively small falls were made antique mahogany rent table . These
were similar to the bureau except
that the fall when closed was
upright antique “duncan phyfe side chair” . When opened out flat the
whole writing arrangement was
made so that it could be pulled forward, so giving easy
access to the stationery nest and providing ample knee space harlequin pattern commode for sale .
CHIPPENDALE GRANDFATHER CLOCK checkoslovakian figurines .
1760-1770 red and yellow rose czechoslovakia china .
The domed shape of the hood
with a pediment above was
Invariably used markings on antique candelabra .
Writing ng Bureaux
A simple Chippendale bureau is given in Fig chippendale rosewood table . 117 art deco modern deco antique furniture . It is similar in general form to its predecessor of Queen Anne’s time, though, apart from being in mahogany, the decorative treatment is entirely different tub chair design . Sometimes the sides, drawer fronts, and so on were veneered (about 8 -1 in antique oak table trestle drop leaf . thick), but there was no ruling on the subject duncan phyfe drop leaf buffet table . In any case, when veneer was used the front was simply regarded
as a solid piece with a facing of mahogany ; that is to say, there was no attempt to use the veneer to give a decorative effect as in walnut work collector’s table . No quartering or crossbanding was used lenci artist signature . Drawers were usually surrounded by a cocked bead, as in the present example “lion feet” wardrobes . For interior parts, drawer sides, etc chinese wooden tables with brass leaves inlay ., oak was generally used value susie cooper tea set yellow with blue dots .
Another bureau similar in form, but with bookcase above, is shown in Fig antique jacobean dropleaf desk . iig antique pembrook game tables . The bookcase has many typical features, of which the pediment with carved rosettes and fretted underpart, and the barred doors are the most obvious antique duch east india company plates . These barred doors were a continuation of the Queen Anne type (see Fig elements of art value . 84), whic h probably owed their origin to the comparatively small sizes in which glass was first available fine bohemian china made in czechoslovakia compagnie . All the panes are separate and fit between bars consisting of a moulding, usually an astragal, with a thin flat bar at the back to form rebates for the glass . A few other Chippendale patterns of barred doors are given
in Fig antique upholstered chair curved side . 122 italian wood armchairs . Both these bureaux are Note the use of bracket feet in both flatware 17th century .
almost universally in these pieces, though in finer specimens they were often finely carved chinese influence to rococo . More elaborate specimens had pilasters flanking the doors with fine carving in them, and had altogether more elaborate pediments victorian cherry drop leaf table .
A writing table is shown in Fig antique desks/captain’s davenport . 118 napoleon antique chests . In this we have a variation of the bracket foot, the solid plinth theodore haviland 1958 pattern . Note that POLE
SCREEN parts of chambersticks .
About 1765•
The screen portion was
made so that it could
be adjusted at varying
heights kakiemon bow price .
of simple form delicate trestle table .
certain of the mouldings are carved amakusa candlesticks . This was a revival which took place in the mahogany period recipe for “soft paste porcelain” . In the earlier oak days carving was used to decorate mouldings to a considerable extent, but it lapsed entirely in walnut furniture because in this the mouldings were invariably cross-grained italian inlaid sideboard . This produced a decorative effect in itself, but it was not practical to carve them because the cross-grain was simply a thin layer glued over a solid groundwork spider leg circular dining table . With the return
FIG, 127 15th century chamber pots . TYPICAL MOULDINGS OF THE CHIPPENDALE SCHOOL vizagapatam furniture .
1750-1775•
In his finest work Chippendale invariably used carved mouldings spanish revival walnut console table . It was prob-
ably the result of his being a carver by trade value of 19th century silver apostle spoons .
to the use of solid wood in the first half of the eighteenth century carving was once again possible, though it was on altogether finer lines than that of oak work tambour commode . A smaller writing table with knee hole space is given in Fig vintage wooden handled three tined dinner forks . I ig antique collectors cabinet for sale .
BEDROOM FURNITURE
The chest of drawers, established by Queen Anne’s time, was a recognised part of the furnishing of a Georgian bedroom antique spanish cabinet marble top . In its simplest form it was often severely plain with no decoration 4 foot drop leaf table . The drawers usually had a surrounding French Influence
cocked bead, but even these were primarily utilitarian, since their chief purpose was to protect the edges of the veneer antique walnut writing table with pillar (post) legs . An example of this simple furniture is given in Fig tripod side table . 120 barometre du style directoire . The chamfered front corners are worth noting because, although in this particular example they are quite plain, in better class pieces they were often developed as an important feature, carving, fluting, or frets often being used as decoration antique shop slovakia . A chest of this kind would have been used in the house of one of the middle classes or in one of the lesser bedrooms in an important house burr walnut tallboy with sunburst inlay .
In contrast is the fine chest of drawers or commode shown in Fig marble dining table antique oval modern . 12I antique wooden oval french music stands . A piece of this kind represents the high water mark in cabinet work, and is obviously the product of a first-class workshop silver pillar candlestick . It is distinctly French in character, and is probably taken from a Louis XV commode, except that, whereas the latter would be largely gilded (probably the mountings of the legs would be of metal), in the present example they are entirely in mahogany, showing its natural surface english bone handled knives and silver forks . A feature adding considerably to the difficulty of making such a piece is the fact that it has compound shaping ; that is, in addition to being of serpentine shape in plan, it is shaped in its height antique escritoire desk . This double shaping was often used in Louis XV work for the French were a long way ahead of us in work of this type—possibly because very elaborate work has never specially appealed to us drop leaf walnut table gate legs . Other features in the chest definitely of French origin are the scrolled legs, with their Rococo ornament and the handles daniel quare 1674 tortoiseshell case pocket watches . An enlarged detailed drawing of one of these French type of handles is given on p how much did porcelain cost in the 1500s . 02 antique french drum table .
Bedsteads england biedermeier chest of drawers .—The Queen Anne bedstead was for the most part the four-poster type, entirely covered with soft materials, as in the example given in Fig antique bureau writing desk . 96 candle sticks antique porcelain victorian couple . A few were made with head and foot and no upper tester, these having a typical Queen Anne shaping at the top of the panel and cabriole legs below “jean luce” arzberg . A great many modern reproductions of the type are made to-day 19th century native american pottery . The majority, however, were four-posters, with every part of the woodwork (except possibly the feet) covered entirely up with velvet and other materials 18th century worcester porcelain . It was scarcely a thing fit for everyday use in an average house, though it might be well enough in a palace french chippendale dining table library desk . It was not like a four-poster with curtains only that could be taken down and washed dressoir timber . Once the material became faded Chippendale Bedsteads
or worn nothing short of stripping off the whole would be of the slightest use 18th century french silver makers .
