Posts Tagged ‘CHESTS’

Desks, Bureaux, Bookcases and Cabinets
Table•desks—desks on stands—the fall-front scrutoire—development of the bureau—secret drawers—knee-hole and partners’ desks –escritoires and military chests—boudoir desks and the “bonheur du jour”-19th-century davenports—Samuel Pepys and the first bookcases—the bureau bookcase and origins of the china cabinet—wall shelves and small standing bookcases.
Even in the 16th century life must have been starting to become a little complicated for the average individual. For the professional man and even for the farmer there were records to be kept and letters written and it was probably due to these facts that by the closing years of Elizabeth’s reign small table-desks began to appear in many households. The steward and the merchant would have to employ a counter and chests as well but for the average man the table-desk was sufficient.
These small antique boxes, almost invariably constructed in oak, were very personal belongings and during the Stuart and Restoration periods it was the custom for the owner to have his name and some commemorative date carved upon the front. Although these table-desks vary in size from the rarer 3 feet in width to the more common 20 inches, they nearly all have the same basic construction. A box shape with a gently sloping lid, hinged with wrought-iron butterfly hinges, contains a small compartment of three drawers. A hasp lock was a normal addition.
These little desks are sometimes mistakenly referred to as bible boxes, as mentioned in Chapter 3. I think it was not unlikely that they contained the Bible in some homes, but there would have been little room left for documents accounts and valuables. I have a table-desk which belonged to a George Lowe who had his name and the date 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London, carved on the front. In it I keep a large bible which has been in my wife’s family since the 17th century. The bible has the date 1668 imprinted with the dedication on the cover and it is an interesting coincidence that bible and desk should be so close together in time.
For anyone requiring an antique desk, it is possible to buy a table-desk for under £10 and placed on a small tavern type table with a drawer in the front they make an excellent substitute for the larger and far more expensive bureau. As a matter of fact, it was rather in this way that the bureau developed. During the latter years of the 17th century two types of desk were in evidence. There was the desk on a stand, which was a development of the table-desk, and a much larger and important piece of furniture called the secretary or scrutoire.
The desk on a stand marked an elementary but noteworthy stage in desk development. Hitherto it had been difficult to gain access to the contents of a desk when the desk lid was already covered with letters and documents. Accordingly, the hinges were changed over to the lower edge of the lid which now opened outwards and was in future referred to as the desk-fall. The fall was supported in the open position by pull-out battens called lopers and in some early stands it was the practice to incorporate two small gate-legs which could be swung out to support the fall instead of using lopers. The fitted interior of small drawers and added pigeon-holes was now much more accessible and it became possible to enlarge the number of drawers with the corresponding increase in the size of the desk.
The scrutoire was a much bigger item than the desk on a stand, being frequently over 5 feet in height. It consisted of a flat-fronted rectangular cabinet mounted on either a stand or a chest of drawers. The whole front of the scrutoire folded outwards and was supported by chains or metal stays. It offered a vastly bigger working area than the desk lid and contained many more drawers and compartments for holding documents and ledgers. Although used in the larger establishments with their corresponding need for more administrative storage space, the scrutoire enjoyed only a short existence and by 1700 was more or less obsolete. Strangely enough it returned to favour about 100 years later in a smaller and more compact form. It was produced in France during the post-Revolution Empire period and re-introduced into this country as the secr&aire a abattant or fall-front desk.
What is rather interesting now is that the furniture designers of the Queen Anne period took the better features of the desk on a stand and the scrutoire and incorporated them in a new form of desk which became known as a bureau. The early bureaux were made in two separate parts, the upper desk section being mounted on a base consisting of a chest of drawers. The sections were provided with carrying handles at the sides so that when being moved each part could be carried separately.
The fall was no longer supported by stays or gate-legs but by lopers. These were almost square in section in the earlier bureaux but by the middle of the 18th century it was found that lopers of greater depth were less likely to sag. Later desks have two small drawers instead of lopers which are pulled out to support the fall when in use. Another characteristic of early 18th-century bureaux was the well or space below the interior pigeon-hole compartment. The well was covered by a sliding panel and was only accessible when the fall was in the open position.
Being rather difficult to get at when the open fall was covered with documents its use was abandoned and it had disappeared from the design of most bureaux by 1750.
The charm of many early desks is enhanced by the Georgian love of secret drawers. It is always the fond dream of the antique furniture collector that one day he or she will buy a bureau and, during that first exciting examination when the new piece has been delivered to the house, a hitherto undiscovered secret drawer will be found. Alas! I have never had the luck although a friend once bought a small wooden casket which proved to have a secret drawer and when this was opened after much patient searching for the secret locking device it was found to contain a gold brooch which had lain hidden for nearly 200 years. The remains of a quill pen, jammed in the back of the well, has been the only personal relic of a previous owner which I have ever found in an old desk.
On the whole, secret drawers were seldom as ingeniously secretive as one could have wished. They follow a certain set pattern of variations; the document slides behind the half pillars on the front of the interior compartment; a false bottom to one of the small drawers; a shallow drawer concealed behind part of the shaped border above the pigeon-holes; the drawer behind a drawer which pulls out on a long handle like a church collecting box. I think the best one I have ever come across was the secret drawer which had a false bottom, a sort of double-bluff. I only hope that the designer never felt the vexation of having it burgled.
Large knee-hole desks with flat tops were made about the middle of the 18th century. Some, being very large and double sided, were known as partners’ desks. They were so designed that two people could work as they sat facing one another. A smaller version of the knee-hole desk appeared during the early Georgian period and is very much sought after today. One in walnut and in good condition might cost anything up to £200. There is some doubt, however, as to whether these smaller kneehole desks were actually made to serve as desks or were really designed as small dressing tables. Further reference will be made to this point in the following chapter.
Another type of desk which was made during the later Georgian period was the secretaire. This has all the appearance of being just a chest of drawers but it is recognisable from the outside when it is recalled that the drawers in an ordinary chest become progressively deeper as they near the floor. The deepest drawer of an escritoire is located at the top and is in fact the fall of a desk. When the top section of the chest is pulled out, pressure on catches at either side of the front will allow the false drawer front to fold outwards when it is normally supported by brass stays. The secretaire has the usual fitted interior of small drawers and pigeon-holes and was a favourite form of writing desk until well into the 19th century. The two stage military chest referred to in Chapter 3 sometimes has an escritoire drawer fitted into the upper part.
A number of small desks, intended specifically for the use of ladies, were designed by Sheraton and his contemporaries. They were lightly made and were referred to as boudoir desks or writing tables. Among them was a revival of the smaller desk on a stand which was called a cylinder top desk. Instead of the usual desk-fall it had a curved top which was made to slide backwards to reveal the fitted interior.
Another version was adapted from a French design and was known as a bonheur du jour. This is a title for which there is no suitable English equivalent; literally it means “the happiness of the day”. As letter writing was one of the chief relaxations of ladies of the more leisured classes in the later 18th century perhaps “bonheur du jour” means just what the name implies.
A little desk known as a davenport was very popular among the Victorians until about 1860. It was supposed to have been first made by Gillows of Lancaster to the design of a Captain Davenport. Early examples were made in mahogany and were rectangular in shape, the desk-top being constructed to slide forward over the knees of the user when required. After 1830 the davenport was usually made in walnut and the desk top was designed to overhang permanently, being supported by carved legs or brackets. Until recently, davenports could be purchased for a few pounds and may still be acquired very reasonably.
Bookshelves have been in use ever since books have been collected into libraries but it was not until the Restoration that the bookcase with glazed doors appeared in this country. Credit for the design is given to the great diarist, Samuel Pepys who was an ardent book-lover. In the Pepys library at Magdalene College, Cambridge, are the original bookcases which Pepys had made for his own use and which he bequeathed with his books to his old university.
At approximately the same time as features of the desk
on a stand and the scrutoire were combined to produce
the bureau, a bookcase was superimposed on some exam-
ples to form the bureau bookcase. It was first made about
1700 and is still being produced in a variety of forms.
Some early bureau bookcases had doors fitted with
mirrors instead of plain glass. These were fashionable
during the Queen Anne period and are very rare today.
Some small walnut bureaux with a single mirrored door
were made to fit between the long sash windows of the
early 18th-century drawing rooms and their value at pre-
sent might be £700 or £800 each. An interesting feature
of the bureaux with mirrors in the doors were the little candlestick slides fitted into the rail just under the doors and above the desk proper. When lighted candles were placed upon them at night the illumination was doubled by the reflected light from the mirrors.
Plain glass doors through which the gilded leather binding of the books could be seen superseded the mirrored doors by 1720. The glazed variety were known as astragal doors from the beading or astragals which formed the framework for the glass. There is a story that all genuine old bookcases have thirteen glazed sections in each door. This would appear to be yet another legend without foundation because I have not infrequently seen genuine old doors with fifteen astragal panels.
Another of the many pieces of furniture which originated during the Restoration was the china cabinet. Collecting the attractive new porcelain from the far east with its translucent body and fine decoration became very popular in London and the larger sea-port towns. To preserve their fragile specimens, lacquered cabinets from China were imported and mounted on heavily carved wooden stands of British manufacture. These were sometimes coated with silver or gilding and were quite a decorative feature of Restoration and William and Mary period furnishing. The fact that the contents of the lacquered cabinets were not visible probably brought about their replacement by the glazed china cabinets of the Queen Anne period. These were usually mounted on a lower stand furnished with the cabriole legs of the times.
For some reason, perhaps because an 18th-century bookcase may be too overpowering in the 20th-century house, it has become the practice in recent years to separate bureaux from their bookcases. The result is that the latter may often be obtained for under £10 and mounted on a small stand or side table they make very attractive china cabinets.
Sets of wall shelves were in use during the 16th and 17th centuries but apart from small racks for holding pewter spoons, few have survived. Small fitments of wall shelves were reintroduced about the middle of the Georgian period. Normally, they consisted of two or three shelves with two small drawers beneath and those of the later Chippendale school had delicately fretted sides. Being very lightly made they could be used only for small books but in all probability they were designed to display ornaments. The later types were of thinly cut mahogany with pleasantly shaped sides and a little boxwood stringing inlaid along the edges of the drawers.
The late Georgian period saw the production of standing bookshelves or bookcases without doors, many made to the designs of Hepplewhite and Sheraton. They were comparatively small, being only about 3 feet in height and width and, as well as being made in mahogany, quite a number were constructed in pine. These were then painted either white or black with gilding and though not particularly common can sometimes be bought quite cheaply at house sales.

