Posts Tagged ‘display shelves’

Decorative tableware
In the 18th and 19th centuries the utilitarian plate on dining-tales was complemented by richly
decorative pieces such as bread-, fruit- and cake-baskets, epergnes, and centrepieces. Made as much to display wealth as to be practical, these are characterized by high-quality casting, chasing, and, especially on baskets and epergnes, piercing. Such objects are among the most popular with collectors today because they are particularly attractive as
display pieces on a table.
SILVER EPERGNES
First used at the French court in the 1690s and in England c.1715, the epergne was an elaborate centrepiece for the dinner-table or sideboard. The name “epergne” is probably derived from the French word epargner, meaning “to save”: space could be saved on the table by
bringing together several dishes on one stand. By the 1740s the epergne was associated with the dessert course and generally took the form of a central
pierced basket surrounded by four to six pierced dishes or baskets for holding fruit or sweetmeats. It was most popular during the mid-18th century, when the light and delicate pierced forms, often ornamented with cast shells and flowers, were particularly suited to the Rococo style. Some epergnes, particularly those by the leading English maker Thomas Pitts (c.1723-93), demonstrate the contemporary vogue for chinoiserie, with their pagoda-like canopies with suspended bells.
In the 1760s and 1770s epergnes became wider and headier with the addition of more baskets, and in the 1-80s the influence of the Neo-classical style was
evident, with simpler oval or circular baskets, sometimes with blue glass liners, and decorated with Vitruvian scroll borders and swags. The leading specialist maker of epergnes in late 18th-century England was Thomas Pitts’s son William Pitts (active 1781-1806). Like other silversmiths, he offered clients a choice between more expensive epergnes, which had cast branches and decoration, and less expensive examples with mechanically produced ornament.
Heavier and more solid than 18th-century examples, Regency epergnes are usually mounted on a heavy Square or round foot, with branches ending in large floral sockets supporting cut-glass bowls rather than pierced silver baskets. Very few epergnes were made after this period, as they were generally replaced by the ornamental centrepiece.
SILVER CENTREPIECES
Large centrepieces as a decorative focal point for the dining-table or sideboard have always been among the most expensive items of plate and were often displayed as a sign of the wealth and status of the owner. One of the most famous and inventive pieces is the English silver-gilt Poseidon or Neptune centrepiece of 1741, made for Frederick, Prince of Wales. It features an elaborate stand of sculptural cast dolphins and mermen and is decorated with shells and marine creatures. Although this piece bears the maker’s mark of Paul Crespin (1694-1770), it may in fact have been designed and made by Nicholas Sprimont (1716-71 ); both were
leading English Huguenot makers of Rococo silver. The centrepiece was made with many matching salt-cellars and sauceboats, as befitting a grand table service for a royal patron.
Regency and Victorian centrepieces from the
19th century appear more frequently frequently at auctions today (although North American pieces are rare). Made with or without branches for candles, they usually have a central bowl, either solid silver or pierced with a glass liner, for fruit or sweetmeats. Centrepieces with all their original glass liners are rare today. Female caryatid figures supporting a bowl on a stand with heavy scroll or paw feet are characteristic of the Regency period, whereas later 19th-century centrepieces were made in
a huge variety of designs – naturalistic, sculptural figures were particularly popular. Many Victorian centrepieces were supplied with a flat, mirrored stand known as a “plateau” to enhance the decorative effect, but very often these became separated from the centrepiece and were sold on their own.
In the 19th century there was also a great demand for presentation plate, and the most important firms, such as Hunt & Roskell (est. 1844), Garrards (est. 1802), and Elkington & Co. (est. c.1830) in England, and Odiot in France, employed sculptors to design magnificent silver or electroplate centrepieces for historic or sporting occasions. Such pieces were shown at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. Centrepieces were also made in Germany and Austria, notably by the firm of Klinkosch, but these are not always of such good quality as English and French pieces because the metal is often thinner. By the second half of the 19th century centrepieces had been scaled down in size and elaborateness, with a single basket on a stand becoming the usual form. This developed into the dessert stand, which had replaced the centrepiece by the end of the century.
Regency and early Victorian baskets were produced in a wide variety of styles, but in many cases they can be distinguished from 18th-century examples by an unpierced body that is embossed and chased with heavy scrolls, flowers, and foliage, or radiating lobes. Silversmiths in the 19th century also reproduced the shell-shaped designs and elaborate patterns that were typical of the Rococo period.