In Georgian times came a return to the all-wood bedsteads burslem yellow trellis ceramics . In a sense these were similar to the four-posters of Jacobean times, but were altogether lighter and were in mahogany instead of oak walnut and glass coffee table, italian . A Chippendale example is given in Fig 19th century. mahogany buffet . io6, P- 136 historismus beakers . In some cases the Chinese character was used entirely writing bureau “sliding” . There stands in the museum at South Kensington a bedstead of this kind, in which the tester follows the form of a pagoda roof, whilst the back is decorated with lattice work drawing furniture by michael thonet . The whole thing is in gold and black lacquer and was probably made in Chippendale’s own workshop name a piece of furniture that begins with v .
The development of the grandfather clock is shown in Fig french/belgian art deco table for sale . 125 where can i buy antique candlesticks in dorset? . Note the scrolled pediment above the rounded heading of the hood door antique coaching table .

THE AGE OF THE DESIGNER
CHIPPENDALE PERIOD
IT is as well to realise at the outset that the title of this chapter, The Age of the Designer, is one largely of convenience, and must not be accepted without certain qualifications 1930 chairs dining black . That it implies an age when certain men were working out styles in an individual way is perfectly true, but it does not mean that these were the only men working in those styles ; neither does it mean that they were necessarily the originators of them greek designs and motifs . This may sound some-,A hat of a paradox, but the case is simple when one comes to analyse it kem weber designed art deco .
Take two outstanding cases, those of Thomas Chippendale and George Hepplewhite brass railings marble furniture . Both these names have come to stand for certain styles in furniture, and a chair, or w hatever it may be, can be picked out and dubbed as one or the other antique epergnes and marks on bottom . But this does not necessarily imply that it was made by either of these cabinet makers deco legs . When one comes to consider the vast amount of mahogany furniture of the period which has survived (discounting the many fakes and reproductions) it must be obvious that all of it could not possibly have been made in the workshops of just two firms decorated night tables . That both firms prospered and turned out a good deal of furniture is true, but against this was the fact that it was all made entirely by hand, so that the labour and time involved must have been tremendous rococo eagle dresser .
It becomes obvious then that, taking just this aspect of the case, there must have been many cabinet makers who were making furniture in these styles, and we have now to consider whether these were plagiarists copying the ideas of just two men, or whether the names Chippendale and Hepplewhite have come to be applied to certain furniture merely because these two fashionable cabinet makers happened to be working in styles which had evolved naturally delftware pottery . Opinion on the subject has changed considerably during the last twenty-five to thirty years antique german desk . Chippendale FIG rene prou . 107 how to distinguish a 19th century empire sofa . ARMCHAIR
WITH FLATTENED
TOP BACK RAIL wooden upholstered arm chair .
About 1755 makers of silver table ware in late 1800’s .
The tendency to replace the rounded or hooped back by the flattened top rail is shown in its culmination in this chair calamander wood bookcase .
FIG 18 century hall tables . 108 frosted glass vase with smokey streaks . CHAIR WITH
SQUARE MOULDED
LEGS “18th century desserts” .
About 176o what, what+british vernacular .
When this square form of
leg was introduced, the
stretchers were once
again used anttic dishes . The double
ogee section of the legs
was used almost ex-
clusively antique blue side table .
FIG chippendale dining double pedestal . 109 antique gateleg drop leaf round table . LADDER BACK ARMCHAIR belgium porcelain dining tables .
About 1760 making cabriole legs with padded feet .
The back Is a departure from the upright slat type which had been used almost exclusively since Queen Anne’s time swedish antique round carved tables . It was probably a resurrection of the tall ladder back of James II time parts of chambersticks .
FIG oriental drop front . 110 typical art deco furniture . SIMPLE
MAHOGANY CHAIR antique folding card table dutch painting .
x76o-1770 baltimore fancy chairs .
For less wealthy cus-
tomers plain chairs were
made which in a general
way followed the pre-
vailing fashion but with
costly carving and other
detail omitted late medieval sideboard . They
were sometimes made in
beech chest on legs sofa table .
funtature dating . CHAIR WITH CHINESE INFLUENCE antique white chamber pot .
About 76o early soft paste teapots .
The Chinese influence is shown in particular in the use of the lattice work in the back and the frets in the rails whitle marble tables. consols, sideboards, dining . At best it was but a grafting of Oriental detail on a purely Western form spergne antique .
FIG guilloche antique frame -russian -ebay . 112, UPHOLS• TERED ARMCHAIR 1850s gateleg with butterfly leaf .
About i26o,
t II Note that the back has lost the winged form seen in the last example of an upholstered chair in Fig english walnut club chair . 79, p how african art inspired art deco . 101 rectangular drop leaf sofa table . Small fretted brackets between the front legs and sea, rail were often used as
in this example russian neoclassical secretaire .
Strong Trade Tradition
used to be held up as a great designer and practical cabinet maker, so great and individual in style that the whole trade automatically turned to him as a leader and copied his works in sheer admiration george oakley furniture . To-day people are more cautious in accepting this theory blue glass pheasant .
Both Chippendale and Hepplewhite were practical cabinet makers antique furniture made with scottish pine . Their places of business are known to have been, the former in St lovers on a swing’ meissen porcelain . Martin’s Lane and the latter in Cripplegate, and both published books of designs georges jacob furniture . Possibly it was these books that gave rise to the theory that they were the leaders of design, the fact being lost sight of that these were virtually catalogues aaron burr desk . The more likely theory is that both men were extremely successful interpreters of styles which were a natural development along traditional lines 17th century silver tableware . In the sense that both were able, practical cabinet makers, with a gift of originality, they helped to establish styles on thoroughly sound traditional lines and at the same time impart to their work a feeling of individuality thonet recliner . Apart from this, it can hardly be claimed that either was a great designer, turning out purely original work in the way that, say, Wren designed buildings which were entirely individual and obviously the work of a great inventive genius jackfield pottery animals .
The case of Robert Adam as a designer of furniture is in a rather different category antique silver fish knives and forks . Adam was an architect, not a practical cabinet maker, and he designed his furniture specially to suit the houses he built edgar brandt deco tables . It was natural, then, that his furniture should show more of a definite break from tradition, because he was not fettered by years of training in a certain established school (with whatever advantages and disadvantages that carries with it) flatware forks types . At the same time, the fact that he became an extremely successful architect with a large clientele made it inevitable that he should attract the attention of many cabinet makers, who would make furniture which was either a copy of pure Adam work or was just founded upon it display cabinet design in royal style . Thus, except for certain authentic specimens, one cannot hope to do more than classify a piece as being in the style of Adam
THE CHIPPENDALE PERIOD
With this explanation of a title which might otherwise be regarded as misleading we may turn our attention to the first C’hippendale’s Status
school of design, which began at about the time when the second rising for the house of Stuart took place, 1745 coalport 1920s vogue collection . We have seen that by this time mahogany was used exclusively—that is, so far as the towns were concerned warm entree dish . There still was a certain amount of oak furniture made in country districts, but it was mainly in the style of years before and cannot be said to be typical of the period pennsylvania dutch antique china cabinet hand painted pictures . It has also been noted that in some respects the Queen Anne feeling was retained, especially in the pieces which had always been made in solid wood funtature dating . In particular, the chair had still much in it that was reminiscent of early times, although the gradual flattening of the top rail and the straightening of the uprights had introduced a new element furnuture pieces supboards style bambocci .
