Posts Tagged ‘commercial serving table’

MID 19TH CENTURY SOFAS
THE MAJORITY OF 19th-century sofas were designed either for comfort or for formal seating. The fluidity of the revival styles during this period allowed for a certain poetic licence in the designs.
COIL-SPRING UPHOLSTERY
The French fashion for upholstering their luxurious canapes with sumptuous, overstuffed seats and padded backs soon spread across Europe. The increased thickness of the upholstery was the result of the introduction of coiled springs. These were, in themselves, quite deep, but they also required a thick layer of padding to prevent them from piercing the seat cover. Deeply set buttons were used to hold both the springs and the padding in place, and became a feature in themselves.
The fabrics used to cover these upholsteries were often extremely expensive, making it necessary to
shield furniture from direct sunlight, hence the Victorian reputation for gloomy interiors. Both petit and gros point were popular.
The confidante, or tote-d-tote, evolved from the standard French canape as a slightly less formal design, allowing couples or parties to sit together and converse while facing each other. These were fairly variable forms, as were many of the Rococo-revival, show-frame sofas, chaises longue, and daybeds made at this time. They contrasted with Neoclassical- and Empire-revival styles, which made greater use of flat planes and regular angles.
Towards the end of the period, influences from the Middle East and the Orient began to infiltrate sofa design in the West. Turkish-style daybeds, Chinese bamboo frames, and the no-nonsense Arts and Crafts aesthetic started to reverse the trend for decadent, comfortable seating.
The lion’s heads are supported on turned columns.
The arched top rail above the panels is inlaid with floral marquetry.
The seat back has scroll-topped supports.
The capriole legs terminate in claw-and-bail feet.
Each seat is CauCaVcfronted with a marquetry inlaid apron
The base of the chair back is galleried, with turned spindles.
DUTCH HALL BENCH
The triple concave-shaped back of this mahogany and marquetry-decorated bench has a moulded crest and a carved lion’s head at each seat division. The sweeping arms terminate in carved heads. The shaped seat
has a similarly shaped apron and is raised on four carved capriole legs to the front and two slightly sweeping, square-section legs to the back. The entire bench is profusely
decorated with marquetry inlay, depicting flowers, leaves, urns, birds, and insects.
This early Victorian, Rococo-revival, show-frame sofa is made of rosewood and has a generously upholstered seat, arms, and back. The serpentine seat is supported on scroll-carved cabriole legs, terminating in ceramic casters. c.1850.
BRITISH WINDOW SEAT
This mahogany, Regency-revival-style window seat has an upholstered back, outswept sides, and seat. The frame of the window seat is carved with acanthus and is supported on scroll legs with paw feet. c.1900.
BRITISH SHOW-FRAME SOFA
FRENCH DAY BED
This carved walnut and upholstered day bed is designed in the Louis XVI style. The reeled and scroll arms carved with leaves and the loose cushion seat are covered in a beige fabric and raised on turned and stop-fluted legs, joined by
a rope-carved apron. This piece would have been made for an alcove and placed parallel to a wall. It may originally have had a canopy of matching fabric suspended above it.
This carved oak and walnut bench has a galleried back with carved panels, depicting dragons, figures, and cherubs. It has square arms above a solid seat and is supported on spiral-turned legs.
This Louis XVI-style walnut canape has a carved crest rail above a padded back. The cushioned seat is supported on fluted, tapered legs, which end in peg feet. c. 1900.
This is one of a pair of Napoleon III-style ebonized sofas. The back is in three sections and has a central shaped, rectangular, upholstered panel flanked by two similarly upholstered oval panels in carved gilt frames.
The padded seat is supported on six turned and fluted legs, terminating in pad feet. The sofa is attributed to Charles-Guillaume Diehl. The tapestry upholstery was probably made by the prestigious Aubusson company. BK 6
AMERICAN SETTEE
This carved walnut settee has an undulating back and a crest rail carved with flowers and grapes. The padded, upholstered arms scroll outwards and show William IV influence. The padded, upholstered seat has a similarly carved
serpentine apron and has additional side cushions. The whole settee is supported on slightly cabriole legs. Chairs and sofas featuring elements of ornate, naturalistic carving in the Rococo-revival style were very popular in the United States, particularly between 1830 and 1865.
This walnut, tub-shaped settee has an upholstered back, armrests, and seat. Originally, it was almost certainly part of a salon suite. The settee has a pierced back and is supported on turned legs, terminating in brass
casters. Neoclassical in style, it was probably inspired by Sheraton’s furniture designs, combining the simple geometric forms of the pierced back with the gentle, curving contours of the seat and upholstered back shape. c. 1900.
This mahogany, Empire-revival settee has a scrolled crest rail, upholstered seat and back, and padded arms. The frame of the settee has Neoclassical gilt-brass applied mouldings throughout and is supported on turned legs. Late 19th
century.

Arita blue-and-white wares
Almost all early Japanese porcelain was produced in Arita on Kyushu, the westernmost of the main Japanese islands and, significantly, the closest to Korea. It is most unlikely that the manufacture of porcelain would have developed in Japan as early as this without the know-how of Korean potters, who were brought to Japan when Toyotomi Hideyoshi returned from his invasion of Korea at the end of the 16th century. Early Arita porcelain is generally, if superficially, classified into three main types: Arita blue and white, Imari, and Kakicmon.
A Ming-style blue-and-white dish
This large dish is a fairly faithful rendition of late Ming kraak porcelain Emblems used by the Chinese as decorative motifs, including the “Eight Precious Objects” of the scholar (a musical stone, jewels, a coin, a pair of books, an open tied lozenge and a closed tied lozenge, and the artemisia leaf), were often copied by the Japanese. The artemisia leaf can be seen in this dish in the broad panels in the top right corner. (c. 1660-80; diam. 40cmll6in, value H)
DOMESTIC WARES
The earliest Arita wares wore crude-bodied, heavily potted porcelain, casually decorated in blue and white, and were generally not exported. These wares were clearly influenced by both Korean blue-and-white and imported late Ming porcelain. By the mid-17th century the Arita potters were producing a more refined and broader range of objects for the newly established export market, as well as for the domestic market. The type of decoration on these later wares was complex, combining natural themes with geometric patterns; dishes or bowls featured leaf or flower forms and, more rarely, bird or animal shapes. The underglaze blue used ranges from a poor-quality grey or blackish blue through to a bright purplish blue. Wares made for the domestic
EXPORT WARES
In 1647 the civil war in China between the Dynasty and the invading
disrupted the well-established trade between Japan and Europe. The Japanese were persuaded by Dutch East India Company to supply - white wares in the style of either the Chinese kraak porcelain or the Transitional
decorated with semi-botanical subjects narrative themes applied in a mechanical These are not close copies but loose
Japanese decorators were hampered by she they had to work from wooden models of originals supplied by the Dutch.
Wares produced at this time included
northern European metal or ceramic forms example the Enghalskrug (narrow-necked
or Kugelbauchkrug (bulbous globular rank:_
and the Birnkrug (pear-shaped tankard
specifically Chinese shapes as the kendi a
drinking vessel) and the klapmuts (a wide-dish) were also made. The trade with Europe continued until the kilns in China were reestablished in 1683, after which the Dutch mainly
returned to their patronage of Chinese porcelain. which was much less expensive than Japanese wares. However, porcelain made in the kilns at Arita continued to be exported to the West until the mid-18th century
market include small dishes and c.1640 Japanese wares include The third type of blue-and-white solely for the export market.