Posts Tagged ‘exotic materials’

Art Deco Tables: DINING TABLE, MAPLE CONSOLE TABLE, BRITISH DRUM TABLE, FRENCH MAHOGANY TABLE, BRITISH DINING TABLE

ART DECO TABLES
AFTER WORLD WAR I, designers working
in the Art Deco style created tables of extraordinary richness and originality. continuing the Art Nouveau tradition in a less flamboyant manner.
TRADITIONAL FORMS
Many Art Deco furniture designers based their designs on traditional table forms, such as the early oak trestle table and the drop-leaf designs of the 18th century. They used richly figured timbers, such as walnut, yew, and mahogany, and decorated their tables with crossbanding in exotic woods, such as ebony and tulip wood.
Emile-Jacques Ruhimann and Jules Leleu created writing tables, dressing tables, and pier tables that echoed the forms favoured by the French ehenistes of the l8th and I 9th centuries. They used exotic materials, such as lacquer and expensive wood veneers, and their tables often featured decorative details, such as drawer pulls of ivory, slender legs terminating in sabots of gilded bronze, and table tops covered with leather, sharkskin, or marble.
The Irish-born designer Eileen Gray designed finely crafted and exquisitely lacquered tables whose abstract shapes
were frequently defined by different-coloured lacquers and costly inlays of foil and mother-of-pearl.
BOLD INNOVATIONS
The furniture designers who followed a more Modernist Art Deco path, such as Marcel Coard and Pierre Chateau in France, and Donald Deskey in the United States, made tables for a wide variety of uses in bold geometric shapes, such as cubes, cylinders, and pyramids. They used innovative materials characteristic of the machine age, including mirror glass, chrome, and tubular steel, and interpreted traditional forms, such as the tilt-top table with great ingenuity.
Pierre Legrain combined luxurious and machine-age materials with severity of form in a striking low table entitled “Python”, which he designed in 1928 for Pierre Meyer. Made entirely of wood, the long, rectangular top and two supports are entirely sheathed in snakeskin. The supports fit into a rectangular base, which is the mirror image of the top, but is veneered in nickel plate. Two nickel-plated ovoid discs encircle the square supports, completing the symmetry of the design.
The stepped top of the table is a distinctive Art Deco feature.
The octagonal shape of the table top is innovative and striking.
The substantial apron adds strength to the table design.

BRITISH DINING TABLE
This solid, architectural table is from a table and six chair set designed by H&L Epstein. Made from walnut, the table top is octagonal in shape, with black-lacquered banding running around the edge. Two rectangular block legs
with block feet, connected to each other by a rectangular panel, support the table top. The crossbanding around the edge and the thick inlaid band of crossbanding across the table top add a subtle but decorative touch to the distinctive markings of the walnut veneer.
c.1935.
The overhanging top is reminiscent of early trestle and refectory tables.
The two box-shaped table legs replace the usual four
supports at either end
The central support links the two table legs.

FRENCH SIDE TABLE
This rosewood side table, designed by Michel Dufet, is composed of geometric forms, which are characteristic of the Art Deco style. The circular rosewood surface has a glass top, and is placed on two rectangular supports. The
whole table is supported on a lipped tray base. Furniture designers who favoured the Modernist thread of the Art Deco style created all kinds of tables with strong geometric outlines, including interlocking circles, triangles, and cubes. c.1930.
This 12-sided table is decorated all over with mirrors to create an unusual, completely mirrored surface. The table top is supported by slightly tapering square legs. c.1930.
This geometric occasional table is made from walnut and has an octagonal, crossbanded top that is raised on a rectangular column. The column is centred on a square, spreading base.
This Lucie Renaudot rosewood, mahogany, and ivory-inlaid side table, has a circular top with ivory dentil edging. The stepped, square-section legs are united by a square undertier. c.1925.
This table is made from walnut and has a circular top, attached to tapering square legs that support the whole table. The table top is covered with a mirrored surface. c.1930.
OCCASIONAL TABLE
WALNUT TABLE
Maker’s label
FRENCH MAHOGANY TABLE
MIRROR TABLE

BELGIAN COFFEE TABLE
FRENCH U-SHAPED TABLE
Designed by De Coene Freres, this Belgian lyre console table stands on a lipped tray base. The base supports a highly polished lyre-shaped frame, a popular feature of the Art Deco style. The frame in turn supports a narrow, rectangular table top. c 1930.
This rosewood coffee table, designed by De Coene Freres, is veneered in walnut and has two legs made of chrome tubing. Two crossed, lipped tray bases support the U-shaped structure. The chrome tubular legs reinforce the rectangular table top, which has rounded corners. c.1930.
This graceful French side table has a rectangular top with a stepped edge. It is supported by a tulip-shaped structure, rather than conventional legs, with decorative chrome detailing at the base. The table has been restored and piano varnished, hence its glossy black appearance. c.1930.
BELGIAN LYRE CONSOLE TABLE

BRITISH DRUM TABLE
This sturdy oak drum occasional table is designed in the style of Betty Joel. A broad central oak cylinder supports three circular table tops, each arranged one above the other. c.1935.
BRITISH QUARTETTO TABLE
The quartette table is designed by H&L Epstein and is made from burr maple. The set of four small tables of graduated size nest together and are supported on square legs. c.1930.
CHROMIUM TABLE
This chromium-plated occasional table has a circular top inset with a black glass panel above three curved supports. The supports are attached to a circular ebonized base on flattened bun feet.
MAPLE CONSOLE TABLE
This console table has a maple top with a moulded mahogany edge, and a single drawer at the front. The two U-shaped supports are united by a stretcher beneath and have arched feet.
AMERICAN DINING TABLE
This extension dining table, designed by Paul Frankl, has a white rectangular gesso top with gently bowed edges and two 30.5cm- (12in-) long leaves that rest on two curved mahogany supports. Each of the mahogany supports
incorporates three V-shaped slats. The robust, architectural nature of this piece is typical of Paul Frankl’s furniture designs, which reflected trends in contemporary architecture. The chevron pattern of the supports is reminiscent of key design elements on the Chrysler Building.
DINING TABLE
This elegant dining table is part of a table and eight chair set. The table has a simple rectangular top, with pull-out extensions. A pedestal base, with two C-shaped supports, carries the solid table top. The eight chairs
that accompany the dining table have solid backs with upholstered seats. The graceful interaction of interlocking arcs and rectangles adds a powerful three-dimensional and
distinctively avant-garde element to the shape of the conventional rectangular dining table.

