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Antique Mid 19th Century American Furniture.

A RENEWED RUSH of immigration from
northern Europe swelled America’s population in the mid-19th century. After the Civil War (1861-65), the victorious North was imbued with new vigour and wealth as the tide of industrialization swept across the states.
The Gothic style also remained popular during the second half of the 19th century. Examples of solid dark wood furniture crowned by cathedral-style trefoils and quatrefoils could be found in many middle-class homes.
UNITED STATES
APPROPRIATIONS FROM EUROPE The American Empire style reached its zenith around 1840, when the tide of fashion turned in favour of plain surfaces. Heavy furniture in mahogany and rosewood veneers dominated the later American Empire period.
The Empire manner was gradually ousted from its central position in American taste by an influx of European craftsmen, who helped to disseminate the Rococo-revival style. The Classical motifs of Empire furniture gave way to emblems drawn from the natural world, and rounded Rococo forms replaced the earlier architectural structures. The development of laminate veneers greatly aided the practitioners of the Rococo revival, led by German-born New Yorker J.H. Belter (see pp.296-97). Some American designers, such as Alexander Roux, eschewed the use of laminated bentwood in favour of a more authentic Rococo look. Roux was a French immigrant whose elaborately carved pieces featured decorative motifs drawn from hunting, such as grouse, dogs, and deer.
HOMEGROWN INGENUITY George Hunzinger, a German who arrived in the United States in 1855, devised ingenious space-saving, mechanical furniture. He amassed more then 20 patents during his career, for furniture that folded, extended, collapsed, or converted. William Wooton, a native of Indiana, secured a patent for an equally clever, but altogether more immutable form in the 1870s. The Wooton Patent Secretary was a large desk that concealed innumerable small drawers and compartments for the storage of documents and chattels.
A NEW AMERICAN RENAISSANCE Renaissance forms were rediscovered after the Civil War and incorporated into a new, distinctly American look. The 1876 Philadelphia Centennial
Exhibition was a statement of the nation’s confidence and marked the culmination of the Renaissance revival. Luminaries of the Gilded Age, such as j.P. Morgan, commissioned grand houses designed in the Renaissance style. The Centennial also spawned an interest in a revival of American colonial furniture forms.
The American people had long been fascinated with Egyptology, and a number of exhibitions of ancient Egyptian artefacts drew vast crowds during the latter half of the 19th century. It is therefore no surprise that Egyptian motifs found their way on to furniture of the period. Actual Egyptian forms were rarely used. Instead, lotus, sphinx, and other emblems were applied to Renaissance-revival furniture.
CHIPPENDALE-STYLE CHAIR
This mahogany side chair with an upholstered drop-in seat has an openwork splat, shaped top rail, and scrolled ears. Elegant cabriole legs terminate in claw-and-ball feet. It is one of a set of six chairs. c.1900.
GOTHIC-REVIVAL ARMCHAIR
This walnut armchair has a carved and pierced crest. The back is flanked by spiral spindles and stiles. The ring-turned arms terminate in ball-turned hand-holds, and the seat is raised on spiral-turned legs.
CHEST-ON-CHEST
This Colonial-revival chest-on-chest is made from mahogany. The upper section of the chest consists of an outset gadroon-carved top, two moulded frieze drawers, and three graduated drawers. The lower section has two
long drawers positioned above a gadroon-carved base and the piece is supported on claw-andball feet. The overall form is based on a mid 18th-century original. The legs are inspired by a mid 18th-century form, while the moulded top drawer is 19th century in style. Mid 19th century.
This tea table or card table, is an exact copy of a late 18th-century piece, with a top that opens out to provide a larger surface. Made from mahogany, the table is inlaid with boxwood. The frieze is inlaid with an urn motif, and the table is raised on square, tapering legs. Mid 19th century.
This Renaissance-revival, laminated walnut, triple-arch sofa is influenced by Louis XV style. It has a pierced foliate, scroll-and-grape clustered frame, centred by a carved mask crest. The tufted back of the sofa is in three sections above a padded serpentine seat with a floral-carved apron on cabriole legs.
The pediment has a central domed crest.