Taken generally, the early Georgian period was disappointing from the point of view of design cockerel mark pottery . It is to be admitted that design is largely a matter of individual taste square white occassional table . One man can find satisfaction in work that has no appeal to another mallard furniture . At the same time the models of about 1730 make a poor showing when compared with the best work of Queen Anne’s time, especially in the chairs for sale antique pedestal candle table 3 legs brass claw feet . Chair making then, as to-day, had become largely a specialised job, and for some curious reason the craftsmen somehow failed to make the best of their opportunities pop up cigarette deco dispenser . Not that the work was generally inferior in the quality of the workmanship ; the carving was often of a high order ; but that the outlines and general shapes were often poor rare antique japanese tea bowls . For instance, the cabriole leg often degenerated into an overshaped thing, and the claw and ball foot lost a great deal of its former vigour british deco table . The shapes of the backs, too, were often unsatisfactory and give one the impression that in feeling round for a new expression the craftsmen were lacking in appreciation of a well-balanced line, good craftsmen though they might be “antique collectors blog” .
By 1745 or so there was a definite upward tendency again steel dining table germany . This has often been put down to the advent of Chippendale antique austria 1855 - 1953 statues . That his individual work was generally of a high order, showing a fine appreciation of line backed up by the best craftsmanship, is true, and in that sense he probably did influence the trade, but it is doubtful whether this alone could have been the guiding force in the whole world of cabinet making black desk curved legs . It is too much to expect that his influence could have become general in so short a time and extend all over the country The probable truth is that that particular age produced a number of men all largely gifted with an eye for good proportions and line porcelain table clocks . It is difficult to explain just why this should have been, but parallel cases happen in all the arts and crafts at certain periods english sterling silver chambersticks . They lapse for a while and then a whole number of capable men come along, and the art is lifted from the rut into which it seemed to be sinking antique designs of dinner tables .
Chippendale’s Director paul de lamerie sauce boat .—We may, at this point, turn to what little we know of Chippendale himself antique ivory chinese queen ang king . This is derived chiefly from his book, The Gentleman and Cabinetmaker’s Director, first published in 1754, and from bills for goods supplied by him regency era anquite beds . His workshop was first in Conduit Street, Long Acre, and afterwards in St design italian crockery cupboard . Martin’s Lane, and it is apparent that he conducted a very flourishing and fashionable business antique walnut tall boys . It appears that in 1755 fire broke out, and a notice of the event states that there were twenty-two workmen’s chests in the shop antique english knights dining tables . When one adds to this the men who would have been engaged in polishing, fitting, and general work it is apparent that a great deal of work must have been turned out antique imari porcelain . Later in his life (he died in 1779) he made a good deal of furniture to the designs of Robert Adam blonde french deco vitrine .
That he himself was a practical carver and cabinet maker there is no doubt, and this makes it all the more remarkable that so many of the designs in his book were impractical bernard palissy . It is to be admitted that the plates were the -work of an engraver who may have used considerable licence, but, even so, it is difficult to conceive of a practical man passing designs which he must have known could not have been made as they were frosted glass opalescent glass . From the preface of a later edition it is apparent that many people of the time had their doubts as to the practicability of some of the designs, for he makes a sort of apology, and attributes the adverse criticisms to ” Malice, Ignorance, and Inability antique dressers by northern furniture .” Possibly there was something in it metal plates and trays from iran . No man becomes successful without somebody feeling the jaundice of jealousy, but all the same Chippendale would have had his work cut out had he had to make some of the items exactly as they appeared in his book glass cabinets display printers type .
In some rare instances it has been possible to identify pieces of furniture with illustrations from the Director and the differences where the practical cabinet maker has had to adapt the design are obvious davenport desk 19 century . Probably the truth is that the The Gentlemen and Cabinet Maker’s Director
book was intended primarily as a catalogue which would attract men of wealth to the workshop antique elm table & chairs . The list of subscribers includes many titled people and rich merchants, who would be likely to have money to spend, and these were objective of the book ; people who would turn over the leaves and make a selection of things they would order from him british longcase makers .
It is true that the book was also described as a trade book which would include directions for making the various
FIG, 114 charles side table stretcher walnut . SIMPLE SIDE TABLE WITH MOULDED LEGS swedish furniture 1930 .
About i76o marquetry drop leaf side table .
The straight leg moulded along its length was used considerably by the Chippendale school swedish antique side table . Note that the inner corners are deeply chamfered antique bookcases london .
pieces antique commodes chamber pot . In the event the main bulk of the subscribers were cabinet makers (this probably accounts for the defensive preface he wrote for his second edition), but from Chippendale’s own point of view these were probably incidental to the main object decortive burr rosewood vase .
CHAIRS
The middle and second half of the eighteenth century has often been called the golden age of cabinet making, and it was in this Chippendale period that it blossomed 1920 art deco antique dressing table . As a first example, take the armchair shown in Fig walnut armchair josef urban art noveau . 107 antique side table with sloped shelves . It represents a type that has never been excelled dining table glass silver antique . Individual taste may prefer, say, the fine shield back chair of the Development of the Chair
Hepplewhite school (and certainly that is beautiful enough), but in its own particular way this Chippendale chair has all the parts that go to making a really fine piece, satisfying in line, sound in construction, and of the finest workmanship lancashire antique bureau 1790 .
In many ways this chair is a direct descendant from the Queen Anne models with which we are already familiar antique drop front writing desks . Other influences were to creep in later, but here almost every detail has something about it that shows its origin in the traditional line ancient gothic furniture . The legs are of the cabriole type and have the turned club foot used as early as the late seventeenth century czechoslovakia r porcelain . They are finely proportioned, with the full, high knee completely free from the overdone, bandy shape often found in earlier mahogany work antique bidet table . The knee carving is of acanthus leafage, which was the first stage of development from the shell and husk detail of Queen Anne models ancient greece furniture . The back is the culmination of the stages of evolution shown in Fig scroll planter table y chair . 102, Chapter VI leopold stickly table 1959 . The uprights have only a slight curve—both backwards and sideways—the combined effect of which is to give a sort of serpentine shape when seen from the three-quarter view revolving chipendale bookcase . The right-hand upright shows this clearly antique little silver . The top rail is straight (the word is used in contrast with the full rounded shape of Queen Anne models), and the slight dip at the ends gives an acute corner “18th century desserts” . This detail should be compared with those in Fig 19th century sewing tables with . ioz 1800 furniture desk ivory inlay wood . Tradition, too, is preserved in the retention of the single splat in the back, though it is pierced and carved to give the effect of a series of interlacing straps and scrolls buy antique pembroke inlaid table .
