Posts Tagged ‘chair backs’

If we think of a chair as something to sit on, and a dining-chair as something to sit on at meal-times, there seems to be no reason why one dining-chair should be different from another. We would expect a difference between a dining-chair and an arm-chair, because they are made for people to sit on in different positions, and we would expect a difference between two dining-chairs made to go with dining-tables of different heights. But for the last three hundred years all dining-tables have been of almost exactly the same height, and all dining-chairs have been of very nearly the same size; at least, their essential dimensions—the height, width, and depth of seat—have been very nearly the same. Yet if we were to collect a series of dining-chairs made at intervals of ten years during the last three hundred years, we should find that each chair differed slightly from the preceding chair, and that chairs separated by intervals of fifty years or so might have almost nothing in common but their size. And if we then collected a complete roomful of furniture made at the same time as each of the chairs, we should see that certain peculiarities of the chair were repeated in the other pieces of furniture–the kind of wood it was made of, the general shape of the legs, the details of its decoration, for instance. The chair, in fact, would have more in common with a cupboard made at the same time than with another chair made fifty years previously.
A room furnished in 1750 would have a different appearance from a room furnished in 1780. The furniture would be made of a different wood, decorated in a different way, and the shapes of the chair-backs and legs, and of the feet of cupboards, and all the details of locks and drawer-handles, would be different. The two rooms would contain much the same quantity of furniture and much the same kind of furniture—not many new pieces of furniture were invented between 1750 and 1780; but the furniture would be in two different styles,
In the history of furniture there have been very many different styles. There were various styles of furniture in China, in Egypt, in Greece, and Rome, before furniture was ever made in England or France or Germany. But we can learn a good deal about the way in which styles develop, and the way in which one style changes into another, and the reasons for these changes, if we examine the history of furniture in just two countries, France and England. It is interesting to study the history of styles in all countries. But our purpose here is to try to find out why one style differs from another, and how a change of furniture style corresponds with a change in ways of living and of thinking. A study of comparatively recent periods of furniture in the European part of the world will be the most useful. For it will help us to understand what has caused the present confusion in furniture-making about problems of style.
Our survey of styles will be very limited, covering in detail the furniture of only two of the countries of the world. But the furniture of these two countries shows a fairly complete development from the simplest carpenter-made pieces to the most elaborate work of the cabinet-makers. From the eleventh to the nineteenth century all the possible methods of making furniture by hand were used by the French and English furniture-makers. At the beginning of the medieval period the carpenters started making furniture with little experience in woodworking behind them, and with few models surviving from the past. As we have seen, furniture-makers rediscovered one by one all the methods of woodworking known to former civilizations, but lost in the meantime. Thus the history of French and English furniture gives a complete picture of furniture developments all over the world—from the technical point of view, at any rate.
Moreover, not all the peoples of the world use furniture as much as it is used in western Europe. Oriental peoples lead a less active indoor life than we do. They have more soft furnishings than furniture: carpets and rugs, cushions and divans. The few pieces of furniture they have are often beautiful and technically perfect. But there is little in their technique that has not been used in France and in England—except, perhaps, the Chinese method for making lacquered furniture and panels; and the appearance of their furniture has had a considerable influence on European taste. The Spanish, too, have been subject to Oriental influence, through the Moorish occupation of Spain. By nature they are not given to using much furniture; but their traditional pieces have a distinct character of their own. It has already been said that the principal piece of furniture in the chief room of a Spanish peasant house is a stone bench. In richer Spanish houses the furniture is elegantly severe; the pieces are large, and there are few of them. Indoor life in Spain is more formal than in most European countries; all the freedom and gaiety are out of doors.
