Posts Tagged ‘display cabinets’

SHERATON PERIOD
THE last of the eighteenth century designers, Thomas Sheraton, came to London from his native town of
Stockton-on-Tees about 1790 rare antique marble . Although he had undoubtedly been a practical cabinet maker, there is no evidence that he ever made any furniture in London myott son & co from the 1920s . Certainly he never had a prosperous business such as Chippendale and Hepplewhite had had antique gilt wood mirror frame . His fame in the furniture world rests upon his book, The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book, published in 1791-1794, and appearing in further editions in later years antique mahogany tea table with glass tray .
It was essentially different from Chippendale’s book, the purpose of which was mainly that of a catalogue to appeal to wealthy patrons 1700’s trestle table . Sheraton’s drawing book was primarily a trade book intended to help the practical man, not only in providing designs but also in supplying a treatise in geometry, perspective, and drawing eighteenth century tripod table . In the long run it brought him posthumous fame, but as a commercial proposition it was a failure 17th/18th century style, open-rack oak dresser . Probably few practical men were interested in learning to draw in perspective or to know of the problems in geometry (except in the limited way it affected the setting out of their work), and in looking back the whole thing certainly seems an ambitious undertaking wellinton chest of drawers .
So far as the designs were concerned, Sheraton certainly showed originality in many of the mechanical movements he introduced, and in the design of his chairs, but it must be confessed that the general run of furniture was little more than a representation of the general style prevailing at the time antique oak drawleaf trestle table . It was noted in Chapter VIII that Hepplewhite and Sheraton furniture (excepting chairs) had a great deal in common ; so much so that it is often impossible to say to which it belongs for sale louis 16th walnut sideboard cabinet . It will be realised then that in speaking of Sheraton furniture it represents for the most part the work of a school of craftsmen working in a certain style sheraton 18th century dresser .
antiquegames writing table . BEECHWOOD
ARMCHAIR antique tripod tilt table .
About 180 mahogany bow fronted chest of drawers scottish .
The chair is painted In
black and gilt, and the
rails of the back have
small decorative panels
painted with floral and
musical Instrument sub-
jects masons patent ironstone chinese peony .
FIG english antique reproduction dining table round with add on leaves . 142a carved seating . MAHOGANY
ARMCHAIR where can i buy a rennie mackintosh table with brass lion paws .
Late 18th century thonet bentwood rocker .
The backs of Sheraton chairs were usually lower than those of other contemporary work cutlery boxes . The sweep of the arms into the back is a characteristic Sheraton touch central part of the library has a display cabinet .
Details found in Sheraton Chairs
In his chairs, however, he undoubtedly did strike an original note georgian kneehole cabinet . They are lighter than the majority of other late eighteenth century examples, the backs are lower, and instead of the top rail forming a more or less continuous sweep with the uprights (see Fig french console table 1830 . 131) it was frankly a separate item tenoned between the uprights dining tables art deco . The legs were either turned or square tapered (see Fig antique 2-tier pedestal table . 151), and the arms, instead of bowing out sideways, were usually shaped in
FIG antique maple desks . 143 arts and crafts +jupe table . MAHOGANY CHAIR art deco kneeling dancer lamp .
Late 18th century georgian peat bucket .
Sheraton used both square tapered and turned legs horses as allegorical figures in art . The cabriole
type was never used old english pattern forks with four tines .
side elevation only, generally springing from the back in a continuous sweep fine porcelain arc .
A good example is given in Fig smith furniture gateleg drop leaf table . 142 empire hall bench . Note the obvious way in which the back rails fit between the uprights (compare with Fig fake brass antiques . 131), and the sweep of the arms into the uprights spanish lacquered cabinet inlaid . The whole thing is different from anything else being made at the period art deco console and germany . The curve of the arms into the turned uprights, the curved turned legs, and the graceful design of the pierced back are typically Sheraton 19th century american rosewood rococo console table . It is painted all over (something else that no other designers SIDEBOARD DECORATED WITH SATINWOOD INLAY BANDINGS catherine the great of russia plates . Late i8th century charles neo classism boulle .
The bow front sideboard became extremely popular at this time antique trestle refectory table . Sometimes the space between the centre
legs was title in with a cupboard having a tambour front made to slide sideways pottery german weimar art deco .
Tapered Legs in Sheraton Chairs
attempted), and some extremely fine art work is put into the small panels of the back florence lamps giuseppe antique .
Another Sheraton chair, this time with tapered legs, is given in Fig who sells maggiolini furniture . 142a decoration metal bureau table desing . In this case the arms meet the turned uprights more or less at right angles, but they sweep into the back as in the previous example extending glass table with wrought iron legs . The back is practically square, and the uprights which continue down to form
II how drop leaf table evolved .C; antique serving cabinet . 1 a & s smee finsbury .15 round “dining table” “six legs” . WHEEL BACK CHAIR irish cabinet makers antique wine coolers .
About i800 antique porclean handled sheffeld flatware .