Victorian baskets are generally less expensive and more readily available to collectors today than examples from the 18th and 19th centuries. The handles on these baskets are sometimes bent or damaged (or have been removed altogether), as the weight of the unpierced body puts strain on them. Any basket that does not have a handle should be carefully examined to see if the handle has been removed. As on earlier examples, the feet may also have been pushed up into the body of the basket if it has at some stage been overloaded.
SILVER BASKETS
Silver baskets designed for holding bread, fruit, cake, or sweetmeats are known from the early 17th century, but most of those surviving today date from (.1730 onward. They are oval or circular with pierced sides,
a flat base on a raised foot or four cast feet, and a fixed or swinging bail handle. In many cases, the flat base was engraved with a coat of arms. In the late 1730s and 1740s the leading English silversmiths Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751), Paul Crespin (1694-1770), and
James Schruder (active 1737–(.1752) produced intricate Rococo baskets with delicate pierced designs of scrolls, circles, crescents, and quatrefoils, elaborate engraving and chasing, and asymmetrical handles with cast and applied masks, animals, figures, and birds.
Another feature typical of the Rococo fashion for novelty was the imitation of inexpensive materials in silver; on baskets dating from the first half of the 18th century the sides are often pierced and chased to give the impression of wickerwork strips. Some extremely rare and expensive baskets by the best makers were made in the form of sculptural scallop shells with scroll handles.
By the late 18th century silversmiths used hand-piercing only for the finest baskets, as the majority of pierced parts were mass-produced quickly and
accurately using the newly developed fly-punch. The silver sheet was also much thinner than on earlier pieces, so baskets of this date should always be carefully checked to make sure that the piercing is intact. Simple wirework baskets embellished with chased and applied motifs such as flowers, vine leaves, and sheaves of wheat (for bread-baskets) were also popular in the late 18th century.
Epergnes
• COLLECTING individual baskets may be sold separately; check branches and feet for cracks or repairs
Marks
All detachable parts should be marked; crests or coats of arms on each piece should match
Centrepieces
• COLLECTING mirrored plateaux are now often sold on their own; inscriptions do not add value unless of particular historical interest
Marks
All detachable parts should be marked
Baskets
• DESIGNS solid forms with chased scrolls, flowers, and shells were typical in the early 19th century
• CONDITION piercing is particularly vulnerable to damage and should be checked carefully; ensure that the handle is not bent or damaged due to wear or overloading the basket; feet are prone to pushing LIP through the body on light, sheet-metal baskets
• COLLECTING early 18th-century baskets in heavy-gauge metal are more valuable than later, lighter ones
Marks
Both the handle and body should feature the same mark; marks arc sometimes pierced out.

Side cabinets
Although side cabinets were first made in the 18th century, the golden age was the 19th, when they were produced in a variety of styles that reflected the contemporary fashion for eclecticism. The form may well have been influenced by the French chiffonier – a small shallow cabinet topped by an open shelf or shelves and sometimes a drawer – and the Italian credenza – an early form of sideboard – both of which gave their names to types of side cabinet or meubles d’appui as they were known in France.
TYPES OF SIDE CABINETS
Eighteenth-century side cabinets were generally very simple: just shelves and drawers, with few decorative features. A variation introduced in good-quality, late 18th-century side cabinets was the replacement of solid wooden doors with silk-lined ones, sometimes protected by a brass grill. Regency side cabinets retained the simple rectilinear form with enclosed shelves and drawers; decorative inlay (often metal), crossbanding and applied brass mouldings were added. Both features are often found on Regency chiffoniers, many of which also have lyre- or S-shaped supports with brass rails for the exposed shelf sections, which may also be surmounted by brass galleries. Another desirable, but rare, feature is an adjustable shelf.
Credenzas became increasingly popular in the later 19th century. They tended to be larger than chiffoniers and side cabinets, with storage or display shelves fitted at either end. The most desirable pieces have serpentine fronts and glazed side panels; pieces with straight fronts and convex glass sides are generally less desirable. Traditionally the end shelves were lined with velvet. British examples were influenced by Continental models, especially those made in France and Italy. The centre-door panels offered good surfaces for decoration and in the best examples will be decorated with good-quality, undamaged pietre dare, marquetry boullework, or panels of ivory or porcelain. Therefore some unexceptional pieces may have exceptional decoration, and vice versa.