Cupboards, Wardrobes and Small Hanging
Cupboards
Evolution of the cupboard—development from a chest form—the Gothic hutch or livery cupboard—origin of the “cup board” or buffet—the court cupboard and press—lasting popularity in Wales of the deuddarn and tridarn—armoires, cloak cupboards and the linen press—later appearance of the wardrobe—hanging dole and medicine cupboards—various fronts of the corner cupboard—painted interiors—Victorian buffets antique porcelain tea pot made in france .
The cupboard may have evolved from a chest form because a chest, when placed on its end, would serve as a narrow cupboard or locker sabino marks . Again, the chest on legs with an overhanging top and hinged doors beneath, like the counter mentioned in Chapter 3, could also have been an ancestor of the cupboard gateleg table imperial furniture .
The counter was sometimes referred to as a hutch in old documents but nowadays the latter name is usually only given to a wired cage for tame rabbits value of antique rectangular drop leaf pedestal dining . In the Gothic period the hutch was a small planked cupboard used chiefly as a food larder antique harlequin figure . The door and front were perforated with frets of an architectural character to allow air to circulate and so keep the food fresh cheap art neuvou side tables . Pieces of loosely woven horse-hair were nailed to the inside of the frets to keep flies and insects away from the contents art deco chairs mahogany . While the horse-hair has long since perished the remains of the small nails which held it in position are sometimes still to be seen antique oak drawleaf trestle table .
Many books on antique furniture show an illustration of Prince Arthur’s Cupboard, which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum antique glass “la granja” . It dates from around 1500 and is one of the finest pieces of English Gothic furniture in existence the most expensive silver tray . It is unique and the chances of discovering a similar piece are negligible king george 1v furniture . However, it is possible that the smaller planked hutch, although very rare, may still be found by the discerning seeker after antique oak peter behrens side chair . I know of one in the possession of a Cotswold antique dealer but he says that f1,000 would not buy it satsuma pottery thousand flower . On the other hand, there are a considerable number of hutches at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire l shaped sideboard . In that part of the house open to public view I have counted nearly a score, so it is not beyond a reasonable possibility that there are hutches lying in old barns and attics elsewhere which might turn up one day and offer themselves to a knowing buyer inlaid moorish bone .
Apparently, it was a custom in the Middle Ages to keep a small supply of food in private rooms for use at any time antique epergnes . This would be stored in hutches which in time came to be referred to as livery cupboards lusterware made in czecho-slovakia . This term was in use until a few years ago and I remember an inn near my home where there was a painted notice over the entrance to the inn-yard, now given over to car parking, which bore the legend “livery and bait” french style porcelain gilded weight driven clock . This indicated that change of horses and refreshments for the journey were always readily available italian spider leg table .
Aumbry is another old name for a hutch or livery cupboard 16th century spanish trunk . There are some antiquaries, however, who maintain that the aumbry was not a standing cupboard but was essentially a recess in a wall which was enclosed by a door in a frame antique drop leaf side table furniture makers mark england . It may be that in different times the word was used to describe several types of cupboard 18th century rococo copper candlesticks .
The “cup board” proper was originally a side table or buffet which was a fitment with two or three shelves made to stand against the wall in the proximity of the dining table aimone mfg co new york . On this were kept the wooden trenchers or platters for use at meal times antique austrian furniture . In the 16th century and later it was used to display the silver or pewter table-ware, according to the opulence of the household georgian kneehole cabinet .
Early buffets vary in the amount of decoration, some being merely a set of shelves with some simple carving on the rails supporting the shelves classic furniture drawing . Others were larger and more elaborate with bulbous turnings on the front uprights and sometimes the centre and top rails concealed long shallow drawers which fitted under the shelves chippendale gateleg table . These were used for storing spoons and knives only as forks had not been adopted for table use at this time cheap art neuvou side tables .
Towards the end of the Elizabethan period it became the practice to construct buffets with the upper staging enclosed with panels and doors old antique sofa tables . This piece of furniture was known as a court cupboard from the French word court, meaning short or low origins art deco . Eventually, the lower stage of the court cupboard was enclosed as well during the early years of the 17th century and the cupboard form became really established from then onward chippendale style coffee table tilt value . In recent years the term court cupboard has been quite often misapplied to these completely enclosed cupboards late 1920s patek winged lugs . The late R american made ceramic french figurine . W christian mayer furniture . Symonds, who was probably one of the most authoritative furniture historians of the 20th century, has been able to confirm by much diligent research into old house inventories and wills that the correct name is actually a press renaisance design dining table made .
The press was invariably made in oak and a considerable
number were produced during the 17th century gate leg table 17thc . They were
built as a rule with three tiers of cupboard doors showing
on the front, two doors being on each of the top and
middle tiers and one on the bottom antique bread rack . The rails were decora-
ted with low-relief strapwork carving and ornamental
mouldings were sometimes applied to the panels and
door frames dining habit tendency . Carved initials of the owner and his wife,
together with a date to commemorate some family hap-
pening, were favourite additions to the design napoleon leather and steel campaign chair . Many of
these cupboards had large pendant turnings on either
side of the overhanging top george 3 style . These were the vestiges of the original bulbous turnings used on the front uprights of the buffet and court cupboard collectors glasgow school of art . The small doors are, for the most part, found with wrought-iron butterfly hinges but early presses had upper doors which turned on wooden dowel pins dutch plate family dining . Small turned wooden knobs were used as handles on the door frames cantagalli marks .
The early press was essentially a cupboard for storing food and table-ware and should not be confused with the linen press of the following century, details of which will be given later in the chapter antique tea set - rh macy . For the most part it was of fairly large size being 6 to 8 feet in length and would have been found in the dining or living rooms of the more prosperous Stuart and Commonwealth farmers dressing a tea table . Consequently, it can seldom be accommodated in a present-day house myott,son&co. .
However, there are smaller and rather attractive versions of the press which were made in Wales and enjoyed a degree of popularity during the 18th century, although the press in England had been superseded by the dresser mother of pearl coffe table fake antique egypt . These Welsh pieces were of two very similar types and were known as the deuddarn and tridarn, the former being constructed with two tiers or stages only while the latter had three pictures of 5 drawer antique library desks and tables . The top tier of the tridarn is seldom a fixture and can usually be lifted off, should this be necessary louis sue . These small press-type cupboards are seldom ornate but being comparatively small, often only 4 to 412 feet in length, the breaking up of the front surface with doors and panelling permits the mellowness of the old oak to be appreciated to the full new york city 18th century pembroke tables . In the deuddarn, drawers are sometimes included between the lower and upper tiers vases ceramic antique carved figures on front .
Tall cupboards for hanging clothes had been in use on the continent since the early 16th century chicken coops shelves . There they were referred to as armoires and it is thought that they were probably used for storing armour and weapons as well as clothes 17th century dutch silver . The few early armoires to be found in Britain are nearly always of French or Flemish origin, and cupboards designed for holding garments were rarely to be found in these islands until the beginning of the 18th century kneehole dressing table styles .
Hitherto, the accepted method of storing gowns and suits of clothes was to use a chest or a large chest of drawers “perspectiva cabinet” . Now a large cupboard with double doors was adopted for the purpose antiques furniture,josef hoffmann . It was mounted on a chest of drawers but a closer examination of the two top drawers will show them to be merely false fronts which do not open antique centre pieces for dining table . Behind them the space is used to afford greater hanging room for the clothes in the cupboard above art deco candle sticks . The lower drawers were made to function in the normal way oak draw refectory table . Before the invention of clothes hangers the contents of the cloak cupboard or clothes press were hung on a series of wooden pegs placed along the back and sides of the cupboard interior 18th century knife boxes .
Sometimes, the cupboard space above the drawers was fitted with wide trays for the storage of linen large rectangle dropleaf table . Although the exterior would be identical to that of a cloak cupboard, the article in this case would be called a linen press and the top drawers would be real ones as a deeper hanging space for clothes would not be necessary candelabrum .
Taller wardrobes without dummy drawers were pro-
duced by Chippendale, Hepplewhite and other cabinet-
makers type of wood used for roman furniture . These were very elegant in appearance with
finely veneered doors and sometimes with bow-fronts 18th century mahogany drop leaf table cabriole legs .
In mid-Victorian times some huge wardrobes were con-
structed in three or four separate sections kashgai carpet . These were
screwed together when assembled in position and included
bays for hanging clothes, long dressing mirrors and sections
with trays for keeping linen wear drop leaf table with spiral legs . Today, these well-made
mahogany and satinwood edifices are indeed white
elephants for they are much too large ever to go into a
modern house or flat royal staffordshire by clarice cliff nancy . Usually they are bought very
cheaply and then taken apart so that the fine wood in them can be used in the manufacture of reproduction pieces, sometimes advertised as “made from genuine old wood”  . I suppose that if one cannot acquire the authentic article then these are the next best thing five legs two leaf oak antique dining table .
Since the late 16th century, small hanging cupboards have always appeared among the more usual furnishings george speight porcelain . Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth I and in early Stuart times wall cupboards with, fretted fronts or with the door frames filled with rows of baluster shaped spindles were in general use barley sugar twist pillars timber . Nowadays they are referred to as dole, or food, cupboards and were once hung inside churches to contain the bread doles provided by charity bequests antique 19th century nesting tables birds-eye maple . They were probably used as food larders in the kitchens of private houses as well art deco writing sets . Although this cupboard form is rarely found as an antique in England these days it is not an uncommon discovery in Wales social origins of art deco .
In the 17th and 18th centuries when doctors and apothecaries were few and far between, every housewife kept a store of medicinal herbs and remedies for administering to her family in times of sickness care of antique tortoiseshell . These were preserved in small cupboards which hung on the wall or stood on a chest of drawers and contained a number of pigeon-holes and small drawers for separating the various herbs antique paper mache trays . I always regret having failed to acquire one of these little spice or herb cupboards which a dealer friend of mine had in the shop meissen figures dating . Other dealers had passed it by, saying that it was only an old top from a grandfather clock which had been converted into a little cupboard vintage wooden card table . Actually, it was a genuine Queen Anne medicine cupboard with a finely panelled door and a neat compartment of drawers inside maccasar modernism france . However, the question had then arisen, as it does for all collectors sooner or later, of just where it was going to fit in with all the other things, and the opportunity had to be missed the revival of the games in the 19th century .
Corner cupboards, like tripod tables, are probably more numerous than any other type of antique furniture and are still to be had very reasonably antique table footed clock . They were in general use throughout the Georgian period and served many purposes antique dutch coffee table 17th century . Nowadays a corner cupboard with the doors left open makes an attractive setting fora small collection of china or Staffordshire chimney ornaments antique sideboard with built-in pendulum clock . Oak corner cupboards are usually flat-fronted with canted corners but occasionally they are found with bow-fronts patek philippe, 1930s, rectangular, hinged back . This is the pattern which was more often adopted for the mahogany cupboard and with an inlaid frieze at the top and a couple of small drawers beneath, this would make a very desirable acquisition to any modest collection of antique furniture antique dressers yorkshire .
Some flat fronted corner cupboards have glazed, astragal doors, that is with little panes of glass set into a framework of thin bars or beads robinson and leadbeater figure . These are usually original but a door with a single sheet of glass in it has probably had the wooden panel removed and glass substituted for the display of china or silver oak draw leaf table 18. th . Do not be in a hurry to strip or paint over if the interior of your cupboard is decorated in a faded olive green colour american antique slant front desk . This is probably the original finish as the Georgians were very fond of green linings to their cupboards and cabinets and a little toilet soap and warm water will most likely restore the paintwork very nearly to its original condition decoupage on veneer .
Finally, some mention should be made of the reappearance of the buffet in mid-Victorian dining rooms late 1800’s dining table european . Much lighter in design than its Tudor counterpart, it usually consisted of three quite deep shelves supported on four slim mahogany, turned corner uprights renaissance dining tables . These buffets, like the 17th-century press, are often too large for the modern house moser, austrian furniture designer . Occasionally they are to be seen, laden with dish covers, cutlery and cruets, in the spacious dining rooms of those old-fashioned but comfortable coaching inns which have survived into the day of the motor car art deco dresser inlaid wood .
Beds, Day-beds and Cradies
Early beds—rest for the rich and not-so-rich—misnomer of the “four-poster”—characteristics of 17th-century bed construction—development of the tester—beds of the mid-Georgian era—foreign influences on late 18th-century bed design—truckle and folding beds—origin of the day-bed—Restoration and early 18th-century types—Regency elegance of the chaise-longue—the Victorian sofa—cots and cradles padded antique library wood arm chair .
Early beds were looked upon as the most important items in any household 18 century porcelain placks louis xvi . They were handed down from father to son and were always mentioned with some degree of pride of possession czechoslovakia porclian . They were often very heavy, monumental constructions and the occupants depended for their comfort on enormously thick, feather mattresses 19th century parian busts . These were laid either on a network of ropes which passed through holes in the framework or on a foundation of wooden slats scroll planter table y chair .
There must have been a general fear of draughts and fresh air at night or the bedrooms were very cold and draughty because it was the practice to enclose the beds with panelling or heavy curtains until the end of the 18th century antique tea caddies, penwork . It is hardly likely that many people nowadays would sleep in a 17th or 18th-century bed for choice, although I have an old collector friend who nightly repairs to his Georgian four-poster neo classic bookcase maple tuscany . I should add that it has been fitted with a box-spring mattress of the latest slumber-inducing design antique half leaf table .
In medieval times the wealthy slept on free standing
frame beds overhung by a tent-like canopy which was suspended from the ceiling 19th century desk cabinet . Servants and attendants slept on the floor or on straw palliasses antique oak dressing table with mirror . For information about beds in the time of Elizabeth 1, we look again at William Harrison’s Description of England narrow entryway chest of drawers . In it he wrote: “Our fathers have lain full often upon straw pallets, on rough mats covered with a sheet and a good round log under their heads for a pillow 18 century wooden novelty pipes . If the goodman of the house had purchased a mattress or flock bed, and thereto a sack of chaff to rest his head upon, he thought himself to be as well lodged as the lord of the town, that peradventure lay seldom in a bed of down or whole feathers charles neo classism boulle . As for servants, if they had any sheet above them, it was well, for seldom had they any under their bodies to keep them from the pricking straws that ran oft through the canvas of the pallet and rased their hardened hides inexpensive french desks furniture .”
The “four-poster” bed of antiquity is a well-known term but few have stopped to think that the four-poster, at any rate until the early Georgian period, was in fact only a two-poster, the back or bed-head which supported the top, or tester, being a panelled framework without posts dressoir antique . In the 17th century these beds were known as tester or posted beds staffordshire porcelain rococo revival period . Medieval beds are so rare as to be almost non-existent but there are a number of beds with testers which can be dated from the late 16th century 18th century boulle cabinet . Some of these were excessively large like the Great Bed of Ware, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum antique sideboard styles and makers . It was made about 1595 and is 10 feet 9 inches wide antique gate legged side table . The great majority of beds, however, were between 5 and 6 feet in width art nouveau dresser .
Posted beds all followed a similar pattern, having a strong rectangular frame to carry the mattress and at the head a panelled screen, often elaborately decorated with carving and inlaid woods antique american tilt top pedestal table . This screen and two turned pillars at the foot of the bed supported a panelled ceiling or tester from which hung the curtains, to be drawn at night are william and mary chest of drawers rare? . The pillars at the bed-end were usually incorporated in the bed framework and acted as feet for the mattress franl;ng characteristics of english medieval gateleg table . On larger beds, however, the framing would have separate feet and the posts supporting the tester would be freestanding on rectangular pedestal bases period art nouveau galle bronze table lamp .
Some smaller beds were made with panelled screens erected at the bottom end as well as at the head so that they formed, in effect, large panelled boxes with curtained sides american spoonback armchair . They must have been very stuffy and altogether unhealthy japanned bracket clocks . Whether it was a reaction against the unhygienic properties of the enclosed bed or just a simplification for economy’s sake, a plainer type of bed appeared about the middle of the 17th century 19th century lacquered japanese cabinet with paintings . It consisted merely of a framework on short legs and a low panelled bed-head deco porcelain spanish dancers female . It is usually referred to as a farm-house bed victorian renaissance revival credenza . For those who have an ambition to equip their homes with antique furniture entirely, this type of bed, with a box-spring mattress fitted, can be quite an interesting acquisition wileman/shelley vases . They are not uncommon and I have seen them from time to time in several sale-rooms drop leaf table oak uk antique .
The tester undoubtedly developed from the tent-like covering of the medieval bed and during the 16th and 17th centuries was a very heavy structure which demanded a strong supporting bed-framework cupboard design for keeping cockery . During the time of William and Mary and Queen Anne it became fashionable in the noble households to install beds which were most luxuriously appointed antique chairs 1600 s all wood carved . In keeping with the tendency to build houses with higher ceilings to the rooms, these beds were also very high with elaborately decorated testers and the entire framework upholstered with quilted silk and velvet george jones majolica ware . Such beds were usually installed to commemorate the stay of some royal visitor antique chamber cabinet .
Beds of the mid-18th century became altogether lighter in construction and appearance and although in some cases the bed-head screen to support the tester was retained, the more ordinary run of beds had lower bed-heads and four posts to support the tester arabic style lambrequins . By this time the tester consisted only of four curtain poles placed across the tops of the posts with a light covering of material stretched Over them antique telescopic dining tables . Thomas Chippendale made a bed for the Duke of Beaufort about 1750 in the Chinese taste draw leaf tables . It has a pagoda-like top with flying dragons a6 the corners and, finished in black japan and gold, has a very attractive appearance carved oak draw-leaf refectory table . Another bed, painted in the Chinese manner, was made for David Garrick about 1770 antique oak drop leaf table american . It also has a light wooden tester with embroidered silk curtains and like the bed of the Duke of Beaufort indicates the tendency for greater delicacy in construction of furniture during the second half of the 18th century myott son & co hanley 1880 .
For some time during the 18th-century Italian and French beds were imported into the British Isles and although the numbers were small they influenced the design of the English type considerably regency mahogany settee hairy paw . The Italians seem to have been the first to do away with the tester and its hangings sheraton gateleg card table . Probably in a warm climate common sense overruled fashion and tradition maggiolini furniture . French patterns of the late 18th century were very elaborate in the decoration of bed-heads and here also the tester seems to have been abandoned entirely antique dutch desk . Only in England, and the climate was probably the chief reason for its retention, did the use of the tester linger on into the 19th century end tables tall spindle leg antique . Wooden canopies, from which side curtains were hung, were still being fitted over the bed-head about 1850 19th century english sideboard .
Lightly constructed beds, rather like the folding kind used for camping today, became fairly common during the Georgian period red delft tiles religious 17th century value . They were small enough to be kept under th;, posted beds when not required and were used by nurses or servants attending sick people or as extra accommodation for an unexpected visitor bone handled fork converted to knive . I have seen small chests of drawers with dummy fronts which swung open like a cupboard door antiquegames writing table . Inside were folding beds which could be pulled out when wanted heals pair oak tables . All these lighter types were generally known as truckle beds and were fitted with small wheels or castors so that they could easily be moved around dutch marquetry sutherland table .
I have already mentioned in a previous chapter how chests were used as seats in early times and it is evident that the larger ones also served as beds or couches porcelain wincanton . Some years ago in a sale-room I saw a panelled oak chest with raised ends antique porclean handled sheffeld flatware . Although I did not realise it at the time I had come across an archebanc couchette, probably of early French design which had been made to serve both as a chest and a couch inlay antique serving trays . I have never seen another since and only hope that one day the opportunity to acquire such a rarity might present itself again 17 century dining tables .
From these bed-chests probably developed the more lightly constructed single bed or day-bed which appeared towards the end of the 16th century etruscan pottery oriental . Shakespeare has referred to them in his plays and, by the Restoration, day-beds had reached a pleasing standard of design meissen porcelain antic . They were made in walnut with six or eight legs and had an adjustable end frame which, together with the main framework of the bed, was equipped with woven splitcanework to give some resilience to the overlay cushions types of table legs 19 century . Day-beds with double ends are found occasionally but they are very rare antique perpetual calendar .
The day-bed continued in use throughout the 18th century conforming to the fashionable characteristics of the time, but it is rather difficult to separate its development into that form known as the chaise-longue from that of the settee, couch or sofa corbusier furniture vintage . Although all these types were used for lying or for sitting upon, I think it should be remembered that the day-bed was designed primarily for resting during the day-time while the settee or sofa was made to enable a number of people to sit together on the same seat mahogany kommode . Perhaps the best way to remember the difference is that the day-bed or chaise-longue was never made with a back like a couch or a settee kilian brothers carved fruit and bird inlaid table . In its later form, as used in the 19th and 20th centuries, it has become known as the divan having neither end supports nor back antique table drop leaf raise .
The chaise-longue of the late Georgian and Regency periods became the symbol of elegant repose, typified perhaps by Jacques Louis David’s portrait of Madame Wcamier fauteuil art deco brandt . The beautiful piece of furniture with its gracefully curving ends was said to have been designed by the artist himself value of gateleg tables . It was in all probability among the finest of the adaptations by the late 18th and early 19th-century designers from the sources of classical Greece and Rome sideboard turns into dining table . A shorter form of seat which is often identical in appearance to the chaise-longue is the window seat bassano maiolica . Like the former, it has no back but is too short for reclining upon and as its name implies was just a small seat made to fit into a low window bay without obscuring the view causes of the reign of terror in france .
The type of Victorian sofa which has just the one scrolled end and a short back-piece running only half its length is really in the tradition of the day-bed rather than that of the couch or settee antique bread making cabinet . Those made in walnut about 1850 with small cabriole legs are attractive pieces of furniture and become increasingly rare as time goes on sheffield shovels .
Children’s cots and cradles are really among the few antiques which are not normally put to their original use and would hardly be considered suitable for the modern baby regency waterfall bookcase . Nowadays, babies are put to bed and left to sleep or lie awake as they will but in olden times an essential of all cot and cradle design was that they should be able to be rocked 1930s antique square table . The two swinging cots illustrated have basically the same structure although they are separated by more than 300 years dressoir timber . The Gothic cot is just an oak box suspended from a well-made stand while the late Georgian version, dating from around 1820, is a much finer affair in turned and needed mahogany pollard elm furniture . It has a clockwork mechanism incorporated in the suspension of the cot which will actually cause it to rock for nearly an hour lusterware made in czechoslovakia . It might be that the steady ticking of the clockwork also acted as a further soporific josef originals+ballerinas+value .
The more homely cradle of the farmhouse and cottage had a small hood at one end century furniture chinoiserie dining table chair credenza . It was mounted on a pair of rockers so that the mother could rock the baby to sleep with her foot while her hands were busy with some sewing or the preparation of food metal plates and trays from iran .