The finest chairs of this kind came from Norfolk and Suffolk value of primitive antique work bench . They became popular towards the end of the 18th century, and into the 19th century lowenfink . Earlier models had curved arm supports at the front instead of turnings antique drum shaped table .
the legs are shaped only in side elevation wood furniture legs clawfoot . They are straight when looked at from from the front art glass vases antique . This is another feature invariably found in Sheraton chairs, and never in contemporary work of other designers scriptoire . All these features also appear in the chair in Fig oak table 5 legs built in leaves rectangular antique . 143•
Sheraton died in i8o6, and it is unfortunate that towards the end his designs suffered severely decorative spindle legs from antique card table . Probably no man, no matter how individual, is quite free from extraneous circumstances bread/cake baskets 17th century . Prevailing fashions exert their sway, and designers
146 varguenos . TWO WRITING DESKS IN MAHOGANY WITH SATINWOOD BANDINGS antique pedestal mahogany table .
Late i8th century bauhaus style furniture +scale .
The Importation of Ykirious foreir4n fancy woods, satinwood, am boyna, rosewood, ebony, and so on led to the free use of
these for use in inlay bandint!s art nouveau antique drinking cabinet . Satinwood, too, was freely used in the solid, entire pieces being made up in it antique 17th century dresser .
Deterioration of Late Sheraton Work
are often faced with the choice of either following them or retiring from the scene antique mahogany card table, imperial . Many things were happening in Europe at the close of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century which were to affect design gilt metal mounted pier table . The French revolution, culminating in the establishment of the First Empire, produced a style in France which rapidly found its counterpart this side of the Channel, and the naval victories of this country had an extraordinary effect on furniture 1800 hundred french mantel and candle clock .
FIG antique art deco furniture black lacquer . 147 maurice adams art deco . MAHOGANY SIDE TABLE WITH BANDED DRAWERS anglo indian cabinets .
Late i8th century vintage buttterfly dropleaf tables .
A prominent feature of the Sheraton school was the very limited use of
carving antique 17th century dresser . Probably it was a reaction from its free use in the Chippendale
period dutch cabinet marquetry 18 .
Just as topical events of thirty or forty years ago were commemorated in fretwork designs, so the furniture of the early nineteenth century showed its reaction to the events then happening gillows bow front mahogany chest drawers .
Sheraton fell into the general line and published his E’?IcYc10P,Tdia of 1804-1807, in which was one of the most extraordinary collections of furniture designs ever put together regency occasional table . Naval emblems of all kinds—anchors, lifebelts, pulley blocks, ropes, and so on—abound, and it is a mercy that more of them were not made up,
To revert to his earlier and happier period, Sheraton’s chief form of decoration was inlay 19th century parian busts . Cross-bandings of fine
MAHOGANY WARDROBE WITH BUILT-UP VENEERED
DOORS
Late i8ti century antique chinese circular revolving bookcase .
The fine mahogany imported at this time led to the revival of the built-up
patterns in veneer as the grain had splendid decorative value 17 century elm gateleg table .
foreign woods, such as satinwood, rosewood, tulip wood, ebony, amboyna, and so on, were inlaid around the edges of drawer fronts and panels, and various built-up patterns in veneer were made use of with great effect period style display cabinets . The bow front sideboard in Fig antique ceramic tambour german mantle clocks . 144 shows the use of this cross-banding italy spoons that might be antiques . Painting also he used considerably, naturalesque floral subjects and panels in the style of Angelica Kauffman being the chief forms it took nicholas sprimont solid silver . Carving he used
E; <
FIG value of an antique pembroke table . 152 antique mahogany french bedside commode . MOULDINGS OF THE SHERATON PERIOD dutch 18th century walnut chest on chest .
Mouldings were invariably small and delicate islamic influence furniture . Occasionally carving and inlay
were introduced, though they were usually plain dining tables with wood inlay work .
sparingly and never in the full scrolling form favoured by Chippendale french console table 1830 .
A small Sheraton side table is given in Fig arts and crafts furniture, antique collectors . 147 flemish refectory table . Here again the drawers have an inlaid cross-banding around the edges antique german breakfast table . The turned legs are reeded down their length dresser accessories . Two other Sheraton pieces are given in Fig russian chippendale trays . 146 silver candleabras made in england . Note the inlay again decorative writing styles . Desks of this kind were often fitted with elaborate secret contrivances in which stationery boxes, drawers, and cupboards rose up at the touch of a spring how common is walnut drop leaf table .
The Sheraton Wardrobe
Fig antique chinese chamber pot . 148 shows a fine inlaid wardrobe in which built-up patterns in veneer are used effectively myott son&co hanley 1880 . The dentils in the cornice and the flutes in the frieze are carried out entirely in inlay american crafts armchair upholstered . The curved bracket feet are a typical feature of the late 18th century 17th century oak side table .
CHAIR WITH SABRE LEGS AND
CANED SEAT rococo style flower arranging .
About i8io pembroke style end tables .
This is an extremely fine example of the chairmaker’s craft 18th century marquetry . Despite the somewhat complicated curvature of the back the construction follows conventional methods, the tops of the back legs being tenoned into the cresting rail and the moulded shaping worked across the joints mark vezzi porcelain . The curved rails fit together with a form of halved joint cylindrical crock eared handles cobalt blue .