ART DECO CHAIRS: BRITISH WALNUT CHAIR, FRENCH DESK CHAIR, ENGLISH C-SHAPE ARMCHAIR, FRENCH DINING CHAIR, FRENCH MAHOGANY SIDE CHAIR, BRITISH CURVED CHAIR, FRENCH ROSEWOOD CHAIR.

ART DECO CHAIRS tended to delight in
the taste for comfort and luxury. They boast generous proportions and were made from luxurious and inviting materials. Many chairs were designed as part of a salon suite that included a sofa and several chairs. Whether shaped in clean lines based on traditional forms or in more avant-garde, abstract forms, chairs were created to be both comfortable and pleasing to the eye.
LUXURY AND EXOTICISM
The French designers Emile Jacques Ruhlmann, Sue et Mare, and Paul Follot often based their chair designs on 18th-century forms, such as the bergere and the fauteuil d la reine. With shaped backs, slender tapering legs terminating in delicate sabots of ivory or bronze, and graceful, scrolling arm supports, these chairs were made from
sumptuous timbers, such as mahogany rosewood, and macassar ebony, and were often decorated with carving or inlays of exotic materials, including lacquer, tortoiseshell, sharkskin, and mother-of-pearl.
Upholstery played an important part in Art Deco chair design. Luxurious materials, such as the finest leather, exotic animal skins, and velour were used, and vivid colours and geometric or exotic patterns prevailed. The set designs and costumes of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russel, Cubist and Fauve paintings, and African, Oriental, and folk art were all key decorative influences.
By the 1930s, many Art Deco chairs were designed along more geometric, abstract lines, with simple contours, and were made from new materials, such as laminated wood, tubular steel, chromed metal, aluminium, and vinyl.

The box-like shape and generous proportions of the chair recall the form of the bergere.
The frame is made of walnut - a richly I coloured frurtwood
favoured in the
18th century.
The cream-coloured leather upholstery coupled with the walnut frame creates a sense of opulence.
The black-leather trim contrasts dramatically with the broad, cream-coloured surfaces.
BRITISH WALNUT CHAIR
Part of a three-piece suite, this comfortable and luxurious armchair was produced by Hille & Co., who were manufacturers of reproduction furniture. The chair has a U-shaped walnut frame that forms armrests with gently rounded
corners, and is supported on a square, moulded, block base. The seat and the matching cushion are upholstered in fine cream leather and have a contrasting narrow black-leather trim. The U-shaped frame was a popular feature of many Art Deco pieces of furniture. c.1928.

FRENCH DESK CHAIR
This mahogany desk chair, by Maurice Dufrene, has an arched tub back and padded seat. The armrests end in bold scrolls and the seat is raised on scrolling, tapering legs. c.1920.
ENGLISH C-SHAPE ARMCHAIR
One of a pair of open armchairs, this has prominent, reverse C-shape armrests on squat, sabre legs. The avant-garde Cubist and Futurist movements influenced the pattern of the upholstery. c.1930.
This Swedish club chair is box-like in shape and has rounded, wooden armrests. The back, seat, and sides of the chair are upholstered in matt black leather with brass rivet details on the arms.
One of a pair of chairs designed by Paul Frankl, the armrests are curved and finished in black lacquer. The seat is upholstered in black vinyl with red piping. c.1927.
FRENCH DINING CHAIR
This elegant tall-backed dining chair is one of a set of six designed by Maurice Jallot. The chair is padded and upholstered in red, with elliptical detailing, and has tapering, slightly splayed legs. 1940s.
FRENCH NIAGARA CHAIR
One of a set of four, this chair was designed by Maurice Dufrene. The “Niagara” patterned upholstery sits within a plain moulded frame, on distinctive, stepped, “falling water” legs.
SWEDISH CLUB CHAIR
AMERICAN D-SHAPE CHAIR

FRENCH ARMCHAIR
FRENCH MAHOGANY SIDE CHAIR
This armchair is one of pair designed by Pol Buthion. It has a chrome and red-lacquered wooden frame and flat paddle arms. The seat and back are upholstered in dark brown fabric.
This armchair is one of a pair by Francisque Chaleyssin and is made from black-lacquered wood. The seat, back, and tubular arms are upholstered in brown and beige velvet.
This armchair is one of a pair designed by Soubrier. It has an arched back and is upholstered in a diamond-patterned fabric. The armchair stands on block feet.
One of a pair, this Jules Leleu chair has an arched back, inverted heart base, and stepped, scroll arm terminals. The tapering legs terminate in gilt-bronze sabots. c.1930.
FRENCH ARMCHAIR
FRENCH LACQUERED ARMCHAIR