WOOTON DESK
Panel doors are lined with shelves and divisions.
This imposing variation of the fall-front desk has an elaborate, domed pediment. Two lockable, hinged front panels open to reveal an extensive, complex arrangement of interior drawers and divisions. The writing surface, also hinged, lifts from horizontal to vertical so the panel doors can close. The doors are also fitted with shelves and divisions. Late 19th century.
The wooden knobs are in a darker wood than the drawers.

Dining silver
Plates, salvers, tureens, and other items of dining silver first appeared in the late 17th century, when the complete dinner service, NN ith matching dishes and cutlery, was introduced at the French court. From that period, and especially in the 18th century, elaborate dining silver in the latest fashions was often used to display the wealth and status of the host, and finely engraved coats of arms or crests, identifying the owner, are common features of items such as salvers. For collectors today, heavy and elaborately decorated items including tureens and centrepieces are generally more rare and expensive than flatware, utilitarian drinking vessels such as tankards, and casters, cruets, mustard-pots, and salt-cellars, all available in a great variety of styles.
Plates and salvers
Dinner services, comprising individual plates and cutlery as well as serving dishes for specific courses and foods, were first introduced at the French court in the late 17th -century. Initially they were the preserve of royalty and the aristocracy, but the fashion for complete services spread in the early 18th century to the minor nobility and gentry, who often acquired different parts of the service over a period of time as their finances allowed. Silver plates, of various sizes, were generally made in sets of 12 (and are normally sold as such today). On both plates and salvers, the main decorative feature is usually the engraved coat of arms or crest of the owner, and sometimes the engraving is of very high quality.
PLATES
The earliest plates found on the market today tend to date from the early 18th century, when the first complete dinner services were made. These plates are seldom larger than 25cm (10in) in diameter and are starkly plain, except for a crest or coat of arms engraved on the broad, flat rim. Marks on these plates are generally found on the underside of the rim and should be clearly visible.
Missing or distorted marks usually indicate that the
plate has been altered; new borders may have been added and the rim reshaped to accommodate them.
More common than early 18th-century
plates are those dating from the 1740s
onward. During this time the fashion
for complete dinner services, unified by
matching ornament, reached its peak
and the custom of dining on a grand scale
necessitated services of up to 200 pieces. The standard service included six dozen meat plates, generally 25cm (10in) in
diameter (first-course and dessert plates were slightly smaller), and two dozen soup plates. Larger oval dishes for serving roasts were also made en suite.
Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century plates vary little in design except for the borders. During the 1730s the broad, plain, flat rim was replaced by a narrower, wavy rim (giving the plate a five-sided appearance) with gadrooning. With the development of the Rococo style in the 1740s, shell and gadrooned borders became most common; some of the finest plates have separately cast and applied borders, which should be marked. Simpler patterns of reed-and-tie or beading became fashionable in the 1770s and 1780s. The more elaborate gadroon, shell, and foliage border is characteristic of the Regency period. After about 1840 porcelain services were more popular than silver, and most silver plates made were replacements for or additions to earlier services.
17TH- TO EARLY 18TH-CENTURY SALVERS
Dating from the mid-17th century, the earliest salvers were of thin-gauge metal with a raised central foot, and were made as stands for porringers or candle cups. The finest examples were gilded and richly chased and embossed around the border with acanthus leaves, fruit, and flowers in the Dutch Baroque style. From (.1680 to (.1720 heavier-gauge metal was used, and the central foot, sometimes detachable, was often strengthened with applied cut-card work. In the 1720s the central foot was replaced by three or four small cast (usually bracket) feet, eet, especially on the rarer square, octagonal, or octafoi I -sh aped salvers popular during this period. Salvers before c.1740 often had moulded and applied rims of convex and concave curves.
LATER 18TH- AND 19TH-CENTURY SALVERS
Like plates, salvers from (.1740 onward are generally circular or five- or six-sided in shape, with only the borders and engraved armorials changing in style. On salvers, however, the armorials usually appear in
the centre rather than on the rim. The style of engraving should be contemporary with that of the border and correspond to the date of the marks. In the Baroque period, designs of arms and cartouches were relatively symmetrical, with strapwork and interlacing scrolls; the finest designs on English pieces were by Huguenot engravers such as the Gribelin fatuity.