Art Nouveau English Furniture: WARDROBE, UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR, OCCASIONAL TABLE, WRITING DESK.

BRITISH FURNITURE DESIGNERS took
the basic themes of Art Nouveau and interpreted them in two different ways: some experimented with a more understated version of the flowing, feminine lines popular in France and Belgium; others, most famously Scotland’s Charles Rennie Mackintosh (see pp.364-65), favoured the restrained, rectilinear style seen in Germany and Austria. In fact, the Viennese Secessionists later drew inspiration themselves from the bold, architectural furniture that Mackintosh designed. Interestingly, the Art Nouveau movement in Britain also evolved from the stylized forms of Aesthetic period furniture (see p.326).
WELL-CRAFTED FURNITURE Towards the end of the 19th century, the quality of British furniture had started to decline, as mass-production enabled manufacturers to churn out hundreds of identical pieces at affordable prices for the growing middle classes.
The work of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement had started to reverse this by championing furniture handmade by craftsmen. The trend was continued by designers and craftsmen working in the Art Nouveau style, who, despite using machines to produce their furniture, also put a premium on quality.
Many British Art Nouveau furniture-makers used satinwood or walnut as well as mahogany for their designs. Some of the most spectacular examples of their work are display cabinets or cupboards that feature intricately cut and inlaid designs.
SHAPLAND AND FETTER
Although perhaps best known for their work in the Arts and Crafts tradition, the firm of Shapland and Petter produced elaborate, high-quality furniture in exotic woods such as mahogany Based in Barnstaple, Devon, they also made oak pieces decorated with good-quality carving, colour-stained panels, or stylized copper panels, as well as ceramic roundels made locally by the Brannam pottery works.
Their team of designers remained anonymous, but Shapland and Petter supplied stores across Britain,
including Marsh Jones and Cribbs in Leeds, and Wylie and Lochhead in Glasgow. Their work also sold abroad. Although their furniture was mass-produced, it was very high quality.
DECORATIVE INLAYS AND MOTIFS Shapland and Petter, together with the architect and designer, Ernest Gimson, used inlays of ivory, silver, abalone shell, mother-of-pearl, and fruitwoods to
decorate their designs.
As in France and Belgium, motifs from the natural world — stylized peacock feathers, snowdrops, and lilies — were worked in marquetry or metal inlays; designs for decorative hinges and door pulls were often inspired by the sinuous, whiplash lines that were favoured by Continental makers.
The Glasgow firm of Wylie and Lochhead also made pieces in this style, sometimes combining elements with the angular look favoured by Mackintosh and the Glasgow School.
ARTS AND CRAFTS HYBRID
Some of the designers and craftsmen who had been working in the Arts and Crafts style — including Charles Frances Annesley Voysey and Charles Robert Ashbee — were influenced by Art Nouveau motifs, and combined them with a more sturdy Arts and Crafts form to create a hybrid look.
Voysey, for example, used decoration sparingly, preferring to let the grain and beauty of the woods he used speak for themselves. However, when he occasionally used metal mounts or panels, these were often in a flowing style inspired by Art Nouveau.
The London store Liberty & Co. (see right) helped to popularize Art Nouveau by championing the work of the most innovative designers,
such as Voysey and Mackintosh, and also by commissioning commercial imitations. Much of Liberty’s furniture was made in oak and mahogany, and the designs they commissioned from Leonard E Wyburd and E.G. Punnets for oak cupboards, tables, and chairs are among the store’s most widely
recognized items of furniture. Liberty furniture was known for its simple construction, symmetrical design, and the restrained use of decorative motifs, and it was often marked “Liberty & Co.” on a rectangular plaque.

UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR
OCCASIONAL TABLE
This mahogany armchair has distinctive, horizontal, slatted arms and a drop-in seat. The top rail is inlaid with a band of five stylized seedpods. The seat and back are upholstered in a floral fabric. L&T
This table has a shaped lower tier beneath the hexagonal lobed top. There are three elaborately pierced supports, each terminating in a pair of slender, curved legs.
LIBERTY &_ CO.
THIS EMPORIUM ON LONDON’S REGENT STREET WAS FOUNDED IN 1875,
AND WAS AT THE VANGUARD OF THE NEW STYLE.