THE CHEST
Although many new forms of furniture had been evolved from the chest, the latter was extraordinarily persistent in retaining its popularity more or less in its original form. It continued to be made in large numbers throughout the seventeenth century, and in provincial districts remained as a sort of standard household possession long after oak furniture had gone out of fashion in the towns. The probable explanation was that, for its size, it had maximum accommodation and was as simple a piece of work that a carpenter could undertake. It was not, in fact, until the chest of drawers, with its greater convenience, was invented that it began to decline in popularity.
Fig. 54 is a typical chest of the early years of the seventeenth century. It is well enough made in its way, though the detail is extremely crude when closely examined. It was probably the work of a country carpenter who could make a reasonable job of cutting, say, a mortise and tenon joint, but was rather out of his depth when it came to any carving.
One has to bear things like this in mind when arriving at an opinion on a piece of old furniture. Age may have given it a fine colour and centuries of polishing produced an inimitable surface, but, this apart, the mere fact that it was made in the seventeenth century does not make it beautiful. There were poor workmen then as now.
Chests with Drawers.—Returning to the chest, we now come to the last phase and its final disappearance—or rather conversion. We have seen how certain pieces such as the side table were evolved from it without affecting the chest itself, this still continuing in its old form, probably with varying detail, but virtually the same. Now, however, it was to lose its identity as a chest, although its use remained unaltered. It came about through the invention of the drawer. The latter was becoming increasingly popular in the seventeenth century, and it probably occurred to someone that the inconvenience of having to turn out the entire contents of a chest in order to reach something at the bottom could be avoided to a large extent if the drawer system were applied to it.
These things usually have their beginning in a small way, and the thin end of the wedge can be seen in the left hand chest in Fig. 53, which is virtually just an ordinary chest with two drawers fitted at the bottom. Its advantages must have become immediately apparent, for very shortly the whole of the space was given over to drawers as in the right hand chest in Fig. 53. Once this had happened, the old form of chest which had survived for centuries with practically no change of form became extinct, and it has never again been revived.
Whilst we still have the chest in Fig. 53 in mind, it is worth while noting the method of decoration employed on the drawer fronts. It consists of applied mouldings mitred round to form various patterns. It is the fact that they areapplied that is specially to be noted, because we saw in the Elizabethan period that they were invariably worked in the solid. This method of applying ornament is typical of the later Jacobean period, and it extends to such details as half-named was an innovation of the early years of the seventeenth century, but it hardly comes under the heading of domestic furniture, because it was the type of thing that would not be made for anyone except a person of the highest
quality. There is an example in the famous King’s bedroom at Knole. It was made specially for James I during a visit he paid to the mansion, and it is entirely on the lines of the upholstered chairs mentioned earlier in this chapter. Every portion of the woodwork is covered with rich material, and above the tester are four great plumes, one at each corner.
Such a bedstead was well enough in a palace, but it would not be suitable for use in humbler houses. It is worth noting at this stage, however, because the type became popular again towards the end of the century. The nobleman or rich merchant would use the four poster bedstead, an Elizabethan example of which was given on P. 40. This continued with few alterations except in detail for the greater part of the seventeenth century.
Well-to-do farmers and those of similar standing used the simpler panelled head and foot bedstead. This was practically identical with the modern wood bedstead, except of course that the side rails were of wood and that the mattress was supported by ropes which were threaded through holes bored through the rails. Rather more elaborate specimens had both head and foot made extra high, so to support a simple tester, as that in Fig. 55. This virtually is simply three pieces of panelling, with side rails added to support the mattress.
For the other furnishings of the bedroom there was the chest, which later in the period was fitted with one or more drawers, and eventually the complete chest of drawers. In addition, various forms of cupboards or presses made their appearance for the more convenient storing of clothes and linen. Fig. 56 shows an early piece, and was the origin to which the modern wardrobe can be traced.
JACOBEAN ORNAMENT
This does not differ a great deal from that of the Elizabethan period. It is in the main a rather free rendering of the Renaissance. Certain new features made their appearance—the lozenge panel for instance, which was of diamond shape and was usually ornamented with simple gouge cuts. (See the top panels of the bedstead in Fig. 55.) Such carved details as the guilloche, lunette, and arcaded panels (see P. 42) remained popular through Jacobean times.
Later pieces of the period, however, tended to become more artificial, in that decoration was applied rather than worked in the solid. Take, for instance, the group of panels in Fig. 51. In every case the mouldings are applied, and,