IMPORTANT MAKERS
After the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London there was a succession of international exhibitions at which British, Continental, and American furniture-makers showed spectacular pieces in the popular revival styles of the time. In France cabinet-makers such as Alexandre-Georges Fourdinois (1799-1871) and his son Henri-Auguste Fourdinois (1830-1907), Guillaume Grohe ( 1808-85), and Jean-Michel Grohe (b.1804) produced magnificent side cabinets in the Renaissance Revival style, which was popular at the time, for the Paris Exhibition of 1867. . Their works were immediately copied by other makers, who made inexpensive versions. Other influential French makers included Louis-Auguste-Alfred Beurdeley (1808-82), principal cabinet-maker to Empress Eugenie, and Henri Orison (1825-96), who is notable for his superb ormolu mounts. Francois Linke ( 1855–1946) is arguably the greatest exponent of the Louis XVI Revival, and his cabinets remain the most sought after. Pieces by such makers are generally very expensive, but the qualities that made their work so outstanding can be found in more modest forms. They include a well-made carcase (usually associated with French and English makers; Italian carcases are generally less well made, and liable to “move” and split the thin veneers that were used); good-quality ormolu mounts, and inventive decoration that is generous and includes the plinth and sides of the cabinet. In general, British and French examples are the most collectable.
Among the well-known British manufacturers, Wright & Mansfield (est. 1860) in London, was among the prize-winning British companies; its success was largely due to the production of a satinwood side cabinet in the Neo-classical style inspired by the work of the architect Robert Adam (1728-92). Most sought after are those made by such reputable firms as T.H. Filmer of London, which, working in the Renaissance Revival style, combined ebonized wood and pietre dure on credenza-style side cabinets with marble tops. The style was also Popular in the USA in the 1870s, where it was combined with Louis XVI ormolou decoration by Alexander Roux, a French maker active in New York from c.1856. Italian makers were known for their fine ivory inlay, although the pieces were not generally as well constructed as NEW MATERIALS
In the 19th century British furniture-makers, in particular experimented with some extraordinary materials in an attempt to capture the imagination and the purse-strings of the public. One of the success stories was the papier furniture made by Jennens & Bettridge (active 1816-64) in Birmingham, who from the 1820s used japanned papier-mache in conjunction with metal or wood frames to produce a range of furniture, and in 1825 patented a technique for incorporating mother-of-pearl inlay in papier-mache. In the 1840s and 1850s there were some 30 companies in Derbyshire producing marble furniture, in particular inlaid table tops influenced by the Florentine pietre dure models lent by the Duke of Devonshire from his collection at Chatsworth House. As a less expensive alternative, G.E. Magnus patented a technique in 1840 for colouring slate to simulate marble, and at the Great Exhibition he displayed a range of pieces; however, slate cabinet work was very unusual.
French and British examples. A notable exception was the work of Giovanni Battista Gatti (active 1850-80), prizewinner at the exhibitions in Paris in 1855 and 1878, who produced extremely well-made cabinets set with ivory and pietre dure plaques in the Renaissance Revival style.
In France, Rococo Revival side cabinets often had panelled doors with vernis Martin (a type of japanning) painted with fetes cbampetres (outdoor scenes) scenes after paintings by the 18th-century French artist Antoine Watteau, who specialized in this type of outdoor scene. Others were set with Sevres porcelain plaques, similarly painted or with flowers and birds. The more formal decorative vocabulary of the Louis XVI Revival included brass inlay and gilt-bronze mounts in Neo-classical motifs. Continental pieces were retailed by such British outlets as W Williamson & Sons (active c.1880-1920) in Guildford, and Maples of London, which imported French furniture during the 1880s.
• TYPES side cabinets were produced in three main styles: the side cabinet with enclosed shelves; chiffoniers (with exposed shelves on top of a cabinet); credenzas (with end shelves).
• DAMAGE the condition of the carcase and decoration is important; pietre dure and Boullework is very
difficult and expensive to restore.
• COLLECTING French and British makers were leaders in the field, with British makers influenced by French and Italian styles; Regency side cabinets and chiffoniers are generally more refined than many Victorian examples that were mass-produced; took for good-quality pieces with brass galleries, pleated-silk door panels, lyre-shaped shelf supports; original decoration, feet, and glass will usually add to value; some pieces of lesser quality may have superior decoration in the form of metal, ivory, or porcelain plaques that were taken from furniture made during an earlier period.

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.

Dressers.
The name dresser is derived from the French dressoir, a medieval piece of furniture used either as a sideboard for displaying plate and for serving wine, or in the service quarters for preparing and serving food, and for storing dishes and utensils. The ceremonial functions of the dressoir were transferred during the 16th and 17th centuries to the buffet or court cupboard. Enclosing the space between the middle and the top shelf with doors established the cupboard as we know it. The later type of court cupboard has an open lower stage and recessed cupboards in the upper section, or is a combination piece with cupboards, drawers, and display shelves –the now familiar dresser.