An innovation of the Chippendale period was that of the square leg office chair french . In some cases it was completely plain, but as a rule it was moulded along its length as in the chair in Fig i8th century english silver table . io8 metal borders friezes fretwork . In section the moulding was usually a double ogee, and at the top it was cut away to leave a plain flat surface to which the upholstery materials could be fixed antique desks by wilkinson and son . It should be noted that in this type of chair the stretcher rails are introduced once again antique oval table with middle drop leaf . The shaping of the back is similar to that in Fig antique wheel engraved glass patterns . 107, though the splat is rather more reminiscent of an earlier pattern like that in Fig arts and crafts liberty of london oak furniture . 102 george 1 style mahogany stool .
At the same time that these fine chairs were being made for the fashionable people in town a simpler form was being turned out in country districts black lacquer armchairs . Sometimes these were in mahogany, but quite a number were made in beech or even oak and stained to resemble mahogany english fcbinet makers 19th century . Fig antique telescopic dining tables . i i o shows a Oriental and Gothic Influence
chair of this kind “liberty furniture” . The legs are plain and the back splat has the simplest possible piercing voysey furniture . As a rule these chairs have a certain coarseness and heaviness about them, and are obviously the effort of a man working in an unfamiliar element augsburg marquetry table cabinet .
A particularly effective pattern of chair was the ladder back shown in Fig furniture ornaments ny . iog mahogany inlaid console table . It was a completely new departure so far as the cabinet maker was concerned, though it may have had its origin in some of the tall back chairs made in the latter part of Charles 11 reign sideboard lacquer mother of pearl . These often had a series of plain horizontal slats, with shaped edges fitting between turned uprights antique table with off centered middle leg . In the present chair the slats are pierced as well as shaped, and are fitted to the characteristic curved uprights 19th century german furniture makers . It will be seen that the same straight moulded legs are used as in Fig jacobean monks chair . ic,8, and the curious fact may be noted here that, except for one or two occasional variations, the same pattern of moulding is used practically always in these chairs prohibition parlor clock . It seems rather odd that a trade convention, or whatever it may be called, was so strong that almost every chairmaker followed it american art deco bar furniture .
Chinese Influence duncan table claw drop leaf drawer .—A rather curious influence that took a considerable hold on the world of furniture after the middle of the century was the Chinese curule friedrich schinkel . There was a popular rage for things oriental at the time ; Nvalls were covered with Chinese wall papers, and Chinese pottery was in demand jourdain modernist chair . Sir William Chambers had made a visit to China and on his return published a book of drawings of oriental studies exoticism, furniture . Its effect on furniture was the introduction of such motifs as temples, bells, lattice work, and elaborate frets, the whole often being seasoned with a strong French feeling art nouveau and august endell . In mirror frames especially the intermingling of the Chinese and French was strongly marked serrurier-bovy, silex . A chair having its origin in the popularity of this Chinese style is shown in Fig antique french candelabra . i i i black amethyst dishes . Note in particular the detail in the back and the frets of the rails berkey & gay american empire furniture . Furniture treated in this way is often spoken of as Chinese Chippendale, but it will be realised that it is only a rather bizarre adaptation of a few Eastern motifs to typical Western work, and is not really Chinese in feeling clock 1700th century wood . Chippendale shows a number of chairs of this kind in his book reproduction potboard dressers .
Oriental and Gothic Influence
chair of this kind inexpensive antique wardrobes . The legs are plain and the back splat has the simplest possible piercing antique sideboard 1825 . As a rule these chairs have a certain coarseness and heaviness about them, and are obviously the effort of a man working in an unfamiliar element value of empire style china closet 1910 .
A particularly effective pattern of chair was the ladder back shown in Fig antique shaving supplies quartz . iog antique furniture “made in france” coffee table art deco . It was a completely new departure so far as the cabinet maker was concerned, though it may have had its origin in some of the tall back chairs made in the latter part of Charles 11 reign art deco silver train straight on view image . These often had a series of plain horizontal slats, with shaped edges fitting between turned uprights turn of the century drop leaf table imperial . In the present chair the slats are pierced as well as shaped, and are fitted to the characteristic curved uprights curved walnut dining chair . It will be seen that the same straight moulded legs are used as in Fig baltimore & annapolis 18c cabinet makers . ic,8, and the curious fact may be noted here that, except for one or two occasional variations, the same pattern of moulding is used practically always in these chairs rent baroque wood carving furniture . It seems rather odd that a trade convention, or whatever it may be called, was so strong that almost every chairmaker followed it french antique writing secretaire .
Chinese Influence thonet rail styles .—A rather curious influence that took a considerable hold on the world of furniture after the middle of the century was the Chinese antique english tea tables . There was a popular rage for things oriental at the time ; Nvalls were covered with Chinese wall papers, and Chinese pottery was in demand arita porzellan in deutschland kakiemon . Sir William Chambers had made a visit to China and on his return published a book of drawings of oriental studies andre hunebelle glass . Its effect on furniture was the introduction of such motifs as temples, bells, lattice work, and elaborate frets, the whole often being seasoned with a strong French feeling “john dwight” potter fulham . In mirror frames especially the intermingling of the Chinese and French was strongly marked philadelphia chippendale antique dining . A chair having its origin in the popularity of this Chinese style is shown in Fig inexpensive french desks furniture . i i i porcelain figures of famous people . Note in particular the detail in the back and the frets of the rails 19th century american rosewood rococo console table . Furniture treated in this way is often spoken of as Chinese Chippendale, but it will be realised that it is only a rather bizarre adaptation of a few Eastern motifs to typical Western work, and is not really Chinese in feeling early imperial ming porcelain . Chippendale shows a number of chairs of this kind in his book painted silver trays .
FIG 18th century forks . 117 antique wrought iron candle sticks . SIMPLE BUREAU IN MAHOGANY 4 section antique cutlery box .
About 176o antique monk’s table .
The drawer fronts are edged with a cocked bead, and at the front corners
quarter-round turned pillars are inset cabinet maker 1840s .
FIG decorative writing styles . 118 bureau furniture . WRITING DESK WITH LEATHER COVERED TOP old fashioned wooden tray with silver legs .
About 1765 when were tea tables first used .
The moulding above the knee space is carved, a common feature of
Chippendale work antique metal tables with drop leaves . This would have been Impossible in walnut work
because the moulding was built up with a thin layer of walnut louis xiv roll top desk .