THE JACOBEAN BEDROOM
There were three kinds of bedsteads made in Jacobean times : the four poster, the panelled head and foot type, and that covered over with fabric and heavily draped. The last-although there undoubtedly is a certain decorative value in the arrangement, they tend to become somewhat meaningless since they bear no relationship to the construction. In Elizabethan work mouldings were worked at the edges of rails or were channelled along the centre, and have a definite purpose in taking off the harshness of a square edge or enriching a plain surface. In the Jacobean work they often appear to be laid on in any convenient way that suggested itself to the imagination of the craftsman.
The same thing applies to the other decorative details which were invariably applied.

FIG. 55. SIMPLE CANOPIED BEDSTEAD WITH PANELLED ENDS.
Mid. 17th century.
This is the sort of bedstead used in smaller manor houses or farm houses.
Note the holes in the rails and head and foot to take the roping which supported
the mattress.
turnings, diamonds, studs, and so on. A group of Jacobean panels with applied mouldings is given in Fig. 51.

FIG. 54. JACOBEAN CHEST WITH CARVED PANELS.
First half 17th century.
The development from the chest of the previous century can be seen by comparing
this with the examples on p. 17. In this particular example the whole work-
manship is particularly crude.

FIG. 56 PANELLED WARDROBE WITH CHANNELLED FRAMING.
17th century.
A typical arrangement of the panelling is shown in the doors. It is
similar to that in the court cupboards on pp. 38 and 61. Note the use of
the long horizontal panel in all three examples.