AMERICAN V-SHAPED CHAIR
One of six mahogany dining chairs designed by Paul Frankl and produced by Johnson Furniture Co., this armchair has a distinctive V-shaped upholstered back and curved mahogany arm rests.
BRITISH CURVED CHAIR
Tapering splayed legs support this sycamore chair, attributed to Hille and Co. The padded seat and arched tub back are upholstered in a geometrically patterned fabric, with one curving side. c.1930.
FRENCH DINING CHAIR
This Leon and Maurice Jallot dining chair has an ebonized frame and legs. The seat and back are upholstered in green leather, above sides mounted with three chrome rails. c.1930.
FRENCH CHAIR
This black-polished and upholstered chair is one of a pair by Alfred Porteneuve. It has slender, flattened arms and tapering legs, which end in bronze sabots. 1940s.
This Sue et Mare rosewood side chair has an upholstered arched back above a padded seat. The carved frame has feather detailing and the cabriole legs terminate in scroll feet. c.1925.
This mahogany dining chair is part of a dining suite comprising eight chairs. It has a solid, rectangular back and a padded seat upholstered in striped fabric. The chair is supported on tapering, splayed legs.
Designed by De Coene Freres, this Belgian black-lacquered armchair has a framed, square, padded back and seat upholstered in green leather. The armrests are flattened and the tapering legs terminate in nickel feet.
One of a pair, this Dominique cherry armchair is late for the period but its square form, Aubusson upholstery, and tapering legs are all Art Deco in style. 1945.
FRENCH ROSEWOOD CHAIR
AMERICAN CHAIR
BLACK-LACQUERED CHAIR
FRENCH GAMES CHAIR

ALTHOUGH THE Art Deco style had its origins and greatest success in the West, it also found voice in the East.
INDIAN GLAMOUR
Despite a strain of social conservatism and an economy that remained sluggish and underdeveloped, Indian designers welcomed the aesthetic ideals and stylish visual viewpoint promoted by the fashionable modern taste for Art Deco favoured by the colonialists. Appreciation for, and support of, the Art Deco style was also fostered by designers who had emigrated to India from Central and Eastern Europe, taking with them a
keen knowledge of the style, along with a calculated eye to receiving patronage from wealthy, cultivated, and influential benefactors.
At the heart of the Art Deco style in India was Mumbai (then called Bombay), the centre of international communication and a thriving port. Here, the mercantile classes and the Westernized ruling communities came together with the development of the Back Bay area between 1929 and 1940. The Development Trust insisted that all the buildings conform to the same architectural style to ensure “uniformity and harmony of design”. The style was an elegant, streamlined, yet decorated
form of Art Deco. By the end of the 1930s, Bombay contained nearly 300 cinemas, all of which were glamorous Art Deco palaces, both inside and
out. The sophisticated and luxurious residences commissioned by wealthy Indian princes also reflected the Art Deco style. The furniture often combined the “high-style” French Art Deco with native decorative traditions.
EAST ASIAN AFFINITY
During the 1920s and 1930s, a lot of the Japanese and Chinese architecture, interiors, and furnishings were inspired by the Art Deco style. Much of Art Deco’s inspiration — simple design,
spare, nature-inspired decoration, and the use of sumptuous, exotic materials such as lacquer, ivory, and mother-of-pearl — came from the traditions of East Asia in the first place, so there was
already an affinity between the two.
Throughout Japan, and especially in Tokyo, economic and industrial development after World War I was accompanied by democratization and cultural change. Western ideas were promoted through exhibitions and’
The abstract curving lines are executed in different
The curved, geometric handle enuilales tho linc, of the top of tl)(, ctrl and lock, the
The outer frame is created from one continuous piece of bent Wood publications, and by Western designers themselves. The Tokyo earthquake of 1923 left a devastated city ripe for renewal, and many of the new buildings reflected the Art Deco style. Numerous cinemas, cafes, and dance halls were built, their interiors filled with modern materials such as aluminium, glass, and stainless steel.
In China’s thriving metropolis of Shanghai the spirited Art Deco style was appropriated and assimilated by
The Umaid Bhawan palace, Jodhpur, India
Known as the “Paris of the East”, Shanghai was a prosperous and cosmopolitan city of business and pleasure. The American Art Deco style dominated in the new high-rise hotels, apartment blocks, offices, department stores, cafes, and restaurants.
The 12-storey Cathy Hotel, built by Palmer & Turner in 1932, set the tone, with its green pyramidal roof and Art Deco features. The Grand Theatre, designed by Czech-Hungarian emigre Laszio Hudec, was a monument to Hollywood glamour with its sparkling Art Deco interior, complete with a  lohby and neon lighting.

This large Chinese screen has a striking central panel made of jade, which is carved to depict a pavilion and figures under pine trees. The panel is set within a fretwork frame. c-1930.
JAPANESE CHEST
CHINESE HARDWOOD CABINET
of the two outer drawers. The upper shelf above each drawer is formed from a piece of wood cut out of the side of the chest and bent horizontally. Black lacquer is used to define the outer rim of each of the doors and to set off the abstract design that decorates them. The curving, asymmetrical patterning in shades of red, orange, and gold blend with the overall streamlined form of the chest as well as contrast with its symmetry. 1937.
This boldly curving, geometric chest features a trailing smoke design in gold and coloured lacquer. It was designed by the leading Kyoto lacquer artist Suzuki Hyosaku 11, who was a member of Ryukeiha Kogefkai (the Streamline School Craft Association). Continuous pieces of bent wood create the outer frame, the frames of the two central doors, and those
The case of this cabinet is rectangular in outline with rounded corners. Two panelled doors open onto two sections, one with two shelves. The case stands on moulded bracket feet. c.1930.
CHINESE JADE TABLE SCREEN
The drawer handle is shaped like the individual elements of the patterns.

