Posts Tagged ‘federal period scotish cabinet makers’

CUPBOARDS AND SIDE TABLES
It is a rather curious reflection that so many years should have passed without men having devised any means of locking things away privately except in a chest. It tells its own story, that they should have preferred to use something which could be used conveniently for travelling. Once they came to establish their homes on a more convenient basis, however, the necessity for cabinets to hold valuable or private papers, and cupboards to store various other items became felt. Thus wall furniture became increasingly common.
The early form of side table is given in Fig. 26, a piece dating from about I Soo or soon after. It is virtually a chest, with the corner posts continued downwards to raise it well up from the floor. This was probably its origin. Not that a man, having a chest, would decide that by lengthening the posts he could evolve a sideboard, but that the method of construction was automatically adopted once the idea of a sideboard was thought about. There was probably a subconscious connection between the two ideas, so that it is likely that there was a direct evolution from one to the other. The side table exemplifies the use of the pierced panel, and another point that will appeal to practical readers is the use of the ” mason’s mitre ” in the moulding surrounding the panel. The use of this is explained more fully on p. 44•
Another kind of furniture of the early Tudor Gothic period was the cupboard pure and simple as shown in Fig. 27. It is of the simplest possible construction, consisting of so many boards pegged together and held by the angle plates and strap hinges. Often such cupboards had panels pierced with Gothic tracery designs such as those given on p. IS. In fact A is taken from an old cupboard of the kind. Their purpose was probably to hold food, as the pierced panels gave ventilation.
Of a similar type, but of infinitely better construction, is the cupboard shown in Fig. 28. In place of the planks is a framing of four posts, joined by rails with grooves around their edges to hold panels. Here the last-named are pierced and carved in the form of Gothic windows.
The Court Cupboard.—The development in Elizabethan times is shown in the Court cupboard in Fig. 29. This is worthy of a few moments’ attention because it contains many typical features of the period. It was a cupboard which became extremely popular, probably because it gave good accommodation and there was excellent scope for decorative treatment. Note first the lower doors with their three-panel arrangement. Apart from strength, this had the advantage of keeping the panel width down, and so saving the necessity of jointing up. The framing is channel-moulded ; that is a shallow groove moulded at the sides is worked along the centre of each member.
Incidentally, whilst on the subject of mouldings, it should be noted that in every case they are worked ” in the solid,” the substance of the framing being moulded. It is mentioned here in particular because it will be seen in the next chapter that the tendency in the following century was to use applied mouldings instead.
Attention has already been drawn to the bulbous turnings and their elaborate carving, Fig. 29, and we may now turn to the upper cupboard portion with its sloping sides. It was probably the desire to make space for the bulbous turnings that prompted the cutting away of the cupboard, and at the same time to provide a useful standing space at each side. It will be found that when, later, turning began to decline, the upper cupboard became rectangular in shape, being just set back a few inches from the line of the lower cupboard. Eventually the turnings disappeared almost entirely, being replaced by single drop turnings—but of this we shall see more in the following chapter. It is mentioned here because it helps to explain the reason for the shape of the upper cupboard. The carving in the frieze is a typical Elizabethan detail which continued into the seventeenth century.
BEDSTEADS
Sleeping arrangements in the early years were of the simplest and most primitive form for everyone except the chief persons in the household. The fifteenth century saw considerable improvements in this respect, though it was not until the next century that beds became at all common. There were two kinds, the panelled head and foot (very like the modern form of wood bed), and the four-poster. The last-named developed into a really amazing structure in the time of Elizabeth. That the rooms were abominably draughty is the probable reason for its popularity. The tester or panelling above the bed was hung all round with curtains, so that the sleeper was literally lying in a little room built within the main bedroom. It must have been close and unhealthy, but presumably people preferred that to draughts.
That great importance was attached to these bedsteads is shown by the frequent reference made to them in old wills, and in view of the amount of work put into them they must have been costly things to produce. That in Fig. 31 contains features found in most old beds. Note that the bed frame itself is separate at the foot from the front posts. This was usual in Elizabethan beds, though towards the end of the century the tendency was to join them up.
Figs. 32, 33, and 34 will prove of particular interest to practical cabinet makers and draughtsmen, though they are well worthy of the attention of all students because the sections of mouldings and carved details are extremely important factors when dating a period piece.