Italian Renaissance furniture served as a model for French Renaissance furniture; but since the Renaissance there has been little change in Italian furniture besides fantastic decorative developments. The German and Russian Court furniture consisted of heavy copies of French Court furniture. Much of the German Alpine and Russian provincial furniture is interesting; but the extremely cold winters in the places where such furniture was in use caused stoves to be more highly valued and elaborately decorated. American furniture-makers have developed styles of their own from English and other European styles, and sometimes their work surpasses their English models. The American Windsor chair, for instance, is considered by some connoisseurs to be better proportioned than the English Windsor chair; and the American Empire style was continued longer, and with better results, than the Empire style of any European country. But to study in detail the furniture of many countries would not help us to form a clear notion of modern problems of style.
Styles differ from one another in three ways : in construction methods, in material used, and in decorative treatment. Construction methods were developed slowly, and, as we have seen, there were only three principal systems of construction—those of the carpenters, of the joiners and of the cabinet-makers. There was a major style change in every country when carpenters’ methods were abandoned for joiners’, and when joiners’ methods were abandoned for cabinet-makers’. We have also seen how the material used is bound up with the method of construction —how the carpenters and joiners used home-grown medium woods, and how the cabinet-makers used tropical hard-woods. In these two respects of methods and materials the general development of styles has been the same in all European countries. The long series of detailed changes in style is a history of decorative treatment alone : so much is decorative treatment a key to style that an expert can tell from a mere fragment of a piece of furniture—a carved leaf or a small area of marquetry—the exact style and period of the piece.
The history of decorative treatment in France, and in most countries of continental Europe, may be divided into six main parts, each having its own system of decorative conventions. They are called the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical Revival, and nineteenth-century styles. These six styles are sub-divided into many styles of comparatively short duration.
Overleaf is a table of the French furnishing styles from about A.D. 1100 till the beginning of the present century. The table gives a general plan of the different styles and their periods, but it is not, and could not be, exact: since one style merges slowly into another, and the reigns of kings do not correspond with changes in furniture taste.
ROMANESQUE (1100-1300)
Romanesque furniture was made by carpenters, according to carpenters’ methods of construction—heavy planks, joints without glue, and iron bands. Very little of this furniture survives, but some chests, turned chairs, a few beds and trestle tables are to be found in museums. Most of the surviving furniture is religious rather than domestic—benches from churches and monasteries and monastery tables. Some furniture from castles also survives, mostly chests and tables. The only people to have furniture in France between 1100 and 1300 were the religious communities and the lords of castles. The castles fared even worse than the churches in the wars of medieval and Renaissance Eur- ope; this is why there are so few pieces of domestic furniture left.
During these times people did not travel very much, and ships did not carry large cargoes : the carpenters used the wood they found growing near them. France was then largely covered with forests of oak, beech, elm, chestnut, fruit trees, and softwood conifers. In the north of France oak was most frequently used for furniture; in the south, oak, walnut, and some fruit-woods such as cherrywood were used.
The principal piece of Romanesque domestic furniture was the chest. It served to store things in the castles, and as a wardrobe-trunk for travelling. The word trunk comes from the first chests hollowed out of tree-trunks. Chests could also be used as seats, beds, and tables. The tables consisted of boards laid on trestles, sometimes supported and made more permanent by iron stays; they could be taken down and stored away, or packed up and moved in times of trouble. Benches were comparatively rare, except in the more stable religious communities, where there was less risk of having to pack up and go.
Romanesque furniture was decorated with carving and painting, and decorative iron-work. The carved motifs consisted of geometrical patterns, Biblical and legendary pictures, and traceries of round arches derived from Romanesque architecture. From the evidence of illustrated manuscripts and signs on the few pieces of Romanesque furniture that we have, it seems that most of the furniture was brightly painted—both in solid colours, and, on the parts that were not carved, in pictures.
GOTHIC (1300-1500)
From about 1300 to 1400 the furniture was still made by carpenters, who were, however, by this time beginning to discover the methods of joinery. In some early Gothic chests joined frames were used, but the frames were boarded over with thick planks—thin panels were not yet used. Most of the furniture, in fact, was like the Romanesque furniture in construction, although Gothic detail (traceries of pointed arches, for instance) was introduced into the carving.