Tudor Gothic Period Stools, Chairs and Tables

EVOLUTION OF THE CHEST
We have spoken of the chest as being part of the furnishing of the early house, and we deal with it first, not only because it was a most important piece of furniture, but because so many other pieces were evolved from it. It was used for all sorts of purposes : the storing of clothes or valuables, for a travelling chest, as a seat, or (in the larger sizes) even as a bed. In fact it was its all-round usefulness
that was its great virtue, and accounts for the comparatively large numbers which have survived.
Early Hollowed-out Chests.—In its earliest form it was merely hollowed out of a solid baulk of timber, the lid usually following the line of the trunk in shape and so being rounded. Such chests belong generally to a period before the fourteenth century, after which the more economical method of jointing up timber was evolved. Fig. 2 is an example. It stands in the old church at Harbledown, Kent.
A curious example of how convention sets its stamp on things is shown in the next example, Fig. 3, which exemplifies the next stage in which separate boards were peggedtogether. Note how the lid, although not actually rounded, is raised in the centre and is so a survival of the older hollowed-out solid lid. Another feature of special interest is the way it is hinged. The end pieces into which the lid boards are housed are made extra wide at the back and fit outside the ends of the lower chest portion. Pegs passing through both enable the lid to be raised. It was a system of hingeing (usually termed pin hingeing) which survived until some time during the thirteenth century, when it was replaced by the more convenient metal strap hinges.
Planked Chests.—At the time our story begins—the late fifteenth century—most chests were little more than a series
PROBABLE EVOLUTION OF FORM AND SETTLE.
The construction of the form is practically identical with that of the
planked chest, and it is probable that the one was evolved from the other.
In the same way the early settle was really only a chest with the posts
and back continued upwards.
of four boards nailed or pegged together to form the sides, and a bottom and lid. It was a method of construction about which there was something rather obvious. It was essentially simple, a serious consideration in days when every operation had to be done entirely by hand, and up to a point it served its purpose.
At the same time it had its disadvantages. For one thing it was extremely limited in the form and degree of decoration that could be given (and the Renaissance craftsmen were extremely fond of decoration), and, what was a more serious point, it was not sound structurally. All timber is bound to shrink, and providing the entire shrinkage takes place during the seasoning no harm is done. But this is seldom practicable. A board which has been seasoned for years may still shrink more after it has been worked and built into a piece of furniture.
Now if the grain of these chests is examined (take Fig. 4 for example) it will be seen that that of the front and back runs horizontally from side to side, whereas that of the ends is vertical. As wood always shrinks across the grain, it follows that the front and back are trying to reduce their width but are prevented from doing so by the upright grain
FIG. 18. PANELLED BACK CHAIR DECORATED WITH INLAY AND
CARVING.
About 1600.
A big advancement on the previous chair. The lower part Is open, and
the arms are unpanelled. The back has a definite incline, and, although
back legs are upright, they are made extra thick at the bottom to give
the good stability.
of the ends. As a consequence they have to split, and it is this that accounts for the bad condition in which the fronts of these chests are often found. If the reader turns to P. 21 he will find the point explained yet more fully.
Framed-up Construction.—It was to overcome this fundamental fault that the panelled system of construction was evolved, in which the strength was provided by a frame-work joined at the corners with mortise and tenon joints, the centre portion being filled in with a panel which rested in grooves worked in the inner edges of the framework. The panel was entirely free in the grooves, so that in the event of shrinkage no harm whatever would be done. Fig. 12 shows the idea. It was a system which has remained as a standard practice ever since.
The effect of this new form of construction on the chest is shown in Fig. 5. It is virtually four separate frames except that the legs are part of both front and sides. The
FIG. 19. LONG FORM WITH GOTHIC SHAPINGS.
Early 16th century.
This was the usual seating accommodation for the majority of people.
In a hall there might be one chair, the seat of honour for the principal
person (hence the term “chairman “), but forms or stools were good
enough for the others.
bad effects of shrinkage are eliminated, since the panels are free to shrink.
Whilst still on this subject of panelling, it is instructive to note that the width of the individual panels was seldom more than that of a single board, this saving the necessity of jointing. It is a useful point to remember because it accounts for the comparatively narrow panels found in early oak work.
TREATMENT OF PANELS
Linenfold Panels.—A favourite method of embellishing the panels of these chests was to carve them in the linenfold pattern as in Fig. 5, and many ingenious theories have been put forward to account for the origin of this device. That it was carved to represent a piece of folded linen is un-doubtedly true, but it probably owed its origin to a practical reason, especially as the earlier patterns were of simple form, just an ogee-shaped section, thin at the edges and rising to a point at the centre.
Most early oak was riven, that is, the log was cleft at the end with a wedge and so forced apart. The method was far less laborious than sawing, and it was stronger since it followed the natural line of cleavage. Fig. 9 shows the
FIG. 20. SIMPLE TUDOR GOTHIC STOOLS.
Early 16th century.
Note that the Gothic shaping of the uprights in the stool to the right is
similar to that in the long form in Fig. 19.
FIG. 21. ELIZABETHAN BOX
STOOL.
Late 16th century.
A small box space is formed beneath the seat, the latter acting as a lid.
process. At the same time the boards were not so straight and the surface was liable to have ridges in it. These ridges may have suggested the lines of the folded linen, and in any case the edges had to be reduced in thickness to enable them to fit in the grooves of the framing. Thus it seems to be a case of the craftsmen making the most of the peculiarities of the material, and adapting the design to suit the natural formation.
The enlarged illustration on p. IS shows a linenfold pattern in closer details in which the wood is cut thin at the sides to enable it to enter the grooves. This cutting-away forms a part of the design. Note also that the recessing of the groundwork at top and bottom to throw the folds into relief answers the same purpose.
Curved Rib Panels.—Another form of decoration was what is usually termed the curved rib design, an example of which is also given on p. 18. It probably owed its origin to the same causes as the linenfold. If the two illustrations C and D are compared it will be seen that the linenfold has the same downward curve in the ends of the folds at the top. The only fundamental difference is the introduction of the centre fold. The thinning of the edges occurs in both, and the riving of the timber would make it suitable for either one or the other in accordance with the amount of timber left by the cleavage. In fact it may be that the craftsman decided which treatment he would give after the timber had been riven. Or, alternatively, assuming that he had some timber already riven, he would select that which was the more suitable for the design he had in mind.
Tracery Designs.—This, however, is largely theory, and we may now turn to yet another kind of panel, the origin of which is more certain. This is the traceried panel of which two examples are given on p. 18. They were taken from the Gothic traceried windows which were a common feature of buildings of the period. Generally they were pierced right through, and this had the advantage of providing ventilation for such items as were used for storing food. When this was undesirable, for instance in the front of an ordinary chest, the ” window ” portions were just recessed, leaving the ribs standing up in high relief.
It is sometimes argued that the ecclesiastical appearance of these chests suggests that they were made originally for a church, but this is by no means necessarily the case. That the traceried designs were similar to the work found in churches is true, but it must be remembered the same thing applied to all secular work, because there was no other style than the Gothic. The Gothic style was evolved chiefly from the building of churches, but secular work followed on precisely the same lines.
Renaissance Designs.—The panel at E on p. 19 is of particular interest in that it shows the beginning of the new spirit the Renaissance brought with it. It is true that there are features about it that are reminiscent of the Gothic, but the main design is something outside what the latter pro-duced. It was probably a case of a man brought up in the Gothic tradition feeling his way rather cautiously in an unfamiliar element. It is somewhat meaningless in the treatment of the upper scrolls terminating in the horizontal band with the leafwork sprouting below, and one has the feeling that here was a man to whom new ideas were suggested but who was uncertain what to make with them.
Romayne Panels.—Another basic motif found in early Renaissance work was the Romayne panel, which consisted of a wreath of leafwork encircling the carved representation of a head, usually in profile. Such designs were often found on buildings, for instance, in the Gateway of Hampton Court Palace, and they provided a rich field for the carver’s fancy. Sometimes they were purely mythological head pieces, often of Roman origin, the head having the wreath of victory around the brow. On the other hand, these busts were often carved as a portrait of the person for whom the chest was made, and one can imagine the self-sufficiency of the owner as he would point out the likeness to his friends—though to judge from some of them the result could hardly have been flattering.
We have gone into the details found on these chests at some length because they form the basis upon which ornament of the time was built up. First the Gothic tracery or the linenfold, then the curious intermixture of the Renaissance with the Gothic, and finally the purer Renaissance, if such a term may be applied to a style which was handled in so free a way. Whatever its merits as a design, however, it had this about it, that it was extremely virile and spirited in its execution. A man came across this and that motif, and he worked on them with a complacent disregard for their true meaning and gave of his best in dealing with them. The result was the production of the style we know as Tudor Gothic.
At this point we may leave the chest for the time being. That made during the last phase of the period, that cf Elizabeth, was similar to that in Fig. 5, except that the linen-fold device was replaced by Renaissance details, and the framing was usually more or less elaborately carved. We shall pick up the thread again when we come to the next chapter dealing with the Jacobean times.

Mid 16th century.    About 1530•
FIG. 7. TUDOR GOTHIC PANELS WITH RENAISSANCE
INFLUENCE.

TRESTLE TABLE WITH GOTHIC LINES.
First half 16th century.
These tables were made specially so that they could be taken to pieces
and stacked away flat. The withdrawal of the wedges enabled the rails
to be pulled away clear of the trestle ends.
FIG. 23. DRAW TABLE OF ELIZABETH’S DAYS.
Second half 16th century.
This is the earliest form of extending table, and it is still the most reliable.
The extending leaves rest beneath the main top, and as they are pulled
out they are caused to rise by means of tapering bearers beneath.

USING THE RIVING IRON TO CONVERT TIMBER,
The iron was placed at the end of the timber and struck with the ” beetle to enter it. It was then levered over so that the timber was split.
FIG. 10. THE ADZE.
This was used to clean
the surface after cut-
ting out.
FIG. 11. SCRATCH TOOL.
The chief purpose of this was to work
mouldings. It was simply worked
back and forth.
FIG. 8. CUTTING OUT TIM-
BER WITH THE PIT SAW.
The man at the top was in
control, and it was his job to see
that the saw kept to the line.
He was called the top sawyer.
The man in the pit simply helped
to supply the power.

CARVING OF
FIGURES SEATED ON
A SETTLE.
Late i5th century.
Although the whole thing measures only some IS In. in height, it is of special Interest in that it shows the type of settle in use at the time it was carved. Note the linenfold panels, and the way in which the front framework reaches
right to the floor.

FIG. 16. PENITENT STOOL FROM
FORDWICH CHURCH, KENT.
Date uncertain, but probably earlier than i5th century.
The construction of this is crude in the
extreme. It is simply a solid piece of timber
with the upper part chopped out to form
the seat and back.
FIG. 17. EARLY FORM
OF PANELLED CHAIR
WITH LOWER BOX
PORTION.
First half 16th century.
The general form is
similar to that of the
settle shown in Fig. 15,
and the idea was prob-
ably prompted by the
chest. The back In this
case has a slight slope,
though in many similar
chairs it was quite
upright.

TUDOR GOTHIC PERIOD
S0 few examples of English domestic furniture dating from a period earlier than the accession of Henry VIII exist, that for the purpose of this book there is little purpose served in going back earlier than the end of the fifteenth century, except to see how what had gone before influenced the woodwork that was to come. The longer the period that elapses, the greater the chances of destruction and decay, and the troublous times through which this country went in the Middle Ages certainly enabled destruction to carry out its work of waste. An army marching through an enemy country would spare little that came its way, and even in peaceful times the outbreak of fire must have been an ever-present source of danger. Domestic houses were invariably built of timber, and, as the fire on the open hearth was never or seldom allowed to go out, being just fanned to a flame every morning, the chances of the building catching fire must have been high.
Apart from this, however, furniture was a rare commodity in those days. Even in the larger houses the hall would contain little more than a large table, a chair for the owner of the house, forms and stools for the rest of the household, a cupboard of some sort, and a chest. In the chief sleeping room there would be a bed, a chest to hold clothes, and possibly a cupboard or press. The sleeping rooms for the less important people might contain little more than a mattress or even just a couch of rushes. Smaller houses were furnished on a correspondingly smaller scale, so that it becomes clear that the chances of survival were extremely small.
The closing years of the fifteenth century mark the beginning of a change in conditions. The accession of Henry VII had brought to an end the long period of strife known as the Wars of the Roses, and with the feeling of comparative security men began to find time to turn their attention to their houses. There could have been but little encouragement for a man to beautify his house when he knew that it might be burnt over his head either by the first party of soldiers that came marching through, or by a band of insurgents such as that headed by Jack Cade. His first thought would have been to fortify it against attack. It was not until warfare came to an end that he felt justified in making, or was able to make, himself more comfortable. Not that the change came quickly. The wars had bled the country of its manhood so that many a man who might have spent his life peaceably in making useful things was pressed into the service of his local lord to fight on whichever side happened to be in favour locally.
Coming of the Renaissance.—Nevertheless the coming of peace did encourage the development of the home as distinct from the fortified house, and, what was equally important, it set the stage, as it were, for that remarkable influence, the Renaissance, which was to sweep across the country during the sixteenth century. It is an extraordinary thing that men can be carried off their feet, so to speak, by an intangible thing like this Renaissance. It is hard to find a name by which to call it. It was just a great influence which was to leave its mark on all the arts and crafts, and alter even the very lives of men.
To understand it fully one must realise that hitherto the crafts had been dominated entirely by the Gothic. Men knew no other style. In architecture it had developed from the Norman at the end of the twelfth century, and had become almost a creed, the absolutism of which it were heresy to doubt. It was in fact closely bound up with the church, which had been the seat of learning and the consequent fountain-head of ideas and knowledge ever since the coming of the Normans. Every monastery had its group of stonemasons, carpenters, carvers, and so on.
The carpenters engaged on secular work had only one source from which to draw their ideas, the church, and a man called upon to make, say, a chest simply copied whatever detail he might find in a building, often with the most delightful disregard for its true meaning. Thus one often finds details used in woodwork which belong entirely to the technique of stone masonry.
The point we wish to make clear is that until the coming Tudor Gothic Period
of the Renaissance all the woodwork was entirely Gothic in detail, form, and construction and as a consequence, when new ideas began to filter through, men did not know quite what to make of them, and they became little more than a grafting of Renaissance detail to a groundwork of Gothic.
This will become more obvious when we come to examine individual pieces.
It was a condition that was aggravated by the fact that the early workers did not understand the spirit of the Renaissance. They regarded the details as just so many motifs to be used in any convenient way that suggested itself, and the result was often a curious mixture. It must be remembered that the Renaissance was a thing that filtered through from abroad. It was entirely new. It was not like the Gothic,which was a natural development on lines which were built up on experience. It will be recognised by the use of the
Roman orders of architecture (often wrongly applied), the intricately interwoven strapwork, carved egg and tongue mouldings, and all the many other details that had belonged to Rome in its glory.