Nowhere was the desire for the fashionable and the modern better demonstrated than in the luxurious palaces designed by Western architects for the wealthy and sophisticated Indian princes.
One such palace, built with an eye for practical considerations as well as for the latest style, was built by the German architect Eckart Muthesius. Commissioned in 1930 by the Oxford-educated Maharajah of Indore, Yeshwant Rao Holkar, Muthesius designed an air-conditioned, “U”-shaped palace known as Manik Bagh. Containing private apartments, as well as a large ballroom, a banqueting hall, and guest rooms, it had a steel frame, concrete walls, and a wooden roof.
Muthesius was personally responsible for designing all the interiors and created a stylish and modern palace to Art Deco, resplendent with sparkling golden-yellow walls. Nearly all of the fittings that he designed, from
Manik Bagh side table This table was designed by Muthesius. The ultra-modern geometric form of the table echoes the “U” shape of the palace.1930-33.
floors and window frames to light fittings, switches, and door handles, were ordered from companies in Germany and shipped out to India. The furniture was bought from some of the best French designers, mainly from the Union des Artistes Modernes.
Muthesius furnished the palace with lavish pieces made from sumptuous materials. The Maharajah’s study contained fine Macassar ebony furniture by Emile-Jacques Ruldruann, while his bedroom featured an armchair by Eileen Gray and a chaise longue by Le Corbusier, covered in leopardskin. The beds in the palace were made of aluminium and chrome, and the deep leather armchairs had Frames of chrome-plated band iron and built-in reading lamps. There were also plush carpets by Ivan da Silva Bruhns, and silverware by Jean Puiforcat.
Tubular steel side chair This chrome-plated chair is covered in brilliant red vinyl and was commissioned by Muthesius for Manik Bagh. 1930-33.
JAPANESE SCREEN
This wooden screen was designed by Ban-ura Shogo. The spare, asymmetric pattern of flowers and foliage was created with different-coloured lacquers and is typical of Japanese design. It provides a decorous foil for the geometric shape of the screen. 1936.
JAPANESE RADIO
This wooden hyperbolic radio was designed by Inoue Hikonosuke. Lacquer was a favourite material for Japanese designers working in the Art Deco style. The powerful stylized flower shapes of luminous gold highlighted with silver foil stand proud against the glossy black-lacquer background. 1934.

Art Deco British Furniture: ART DECO TUB CHAIR, NEST OF TABLES, CHEST OF DRAWERS, BURR MAPLE TABLE, OAK BOOKCASES

DURING THE FIRST HALF of the 1920s,
most British furniture designers remained loyal to the principles of the Arts and Crafts Movement (see p.330), but occasionally used decorative elements inspired by French Art Deco in their work. One of London’s most successful retailers and manufacturers, Heal & Son, produced Arts and Crafts designs made from sycamore, oak, or limed oak, quietly embellished with some Art Deco features. The furniture was essentially machine-made but was finished by hand.
RESTRAINED STYLE
Gordon Russell’s furniture designs of the 1920s exhibited the more traditional Art Deco style. He adopted motifs, such as sunbursts and chevrons, and used exotic materials such as ivory and
macassar ebony Exhibiting to great acclaim at the 1925 Exhibition in Paris, Russell rejected the opulence favoured by his French counterparts, and displayed a cabinet that celebrated the simplicity of traditional Georgian design with a minimum of decoration.
The 1925 Paris Exhibition influenced the Heal’s designer, J.E Johnson. From 1926 to 1927, he displayed a range of bedroom furniture made from macassar ebony and influenced by the high Parisian Art Deco style of Emile Jacques Ruhlmann (see p.393). In 1928 Waring & Gillow, who provided luxury furniture for ships and hotels,
displayed fine furniture in the high Art Deco style in an exhibition called “Modern Art in French and English Furniture and Decoration”. The
exhibition marked the launch of their Department of Modern Art, which was headed by the Russian emigre Serge Ivan Chermayeff. Although Chermayeff favoured the use of opulent veneers, he soon moved away from the French Art Deco style towards a more Modernist aesthetic. His sofas and coffee tables were geometric in form and the upholstery and carpets featured geometric patterns. His designs were widely copied, using less expensive materials, and were mass produced for the middle class home.
A TASTE FOR LUXURY
Fashionable Art Deco furniture made of sumptuous, expensive materials. and echoing traditional shapes – albeit with a Modernist twist – was also created in Britain by Betty Joel and Sir Edward Maufe. Sir Edward Maufe had won a medal at the 1925 Paris Exhibition for his mahogany camphor wood, and ebony writing desk, which was gessoed and gilded with hire gold, and featured silk tasselled handles. Betty Joel’s prestigious and exclusive clientele included the King and Queen and Louis Mountbatten.
By the 1930s, Gordon Russell was producing more Modernist pieces, developing a successful range of good quality, mass-produced furniture that made use of new materials such as tubular steel. Sir Ambrose Heal was also firmly aligned with the Modernist movement. However, elements of Art Deco persisted in Britain. The sunburst motif and stepped tiling could be seen in many suburban houses, and household objects, such as radios, telephones, and vacuum cleaners, exhibited the streamlined style of American Art Deco. In 1933, Maurice Adams produced the archetypal streamlined cocktail cabinet in ebonized mahogany with metal casing and chromium mounts.
The lobby of the former Daily Express building in Fleet Street, London The lobby was designed in 1932 by Robert Atkinson and was inspired by Hollywood film sets. It features a starburst
ceiling with a silvered pendant lamp and a huge silver and gilt plaster relief panel along one side.

OAK BOOKCASES
This pair of Betty Joel bookcases is made from Australian silky oak. Each bookcase is asymmetrical, with random open and enclosed shelves and two cupboard doors. The circular door handles contrast with the rectangular and
square shapes of the cupboards and shelves. The bookcases stand on fluted square feet. Each one bears the following label on the base: “Token Hand-Made Furniture by Betty Joel, made by J. Emery at Token Works Portsmouth.” 1932.
BURR MAPLE TABLE
DINING CHAIR
MIRROR
This Art Deco mirror, by Whytock and Reid of Edinburgh, has a shaped, rectangular red-lacquered frame. The stylized plant motifs in the crested moulding are highlighted in gilt.