By about 1400 the methods of joinery had been perfected. The new furniture was made by the joiners. Their work differed greatly from that of the carpenters, for they dispensed with iron bands and used framed panels. They continued to make furniture of the same native woods that the carpenters worked in. The carpenters still made some furniture, especially in the country districts.
Gothic furniture that has survived includes bench-ends from churches, stalls in cathedrals, chests and tables, chairs with box-seats (like chests) and straight panelled backs, a few cupboards on legs, and turned chairs. The box-chairs sometimes had carved canopies over them. The religious furniture was, of course, public furniture, and it was made to look like the religious buildings—the same kind of detail that we see on a Gothic cathedral was imitated to a smaller scale on Gothic furniture. Since the Church was the most important institution at the time, the domestic furniture was made in the same style as the religious furniture : private furniture imitated public furniture because the Church dominated private life.

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 .

THONET’S BENTWOOD
THONET’S DEVELOPMENT OF THE BENTWOOD CHAIR- ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTS EVER CONCEIVED - HAD AN ENORMOUS INFLUENCE ON THE COURSE OF FURNITURE DESIGN.

MICHAEL THONET (1796-1871) WAS BORN in Boppard-
am-Rhein, a picturesque town that was then part of Prussia, now part of Germany. He trained as a cabinet-maker and set up a workshop in his home town as soon as he finished his apprenticeship. However, it was not until he was in his thirties that he began to experiment with steaming laminated wood veneers in order to create bentwood furniture. At first, lie was only able to use this process to produce component parts, such as chair backs, which he incorporated into pieces constructed from
more orthodox, straight, wooden elements. Still, his
work was innovative, and Thonet’s exhibit at an 1841 Koblenz trade show attracted the attention of Chancellor Metternich, who invited him to Austria to make some furniture for the Palais Liechtenstein.

ROCKING CHAIR
The frame of this beech
Thonet rocking chair exemplifies the Thonet technique of using single pieces of wood to create elaborate, elegant, curved structures. The seat and back of the chair arc each made from a simple green fabric sling. c.1880.
TORTUOUS CURVES
To prevent the beech from splitting when it was bent violently into shape, a metal strip was attached to each end of the piece of wood before it was steamed.
BENTWOOD CHAISE LONGUE
Inspired by Arts and Crafts styling, the sinuous lines of the frame and co ms of Thonet’s chaise longue are created from long pieces of bent, solid, laminated beech. The seat is made of woven canc. Suitablefor the conservatory or the garden, this recliner appealed to the taste for more rustic styles of furniture in the late 19th century, although it was, in fact, industrially produced. It is the precursor of Le Corbusiers chaise longue, designed in 1928, which used tubular steel instead of bent wood for the frame. 1883-84.
VERSATILITY AND SIMPLICITY
By 1842, Thonet had perfected his steam-bending process, and in July of that year he was granted an international patent that protected his “chemical mechanical methods” from imitation. The extravagant curlicues of the Kentwood furniture he produced for the interiors of the grand Rococo staterooms at the Palais Liechtenstein are testament to the versatility of his invention.
Once softened through immersion in steam or boiling water, the wood (beech was particularly suitable) could be moulded into almost any shape with the aid of a press. A single piece of timber could be manipulated to form the back legs, uprights, and top rail of a chair. Thonct’s process meant that furniture could be constructed from far fewer members and did away with the need for dovetails, tenons, or any kind of joint; simple screws and nuts would suffice to hold the parts together.
In 1853, Thonet set up his own furniture company — Gebruder Thonet — with his five sons (Franz, Michael, August, Josef, and Jacob) , and designed a factory in Vienna to produce furniture that could be packed flat for shipping and assembled at its destination. Before long, Thonet’s bentwood furniture was being exported all over the world.