OLD CHEST IN CHURCH AT HARBLEDOWN.
Probably 13th century.
The lid is hollowed out of a solid baulk of timber, the curve approximating to that of the tree trunk from which it was cut.
CHEST WITH PIN-HINGED LID.
Probably 15th century.
Although probably made In the fifteenth century, the construction
is typical of an earlier period. All the wood is cleft and finished
with the adze.

FIG. 4. PLANKED CHEST WITH CARVED FRONT
Early 16th century.
This exemplifies the early simple construction in which the front and
back are merely nailed to the sides. The carving is purely Gothic in
character.
FIG. 5. FRAMED-UP CHEST WITH LINENFOLD PANELS.
Early 16th century.
Here the panels are held in the grooves of a framework and are so free to
shrink without danger of their splitting. Compare with chest above.

Art Nouveau Furniture: FRENCH CABINET, ENGLISH HALLROBE, SCOTTISH BOOKCASE, VIENNESE SIDEBOARD, VENEERED CUPBOARD, STAINED-GLASS CABINET, MAHOGANY CABINET, OAK BOOKCASE

ART NOUVEAU
CASE PIECES
THE CABINET CONTINUED to be one
of the most expensive and impressive pieces of useful furniture in European houses. Both decorative and functional, cabinets were used as writing chests, for locking away precious jewels, for storing important papers, and for the display of small, treasured collectables.
Art Nouveau cabinets were made in a variety of styles. The Anglo-Japanese cabinets, such as those designed by E.W Godwin, were embellished with brass mounts and painted decorations.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, C.EA. Voysey, and E.W Gimson combined simple designs and an attention to the details of fine craftsmanship with
the use of rich timbers, such as oak, walnut, satinwood, and mahogany.
These designers influenced the design of cabinets in the Art Nouveau style in Europe, especially the austere, geometric style favoured in Germany and Austria.
In contrast, French cabinets
were more sensuous in their
design, with Rococo and Oriental elements combined to produce asymmetrically shaped pieces, decorated with curvilinear plant, flower, and vegetable motifs. Louis Majorelle created superbly crafted cabinets of extraordinary luxury, in fine-quality woods. These pieces were often embellished with finely wrought gilt-bronze or wrought-iron mounts, or included decorative inlays of mother-of-pearl or metal.
This elegant cabinet is made of walnut. It is decorated with a marquetry design depicting a clematis and a bird, executed in exotic hardwoods. The top section provides open storage, which is accessed via a rounded
opening, surrounded by relief carving. The piece was made by Louis Majorelle. His sinuous and fluid style, evident here, was inspired by 18th-century Rococo furniture. c.1900.
Carved circular supports
are decorated with
a twisting tendril and root-like design.
The cabinet body is made from walnut
with marquetry in exotic hardwoods.
The marquetry incorporates floral motifs.
FRENCH CABINET

ENGLISH HALLROBE
top of this hallrobe supports Classical carved panels. The panelled front is adorned
stylized copper hinges and handles and
interior is fitted. This piece was made by
the prominent commercial furniture manufacturer, Shapland and Pettey.
SCOTTISH BOOKCASE
This oak bookcase by leading furniture-maker, Wylie and Lochhead of Glasgow, is in the style of the Scottish school. The intricate floral panels are in stained glass and flanked by angular, stylized, copper, repousse panels, all above a long drawer and a bottom cabinet. c.1900.
VIENNESE SIDEBOARD
This impressive walnut veneer sideboard is by the school of Josef Hoffmann. The piece is decorated with intarsia. The symmetrical, clean design is typical of Hoffman and the linear style reveals the influence of Charles Rennie
Mackintosh. The upper section is enclosed behind glazed doors that form a geometric pattern. The mirrored central section is supported by rounded columns. The base has a marble top and contains cupboards and a drawer. The plinth and the handles are made of brass. c.1902.

The straight lines and gentle curves of this cabinet are typical of the Glasgow School, as is the stained-glass window depicting a pastel-coloured flower design. The piece has a broad, projecting cornice, which was a feature of many Glasgow School cabinets.
This walnut veneer and brass dining room cabinet is part of a set by Otto Wytrlik. The matching table, stool, pair of commodes, four armchairs, and two further chairs are solid, dark pieces with strongly geometric lines, and would have given the room a masculine look. c. 1901.
This small, mahogany-veneered cupboard from Austria is raised on four slender legs. The two cupboards, two drawers, and shelves all have nickel fittings. The distinctive top cupboard has three sides of panelled glass with ornamental silver decoration. c.1900.
Anglo-Japanese influences are evident in this mahogany music cabinet decorated with stylized, floral, stained-glass panels. The fine, string ebony and boxwood inlay is enriched with delicate floral carvings. The arched apron is reflected in the curved pediment. c.1895.
STAINED-GLASS CABINET
DINING ROOM
VENEERED CUPBOARD
MUSIC CABINET

INLAID CABINET
This ornate mahogany display cabinet is elaborately inlaid in copper, pewter, and specimen woods with decoration of stylized flower-heads and leafy tendrils. The central panel is mirrored and flanked by two glass doors opening onto glass shelves.
MAHOGANY CABINET
The shaped, raised back, and moulded finials of this highly decorative display cabinet have whiplash-style foliate and floral marquetry inlays. The leaded and stained-glass panel doors are decorated with a floral design, and are enclosed by marquetry panels.
FLORAL CABINET
This mahogany display cabinet, attributed to the Scottish designer Ernest Archibald Taylor, has silver plated repousse decoration on the glass. The architectural form is decorated with a butterfly centrepiece and floral designs in sycamore and tulipwood inlay. c.1903.
OAK BOOKCASE
This bookcase cabinet has a projecting dentil cornice above three open compartments, flanked by pierced decorative brackets. The twin doors, enclosing adjustable shelves, have leaded clear glass panels with stained-glass decoration on the top.

Antiques: Furniture, Porcelain, Silver, Clocks Recently Featured at Antcollectors (1)

South African Furniture

SOUTH AFRICA
THE DISTINCTIVE FURNITURE of the
Cape of Good Hope reflected the styles of the two major colonial powers in the area: Britain and the Netherlands. The various struggles in Europe had also been played out in the colonies, but by 1800 British dominance was assured. In 1820, more British settlers established themselves further up the East coast. The Cape’s position at the mid-point of the trading routes between Europe and the Far East also gave rise to influences from such places as Batavia.
A wide range of furniture was made in the Cape both for the metropolitan homes of Cape Town and the famous white-painted and gabled homesteads of the vineyards. Their forms and motifs were often simplified versions of those in Europe. A slight delay is generally considered when dating colonial furniture. The Empire style, omnipresent in Europe, appears to have had little influence in the Cape, except maybe in an increased linearity of design. Its preference for highly polished timber and expensive gilt-bronze mounts did not suit the local traditions, life styles, or materials.
The most recognizable aspect of South African furniture is the use of local timbers, which unlike mahogany, do not tend to take a glass-like polish to their surfaces. Most characteristic is the combined and contrasting use of stinkwood and yellowwood.
COLONIAL CHAIRS
A wide variety of different chairs were made in the early 19th century. Some so-called “Adam” chairs from the early
Painting in oil on wood This shows typical wall decoration, curtains, and furniture styles of the early 19th century. All the furniture, with the exception of the writing bureau, was made according to the prevalent Neoclassical style. 1815. PRA
years of the century survive at Groot Constantin. With their upholstered, oval back-panels, this type is luxurious and rare. Far more common are
Sheraton and Neoclassical chairs —the latter with pierced vertical splats, caned or thonged (animal hide strips) seats, and tapering, square-section legs that were sometimes fluted. The Sheraton variety, introduced around 1810, had a wide top rail, generally above a second horizontal bar splat and square seat. Later the front leg was either turned or ring-turned. More provincial chairs, the tulbagh, of simplified box-like form, survived into this period. These shapes are also evident on the rusbank, a Cape type of settee-cum-settle with a chair-back.
TABLES AND CUPBOARDS
D-end dining tables and gateleg tables were also produced during these years. Different timbers were sometimes used for the top, frieze, and legs, which were often tapered and fluted like other chairs of the period. Chests of drawers in the Sheraton style, which were popular in Britain, seem to have been relatively rare in the Cape; South African cabinets tended to favour earlier serpentine lines. However, the monumental armoires, corner-cupboards, and wardrobes, so typical of high-production Cape furniture in the 18th century, seem to have been produced into the early years of the next century.

This round, stinkwood table has a moulded edge above a plain apron with a beaded edge. The table top is supported on four ring-turned, tapering legs terminating in turned feet. 1830-40.
Thonged seat
NORTH EASTERN CAPE CHAIR
The top rail of this stinkwood chair is inlaid in yellowwood with simple geometric motifs, which are repeated in the two additional back rails. The chair has simple, carved uprights and similarly carved legs joined by an H-stretcher. One of a pair. 1830-40.
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE CABINET
This low cabinet is made from amboyna, stinkwood, and satinwood. It has a rectangular top, shaped at the front above two bowed
doors, divided by a fluted pilaster. The canted corners of the cabinet are also fluted and are raised on claw-and-ball feet. Early 19th century.