EARLY GEORGIAN PERIOD
THIS period is remarkable chiefly because mahogany as a furniture wood was first used. As early as 1715
a few pieces were made in mahogany, but it was not in general use until 1725-173o. From 1733 onwards, the tax on imported timber being abolished, mahogany came to be used exclusively. It was imported from the West Indies and was of the kind known as Spanish mahogany, a hard, heavy wood, rather inclined to be brittle, but very reliable. Early specimens were finished with linseed oil, this being coated on liberally and allowed to remain for a few days. A polish was then obtained with brickdust rubbed on with a cork. Later varnish was used.
Although in general proportions and form there was no immediate break from what had been common in the walnut period, there came almost at once many changes in detail and construction. It was not simply that a cabinet maker, used to the walnut tradition, would simply substitute mahogany for walnut, and make it otherwise just the same. There was more in it than that, and the root cause was the fact that, whereas walnut furniture was always veneered (except for such parts as legs, which had to be in the solid), mahogany was used in the solid. As a matter of fact such pieces as chairs, which in their nature had to be mostly solid, altered less than any other kinds of furniture because the construction was not affected by the change of wood.
It was pointed out in Chapter V that walnut furniture relied for its decorative effect largely upon the figuring of the grain and upon such details as crossbanding and quartering, which went naturally with veneering. The use of veneer made flat surfaces desirable, and when carving was used at all it was mostly upon the solid parts such as the legs. Now the mahogany first imported was mostly of a plain kind, with not particularly interesting figure, and this plainness must have been very obvious to people who were used to the rich figuring of walnut. Then, again, quartering as a means of decoration was impossible for this essentially belonged to veneering. A quartered panel in solid wood would inevitably twist out of shape and split. Crossbanding again, although not impossible in the solid, was not specially desirable, because it would not stand out well as the grain was not strongly marked.
It therefore became obvious to the cabinet makers that a new form of treatment was necessary for mahogany, and as
FIG. 102. STAGES IN
EVOLUTION OF CHAIR
BACKS.
The development from the
hooped Queen Anne shape
with urn splat is shown
above.
FIG. 103 (right). -
ANY CHAIR WITH CAB-
RIOLE LEGS CARVED
WITH ACANTHUS LEAF-
WORK.
.
a consequence there was a return to the panelled type of door in which the different levels of the panel and the moulding of the framework broke up what would otherwise have been a wide, uninteresting expanse. Carving, too, was revived as a means of decoration, though of a quite different type from that of its last period of popularity in the late seventeenth century.
Fig. tot shows a press made entirely of solid mahogany (except for such parts as drawer sides and so on which are of oak), and it exemplifies well many of these points. The doors, for example, have grooved-in panels of the raised type ; that is, they have a wide chamfer all round at the front, this helping to break up the plainness and add interest.

Use of Veneer Discontinued
Then, again, the drawers stand forward from the front of the carcase and have a thumb moulding worked round, so making their shape well defined, and at the same time helping to make them dustproof. In the best class work the mouldings would probably have been carved—they were never cross-grained as in the walnut work for the same reason that crossbanding was discontinued, the grain was too plain to stand out.
FIG. 104. MAHOGANY SIDE TABLE WITH MARBLE TOP AND CABRIOLE
LEGS.
A bow 1730-
Although made in mahogany this table has many features belonging to the walnut
period, particularly in the shells and pendant husks carved on the knees of the
cabriole legs.
Presses of this kind became general in this first half of the eighteenth century. They were exceptionally deep and gave excellent accommodation. The upper portion was generally fitted with oak trays made to slide forwards, extension runners being fitted to the inside of the doors to give support when withdrawn. Sometimes the doors had what is known as the rule joint at the hingeing edge. It was a similar arrangement to that used in the tops of gate-leg tables of Jacobean times, the sides of the cupboard having a quarter-round shape or moulding at the front edge, and the door a corresponding hollow, so that the one worked in the other as the door was opened. It had its value from the decorative point of view, though the reason for its use was mainly a technical one, since it made the doors flush with the inner surfaces of the sides when opened, so enabling the trays to slide closely between them.
The chair is typical of the upholstered form inade at the time. Note that the winged sides and scrolled arms are similar to those of Queen Anne’s time (compare it with the walnut chair in Fig. 79, P. 101) One feature in which it differs is the carving on the knees and feet of the cabriole

4
FIG. 105. CARVED GILT SIDE TABLE WITH MARBLE TOP,
About 1735•
This table was probably by William Kent, an architect who designed furniture for his houses. It was of an elaborate kind, architectural in character, and a complete departure from the traditional kind being
generally made at the period.
legs. This takes the form of a lion’s head and paw, details used for the first time in the early Georgian period. Other new motifs were the eagle heads with claw feet, masks, and the cabochon detail which resembled the detail of a precious stone cut without facets. At the same time the claw and ball foot continued to be popular, as shown in the dining chair in Fig. 103. Note that here a new detail is the carving of the knee, which takes the form of acanthus leafwork scrolling from the ear pieces down to the centre.
Fig. 102 is of particular interest in that it shows the development from the full Queen Anne rounded back to the straight top rail in common use by the middle of the century. In the left hand example the upright has the typical inward sweep immediately above the seat, and at the top it has a fairly full round sweeping towards the centre. Note, too, that the splat is solid. In the next example the inward sweep is omitted in the uprights, and the curve at the top has become more acute. The splat, too, is pierced. In the third illustration the top rail is more or less flat and the upright has only the slightest curve.
In these early Georgian days there was no such thing as a sideboard. Instead a side table was used, this usually having a marble top, as in the example in Fig. 104. This, although made in mahogany and dating from about 173o, has typical I( walnut ” features, especially in the use of the carved shell and husks on the cabriole legs. We shall see later that the sideboard, as we now know it, was evolved from the side table, separate pedestals first being added to give better accommodation. Later these were joined up to make a single piece. The illustration on P. 4 shows the stages of evolution through which it passed.
An architect who began to make a name for himself in George I’s reign was William Kent, and as he designed a certain amount of furniture for his houses we may conveniently take note of his work here. Kent had travelled in Italy, and on his return was an enthusiastic follower of the Palladian style which had become fashionable in architecture. He was a man of considerable ability, but so far as his furniture was concerned he seemed to strike a foreign note in the scheme of things. It was of a ponderous, extravagant kind, rather the sort of thing one might expect to find in the entrance hall of a theatre than in an ordinary dwelling house. Elaborately scrolled legs, bold masses of carving, heavy classical mouldings, marble tops, and the free use of gilding all seem to suggest that the work would have been better carried out in marble rather than wood.
Fig. 105 shows a side table in the Kent style in which this magnificent treatment is exemplified. It is the work of an architect not familiar with the technique of woodwork. No practical cabinet maker would ever have attempted to design such a piece, and it in no way represents a stage in the evolution of the sideboard. It is just the work of an individualist and seems to fall outside the general scheme of things.