WORLD-BEATING DESIGN
Mid-19th-century Vienna was famous for the lively political and cultural debate that found its focus in the city’s cafes, and these establishments proved the ideal testing ground for Thonet’s new bentwood
chairs. Light yet durable, their distinctive but understated style and modest cost made them a hit with the hospitality industry. Thonet’s first large-scale commission was to supply chairs to Vienna’s Daum coffeehouse in the late 1850s, and the world-beating “No.14″ chair was developed for this purpose. It was so successful that before the turn of the century more than 15 million No.14 chairs had been made and sold throughout Europe. This was functional furniture for the masses rather than furniture as a signifier of wealth, and the industrial production lines in Thonet’s factories across central Europe were turning it out in huge quantities.
THE CONTRIBUTION LIVES ON
When compared to the convoluted decoration of so much mid-19th-century furniture, the bentwood designs of Thonet and his sons are positively Spartan. Le Corbusier commemorated this refreshing aspect of Thonet’s oeuvre in 1925 when he used the No.14 chair as part of his hugely influential I’Espirit Nouveau exhibit, espousing his rejection of decoration in favour of function. It is unlikely that John Henry Belter (1804-63) would have had so much success with his carved laminate furniture in New York had Thonet not laid the foundations before him. Thonet’s legacy has endured well into the modern age — he precipitated Charles and Ray Eames’s mass-produced office chairs (see pp.456-57), and, of course, the modern Hat-pack domestic furniture industry.

Classicism, Empire, and Biedermeier
England
English furniture makers between the sixteenth and eighteenth century adopted both the ornamentation and forms of continental furniture, although with a British tendency towards modesty and simplicity. There are three main periods of English furniture. The first is the Elizabethan era in which solid oak dominates. This lasted into the reign of the Stuarts. At this time Dutch furniture, which had much in common with the character of the English pieces, was imported together with luxury Flemish and French furniture.
The first new era of a distinctive English style was that of William and Mary when walnut was widely used.
The form of chairs brought over from the Dutch republic were adapted. The fretwork backs were raised in height and given scrolls. Fabric upholstery was replaced with harder woven seats and chair backs. Other types of chairs also evolved from this original type. A bench with a back was also created (a settee), a two-seated bench (double stool), and small sofa, known as a lover’s seat. These types were made well into the eighteenth century.
Oak furniture was often covered with walnut or other veneers and decorated with inlays. The Dutch example of tulips, other flowers, and birds was also adopted.
Both the cabinet and secretaire on turned legs were important pieces of furniture, which were fitted with drawers. Both marquetry and lacquer along the Dutch lines were popular between 1680 and 1720. Things continued in this vein until 1750.
The most important piece of furniture though was the chest of drawers, made in the form of a low or taller commode.
The wide and curved cabriole leg was very popular during the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) but was being replaced by 1710 with the bull and claw foot. The ubiquitous English Windsor chairs has neither of these characteristics.
THOMAS CHIPPENDALE
English furniture making was significantly altered in 1754 by Thomas Chippendale. He preferred to work in mahogany and had taste preferences drawn from French and Asian examples. But he was also inspired by native English Gothic. He brought together Rococo shells for instance with late Gothic elements.
Chippendale produced a number of types of table including reading tables, bookcases closed at the bottom and enclosed with glazed doors above, card tables, glazed dressers with a taller central section, three-part cabinets, a small table on bowed legs, a round folding table, and bureaux or writing commodes.
His commodes shared a curved front with those of France. But his greatest love was probably for chairs. Following on from his Chinese and Gothic influences he produced chairs with square legs and the merest hint of decoration. All his creativity went into the decoration of the backs of his chairs.
The curved central `splat’ of the back was fretcut and carved in the form of woven leaves and flowers, with curls, scrolls, `ribbons’, and loops.
ROBERT ADAM
Robert Adam gained great fame in the subsequent stage of English furniture design. Adam used Classicism in a very decorative way.