SOUTH WESTERN CAPE HALF-MOON TABLES
These two half-moon tables, which can be placed together to make one round table, have table tops and aprons made from yellowwood, and square-section, tapering legs made from the darker stinkwood with yellowwood inlay. The aprons have a simple moulded edge with stinkwood beading. Сupboard is of simple rectilinear form and has a moulded rectangular top above two panelled doors. The panels have chamfered edges and are set within an additional, rectangular frame. The case has a shaped apron and stands on shaped, bracket feet. I820 30.
The two panelled doors
have chamfered edges set in a rectangular frame.
A shaped apron
rests above shaped bracket feel.
EASTERN CAPE CUPBOARD
CAPE TOWN TEA TABLE
The rectangular top of this satinwood and stinkwood tea table sits above a plain apron. The table is supported on square-section, tapering legs.

SOUTH AFRICA 227
WESTERN CAPE SETTEE
This stinkwood settee has a carved top rail above a seat back comprising a series of evenly spaced pierced panels – ten in total - and gently outswept arms with simple scroll terminals. The settee is supported on tapering, square-section legs joined by H-stretchers. c.1800.

MID 19TH CENTURY CHESTS OF DRAWERS

MANY OF THE CHESTS made and sold in this period were direct descendants of their 18th-century counterparts. The chest was still in widespread use, both in the bedroom as a clothes store and in the salon, very often for display purposes only. Examples with specialist uses, such as music cabinets and folio chests, augmented the range of commodes, cabinets, and vitrines already found in the home. The traditional low, broad chest was frequently of very fluid form, incorporating serpentine, bombe, or bowfront curves reminiscent of 18th-century styles. Elaborate commodes were rare, however, and, in the drawing room, were often replaced by credenzas, or side cabinets.
CONTRASTING STYLES
A more contemporary look was provided by a new generation of tall and slender, rather elegant, filing cabinets, precipitated by the bestselling Wellington chest. These filing
cabinets tended to be less fussy than the more old-fashioned chests of drawers, particularly those in the Rococo-revival style, which were often excessively ornamented. Profuse use of gilt-metal mounts, sabots, and inlays combined with marble tops, carved skirts, friezes and aprons, and intricate marquetry decoration often made these very busy items of furniture. Neoclassical and Gothic forms sat alongside chests in the Rococo style, although these labels often referred to little more than token applied decoration, used by cabinetmakers to distinguish an otherwise plain piece of furniture.
FAVOURED WOODS
Tropical hardwoods, such as mahogany and rosewood, were frequently used for chests, although Dutch cabinetmakers often substituted walnut for their marquetry-decorated pieces, and cherry wood was sometimes used in the United States.
FRENCH COMMODE
This 18th-century-style commode has a moulded, veined marble top above a Rococo-style, rosewood- and walnut-veneered bombe case with polished, gilded, bronze mounts. The front of the piece is inlaid with colourful
marquetry, and shows an asymmetrical floral pattern. The case is set on cabriole legs. It is an accurate copy of a Louis XV commode and uses expensive materials. However, this mid 19th-century example was constructed by
machine rather than by hand.
ITALIAN PARQUETRY COMMODE
This kingwood parquetry commode is of bombe form and has a moulded Siena marble top above two chequer-veneered drawers. Each drawer has a flower-head motif centred over
the escutcheon plate. The same motif appears on the sides of the case. It is raised on square, cabriole legs, terminating in sabots. Although almost an exact copy of an 18th-century piece, its excessively slender legs reveal its 19th-
century origins.
DUTCH CHEST OF DRAWERS
The moulded top of this Dutch, Empire-style, walnut and marquetry tall chest of drawers has an outset frieze drawer. Below this are five equal-sized drawers, decorated sans traverse with fine floral marquetry inlaywork, which
exhibits a mixture of mid 18th- and late 18th-century styles in its overall design. The oval border is Neoclassical in inspiration, while the floral design within it is asymmetrical and, therefore, more Rococo in style. The case is supported on tapering, square-section feet. 1880.
FRENCH FILING CHEST
This late Louis XVI-style ebony and brass filing chest has a moulded edge above eight drawers. The drawers have leather fronts and brass catches and are supported on a plinth base. c,1900.
ANGLO-INDIAN WELLINGTON CHEST
Made of the distinctively striped coromandel wood — a type of ebony from the Coromandel coast of India —this Wellington chest also features surface carving typical of the subcontinent. c.1880.
BRITISH WELLINGTON CHEST
The moulded top of this figured maple chest protrudes above its frieze. Beneath the frieze are seven graduated drawers, flanked on either side by a locking flap. At the top of each flap is an applied scroll-leaf decoration. 1860.
GERMAN COMMODE.
This mahogany commode has a protruding rectangular top above four flame-mahogany veneered drawers. The front of the case has canted corners, with a carved scroll and acanthus top and bottom. The case is supported on carved scroll, bracket feet. c.1850.
FRENCH COMMODE
This bowfront kingwood commode has a moulded, veined marble top. The four drawers have veneered fronts, and are divided and flanked by brass-lined flutes. A veneered herringbone pattern is on each side. The commode has a shaped apron with gilt mounts and stands on bracket feet. c.1900.
AMERICAN CHEST OF DRAWERS
This chest has been grain-painted in ochre and yellow with dark green mouldings and recessed side panels. The backboard is dark green with the initials “A” and V’ in gold and copper. The chest has two short above four long drawers. Each side panel is stencilled with a vase of flowers.
AMERICAN BUTLER’S CHEST
This cherry wood chest has panelled sides and four dovetailed drawers with glass handles. The top drawer has a drop front with spindle columns and opens onto a fitted interior with four drawers, eight cubbyholes, and a central prospect door. Mid 19th century.
BRITISH CREST OF DRAWERS
This rectilinear chest of drawers has two short above three long, equal-sized drawers. Each drawer is decorated with laurel swags, and the long drawers also feature a central carved rosette. The chest is supported on a shaped plinth base. Late 19th century.
GERMAN COMMODE
This small commode is made from solid mahogany and veneered in various exotic woods. There is a single frieze drawer below the moulded top and two additional, bombe-form drawers decorated, sans traverse, with flowers, figures, and rocaille. c.1900.

EARLY VICTORIAN BRITAIN
BRITISH FURNITURE DESIGN during the
early Victorian period was confused. The prevalent styles were overlapping attempts at recreating looks from three key historical eras — the Greek, the Gothic, and the Rococo.
In reality, the actual forms of the furniture created at this time were largely standard and had little basis in the eras they purported to emulate. Rather, the “design” of a piece of
furniture was all about the surface and the applied decoration it carried.
GOTHIC, ROCOCO, AND GREEK Victorian Gothic was a masculine style based on idealized notions of Tudor furniture. New cupboards, chests, tables, and chairs were created by piecing together fragments of older furniture from grand houses.
AWN.Pugin
led a move towards a more authentic interpretation of the Gothic style. This was at least partially successful: his work on the interiors of the Houses of Parliament prompted Gillows to
introduce a range entitled “New Palace Westminster”, which was distinguished by the use of roundels incorporating a Tudor rose or thistle at the conjunction of the legs and stretchers.
The feminine Rococo taste was widespread throughout fashionable drawing rooms because of George particular interest in the revival. The florid decoration was structural —incorporated into the shape of the furniture rather than added to the surfaces. The heavy use of gilding was
condemned by architects, as it was used by many manufacturers to conceal shoddy construction.
The Greek style, informed by Henry Shaw’s 1836 Specimens of Modern Furniture, was simple and solid, refreshingly free from the extraneous decoration that was a Feature of much early Victorian furniture.
TRIED AND TESTED IDEAS The stagnant state of the industry can be demonstrated by the fact that the same edition of the London cabinetmaker’s; Union Book of Rules a depository of patterns used by the trade, was in print continuously between 1836 and 1866. This situation was exacerbated by a new middle class who did not want to appear uneducated: the majority of people would rather rely on tried-and-tested ideas than risk committing a gaffe. Whereas the wealthy consumer of the 18th century would commission furniture tailored to his exact requirements, the aspiring Victorian gentleman had to make do with whatever stock was available in the showroom of his chosen retailer,which generally consisted of rounded forms, such as the balloon-back chair, a staple of early Victorian design. The gradual mechanization that characterized the Victorian furniture industry led to a separation of the roles of designer and manufacturer, at least in urban centres.
The traditional role of the furniture-maker persisted in the provinces, as did many vernacular forms. In Lancashire, for example, ladder-back chairs were produced in stained ash instead of the mahogany fashionable in London.Pockets of craftsmen throughout Britain created Windsor chairs with idiosyncratic features typical of the region in which they worked.
Niche markets arose in provincial cities as craftsmen in certain areas developed expertise in specific fields. Birmingham was a centre for the
production of metal bedsteads, forged in furnaces fuelled by the coal and iron that were cheap and abundant in that industrial hub. Further east, Nottingham and Leicester were renowned as centres for cane and wicker furniture.
LIBRARY CENTRE TABLE
The octagonal, revolving top of this table is surfaced with green leather outlined by tooled and gilt lilies and centres on a lobed marquetry panel. The shaped border is inset with floral sprays and clusters of fruit, alternating with Oriental scenes framed by Rococo cartouches. The table has four frieze drawers and rests on a concave-sided central support. Four splayed, inward-scrolling feet and the shape of the apron reflect Louis XV influence. Ebony, tulipwood, mahogany, pine, and cedar are all used.
BALLOON-BACK DINING CHAIR
This balloon-back dining chair has a pierced scroll splat and is raised on acute cabriole legs. The upholstered seat is covered in green velvet. This style of dining chair was a popular early Victorian form. GorB
The back rail of this mahogany chair is carved and terminates in carved scrolls, where it meets the upholstered arms. The seat and back are padded. The chair is supported on carved, cabriole legs with brass casters

PAPIER-MACHE TRAY
This painted and gilt papier-mache tray has a curvilinear shaped outline and a deep concave rim decorated with gilt penwork leaves. The main panel is painted with a Himalayan mountain landscape, containing figures crossing a waterfall. c.1840.
BREAKFAST TABLE
This early Victorian mahogany breakfast table has a round, tilt-top with a moulded edge. The table top is supported on a lappet-carved column and collar, which stands on a circular platform supported by paw feet. c.1840.
BONHEUR-DUJOUR
This Louis XVI-style bonheur-du-jour of partebonized thuyawood is ormolu-and-porcelain mounted. The upper section has a tall, central, mirror-backed display cabinet with a three-quarter gallery flanked by similar, but lower,
cabinets, each with a central porcelain plaque. The outset lower section has an entrelac frieze with three drawers above mirror-backed shelves. It is raised on turned, tapered, and fluted legs on casters. The piece is a mix of Victorian and French Court styles. 1860.