In 1883, Liberty & Co., already famous for its Oriental wares and Art Nouveau fabrics, opened a Furnishing and Decorating Studio under the direction of Leonard L Wyburd. The Studio’s aim was to meet the growing demand for fashionable, decorative, and affordable furniture that incorporated the design vocabulary of Art Nouveau. The furniture borrowed freely from pioneering designers such as C.EA. Voysey and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who also contributed designs. By 1887, Liberty was selling a highly successful range of simple chairs and country-style oak furniture embellished with inlaid decoration, elaborate strap hinges, leaded glass panels, and tiles. bringing Art
furniture to a wider audience.
A signature Liberty & Co. ivorine plaque
Walnut dressing table The table has original hinged copper handles. The simple construction and restrained decoration are typical of Liberty.

WRITING DESK
The pierced gallery at the back of this mahogany desk, and the embossed copper panels depicting owls and stylized plants, place this piece firmly in the Art Nouveau period. The desk is thought to be the work of either Shapland & Pettey or Wylie & Lochhead — both highly regarded furniture
manufacturers.
CORNER CHAIR
Specifically designed to stand in a corner, and a direct descendant of the corner chairs of the late 18th century, this chair has backs on two sides of the square rush seat. The moulded top rail is supported by shaped splats. The chair is raised on turned legs, linked by parallel stretchers, and ending in bulbous feet. L&T
The door and drawer fittings are handmade.
A central tabernacle provides open storage.

DISPLAY CABINET
This ornate and curvaceous mahogany cabinet features marquetry decoration of flowers and whiplash tendrils. This fashionable technique was used extensively on expensive furniture during the period. The cabinet doors, positioned below the oval mirror, are made of leaded glass decorated with a tulip pattern.
This mahogany wardrobe is a high-quality combination of traditional craftsmanship and machine technology typical of its maker, Shapland & Pettey. A decorative feature is made of the plated metal-hammered door and drawer fittings, and the central cupboard door is inlaid with distinctive foliate motifs.
The marquetry panel has a stylized and geometric floral design.
The door hinges, handles, and escutcheon are decorated with bold geometric motifs.
The wooden case was made by machine.

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

Creamware and pearlware
In the 18th century Staffordshire became the most important area for the manufacture of everyday pottery. Tin-glazed earthenware, for centuries the European staple, was never made there, and very little porcelain was produced before the late 18th century. From the late 17th century north Staffordshire potters gradually refined their wares, until by the middle of the century they were making some of the finest pottery in Europe.
CREAMWARE
Thomas Astbury (1686-1743), Enoch Booth, and Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95) are all associated with the invention and development of creamware (cream-coloured earthenware). By the 1760s Wedgwood’s creamware was sufficiently developed to excite the interest of Queen Charlotte, who ordered a tea service (1765), and it was subsequently renamed “Queen’s ware”. For the next 100 years, creamware remained the standard pottery body in Britain and throughout much of continental Europe and North America. The close-grained body was composed of clay from
Devon mixed with flint and covered in
a very thin but smooth lead glaze. It could be finely moulded or cut with great detail. Furthermore, it was very receptive to underglaze blue, overglaze enamelling, or printing. English creamware includes ornamental wares and sophisticated pierced wares, which were made in Staffordshire and Leeds, and also figures. However, most of the output was of more mundane items such as dinner services, tablewares, and teawares. The versatility of creamware and its acceptance among the higher classes of European society (the 926-piece “Frog” service was made by Wedgwood for Catherine the Great of Russia in 1773-4) ensured its financial success,
as well as undermining virtually the entire European tin-glazed pottery tradition.
PEARLWARE AND PRATTWARE
Introduced by Wedgwood c.1779 as an improvement on his creamware, pearlware includes more white clay and flint in the body than creamware does. Suggesting an iridescent appearance, “pearlware” is a misleading term; the addition of cobalt oxide to the glaze imparted a bluish-white cast, which is particularly visible where there is pooling. Much pearlware is decorated in underglaze blue by painting or, later, by transfer-printing. Among the most famous printed themes are versions of the “Willow” pattern. In the early 19th century, manufacturers broadened the range of patterns to include Classical designs and English landscapes.
Prattware is associated with the Pratt family from Lane Delph in Staffordshire, although it was also made by a number of other factories. The body is similar to pearlware in weight and colour, but the ware is distinguished by a strong, high-temperature palette comprising ochre, brown, green, and blue. Wares include moulded teapots, jugs, and figures. From the 1840s the firm of E & R. Pratt & Co. was famous for multicoloured printing, used extensively on pot lids.
• BODY cream, thin, and lightweight
• GLAZE ivory-tinted lead glaze
• FORMS ornamental Neo-classical wares, tablewares, and more rarely figures
• DECORATION underglaze blue, overglaze enamels, or transfer printing
Pearlware
• BODY white flinty earthenware
• GLAZE bluish glaze to counteract the cream body
• FORMS mainly useful wares: dishes, plates, teapots, coffee-pots, and jugs
• DECORATION usually painted or printed underglaze
blue of English landscapes, Grand Tour ruins, etc.
Prattware
• BODY similar to pearlware
• PALETTE high-fired colours: ochre, yellow, brown, green, and blue
• FORMS jugs, teapots, and figures
Marks
The practice of marking pottery became more widespread from c.1800; some factories impressed their marks, but the majority are transfer-printed in underglaze blue; in addition the factory might also supply the title of the pattern on the back
Wedgwood: mark used on creamware
Leeds: impressed mark for the firm of Hartley, Greens & Co. (1800-30)