His semi-oval commodes have their front decorated with painting and extremely fine marquetry. The painting took the form of banding, garlands and laurel wreaths, mounted trophies, oval forms, urns, and columns.
Robert Adam’s storage furniture with its geometrical lines was made solely using light-coloured timber. This was mainly sandalwood. The top leaf and stringers of tables were decorated with either carved or burnt in patterns. These too utilised simple geometric motifs.
SHERATON AND HEPPLEWHITE
Thomas Sheraton and George Hepplewhite differed from Adam. Both made different types of cabinets but instead of using carving they preferred to see the natural figure of the grain of the wood.
Both Sheraton and Hepplewhite had a hand in the development of several types of table and they also made bureaux with cylinder locks, dressing tables, tables for placing against a wall, and bedside tables.
In common with Robert Adam they gave considerable attention to the backs of the chairs they made. Sheraton made the simpler type of chair, using sober, fitted for the purpose, and geometric designs. After 30 years as a furniture maker he reintroduced the use of rush seats for his chairs.
Hepplewhite in turn introduced the Prince of Wales feathers or ears of corn designs into the oval framing of his chair backs. More pointed oval forms and heart shape panels were also used by Hepplewhite.
ENGLISH REGENCY
The great flourishing of English furniture making drew to a close at the end of the eighteenth century. The English Regency period is considered by some as a mere variant of the French Empire style. It was not again until the 1860’s that English furniture once more emerged with fresh ideas.
France — Louis XVI and Empire
A new style arose in France out of the Louis XVI style known as Empire. It was directly derived from the Napoleonic ideal of a Roman Empire.
French ebenistes were not greatly inspired by theexamples from classical antiquity given by wealth of treasures uncovered by excavations.
Fortunately it was an era of artists with vivid imaginations and this included the architects P. Fontaines and Christian Percier who drew on the classical past for their designs for interiors, covering walls with carpet or colourful silk. Classical
Early 19th century mahogany half-moon table.Antiquity was glorified at this time so that artistic concepts of these idealistic days gained a romantic heroic overtones. This expressed itself through an almost pathetic level of ostentation, which was revealed in interior furnishings.
It is striking how similarly Empire furnishings are worked, making them readily distinguishable and rather uniform in appearance.
The furnishings were uncluttered and derived their form from architecture. The solid looking furnishings are strongly symmetrical with straight lines.
The Empire style also expressed itself in the design of furniture for the rooms. Important elements for Empire furniture are the cornices, pilasters, and columns
The decorative mouldings of acanthus stems, dolphins, egg and tongue mouldings, nymphs, laurel wreaths, lions, palmettos, sphinxes (which referred to Napoleon’s Nile expedition), urns, and swans created their own identity.
Empire style tables were fairly lavishly made for a range of purposes. Many four-legged tables served as writing desks but there were also bureaux with shutters and desks with pedestals.
Ordinary tables were round as was the case in ancient Greece and Rome. But tables were also made in various polygonal forms. Initially the table top was borne by a carved figure but this was later replaced by a plain columns with inlay and bronze capitals The wash stand also evolved.
A separate leaf was added for a water jug and the wash basin was often supported by a swan. The sliding drawer of the dressing table was often fitted with a mirror for hair styling.
Secretaires were an enclosed but compact piece of furniture. Commodes were simples and without curves, with two drawers or two doors. A new item in the bedroom was a large swivel cheval glass mirror or psyche set in a frame on a stand. Considerable attention was given during the Empire period to the design of beds. Although these no longer had canopies they still remained pretentious. Furniture makers happily used a boat form for beds, known as lit de bateau. Matching style bedside cabinets and night cabinets with decorated fronts were also made for such beds.
Chairs and other seating from the Empire period is characterised by an emphasis on woodworking skills and heavy construction.