The eighteenth century
The somewhat oppressive style of Louis XIV died with him. After his death life at court was characterised by elegance and a lighter touch. The effect was also felt in art with the salons of Paris being at the heart of the cultural life. The luxury of city life worked through to the country homes of the aristocracy which set an example to all Europe. The houses were extended with libraries, boudoirs, dining rooms, ballrooms, dressing rooms, bedrooms, workrooms and quarters for the servants being added. To give each room
its distinctive function, the range of furniture also became extended.
France — Regency and Rococo
During the Duke of Orleans’ regency rooms were still furnished with robust furniture but in the second half of the eighteenth century this altered radically. The fashion switched to lighter, more elegant designs that were also somewhat decadent in their decorative style. This made itself apparent in furniture with flowing lines, S-forms, and scrolls. Rococo was a fairly radical style period that endured for a shorter period in France than in other European countries. Customers made ever increasing demands on the furniture makers and furniture was required that was larger in size.
This caused a demarcation among the furniture makers with them specialising for instance in a particular type of expensive wood which they then made into furniture of the very highest standards. This was equally true of the bronze founders who engraved their adornments as if it were jewellery.
Increased demand brought about a certain amount of standardisation. The ebenistes started to buy in timber, drawers, mouldings, marquetry, and handles and catches. All the ebenistes were required to sign their work from 1743, except for those working in the service of the King and yet it can be extremely difficult to identify a maker. This is because all the ebenistes also sold furniture made by others and it was their custom to sign all the furniture that they sold.
Daily life for the upper echelons of French society was extremely lively. Lots of callers were received and many visits also made, and in the evening they either attended or gave dinner parties. Lots of different types of seating were therefore needed which had to be comfortable.
Only curved forms would do for these. Among the new types of seating there was a short upholstered sofa of which one type was known as a berg&e.
This had a closed back.
There was also the bergere a joue, which somewhat resembled a modern wing chair, and a number of versions of the chaise longue for lounging on. A chaise longue that was open at the front was known as a turquoise, while the variety with upholstered armrests was known as a vieilleuse.
A canape has open armrests at the side, while a sofa has S-form closed side arms. The dressing table was accompanied by a fauteuil de toilette and a desk or bureau by a fauteuil de bureau. Rococo furniture was decorated with brocade, damask, velvet, or satin. Damask came from Genoa, Lyon, or Peking. Gobelin tapestry and cloth with petit-point embroidery from the state factory at Aubusson were used to upholster furniture. Woven reed was also used to make seats and chairs backs.
The gilt carved cartouches and shells of Italy disappeared from decorations to be replaced with unrestricted compositions with ribbons and flower stems.
The rocaille from which some say Rococo got its name came into vogue around 1750. There was a movement, up to the middle of the century, away from structure-led form towards ornamental design and was expressed also in the bronze embellishments. These were applied to table legs for example where stringers and legs met. A piece of furniture with a purely decorative function is the Rococo console which eventually replaced the console table.
Cabinets disappeared from interiors during the Rococo period except for in country homes and those of the citizenry, although there were half-height cabinets with two doors serving as wash-stand chiffoniers known as meuble d’entre deux and small bookcases with two doors. There would be a games table in
the salon, sometimes with a chessboard inlaid into its top and the round gueridon or pedestal table was made for all manner of small items. There would be a large table in the dining room together with a whole series of smaller tables and for when they wished to talk without being overheard by the servants, there would be a ‘dumb waiter’ on which the staff would leave the food before retiring. In a ladies’ room there would certainly be a dressing table or table de toilette which later became known as a poudreuse. The lady would also have a writing table or bonheur du jour in one of her rooms. Men’s desks were much heavier in appearance, usually made from palisander but other words were also used for bureaux. Flat-fronted bureaux were popular until 1750 after which the cylindrical bureaux became more fashionable.
There would be several night tables in the sleeping quarters: the tables de nuit and tables de lit. During the Rococo period beds became more elegant and graceful but often with whimsical valances from which their names were derived of lit a la Chinoise, l’Anglaise, l’Allemagne, or l`Italienne. No chests or coffers were to be seen anywhere in the salons, these had been replaced by a commode with two attendant corner cabinets.
The form of the commode had also changed. The curves of the front had now disappeared and the bronze handles and catches were geometrically arranged. The bottom of the commode was bowed. As the years passed, Rococo became increasingly more complex. Bronze ornamentation and intarsia inlays now covered the entire fronts of pieces, without regard for the drawers.
Subsequently the decoration moved more to the sides of pieces. Bronze ornamentation became more simple with cleaner lines after 1740. Whatever their specialisation, virtually every furniture maker produced commodes during the Rococo era. Some of the famous names are J.P.
Latz, J.F. Leleu, Nicolas Pineau, F. Oeben, J.H. Riesener, Bernard van Risen-burgh, and Abraham Roentgen.
There was strongly exotic side to Rococo so that lacquered furniture was extremely popular at this time. Rococo flourished most during the first half of the eighteenth century and at this time French lacquer-work production overtook even that of the Dutch who had been the biggest producers of reproduction chi-
noiserie and the largest importers of Chinese and Japanese lacquer items. The Dutch Martin brothers were the major producers of reproduction chinoiserie.
Germany and Austria
The political situation had as great an influence on the furniture industry during the Rococo period as during the preceding era.
The artistic and cultural leanings of the individual courts depended both on their geographical position and political realities. Hence the main cities of Berlin, Dresden, Munich, and Vienna took their lead from the French court.
The German/Dutch Rhineland and the area between Liege and Achen differed markedly from the German/French Rhineland. There was a clear preference for Dutch and English style furniture in northern Germany.
The biggest variation in types of furniture and their styles resulted from the personalities of the persons commissioning them. When German makers did follow French inspiration they did not do so closely. This resulted in the Bandestil or `banded style’ which got its name from the banding motif popularly used until the mid eighteenth century on much furniture, but specially on bureaux.
A German Rococo secretaire had a style of its own, with a curved form which gave a far from restful appearance. The legs and corners were also slightly bowed and slanted. These secretaires were mainly made of ebony and fitted with drawers. Colourful marquetry was very popular for decoration. Frankfurt cabinets had a similar appearance and were therefore also extremely popular.
Northern makers who followed French ideas for commodes fitted them with three, four, or five drawers but they used no veneer. Further south, in contrast, a commode was deemed to be a tall cabinet finished in walnut veneer. This was finished unpretentiously with iron handles and fittings and had straight sides. The only decorated examples were those for aristocratic houses of the princes. The commode was a piece of furniture for the common folk. These were finished with refined carving in unvarnished oak and walnut in both Achen and Liege. These cities also made corner cabinets for tableware, wardrobes,
small and tall dressers, and display cabinets.
The bureau was adopted from France too but German versions were both lower and less deep.The glazed fronted Dutch cabinet was further developed in north-west Germany and there was also clearly a Dutch influence in their lacquered furniture. Some chairs were both lacquered and decorated with inlays. The most common furniture though is made of stained walnut and oak.
The most precious pieces were gilded. Furniture made of beech or lime was usually painted yellow or white. Luxury items of furniture were also made in some places in Austria and Switzerland, often with the help of important artists. There are also delightful country pieces from this era. Rocaille motifs continued to be used in painted decoration until the middle of the nineteenth century.
France - Louis XVI
A desire for the classical world returned in the middle of the eighteenth century resulted in a number of artists making journeys to Greece and Italy. Classicism became more widely known through their books, lectures, and works of art. Excavation of Herculaneum and Pompeii produced a great array of artistic treasures which inspired many contemporary artists.
This also coincided with a movement in art towards simplicity and naturalism. This trend manifested itself first in furniture, before the other arts. Furniture makers once more used motifs such as plaited garlands, egg and tongue mouldings, Hermes, nymphs, lion’s heads, vines, rosettes, bull’s heads, and Doric friezes. Rococo had shown a preference for gilding, white paint, and light colours. The mouldings and bronze ornamentation now faded into the background. Muted coloured veneers
Louis XVI dining chair.
From the 1880’s, at the end of Rococo, inlays of Sevres porcelain had been used together with glass painting and lacquer from Asia. Floral motifs were popular for upholstery fabrics. Chairs were not just required to look fine but also to be comfortable. The backs of chairs became rounded or oval in the 1870’s. These were crested with carved decoration. Legs resembling fluted columns were popular. The types of seating did not change though.
A newcomer was the three-seat sofa known as a confidente. The sides of both sofas and bergeres were now generally straight. Console tables stood on a fluted column. Beds were no longer placed in an alcove and the side not against the wall was decorated.The common folk’s furniture remained conservative. Items made for the citizenry
included two-door cabinets, ladies’ and medium height two-door dressers. Commodes were rectangular, smooth, and mainly set on conical legs.
A newcomer to less exalted homes was the cylinder bureau.One of the best furniture makers of the time was undoubtedly J.H. Riesener.
His pieces are decorated with marquetry flowers, urns, and fruits. Furniture was decorated with many allegorical figures and bronze embellishments. Riesener partially changed his approach towards the end of the eighteenth century with the introduction of straight legs and more geometrical marquetry. He undoubtedly gave his closest attention to his rectangular secretaires and commodes with rounded corners Most of the ebenistes working for the French court were actually German.
Great names among suppliers to the court include J.F. Schwerdtfeger and Adam Weisweller. The greatest of all were Abraham and David Roentgen, who also sold to the courts of other European rulers.
A provincial Louis XVI cabinet with basin for rinsing glasses.
David Roentgen’s speciality was furniture with secret mechanisms. His marquetry decorations were based on designs by the fresco artist Januarius Zick.
David Roentgen lived in Paris between 1775 and 1780 and it was at this time that his finest pieces were made. Most of them were light in colour with bronze decoration.
The first to incorporate English ideas in furniture in France was G. Jacob, a woodcarver, who made armchairs of mahogany. The backs of his chairs were in the form of an oval medallion and they had console legs.
The fan-like fretwork form of his chair backs was very fine. The German maker J.G. Bennemann specialised after 1779 in large horizontally arranged dressers that were decorated with bronze adornments specially made by P.P. Thomire.