CHEST OF DRAWERS
This English chest of drawers, made from walnut, has black-lacquer banding around the drawers and the edges of the case which accentuate Its rectilinearity. The distinctive, slender drawer handles are attached vertically in juxtaposition to the horizontal, rectangular drawers. c.1930
NEST OF TABLES
These three tables are made from amboyna and satinwood with a decorative inlay. Each table top has a geometric sunburst design, made from contrasting woods, and a moulded edge. The tables are supported on tapering splayed legs and have moulded pad feet. c.1925.
TUB CHAIR
This squat, geometric tub chair, one of a pair, has a U-shaped framework with a curved back and arms that are veneered in oak from top to bottom. The back and apron of the chair, and the loose cushion seat, are upholstered in a striped fabric. The other chair of the pair has a slightly taller back.

MACASSAR SIDEBOARD
Heal & Son designed this Art Deco, ebony-veneered macassar sideboard. Its unusual appeal arises from the panels of green shagreen on the surface of the sideboard combined with an ogee-moulded ebony edge. The sides and front of the sideboard are veneered in boldly figured timber with a geometric border at
the top and base of ebony with ivory lines. The fluted, turned legs terminate in ivory feet, and the square door and drawer handles are also made of ivory. The overall shape of the sideboard is reminiscent of an 18th-century commode. c.1930.
The fluted, turned legs terminate in ivory feet.
Geometric borders of ebony and ivory line the top and bottom of the sideboard.
The sideboard echoes the shape of an 18th-century French commode.
Square, tapering ivory handles contrast with the boldly figured veneer.