OPEN DRESSERS
The typical South Wales dresser, with an open rack and an open base below the potboard,
is simply a side table with a rack. Similar “open” types evolved in south-west Britain, where the dresser seems to have been established by the mid-18th century. Early 19th-century Cornish examples can be particularly elegant, with bowed cornices in the Regency fashion. Dressers from Devon, whether designed for parlour or dairy, were usually of oak or elm, and plain in style. Those for use in the dairy had open bases. The type with cupboards in the base evolved into the fully enclosed dresser with glazed upper shelves in the early 19th cent.
Most Somerset dressers were classically  simple. One 19th-century type has a boarded back to the upper stage, which generally consists of three shelves, and a pair of drawers surmounting cupboards in the base; elm and/or pine are the usual timbers. Late 18th-century dressers from the Bridgwater area consist of open shelves throughout, with side supports of continuous planks.
EARLY DRESSERS
The early dresser consisted simply of a side table with drawers supported on turned legs. Some examples had stretchers, and from the late 17th century this base structure became the framework for a “potboard”, or shelf. From the early 17th century these low dressers were also made with cupboards below the drawers and, later, with additional drawers between two cupboards. With the fashion for tin-glazed earthenware after c.1650 the “delft rack” – a set of shelves on which to display delftware – was introduced. It was not long before such racks were set up on dresser bases to form an integrated item of furniture – the dresser with a superstructure.
The medieval dressoir, combining usefulness and display, was thus re-invented c.1790 for the homes of the middle classes, particularly in the rural northern and western areas of Britain.
The dresser flourished as an important item of furniture, most particularly in Wales, but also in the north-west and south-west of England, with each type having strong regional characteristics. The dresser was a country type, distinct from fashionable metropolitan furniture, and the object of desire of the well-to-do farmer. Designs were therefore traditional and conservative rather than modish, which makes dating them difficult.
CLOSED DRESSERS
Dressers from north Wales and northern England (Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire) are nearly always closed, with boards behind the shelves in the upper part. A distinctive early type from the Caernarvon area in north-west Wales has a pair of spice cupboards set into the rack, and such cupboards also appear in dressers from northern and western England. Small spice drawers placed in varying parts of the upper stages are features of many 18th-century dressers from northern Britain. The “dog-kennel” dresser, with its cupboards flanking a central open space in the base, originated in the Carmarthen area, but was later made in other parts of Wales, and in England.
Sonic mid-Wales dressers combine the “northern” and “southern” forms, having potboards below and racks boarded at the back. A version of this pattern is the Montgomery dresser, characterized by its broad proportions and pilaster cupboards flanking the shelves in the rack. The Shropshire dresser has cabriole legs, some resting on potboards, while others are freestanding. Either way their broadness is emphasized by square cupboards in the upper section, in contrast to the slender pilaster cupboards of the Montgomery dresser.
TIMBER AND DECORATION
Most dressers were made from oak, but fine examples in elm, ash, fruitwood, yew, chestnut, and walnut exist. Pine dressers were made in Scotland, Ireland, and Southwest England, and many of them were painted. While they too can be identified by their regional characteristics, these dressers were primarily utilitarian, in contrast to those made in Wales, the West Midlands, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and the north-west of England, which were important showpieces, handed down from generation to generation.
Decorative motifs as well as patterns of construction sometimes spread far beyond their areas of origin. The inlaid floral motif, sometimes known as “line and berry”, familiar on dressers from around Swansea, appears on dressers from the eastern coastal areas of North America. Oak furniture with inlaid decoration or mahogany crossbanding on drawers suggests a West Yorkshire, Lancashire, or Cheshire origin.
In the 19th century many dressers were decorated with grained paintwork or stains. In Ireland the dresser, which hardly appeared before the 19th century, had a vigorously fretted and often pierced cornice with pilasters flanking the rack, and shaped sides projecting forward to enclose the sides of the working surface. The bases of some arc open and may have been curtained, while others have chicken coops in the base. Scottish dressers also typically have upstanding lips at either end of the boards; some have sloping tops to the racks to accommodate the low, angled roofs of crofters’ cottages. The so-called hen coop in the centre of sonic Scottish dresser bases was actually a slat-fronted food cupboard.

MADE-UP DRESSERS during the 19th century dressers
were made from recycled timbers, or as reproductions although from new timbers; with over 100 years of patination, many of these look 18th century MARRIAGES Often bases and racks arc put together; some low dressers may have had racks added to them.
• ALTERATIONS backboards have often been added to open racks; repairs to the feet are inevitable because of the ravages of wear, damp floors, and woodworm; shaped aprons and carved friezes have often been added to “improve” plain dressers.