Walnut Period
MARQUETRY
We have had occasion to refer to this form of decoration, and we may here conveniently explain what this was. We saw in Elizabethan and Jacobean work that inlay was used considerably as decoration. This consisted of recessing out a solid background to a depth of-in, or more and insert-
ing pieces of wood of a different kind from that of the background. The whole point about it was that it was cut in the solid and that the recesses had to be chopped out with chisel and gouge. With solid work there was no other alternative.
We saw also that a new method of treatment was introduced in the form of veneering, and the coming of this enabled an entirely new method of ” inlaying ” to be used. In this the inlaying was done in the veneer before being laid, and, although this at first may not seem to carry with it any special advantage, it did in reality make a tremendous difference, involving an. entirely new technique. The reason for this was that the veneer, being thin, could be cut out with a saw instead of having to be laboriously chopped away with the chisel. A comparison is that of fretwork. The reader knows what fine sweeping curves can be cut with the fretsaw, But imagine how limited the result would be if all the spaces had to be chopped away with the gouge !
This use of the saw, then, in itself made a tremendous difference in the designs that could be cut, but there was more in it than this. By fixing together two sheets of veneer of different kinds of wood and cutting through them at the same time both would have exactly the same design. Thus it was only necessary to separate the sheets and interchange the parts and a perfect fit was obtained.
It was obviously necessary to use an extremely fine saw blade—it was very like a fretsaw blade—and it had to be held so that it would cut a trifle out of right angles with the veneer, so that the one sheet would be a trifle larger than the other, thus ensuring a tight fit. To ensure this a special sawing bench, known as a ” donkey,” was made. The worker sat astride and rested the feet on a treadle connected with a vice above which gripped the veneer. The saw frame was horizontal and was worked with the right hand, whilst the veneer was moved about with the left. When the whole design had been cut it was assembled on a bench, the parts being interchanged as required. Any shading required was done by dipping the parts into hot sand. The whole was then glued to a sheet of paper and handed to the cabinet maker for gluing down,
It was first used about 1675, and the early efforts were in comparison crude, consisting for the most part of flowers, leaf and scroll work arranged in a conventional design. A few years of experience, however, made the workers extremely skilful, and they began to produce some extremely elaborate patterns, known usually as seaweed marquetry, in which the detail was very fine. Curiously enough, however, marquetry did not retain its popularity for very long, for in Queen Anne’s reign plain walnut was mostly used in which the beauty of the grain, combined with cross-banding, provided the decorative appearance.
TABLES
It is a remarkable thing that there do not appear to have been made any large dining tables in the walnut style during the reigns of either William and Mary or Queen Anne. Possibly it was that the cabinet makers found a serious difficulty in veneering such large tops owing to the liability of the groundwork to shrink and split. They never used walnut in the solid except for such parts as legs and turnings. However this may be, one can only draw the conclusion that the old Jacobean table in oak continued to be used, and a strangely inconsistent arrangement it must have seemed.
Small side tables, card tables, and so on, were made largely, and two examples are given in Fig. 93. That to the left belongs to the William and Mary period (note the inverted cup turned legs and flat stretchers), and the other is a later type made in the early years of the eighteenth century. Card tables were similar in appearance, the top being made double so that it would open out to form an approximately square shape. The two back legs were pivoted so that they could pull out and support the overhanging top. Cards had become an extremely popular form of amusement at the period.
LACQUERED FURNITURE
Mention has already been made of the increased trade with the East resulting in the importation of Oriental pottery. Other items imported were lacquered cabinets of Queen Anne Bedsteads
entirely Chinese workmanship. These were plain rectangular cupboards with the interior fitted up with small drawers and cupboards. To be of practical use in a Western room they needed mounting upon a stand, and it therefore became the custom to import the cabinets and to make special stands for them which were either gilt or silvered. Fig. 95 is such a cabinet and stand, and shows the elaborate carving with which the stands were invariably decorated. Later it became customary for the lacquered cabinets themselves to be imitated in this country—in fact lacquering became a popular craze for people of leisure to take up. A Treatise on japanning and varnishing was published by Stalker and Parker which purported to explain the whole art of lacquering, but no lacquering was ever produced here which could in the slightest degree compare with the true native oriental work.
The craze for lacquered work quickly spread to other forms of furniture, and clock cases, bedsteads, and cabinets of all kinds were made in beech and lacquered in various colours. Red and black were the chief shades. Sometimes existing cabinets which had been finely veneered with walnut were lacquered over to satisfy the fashionable craze.
THE BEDROOM
The wooden bedstead of Jacobean times was replaced by the material-covered type in the William and Mary period, though as early as James I’s time the fashion of covering over the woodwork entirely with tapestry, plush, and other materials had become popular—at any rate amongst the people of leisure. One of the rooms at Knole House, Seven-oaks, was refurnished specially in honour of a visit by James I, and the bedstead is of the covered type.
Fig. 96 shows a covered bedstead dating from about 1700. Note that the cornice is made up of a number of short pieces of moulding mitred together, some straight and others curved. The material is strained over these. The actual wood used was generally beech and oak, except the exposed feet which were of walnut.
Other pieces used in the bedroom would be the chest of drawers, usually a tallboy, with which we have already dealt, or a wardrobe or press, which in appearance was somewhat similar to the secretaire in Fig. 83, except that the upper carcase was fitted with two doors instead of the fall front.

CUPBOARDS AND SIDE TABLES
It is a rather curious reflection that so many years should have passed without men having devised any means of locking things away privately except in a chest. It tells its own story, that they should have preferred to use something which could be used conveniently for travelling. Once they came to establish their homes on a more convenient basis, however, the necessity for cabinets to hold valuable or private papers, and cupboards to store various other items became felt. Thus wall furniture became increasingly common.
The early form of side table is given in Fig. 26, a piece dating from about I Soo or soon after. It is virtually a chest, with the corner posts continued downwards to raise it well up from the floor. This was probably its origin. Not that a man, having a chest, would decide that by lengthening the posts he could evolve a sideboard, but that the method of construction was automatically adopted once the idea of a sideboard was thought about. There was probably a subconscious connection between the two ideas, so that it is likely that there was a direct evolution from one to the other. The side table exemplifies the use of the pierced panel, and another point that will appeal to practical readers is the use of the ” mason’s mitre ” in the moulding surrounding the panel. The use of this is explained more fully on p. 44•
Another kind of furniture of the early Tudor Gothic period was the cupboard pure and simple as shown in Fig. 27. It is of the simplest possible construction, consisting of so many boards pegged together and held by the angle plates and strap hinges. Often such cupboards had panels pierced with Gothic tracery designs such as those given on p. IS. In fact A is taken from an old cupboard of the kind. Their purpose was probably to hold food, as the pierced panels gave ventilation.
Of a similar type, but of infinitely better construction, is the cupboard shown in Fig. 28. In place of the planks is a framing of four posts, joined by rails with grooves around their edges to hold panels. Here the last-named are pierced and carved in the form of Gothic windows.