Bracket Clocks
The backplate continued to be engraved, usually with such fashionable motifs as foliate scrolls and flowering urns.
In France curvaceous, asymmetrical forms were Popular from the 1690s, typified by the waisted bracket clock with its inward-curving case and matching wall bracket. Extravagant inlay with exotic materials was typical until c.1750, as were tortoiseshell veneer and gilt mounts; ormolu, lacquer, and porcelain were all popular, with ornate asymmetrical scrolls, shells, and flowers. From c.7750 to c.1800 more restrained lines and rustic, sentimental, and Classical motifs prevailed. Dials on most early 18th-century examples have an enamelled centre, with enamel plaques for numerals this is called a 13-piece dial; from the mid-18th century clockmakers used a one-piece, white, enamelled dial.
Early bracket clocks
The invention of the pendulum in the mid-17th century Trade possible the production of spring-driven clocks with a short pendulum, designed to stand on furniture, shelves, or wall brackets. These clocks, often portable, are usually known in Britain as “bracket” clocks, although few few were actually made with matching brackets; they are also known as “mantel” or “table” clocks. The cases and dials of early 17th
and 18th-century examples largely follow those of contemporary longcases.THE 17TH CENTURY
The earliest bracket clocks, made from the 1660s mostly in England, have cases veneered with ebony, walnut, or olivewood, a pediment-shaped or domed top, a brass carrying handle, bun or block feet, and pierced wooden panels or frets at the sides and/or the front, which were backed with fabric so that the striking mechanism could be heard. Damaged delicate wooden frets were often later replaced by glass panes. Some examples have gilded or silver feet, pierced (known as “basket”) brass tops and frets, and tortoiseshell veneer. The square brass dials often feature an applied, silvered chapter ring, spandrels in the form of winged cherubs, and blued-steel hands. Most 17th-century (and 18th-century) bracket clocks are of eight-day duration, strike the hours, and have a verge escapement; some were converted to the more accurate anchor escapement in the 19th century. Backplates were often engraved with Dutch-inspired tulips and leaves.
French 17th-century bracket clocks are usually more ornate than their English counterparts. One of the earliest forms was the pendule religieuse or Louis XIII clock, with tortoiseshell inlaid with silver and brass, gilt finials, and often gilt acanthus leaf swags or scroll mounts. From the 1690s French examples featured white enamel plaques for each numeral on the dial, on a velvet ground. Dutch clocks also featured velvet-covered dial plates, but their cases — typically in ebony — are plainer.
THE 18TH CENTURY
Bracket cases were usually veneered with walnut or ebonized until c.1730, and veneered with mahogany thereafter. Arched brass dials were introduced c.1715, with calendar work or strike/silent dials in the arch,
and an applied, silvered chapter ring. Some 18th-century examples have quarter-hour as well as hour striking and often a repeat mechanism, operated by a cord.
• CASE designs are similar to contemporary furniture and longcase clocks; British clocks tend to have wooden cases; French cases use a variety of materials
• MOVENIENT early bracket clocks have verge escapements: these were sometimes converted to anchor escapements an d if so the apron over the pendulum rod may be missing or the pendulum bob
will be disc-shaped instead of conical; some clocks were reconverted back to verge, often with a new apron in a style different from the rest of the clock
• ALTERATIONS finials and feet arc often missing or replaced in a different style; delicate wooden frets may have been replaced by glass
• COLLECTING clocks with a matching bracket are fairly rare and so especially collectable; original escapements are desirable; early clocks are highly sought after
Later bracket clocks
Although the longcase clock went into decline in the early 19th century, the bracket clock remained popular. The majority of 19th-century European bracket clocks are typified by elaborate case design in a variety of styles. The clock industry expanded in the USA, and from the 1840s mass-produced, inexpensive American bracket clocks, or “shelf” clocks, were imported into Europe, contributing to increased competition but ultimately to a decline in the European industry, especially in Britain.
REGENCY BRACKET CLOCKS
From the 1790s to the 1820s British bracket clocks were produced in diverse styles, from the satinwood-veneered “balloon” case, similar to the French waisted style, to the chamfer-top case. The chamfer-top style has a flattened pediment top, influenced by the contemporary Greek Revival style in architecture, and is crowned by a cast and gilt finial. Cases were usually veneered in mahogany or rosewood or ebonized, often with brass strip inlay in delicate scrolling designs. From the end of the 18th century bracket clocks were usually kept in one position rather than transported around: for this reason they often no longer had carrying handles at the top, although most chamfer-top clocks have ornamental brass ring handles on the sides, often held by lion masks.
The large, round, convex dials are among the easiest of faces to read: made of silvered brass, painted iron, or white-enamelled copper, they are usually very plain except for the maker’s signature. The simple brass or blued-steel hands are typically pierced or feature ornamental spade or heart tips. The movement is spring-driven with an anchor escapement.
VICTORIAN BRACKET CLOCKS
By the mid-19th century novelty of case design was all-important. The numerous revival styles, especially the Gothic Revival, were particularly influential. Gothic Revival clocks, popular between the 1830s and 1850s, have the same basic form as Regency clocks, but the dial plate is in the shape of a pointed arch, the fretted side panels imitate Gothic tracery, and cluster columns, copied from medieval architecture, ornament the corners. In contrast to the simpler Regency forms Victorian clocks tended to be elaborately decorated with heavy carving and mounts. Some featured complex striking mechanisms, with chimes on bells, and gongs on the quarter hour. Substantial three-train chiming “director’s” or “boardroom” clocks arc typical of the high Victorian period.
Dials were made in a wide range of materials, including plain or silvered brass and painted iron; the use of Arabic numerals was common from c.1870.
It is unusual to find a Regency bracket clock with its original
matching bracket. Many chamfer-top clocks of this type were made in mahogany or rosewood, but this example has an ebonized wood case. Brass strip inlay, bun feet, pineapple finials, and large, round, white-painted dials are typical of early 19th-century British bracket clocks. (c. 1820, ht excluding bracket 4Bcmll9in; value H)
of the retailer, although the best makers also sold their own clocks. The British clockmaking industry gradually declined from the 1840s owing to growing imports of mass-produced American and German clocks, but fine bracket clocks were made in Britain until World War I.
AMERICAN SHELF CLOCKS
Large-scale production of clocks first began in the early 19th century. Although many were exported to Europe, most surviving examples are found in the USA, where they are popular with collectors. Connecticut-based Eli Terry ( 1772-18-52) was the first to produce inexpensive movements, mostly of wood, using slick production methods and standard parts. In the 1830s Chauncey Jerome (1793-1868) invented 30-hour duration movements from rolled brass, which were both easier to make and more reliable than wood.
Although less expensive materials were used for American cases than European ones, designs were just as varied. Most carcasses were softwood veneered with mahogany, with a maker’s label on the interior, and thin, sheet-metal or wooden dials painted white. Clocks were simply designed to meet functional domestic demands, and used little brass so as to keep costs down. Notable designs were the “pillar and scroll” clock (until c.1830), with elegant side pillars, a scrolled pediment with finials, and simple, scalloped feet and skirt; the “three deck” design, with the case divided into three and decorated with half columns at the sides; the “acorn” style, with a wide, curving trunk; and the “steeple” clock, with a pointed gable and pinnacled side pillars. Most clocks are embellished on the front door with verre eglomise (reverse-painted glass) panels. At the end of the 19th century many American makers copied French marble mantel clocks, using imitation marble of enamelled iron or painted wood; some cases were of papier-mache inset with mother-of-pearl and painted with floral designs.
Regency bracket clocks
• HANDLES many examples have brass side handles, commonly with lion mask or cornucopia mounts
• CASES a variety of styles was produced but most were made of mahogany or rosewood with ball or bracket feet; the best examples have brass strip inlay in scrolling or floral designs
• DIALS most arc round and convex, and of silvered brass, white-painted iron, or enamelled copper; hands, plain or pierced, arc of simple, elegant design
Victorian bracket clocks
• CASES designs are varied, since originality of case was sometimes considered more important than the movement or any mechanical refinements; cases for chiming clocks were elaborate and heavily carved
• DIALS Arabic numerals were popular from c.1870; any name is often that of the retailer rather than the maker
American shelf clocks
• CASES most are softwood, veneered with mahogany; styles are varied but the majority of cases arc decorated on the front with verre eglomise panels
• DIALS these are usually of wood or metal, painted white; dials were not usually signed – instead a label with the maker’s name was usually pasted to the case
• MOVEMENTS early clocks have wooden movements with steel pivots; thin rolled brass was used from 1830s
FRENCH BRACKET AND MANTEL CLOCKS
The late 18th to early 19th century was a great period for French clockmaking, and a tremendous range of clocks was produced, some of them highly sophisticated. The work of the casemaker was as important as – and sometimes more important than – the complexity of the movement: cases are typically made of marble or bronze, embellished with rich gilt-bronze (ormolu) mounts, and generally more ornate than those on British examples. Most such clocks were made in Paris and reflect the influence of the Neo-classical style; ornamental motifs include Classical urns, vases, palmettos, festoons, and swags. One notable design – intended to illustrate the technical sophistication of the clock – is the lyre clock, which features a central gridiron pendulum with metal rods like the strings of a lyre. The multiple rods that form the gridiron pendulum expand and contract at different rates and in varying directions with changes in temperature, ensuring that the length of the pendulum remains constant and the clock highly accurate.
Most late 18th-century French mantel clocks feature round, convex dials, usually enamelled in white with black numerals. A few rare and highly collectable clocks produced in the 1790s have Revolutionary dials: in 1793 the Revolutionary government decreed that clocks and watches should show decimal time, with ten hours in a day and one hundred minutes for each hour. This system was, however, very short-lived.
Classical influences continued into the Empire period, but case designs became ever more ornamental and elaborate. Some were miniature replicas of the furnishings of the period, with figures in Grecian dress stated at tables or with musical instruments.
As industrial production was encouraged by the French government, mechanisms were increasingly standardized – most were fitted with an anchor escapement.
A huge variety of clocks was made in the mid- to late 19th century. A distinctive French design of the second half of the 19th century was the mass-produced, black marble mantel clock, assembled from pre-shaped marble or marble-faced cement. Polished black slate was often used for facings to reduce costs. Only the better-quality pieces, embellished with bronze relief decoration or such mechanical refinements as a perpetual calendar or moon phase dials, are of interest to collectors today. Other designs included the four-glass clock (from c.1850), featuring four panes of glass, and 18th-century revival styles, most of which were produced in gilt metal in the later 19th century. Most 19th-century examples arc of eight-day duration. After c.1870 many cheaper versions of ormolu clocks were made of inferior gilt speller.
• CASES most have ornate cases made of bronze or marble, decorated with rich ormolu mounts; mass-produced marble- or black-slate-faced mantel clocks were common from the late 19th century and are generally inexpensive
• DIALS most arc round and convex, with ormolu surrounds; gilt-metal hands were used c.1800;
later examples have blued-steel hands
• COLLECTING some clocks were produced with matching pairs of candelabra or vases, designed to stand either side of the clock on the mantelpiece; a complete set is desirable and enhances value