Davenports
An entry made in the 1790s in the records of the cabinetmakers Gillow (est. c.1730) of Lancaster states: “Captain Davenport, a desk”. This is thought to be the first recorded example of the small writing cabinets now called by the Captain’s name. It is not known whether he ordered the desk for his own use, or as a gift for a lady.
For most of the 19th century the Davenport was generally used by women. The basic form, consisting of a small chest-of-drawers with a desk compartment on top, changed very little over the century or so during which most examples were produced. However, there were many minor variations. Most Davenports have four drawers that open at the side of the base sections, with simulated drawer fronts on the opposite sides. Just above the drawers there may be pull-out slides to hold papers or finished letters. Some examples depart from this pattern, with cupboards concealing drawers, but either way the arrangement is symmetrical, with dummy drawers or cupboard doors matching the real ones. Many Davenports are fitted with casters, allowing them to be moved about easily; because of their free-standing nature, they should be well veneered and finished to the same standard on all four sides.
The top section typically comprises a desk with a sloping lid inset with a leather writing surface, and a flat ledge behind it enclosed by a brass or wooden gallery.
One or two small drawers for storing writing implements and ink pull out sideways below. The finest examples have ingeniously concealed hinged drawers.
The first Davenport has a top section that slides forward to accommodate the writer’s legs and is anchored by a simple iron rod sliding into holes lined up in the top and bottom. As the Victorian period progressed (from c.1847), the desk section was more often fixed in the writing position, and supported on elaborately scrolled or turned supports or brackets, allowing a recessed space for more leg room, and emphasizing the width of the piece. However, the catalogue of the firm of William Smee & Sons (est. 1817) of Finsbury Pavement in London, which is undated but was probably produced c.1840, shows examples with both sliding- and fixed-desk sections.
While mahogany was the most popular wood for Davenports, some of the finest examples were made in rosewood,
particularly during the Regency period. These were often embellished with stringing lines of brass, a contrast carried further by the use of decorative brass drawer-handles, gilt-brass galleries at the back, and brass tappings on the feet.
Most Victorian Davenports had wooden galleries, and these could take the form of simple mouldings, turned spindles, or lacy fretwork. Turned wooden drawer knobs also replaced earlier brass handles, but some of the finest mid-19th-century Davenports had brass galleries and gilt-brass candle sconces on rotating arms fixed to the sides of the desks toward the back.
The popularity of the Davenport continued until the end of the l 9th century, but few of these late examples, often over-ornamented and of generally clumsy proportions, matched the quality of craftsmanship of those made up to the 1860s.
• CONSTRUCTION two main types: the plain Regency
box-type, which has a reading slope that slides.
forward, creating a comfortable knee aperture, and the type introduced c.1840, which has a rising superstructure and a recessed knee aperture
• WOODS the most common woods used were rosewood, mahogany, and burr-walnut.
• MECHANISM the rise on the mechanical Davenport runs on a leather belt and weights; it is released by a spring lock that opens to reveal pigeon holes and drawers.
• COLLECTING the Regency Davenport tends to be more popular than later Victorian examples; although collectable, Davenports are not as usable as bureaux; good-quality examples are well finished on all sides, and also on the inside.