The Court Cupboard.—The development in Elizabethan times is shown in the Court cupboard in Fig. 29. This is worthy of a few moments’ attention because it contains many typical features of the period. It was a cupboard which became extremely popular, probably because it gave good accommodation and there was excellent scope for decorative treatment. Note first the lower doors with their three-panel arrangement. Apart from strength, this had the advantage of keeping the panel width down, and so saving the necessity of jointing up. The framing is channel-moulded ; that is a shallow groove moulded at the sides is worked along the centre of each member.
Incidentally, whilst on the subject of mouldings, it should be noted that in every case they are worked ” in the solid,” the substance of the framing being moulded. It is mentioned here in particular because it will be seen in the next chapter that the tendency in the following century was to use applied mouldings instead.
Attention has already been drawn to the bulbous turnings and their elaborate carving, Fig. 29, and we may now turn to the upper cupboard portion with its sloping sides. It was probably the desire to make space for the bulbous turnings that prompted the cutting away of the cupboard, and at the same time to provide a useful standing space at each side. It will be found that when, later, turning began to decline, the upper cupboard became rectangular in shape, being just set back a few inches from the line of the lower cupboard. Eventually the turnings disappeared almost entirely, being replaced by single drop turnings—but of this we shall see more in the following chapter. It is mentioned here because it helps to explain the reason for the shape of the upper cupboard. The carving in the frieze is a typical Elizabethan detail which continued into the seventeenth century.
BEDSTEADS
Sleeping arrangements in the early years were of the simplest and most primitive form for everyone except the chief persons in the household. The fifteenth century saw considerable improvements in this respect, though it was not until the next century that beds became at all common. There were two kinds, the panelled head and foot (very like the modern form of wood bed), and the four-poster. The last-named developed into a really amazing structure in the time of Elizabeth. That the rooms were abominably draughty is the probable reason for its popularity. The tester or panelling above the bed was hung all round with curtains, so that the sleeper was literally lying in a little room built within the main bedroom. It must have been close and unhealthy, but presumably people preferred that to draughts.
That great importance was attached to these bedsteads is shown by the frequent reference made to them in old wills, and in view of the amount of work put into them they must have been costly things to produce. That in Fig. 31 contains features found in most old beds. Note that the bed frame itself is separate at the foot from the front posts. This was usual in Elizabethan beds, though towards the end of the century the tendency was to join them up.
Figs. 32, 33, and 34 will prove of particular interest to practical cabinet makers and draughtsmen, though they are well worthy of the attention of all students because the sections of mouldings and carved details are extremely important factors when dating a period piece.

FOLLOWING THE REIGN OF TERROR in France, the Directoire was established in October 1795. It was followed by Napoleon’s first government, the Consulat, which he established after a coup d’etat in November 1799, appointing himself as First Consul. This survived until the declaration of the Empire in 1804. The styles that take their names from these political arrangements arc difficult to tell apart, and represent a transition between the light, aristocratic Louis XVI style and
the proud, austere Empire manner of the early 19th century. However, Directoire style or, as it was sometimes known, le style republicain, shows the effect of the Revolution on the style of Louis XVI, while the Consulat style lays the foundations of the Empire style.
DESIGN INFLUENCES
Directoire style shows the effect of a weakened economy and the position that cabinet-makers found themselves in after the period of the Convention (1792-95). The Revolution had deprived furniture-makers of their traditional patrons; furniture had even
been burnt beneath a Tree of Liberty in front of the celebrated Gobelins factory. The Corporation des Menuisiers- Pbenistes (Guild of joiners and Cabinet-Makers), which had regulated not only standards but the organization of the industry, had also been disbanded in 1791. As a consequence, the Directoire style is simplified, smaller in scale than Louis XVI, and less costly, with minimal decoration and usually no marquetry or parquetry
In the Consulat style the design became more confident, reflecting France’s pride in the new Republic and the slow return to stability and
prosperity. The style was formal and rectilinear, and often included symbols of the Revolution such as the Phrygian or Liberty cap, bound fasces, arrows, spikes, clasped hands, and wreaths.
PATTERN BOOKS
In 1801, the architects Charles Percier and Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine published their Recited des Decorations Intericures. This became the seminal pattern book of the period, and
established them as the chief exponents of the nascent Empire style. The Recueil established strict and sober Classicism as the official style of the time: plain mahogany furniture with bold, antique-inspired gilt-bronze mounts became fashionable. Percier and Fontaine owed much to JeanDemosthene Dugoure, who had designed strict Neoclassical interiors for both royal and private residences during Louis XVI’s reign. Percier and Fontaine had both studied architecture in France and Italy and so had firsthand experience of the ruins of ancient Rome. In the very last years of the 18th century, they oversaw the redecoration of the Music Room and Library of the Empress’s house at Malmaison, and supervised the design of the furniture, which was made by Napoleon’s favourite furniture-makers,
the Jacob brothers. It was this commission that earned them the role of quasi-court designers.
ANTIQUE MOTIFS
The orators and pamphleteers of the Revolution praised the moral values of the ancient world, which found visual expression in the work of the great revolutionary artist, Jacques-Louis David. This filtered into the decorative vocabulary of the styled I’antique.
Consular furniture is full of Greek and Roman devices that became the stock repertoire of Empire designers. The purity of Classical design, epitomized in the work of Jacob-
Desmalter, became a hallmark of the Furniture of the period. As in Britain, this was occasionally combined with Egyptian motifs inspired by Napoleon’s campaigns and his victory at the Battle of the Pyramids. This was supplemented by Baron Denon’s publication, Voyage daps la Busse et Haute-Egypte, in 1802. The archaeologist and engraver (who later became director of the Musee
Napoleon at the Louvre) became the leading authority on antiquity, and had a considerable influence both in France and Britain.
This taste for all things Egyptian commonly manifested itself in sphinx heads, which were often used to top pilasters, terminate armrests, or
support console tables, as on a fine, mahogany example supplied to the Elysee Palace.

SECRETARIE A ABBATANT
This Consulat secr6taire j abbatant is made of walnut and is designed in the Egyptian-revival style. The body of the piece is flanked by Egyptian female masks above tapering pilasters in bronze brasses. The upper section has a grey
CONSULAT BERGERES
Each of this pair of mahogany and mahogany-veneered berg&es has an upholstered back, side panels, and seat. The chair backs themselves are slightly reclining. The loose cushioned seats are supported on square-
section, tapering legs, which are surmounted by stylized Egyptian female heads and terminate in outsplayed, square-section feet. Originally, the chairs would have been covered in silk and would have formed part of a large, similarly
styled suite. Early 19th century.
marble top above a long drawer. The fall front drops down to reveal a leather-lined writing surface. The lower section consists of three long drawers with lion’s mask handles. The secr6taire still retains its original bronze mounts. The piece terminates in carved claw feet. c.1800.