Many major British designers used elements of the Art Deco style in their furniture, while remaining true to their Arts and Crafts roots and making little use of lavish ornament or exotic woods. Art Deco furniture was more typically produced by minor makers, whose work included copies of popular pieces shown at the 1928 Exhibition of Modern Art in Decoration and Furnishing. Held in London, the exhibition introduced decorative, continental Art Deco furniture into Britain. The Modernist influence of the 1930s is seen in the mass-produced furniture by Isokon (1932-9).
TRADITIONALISTS
The designers of the Cotswold School concentrated on the Arts and Crafts tenets of truth to materials, form derived from function, and traditional construction techniques. Native woods such as oak and walnut were favoured, and decoration was minimal. Luxury furniture was made by, among others, Sidney Barnsley (1865-1926), Peter Waals, and Robert Thompson (d.1955), the Houseman”, who used a carved mouse as his signature. Gordon Russell (1892-1980) made the most successful transition to both traditionalist and Modernist styles of Art Deco. While using traditional construction techniques, he incorporated such exotic materials as Macassar ebony and ivory into some pieces, together with Art Deco motifs like sunbursts and chevrons. His belief in the need for good-quality, mass-produced furniture led him to develop a range of furniture that used tubular steel and other synthetic materials, with machine-made parts.
Heal & Son (est. 1800), in London, maintained its role as a major manufacturer and retailer. Oak, especially limed oak, was most commonly used for a range of traditional Arts and Crafts designs with some Art Deco features. Again, decoration was minimal, and although contemporary construction techniques such as screw-fixing were used, pieces were hand-finished.

MODERNISTS
In 1934-5 Finmar Ltd was
set up in Britain to distribute Alvar
Aalto’s moulded plywood furniture. The plain, simple pieces had clean contours, decorated with blocks of colour; solid wood was often combined with laminates. The firm of Isokon (Isometric Unit Construction), founded in London by the architect Jack Pritchard (b.1899), produced a range of simple furniture, generally more adventurous than that distributed by Finmar. Designers associated with the company include Marcel Breuer (1902-81). Typical of the period are its lightweight stacking “cutout” tables and chairs made from a single sheet of cut and moulded plywood.
More exclusive Modernist Art Deco furniture was designed by Betty Joel (1896-1984), who used curving shapes, minimal decoration – wood grain or contrasting veneers – and native woods such as sycamore; from the 1930s she also used chromed steel and plywood laminates. One of the few truly innovative British Art Deco designers was Gerald Summers (1899-1967). In the 1930s he designed side-chairs and open armchairs, cut and shaped with curved backs and seats, in laminated birchwood. The Birmingham firm of PEL (Practical Equipment Ltd, est. 1931) commissioned collectable steel-frame furniture from such designers as Oliver Bernard (1881-1939) and Wells Coates (1895-1958).

•    MATERIALS light woods were popular – sycamore, limed oak, walnut, and burr-walnut
•    CONDITION plywood furniture must be in good condition: check laminated pieces for chips or flaking
•    COLLECTING one-off, commissioned pieces by well-known makers are very expensive; minor furniture is collectable if well designed and in good condition; pieces by members of Cotswold School most desirable; forms associated with Jazz Age most sought after
Marks
Heal & Son: work is stamped with this mark, inset in a circular ivory plaque on the insides of doors or inside drawers