Writing cabinets-on-stands
Small slope-topped writing boxes were known from medieval times, and during the 16th and early 17th centuries they continued to be associated with the needs of a highly educated elite. With their sloping lids, often lipped at the lower edge, they could double as reading lecterns, and many were decorated with carving, inlay, or painting. Inside they were fitted with compartments and small drawers for papers and writing equipment. Conveniently portable, they could be used on top of a table or chest.
EARLY CABINETS-ON-STANDS
During the second half of the 17th century a new form of writing compendium, with its own base support, was developed. Also known as a scriptor, or, in France, an escritoire, the writing cabinet-onstand was a rectangular structure, based on the
Spanish vargueno (writing desk) Instead of a sloping lift-up top, it had a fall front concealing drawers and pigeon holes, which opened to form a writing surface supported on cords at either side. The exterior presented an inviting
surface for veneering. Fine examples were made with oyster veneers of walnut or cocus wood, or with floral or “seaweed” marquetry; some cabinets were inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl, or japanned to imitate Oriental lacquer. The most spectacular, japanned in brilliant colours on white or light-coloured grounds, were by Gerard Dagly (1657-1715) of Berlin. The legs of the stand were baluster or spiral turned typical of fashionable furniture of this period. Already, by the close of the I 7th century, many of these cabinets had a distinctly feminine flavour, with compartments for toiletries, jewellery, and writing equipment.
Alongside the development of the mainstream bureau and bureau cabinet in the early 18th century was that of the slightly built slope-topped writing desk of bureau form, set upon a cabriole-legged base, with frieze drawers. Some of these desks were surmounted by toilet mirrors, showing their dual function as writing and dressing tables. Typically, they were veneered in walnut or marquetry, but some fine examples are decorated with japanning.
drawer below. French examples were lavishly decorated, with gilt-bronze mounts and fine marquetry veneers of unusual woods, and sometimes with porcelain plaques, or panels of Oriental lacquer. By the last quarter of the 18th century the cabriole supports – the last vestiges of the Rococo – were discarded in favour of straight-tapered legs, often with gilded grooves and understretchers.
The English interpretation of the bonheur du jour was more restrained, relying for its elegance on finely figured timbers and well-judged proportions; edges were straight and legs square tapered. Mahogany or satinwood was often contrasted with bandings or panels of rosewood, sycamore, tulip, or box. Both French and British styles were adopted by cabinet-makers in other parts of Europe. Porcelain plaques, marquetry, and ormolu mounts all appear on bonheurs du jour in Germany, Austria, and Poland, but the structure of such pieces tends to be spare and square rather than voluptuous.

• WRITING CABINETS-ON-STANDS some early very
fine examples were decorated with veneered with burr-walnut, oyster veneering or marquetry (floral or “seaweed”), inlaid or japanned; this type of furniture although not always very useful (unlike the bureau in all its forms) is very desirable, so unless the decoration is very badly damaged, they will still generally command high prices.
• BONHEURS DU JOUR usually very popular items of decorative furniture; those made in the late 18th-century style of Sheraton are particularly popular.
LATER CABINETS-ON-STANDS
In France, luxurious writing-cum-toilet tables for use in ladies’ apartments were made in large numbers from the beginning of the Rococo period in the early 18th century. Veneered in fine marquetry of exotic woods, and with cabriole legs, they were embellished with cast-and gilt-bronze mounts. Some of these bureaux de dames had sloping lids to the superstructures, while another type, the secretaire n capucin, had a flat writing surface opening out from the table top, and a superstructure of drawers and compartments rising from the back. By the late 1760s the bonheur du jour was an established form of ladies’ writing table. As its name suggests, it was destined for the feminine “delight of the day”, i.e. letter writing. It had a flat writing surface at the front, varying arrangements of shelves, drawers, or small cupboards at the back, and a drawer below. French examples were lavishly decorated, with gilt-bronze mounts and fine marquetry veneers of unusual woods, and sometimes with porcelain plaques, or panels of Oriental lacquer. By the last quarter of the 18th century the cabriole supports – the last vestiges of the Rococo – were discarded in favour of straight-tapered legs, often with gilded grooves and understretchers.
The English interpretation of the bonheur du jour was more restrained, relying for its elegance on finely figured timbers and well-judged proportions; edges were straight and legs square tapered. Mahogany or satinwood was often contrasted with bandings or panels of rosewood, sycamore, tulip, or box. Both French and British styles were adopted by cabinet-makers in other parts of Europe. Porcelain plaques, marquetry, and ormolu mounts all appear on bonheurs du jour in Germany, Austria, and Poland, but the structure of such pieces tends to be spare and square rather than voluptuous.