The surface of this mahogany desk is faced with gilt-tooled black leather. Below is a long kneehole frieze drawer, flanked by two deeper drawers; all are edged with ebony stringing. At each corner of the frieze is a mount in the form
of a satyr. The table is supported on four octagonal, tapering legs with ormolu collars and ball-shaped sabots. c.1800.

DIRECTOIRE RECAMIER
The shape of this carved, walnut recamier, or day bed, is essentially rectilinear. It has a padded, out-curved backrest, which is flanked on either side by leaf-capped, reeled cornucopias surmounted by finialed paterae. Below, the
cornucopias terminate in dramatically carved ram’s heads. The r6carrher has a panelled footboard surmounted by a barrel vault, while the padded, drop-in seat is raised on panelled rails. On either side, the panelled rail is centred by a tablet. The whole is raised on turned, leaf-capped feet, terminating in brass casters. c.1800.
The recamier is
decorated throughout
with pierced metal
mounts.
DIRECTOIRE COMMODE
This commode is veneered in rosewood, kingwood, and a number of stained tropical woods. The rectangular case has a veined grey-white marble top with rounded corners above three drawers with geometric filets and inlay, and gilt-bronze mounts. It is supported on short, tapering legs. c.1800.
DIRECTOIRE CHIFFONIER
This small table-chiffonier is made from walnut and has two drawers, with an additional shelf below. The rectangular case has brass filets and is supported on fluted legs joined by a shelf and terminating in small, toupie feet. c.1800.

Mid 19th Century Furniture: Styles.
FURNITURE THAT DEBUTED during the
mid 19th century was imbued with the innovative spirit, social mores, and the whimsy of its age. Metamorphic furniture allowed cabinet-makers to show off their technical expertise.
The German-born American cabinetmaker, George Hunzinger, pioneered the design of functional, mechanical pieces in the United States, and many manufacturers soon followed suit.
Stephen Hedges patented a desk in 1854 that converted from an elegant side table to an ecritoire combined with a seat. It became known as the Aaron Burr desk after an article appeared in the New York Herald in 1911, stating that Burr had challenged the presidential candidate Alexander Hamilton to a duel in a letter written at one of them. In fact, Hedges had patented the ingenious desk 50 years after the duel and 18 years after Burr’s death, but the desk became forever known as the Aaron Burr desk.
Various collapsible and extendible forms, including dining tables and buffets, proliferated as people became enamoured with their ingenuity and space-saving qualities.
SOCIAL MORES
The fashion for lavish entertaining gave rise to the cocktail cabinet, which contained crystal decanters and perhaps a cigarette case or humidor. The wealthy displayed their valuables in a glass-topped bijouterie — the name is derived from the French word for “jewellery”. The Sutherland table, named for Queen Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes, was used for taking tea and playing cards. A precursor of the coffee table, it was never very popular.
The repressive morality of the period conspired to create the dos-a-dos and the conversation suite. Both these seat forms enabled courting couples to become acquainted in what was regarded as a seemly manner.
The exterior surface of the desk has a simple panel with beading.
The hinged top opens to reveal a seat and a drawer.
The seat is upholstered In leather, fixed to the wood with rivets.
The underside of the desk
bears the patent label, “by
Stephen Hedges”.
Lockable drawer
The scroll feet terminate in brass casters.
AMERICAN AARON BURR DESK
This ingenious, space-saving design was patented by Stephen Hedges. The long, oval top of an unassuming mahogany side table is hinged so that it can fold back on itself, and the case of the desk is also hinged to open at
the front. When both are opened, the table is transformed into a writing desk with a drawer to one side and a leather upholstered seat to the other. The piece is supported on cabriole legs and scroll feet on casters for portability.
CONVERSATION SUITE
this upholstered suite in Louis XV manner comprises four independent buttoned sections - two long sides and two short ends – arranged Dock-to-back with each other. The angled ends of each section make it easy for a person
seated with another in one of the long sections to turn towards a person seated in the adjacent smaller section and converse. The sections are supported on rosewood scrolling feet and casters: a 19th-century innovation allowing ease of movement around the room. Late 19th century.
s early Victorian show-frame sofa is made
rosewood. it has two high-backed,
ends and a lower back section with
2 l fluted supports. The seat, back, and
arms are upholstered in green raised
fabric. The seat is supported on carved legs with ceramic casters. The sofa is a combination of styles: the twist decoration is Jacobean, while the cabriole legs are inspired by Louis XV style. c.1850.
METAMORPHIC OAK CHAIR
This chair converts into a set of library steps. The chair seat is hinged near the front so the chair back swings up and over the seat to become the rear support for the steps, which double as the back legs of the chair. Late 19th century.
GOTHIC-STYLE CHAIR
This walnut chair features Gothic-style, needlework upholstery and Jacobean twist carving. The tall back is framed by barley-twist columns above a spreading seat. The high back and low legs make this a new form.
SCOTTISH DINING TABLE
The top of this extending dining table has demi-lone ends and boldly moulded edges above a plain frieze. The table top is raised on turned and tapering legs with fluted decoration, ending in brass caps and casters. The table is extended by using a winding mechanism operated by a key. The mechanism was
invented in 1835 but became popular later in the century. It can use up to six extra leaves. Late 19th century.
ENGLISH MAHOGANY BUFFET
The top of this buffet has moulded angles and a counterbalanced undershelf. Beneath that lies a third shelf. On opening the buffet, the bottom shelf slides down the supports at each end of the table, the middle shelf remains in place, and the top opens out to form the upper tier. It is raised on panelled trestle supports and scrolled console brackets. c.1860.
MAHOGANY COCKTAIL CABINET
This cabinet has a divided, hinged top, which encloses a rising interior with crystal decanters, glasses, and a cigarette box. It is supported on square-section, tapering legs with brass caps and casters. c.1900.
MAHOGANY BIJOUTERIE CABINET
The circular hinged top of this cabinet is inset with bevelled glass. The capriole legs have gilt mounts, terminate in hoof feet, and are joined by a shaped stretcher. Late 19th century.
BIJOUTERIE CABINET
This mahogany and gilt-metal mounted cabinet has a serpentine top with floral marquetry, inset with glass. The case is supported on slender cabriole legs, which are united by an undertier.
ENGLISH ROSEWOOD CARD TABLE
The serpentine top of this Victorian table opens out and swivels to provide a playing surface. It has a moulded edge, enclosing a round baize lining, and rests on four scroll supports with a central finial and scroll legs with recessed casters. Mid 19th century.
SUTHERLAND TABLE
This burr walnut, oval, drop-leaf table has a veneered top over twin, carved, baluster uprights with carved cabriole supports on casters, joined by a turned stretcher. It has a swinging action to each side.