Vincennes and early Sevres
The Meissen factory went into decline following the Seven Years War ( 1756-63) and was supplanted in terms of importance by the factory of Vincennes, later moved to Sevres near Paris. This factory was taken under royal control, and its commercial interests were protected by royal edicts. Employing the finest artists of the day, the factory became the leading producer of porcelain in the Rococo style and, from the 1770s the more severe Neoclassical style.
VINCENNES
The Vincennes factory was established c.1740 at the chateau of Vincennes, with the help of runaway Workers from Chantilly. The first director was Claude-Humbert Gerin ( 1705-50), who discovered the secret of producing a soft paste that was much whiter and finer than that used by earlier French factories.
In 1745 Louis XV granted the factory a 20-year exclusive privilege to produce porcelain. The earliest wares, primarily influenced by Meissen, are heavy in form and painted with small flower sprays, often combined with gilt trellis and scrollwork borders, or landscape and figure scenes.
The painting can be distinguished from that of Meissen by its freer brushwork and a softer palette.
Among the more distinctive early products were porcelain flower-heads, which were bought by marchands-merciers (dealers in luxury products) and mounted on metal stems. These flower arrangements were placed in vases or used to embellish such items as lamps, clocks, and chandeliers. Figures were made on a limited scale in the 1740s and were usually simply glazed. Popular subjects included birds, animals, nymphs, hunters, and children or putti.In
1748 the goldsmith Jean Claude Chambellan Duplessis ( 1690-1774) was hired to create new forms in the Rococo taste. He designed lighter and more elegant shapes that show the influence of contemporary silver. In 1752 the painter Jean-Jacques Bachelier (1724-1806) was hired as artistic director; he introduced lighthearted, designs of children in the style of the Rococo painter Francois Boucher, and fanciful birds. In 1753
the King granted a new privilege to Vincennes and issued an edict restricting rival factories in their use of subjects, colours, and gilding. In 1751-2 the factory pioneered the fashion for biscuit, or unglazed, porcelain in Europe. Bachelier abandoned the production of small, freely modelled figures in favour of three-dimensional, sculptural pieces designed by such artists as Boucher.
EARLY SEVRESIn
1756 the factory moved to the chateau of Sevres, near Paris. The quality of the paste and gilding was strictly controlled, and the King issued sumptuary laws banning the use of gilding by any other French porcelain factory in order to protect the commercial interests of Sevres. In 1768 deposits of kaolin were discovered in the Limoges region, enabling the factory to produce hard-paste porcelain.
A Cuvette a fleurs by Sevres
This basin was intended for holding flowers. It is possible that it was designed by Duplessis, who is credited as being responsible for many of the forms made at Sevres at this time.
(c.1757, ht 32.5crr/12Yin; value H)
During the late 1750s and the 1760s
Sculptors, goldsmiths, and designers created
larger and more ambitious pieces, such as the purely decorative vases a teted`elephants
(vases modelled with elephant
heads supporting candlesticks), and other
decorative items, such as pear-shaped ewers
with flat covers. In addition to coloured
grounds, the factory introduced several
patterned grounds in the late 1760s: oeil de
perdrix (”partridge eye”), cailloute (”pebbled”), and verinicule (”worm-cast”). The reserve panels are often filled in, with little of the white porcelain left showing, contrasting with the more spare decoration employed at Vincennes. However, large, functional services, tend to have less elaborate painting – typically, small scattered flowers, which are more stylized than those used at Vincennes. Biscuit was the most popular medium for figures and the sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconer (1716-91), chief modeller between 1757 and 1766, continued the tradition of charming, if sometimes rather sentimental groups of children, lovers, and allegorical subjects.
Vincennes
• BODY Soft-paste porcelain
• STYLE copies of Meissen; later, Rococo wares
• unglazed with tree stump, rockwork, or vase supports in the 1740s; after 17-51 three-dimensional, crisply modelled biscuit figures
Early Sevres
• BODY soft-paste porcelain
• STYLE delicate and elegant Rococo
• DECORATION patterned as well as plain, coloured grounds reserved with typically Rococo themes within fine gilt frames
• FIGURES sentimental biscuit figures and groups of . lovers and children, inspired by Boucher’s paintings Marks
Vincennes: interlaced “L”s without a date
letter were used from c.1740
1740 to 1752
Sevres: the first date letter was introduced in
17-53 the letter “H” is for 1760

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.

EUROPEAN BUREAUX
Bureau cabinets of this period made in Germany and Italy usually display the full-blown Rococo style. Well before the mid-18th century, German princely courts such as those at Wurzburg, Dresden, Ansbach, and Berlin set the pace for Rococo at its most adventurous, and bureau cabinets were among the extreme Manifestations of the style. Exaggerated cabriole curves, vigorous serpentine shapes, and concave and bombe forms were inlaid with exotic materials, covered in marquetry and parquetry, and encrusted with gilt-bronze Mounts made by virtuoso craftsmen. The Italian Pietro Piffetti (c.1700-c.1777) took this already exuberant rite even further in the ivory inlaid bureau cabinets he made for the Palazzo Rcale in Turin. While bureaux and bureau cabinets from other parts of northern Italy such as Venice and Genoa, were le , ostentatious, they were
bold in their curves and often decorated with painting in light colours, or with a type of decoupage known as arte povera.
By contrast, the wealthy burghers of northern Germany and The Netherlands took a less flamboyant line, favouring bureau cabinets of restrained design, usually made of well-figured walnut. Such pieces increasingly fell under the restraining influence of British design, while conceding to more southern tastes with bombe and serpentine outlines to their bases.
Early 18th-century French writing furniture took an entirely different turn from that of Britain and most of Europe, but some new types related to the bureau were developed around the mid-century. During the Transitional period, when the curvaceous Rococo was being gradually discarded for the restrained and symmetrical Neoclassical style, small desks with cabriole legs, serpentine sides, and fine floral marquetry were especially favoured for ladies’ apartments. The bureau de dame( has a sloping top of conventional bureau form. Another type, known as a bureaua
 cylindre, has a horizontally slatted tambour top set into grooves on either side, allowing it to slide over the writing surface within. One of the most accomplished exponents was Jean-Francois Oeben (1721-63), 1-63), who is credited with the invention of the roll-top desk with its rigidly curved slide. His successor as one of the leading Parisian cabinet-makers was Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806), who continued the tradition of ingenious mechanical pieces and specialized in roll-top desks. Riesener’s output ranged from sumptuous pieces decorated with elaborate marquetry and gilt-bronze mounts to plain mahogany desks of no less fine craftsmanship. The German cabinet-maker, David Roentgen ( 1743-1807), produced bureaux of outstanding quality, in terms of both their marquetry decoration and the ingenious mechanisms with which they were often fitted. In Vienna, which was an important centre of furniture-making in the early  19th century, simple cylinder desks were executed in native woods such as walnut, cherry, pear, and maple, mainly for a middle-class clientele.
• COLLECTING the colour of early bureaux is a crucial
factor in determining value - examples showing exceptional colour can command very high prices; slope-fronted bureaux are more desirable than secretaire cabinets or secretaire bookcases.
• BEWARE if the top of a bureau is unusually deep (i.e.
over 3 lcml 12in wide) it may formerly have been the base of a bureau bookcase, in which case the veneering will have been added at a later date
• HANDLES check that all signs of handle holes to the backs of drawer fronts have corresponding scars on the veneered front; if they do not all correspond, the piece has either been reveneered at a later date or the drawer is associated.