Writing furniture
Writing furniture can be loosely divided into three distinct categories: first there are those items with sloping fronts to support a book or writing material, into which such forms as the bureau (in all its many and varied styles), bureau bookcase, and bureau cabinet fall. Then there arc the flat-fronted, vertical forms, which include such pieces as the escritoire and the
secretaire, both of which developed from the 16th-centur Spanish vargueno. Finally there are writing tables, and kneehol desks, the latter being first originally conceived as a combination of both dressing table and bureau. Pedestal writing desks ands tables were often very grand pieces of furniture designed ti occupy a central position in the library of a great house.
Bureaux before 1840
One of the most enduring of furniture types, the bureau has been made since the 17th century. In French the word bureau denotes both a study and a type of writing desk; in English it has come to mean a piece of writing furniture with a fall front sloping at about 45 degrees when closed, or a desk with a cylinder front. The bureau Should not be confused with the vertical-fronted secretaire.
ENGLISH BUREAUX
The basic bureau form emerged in France in the second half of the 17th century, having developed from the fall-fronted cabinet (vargueno); shortly after, similar desks appeared in England. These had gate-legs to support the fall fronts when open; the insides included drawers and pigeon holes and, in some cases, sliding-top wells for concealing papers. The carcases were generally of oak, or pine, covered with figured veneers, the most common being walnut, sometimes “oyster” veneered, or even with “seaweed” marquetry. By c.1700 the gate-leg supports were replaced by sliding lopers at each side. The lower stages were generally separate from the writing sections and were made either as stands on turned or cabriole legs (1710-15), or as chest-of-drawers on bun feet.
About 1720 the bureau sections were fused with the chests, and bracket feet gradually superseded bun feet. By this time the classic bureau had evolved. Veneers included walnut, and also burr forms of elm, while provincial craftsmen favoured oak and elm in the solid. Decoration generally took the form of herringbone inlay, stringing, or crossbanding. Mouldings on the fronts of the dustboards between the drawers were superseded after c.1740 by cock-beaded edges to the drawers. This form continued with little change (although mahogany took the place of walnut) throughout the 18th century.
The bureau cabinet, with its superstructure of shelves, drawers, and pigeon holes enclosed by doors, represents a development of the basic bureau. Decoration took the form of fine veneering, marquetry, or even japanning. Early 18th-century examples may have elaborately carved and gilded crestings or simple overhanging straight-moulded cornices. After c.1715 plain, scrolled, broken, or even closed pediments were usual. Such cabinets were also impressive inside, with architectural features such as columns and pilasters, as well as drawers, cupboards, divisions for documents, and secret compartments. These grand bureaux were made in at least two parts and earlier examples before c.1710 in three; the cabinet section was separate from the writing bureau, which in turn was often divided from the chest-of-drawers it surmounted.
The bureau cabinet evolved into the ever more architectural bureau bookcase. The cupboard doors, constructed of chamfered wood panels or, increasingly, featuring moulded and glazed geometrical patterns, enclosed shelves instead of the earlier arrangements of storage compartments. The cupboard was set further forward on the bureau, placing less emphasis on the division between the two parts. Later 18th-century English bureau cabinets were lighter in appearance than early Georgian bureaux; nearly all had glazed upper sections, and some were veneered with either flame mahogany or satinwood. The influence of French cabinet-making is evident in the tambour writing tables and cylinder desks of the late 18th century designed by George Hepplewhite (7.1786) and Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806). Some are similar to the contemporary but by this time less fashionable bureaux, with a chests-of-drawers below writing sections fitted with drawers and pigeon holes; others are simply  tables with superstructures fitted up for writing, and have no more than two drawers in the friezes.