TABLES
The table is a fairly obvious piece of furniture. It is required for all kinds of purposes in the house, though its chief function is for use when dining. One of the earliest surviving specimens are the huge trestle tables at Penshurst Hall, Kent. They date from the fourteenth century, when it was still the custom for the entire household to dine together in the great hall. One would be placed across the upper end of the hall, usually on a raised dais, and another, or sometimes two, at right angles to it, going lengthwise along the hall. The more important guests used the raisedThe tendency to use a framed-up construction already mentioned in connection with the chest is seen in the next stage of the table, when an underframing of four or six legs joined by rails (such as in the present-day table) was used. There stands in the museum at South Kensington an interesting table dating from the opening years of the sixteenth century. It has square legs with the corners chamfered, and the top rails are shaped on the underside with the Gothic arch formation. The long form in Fig. ig has this shaping—in fact it is a companion to the table of which we are speaking. Its most interesting feature, however, is that it is of the ” draw ” type ; that is, it is provided with extending leaves which, contained beneath the top when not required, can be drawn out, so increasing the size of the top considerably. As a matter of passing interest, this type of table has again become popular at the present time ; indeed, few extending tables are made now which have not this method of extension.
Bulbous Turnings.—The draw table of the Elizabethan period is shown in Fig. 23, and the feature that at once strikes one are the heavy bulbous legs. These represent a fashion in turning that had the most amazing popularity in Elizabethan times and in the first half of the seventeenth century. Turning had been introduced in this country during the sixteenth century, though it does not appear to have been widely used until about the middle of the century. One imagines that the turners, having acquired the technique, decided to make the most of what they had learnt, for there is nothing really logical about such disproportionate legs. The strength of the leg is governed by its thinnest part, so that the heavy bulbous part is entirely wasted from the constructional point of view.
In the particular table shown in Fig. 23 the legs are plain, direct from the lathe, but in most cases they were elaborately carved with nullings, scrolled acanthus leafwork, and other details, as shown on the turnings in the Court cupboard in Fig. 29. Possibly this is another reason why they appealed to the Elizabethans ; they offered such scope for decorative detail.
In most cases the stretcher rails ran round the four sides of the table in the same way as the rails at the top, but occasionally the H arrangement in Fig. 23 is found. In one, and the retainers were accommodated at the others in rotation, the serfs sitting at the lower end.
These trestle tables were generally made with movable tops, so that they could be taken to pieces and stored away when the floor space was required to be cleared. They were extremely massive in build, with tops of 4 in. or so in thickness, supported by heavy trestles or pedestals. The illus-BUFFET WITH BULBOUS TURNINGS.
Late 16th century.
Thiswas the Elizabethan form of sideboard. The modern dinner wagon
is of similar formation. Often a drawer was fitted beneath the top, the
rail acting as the drawer front.
tration of the hall at Penshurst Place on p. 12 shows these tables.
When as the years passed men sought more privacy there arose a demand for smaller tables which could be used in the smaller private room in which the family took their meals. The rise, too, of the merchant class brought about the erection of vast numbers of smaller houses, and so there have survived a fair number of smaller tables dating from the sixteenth century. The term ” smaller ” is used com-paratively. Actually they usually measure 6 ft. to 9 ft. or io ft. in length.
At the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the next the Gothic tradition was still strong, and tables
FIG. 31. FOUR-POSTER WITH PANELLED HEAD AND TESTER.
Second half 16th century.
These were extremely massive structures and were held in great value.
They were often specifically mentioned in wills. Note the holes in the
bed frame to support the mattress and clothes.
were often still of the trestle kind shown in Fig. 22. It will be noted that the rails are held to the trestles with wedges, so that the whole thing could be stacked away when not required in use. It is interesting to compare the Gothic shaping of the trestles with that of the small stool in Fig. 20.other types two legs only were used, these being built into the centre of the end rails and fitted with cross pieces at the bottom, and were a revival of the pedestal leg used in Gothic times, as exemplified by the Penshurst table on p. 12, except that the bottom was joined by a stretcher and the top had a framing to contain the mechanism of the extension.

ELIZABETHAN
COURT CUPBOARD.
Late z61h century.
love of Elizabethan crafts. This exemplifies well the men for ornament of every
kind. The upper recessed portion is inlaid with various woods such as apple, holly, cherry, bog oak, and stained woods. The carving is typical of
the time, being virile, deep and bold if somewhat barbaric in execution.