At first these had round turned legs but later these stood on arched sabre legs. Interiors were also furnished with dumb waiters, plus flower and sewing tables and a bird cage. The strong love of music also meant that pianos were increasingly found that were mainly imported from London and Vienna.
Germany
German furniture making reached a crescendo in style shortly after the French Revolution. It is entirely unfair to compare the German style of this period with the style of Louis XVI.
New directions in art in Germany generally arose from philosophers rather than practitioners. The Louis XVI style had reached Germany by 1760 by way of the Rhineland. German copies lack the same finesse of the French originals and did not fully implement the style.
Furthermore Baroque influences still endured in Germany and affected this new style import.
Furniture from the area around Liege and Achen was much closer to the French examples. Further north in Germany, along the North Sea coast and around Lubeck, the Louis XVI style was diluted by traditional Scandinavian styles.
The heavy in scale white furniture from this region was influenced by the simple beauty of furniture from Sweden and Denmark. German furniture makers were increasingly influenced as the years passed by their English compatriots. Wide use was made in Berlin and Hamburg and other major cities of veneer.
In addition to the use of native wood from cherry, conifers, walnut, and pear, mahogany was imported on a greater scale. Eventually the native timbers were forced to yield to the imports. Types
of furniture dating back to the time of Queen Anne were copied from Britain, such as double commodes, sawing and dressing tables, and bureaux.
These were later followed by bookcases and glazed-fronted cabinets. English style tended to rule until the emergence of Biedermeier.
Display cabinets though were mainly inspired along French lines, largely due to David Roentgen. These pieces were largely made of course for the palaces and castles of the ruling German princes. These were decorated with inlays of animals, birds, and floral still life designs at Roentgen’s instigation.
After some time these designs were supplemented with allegorical scenes and chinoiserie along Dutch lines. The sober way in which ordinary German folk furnished their homes stood in stark contrast with the overwhelmingly ornate interiors of the palaces.
It is impossible to over-emphasize the longevity of the influence of Baroque throughout the whole of Germany. We have seen how English style influenced the north. In Prussian Berlin Karl Friedrich Schinkel was open to both high classical and emancipated popular classical examples. In the south, in Munich, Leo von Klenze was rather more inspired by French style. Vienna in Austria was another matter though. Furniture makers there combined decorative tastes with comfort.
GERMAN BIEDERMEIER
The first tendency towards more approachable furniture for the ‘ordinary’ home could be seen in the work of Klenze of Munich and these were popular with the generations leading up to the revolutionary year of 1848.
Biedermeier style became popular in the German-speaking countries of Germany, Biedermeier style was a counter to the rigid and pathetic Empire. It was inspired by furniture design that was popular with ordinary people around 1800.
The ordinary citizen preferred more approachable furniture with rounded corners and lightly curved surfaces, circles, ovals, and curved broad lines. The popular notion of comfort meant for instance wide sofas and divans. Sets of tables and chairs were given pride of place in the ‘ordinary’ home. Little use was made of bronze encrusted decoration or fittings in Biedermeier furniture. This was restricted to small turnkeys, horns of plenty, and key escutcheons.
In Germany, as in England, bookcases consisted of three parts.
Wardrobes, linen cupboards, and china cabinets had pilasters at their corners and otherwise were entirely glazed. secretaires managed to stay in existence during the Biedermeier period but their style varied from area to area.
The tops of these secretaires were sometimes reminiscent of a cathedral. The inside of a secretaire was subdivided along architectural lines with small drawers, mirrors, and small columns. It is fun to find all the secret cavities.
The most widely used woods were native elements. beech, ash, cherry, and pear plus ‘exotic’ mahogany. Most secretaires were decorated with paintings or veneer.
Furniture was often covered in floral cretonne with intensely coloured roses or with cotton rep. The walls were hung with plain wallpaper or with paper with floral or vine patterns. This made the rooms look busy even before the many items of furniture were added. These included sewing tables, dumb waiters for books and china, and wastepaper baskets.