Display cabinets.
At the end of the 17th century the display cabinet evolved from the cabinet-on-stand tradition, and adopted many of the same features. The principal difference was that the outer doors of the cabinet were not solid, enabling the contents of the shelves –not drawers – inside to be easily viewed.
EARLY CABINETS
Italian cabinets were developed from the cabinet-onstand tradition, and by the mid-17th century Baroque display cabinets or showcases were also made. These were incredibly grand, opulent, and dramatic, made to display collections of semi-precious stones, minerals, plaques, or other curiosities. In Rome, glass-fronted cabinets were designed by architects, such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) and Francesco Borromini (1599-1677), and such architectural features as pediments, columns, and sculptural finials prevail. Cabinet-makers in Florence quickly adopted these ideas and combined them with their own tradition of pietre dure panels and gilt-bronze mounts.
The fashion for displaying objects arose with the craze for Chinese porcelain and blue-and–white Delftware at the end of the 17th century. Although an elaborate series of shelves was commonly used for their display, fine cabinets attested to the ()-,-,-net’s wealth and cultured tastes, and were symbols of great pride, especially as they were quite rare until the the 18th century. In England the late 17th-century display cabinet had glazed doors with half-round mouldings resembling those found on drawer fronts of the period, and the sides were veneered with walnut, often ten quarter-veneered. Supported on turned legs and stretchers, it might also have contained two drawers behind the doors, and rested on bun feet. Contemporary cabinets from The Netherlands were influential, partly owing to the Delftware displayed within, and partly because of Dutch craftsmen living and working in England.
Marquetry was still used in both English and Dutch designs. In England, after the end of Charles II’s reign (1685), coloured marquetry became more subtle, and arabesques were more popular than flowers and foliage. Alternatively,
coloured metal or brass-and-tortoiseshell veneering, in imitation of the latest Parisian
fashion inspired by Pierre Gole (c.1620-84) and Andre-Charles Boulle ( 1642-1732), were also used at this time, although still confined to the wealthiest patrons.
ENGLISH 18TH-CENTURY CABINETS
The earliest 18th-century display cabinets were simple in construction and were almost identical to contemporary bookcases or bureau bookcases and cabinets. The most common features included fine proportions, chamfered corners, gilded mouldings, and rich veneers. Between 1730 and 1750 mahogany gradually replaced walnut as the preferred wood, and also from 1730 the influence of William Kent (c.1685-1748) and Palladianism promoted the use of broken pediments and architectural overtones similar to those used in bookcases. Scrolled brackets, eagles’ heads, lion-masks, and garlands were typical decoration. The cabinets themselves were variously designed – in three sections with a “break-front”, or in two, with stands or on solid bases with doors. Marquetry decoration was replaced with finely carved wood although there were still instances of japanned cabinets and inlay with ivory plaques.
From c.1750, cabinets were decorated with Rococo ornament, inspired by France, or with Gothic or Chinese details, largely due to the hugely influential designs of Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) and his pattern-book The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Director (1754-62). Chinese-inspired designs were especially important for display cabinets, as a result of the quantities of Chinese porcelain displayed inside them, and also as a result of the continuing vogue for Oriental decoration. Pagoda-shaped roofs and mouldings, openwork friezes, latticed galleries, and longitudinal glazing are characteristic of this style. Chippendale favoured chinoiserie above all else, although he was not averse to uniting it with distinctive Rococo touches. In The Universal System Of Household Furniture (1762), John Mayhew (1736-1811) and William Ince (c.1738-1804) describe a “china case for Japanning the inside all of looking-glass, in that manner it has been executed, and has a very elegant effect”. japanned cabinets were extremely popular, as were those that featured panels of imported Oriental lacquer. Hanging corner cabinets, made of mahogany and with similar motifs, were also produced, although in smaller numbers than the cabinets.
The design of cabinets was definitively modified by the aspirations of Neo-classicist architects, particularly Robert Adam (1728-92), and cabinet-makers from 1760. Influenced by Classical architecture, the new cabinets were more simple  than their predecessors. Doors and cupboards were framed with tapered and fluted columns and pilasters; cornices were surmounted by scrolled and pierced pediments, frequently with urns at the corners and centres; and friezes were delicately carved with anthemia, sheaves of wheat, or honeysuckle motifs. Mahogany was gradually superseded by satinwood or exotic wood veneers, and some cabinets were painted in subtle colours. The construction and look of all these display cabinets were still similar to, but slightly more delicate than, those of contemporary bookcases. The similarity is so close that The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide (1788-94) by George Hepplewhite (d.1786) does not feature display cabinets as such. The astragals (glazing bars) and cornices illustrated on a separate plate were considered to be equally suitable for both bookcases and cabinets.

REVIVALISM AND THE BELLE EPOQUE

 During the 19th century, revivalism dominated fashions in cabinet-making throughout Europe and North America. In Italy the Renaissance Revival (known as Dantesque) was popular, and cabinets made in this style were carved with elements taken from the earlier period. The Florentine cabinetmaker Andrea Baccetti was arguably the greatest exponent of the Italian Renaissance Revival, making richly carved furniture during the 1860s and 1870s. As was usual, the 19th-century revivals were generally loose interpretations of the earlier styles; for example, “Renaissance” cabinets were made of rosewood with parcel gilding, materials unheard of in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries.
In The Netherlands, the large, traditional 18th-century Dutch display cabinets were reproduced in great numbers during both the 19th and 20th centuries. Usually covered with floral marquetry, these cabinets possessed glazed bureau-style upper halves, with traditional-style bombe drawers below. Sometimes one of the lower drawers
was sacrificed in favour of a stand with a stretcher, in the early Baroque manner, but
these cabinet-on-stand varieties are less common than their bureau-inspired counterparts.
The cabinet-maker Francois Linke (1855-1946), working between 1882 and 1935, helped Paris to maintain its position as the world’s centre of luxury furniture in the sumptuous Belle Epoque style. Like that of many distinguished cabinet-makers of the Second Empire (1848-70), Linke’s early work is in the Louis XV and XVI styles, many pieces copied directly from 18th-century royal furniture. However, at the International Exhibition of 1900 in Paris he staked his reputation on a lavish display of distinctive furniture in Louis XV style with overtones of Art Nouveau, using the finest mounts applied to simple carcases with quarter-veneered kingwood or tulipwood. His signature motif was the coquille (concave scallop-shell), held by acanthus tendrils. Linke kept meticulous records, which demonstrate the staggering number of hours put into each piece of furniture.

• TYPES the variety is huge, although display cabinets only
were purpose built only from c.1800.
• MATERIALS watered silk commonly lines French cabinets to offset the gold boxes, trinkets, and curiosities displayed inside; few display cabinets had glass panes until the 19th century; early French pieces often had chickenwire fronting.
• LINKE the rarity and high quality account for the prices his pieces command; his signature “F. Linke” is usually visible on one of the ormolu mounts in a right-hand corner; much furniture was exported to the USA.