In the mid-18th century, delicate, asymmetrical designs of flowers, shells, and scrolls reflected Rococo fashions. Salvers were particularly in demand for carrying tea and coffee services. Smaller versions, known as “waiters” (generally less than 20cm/8in in diameter),
ENGRAVING
Engraved designs were traditionally cut into the metal surface by hand with a sharp steel tool known as a “burin” or “graver”; today, most engraving is done
by machine. The technique was particularly popular for reproducing coats of arms, ciphers, and crests. Some of the finest engraving was done in early 18th-century England by such specialists as William Hogarth (1697-1764) and Simon Gribelin (1661-1733). The style of engraving can help to date a piece, but it is not always a reliable method as arms were often re-engraved with a change of ownership.
were also made, and sets of two or more salvers became common. The largest, measuring up to 38cm (15in would usually be engraved with a coat of arms; smaller ones (15-20cm/6-8in) had only a crest. Elaborate Rococo borders appeared, sometimes cast separately, featuring forward and reverse scrolls interspersed with shells, and feet took the form of scrolls or shells. The finest salvers were also flat-chased around the outer edge with designs of scrolls, shells, and foliage.
In the Neo-classical period more restrained borders of gadrooning, reeding, and beading, together with bright-cut engraving of ribbons, husks, and swags, were introduced. However, the taste for more ornate plate in the Regency period led to the appearance of large and heavy, often silver-gilt, salvers with paw feet and richly cast borders of shells, vine leaves, and gadrooning. Throughout the 19th century salvers in 18th-century styles were popular; some earlier salvers were also redecorated with chasing, but the 19th-century style is more elaborate and covers more of the flat surface than on 18th-century examples.

Library and writing tables.
The earliest-known tables specifically designed for writing date from 16th-century Italy, when cabinetmakers produced elaborately carved walnut tables with sloping desks fitted into the tops and small drawers below for the storage of writing materials. Similar tables, or bureaux, probably originated in France during the third quarter of the 16th century.
THE 18TH CENTURY
Tables designed specifically for writing were introduced in England after the Restoration (1660). French tables influenced English designs during this period, and both French and English examples were usually made of oak or walnut with a rectangular folding top. The flap was supported by baluster or tapered pillar legs they are often decorated with “seaweed” or floral marquetry and closely parallel the Dutch models. During the early 18th century the Louis XIV concept of a free-standing bureau plat (a flat-topped writing table) invented by Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) was taken up and adapted by English cabinet-makers. Intended to occupy a central position in the library, and to act as a statement of the wealth and power of its owner, such desks reached the zenith of their popularity in England during the mid-18th century, and by the third edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1762) by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79), no less than 11 types of carved open pedestal desk were illustrated.
As postal systems developed, and as paper became cheaper and standards of education improved, so the need arose for less stately versions of the writing table, particularly for use by women. Some of these tables appeared in Chippendale’s Director; while others featured in The Universal System of Household Furniture (1762) by John Mayhew (1736-1811) and William Ince (c.1738-1804). A great range of new forms came into use at this time, which were notably lighter than their predecessors. Neo-classical tables were made in exotic hardwoods such as satinwood, an expensive and very fashionable wood that was particularly suited to this lighter style of table, and many examples were adorned with fine marquetry.
THE 19TH CENTURY
Several new types of writing table developed during the Regency period (c.1790-1830), including the Carlton House desk, named after the London home of the Prince of Wales (later George IV). Another fashionable form featured curved X-shaped supports at either end, with drawers in the frieze, and the flat top enclosed by a three-quarter brass gallery. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, furniture designers were given the opportunity to create a wide range of new forms, when the technology required to marry wood
to metal – developed for military purposes – was applied to furniture. The furniture of the Regency period was therefore characterized by elegant design combined with ambitious construction techniques. New features included galleries at the top of the table, used either for decorative effect or to hold books safely; numerous small drawers, hinged flaps, and curved ramps, which could be pulled out as required, extending the available surface and facilitating activities such as drawing and painting; and screens that extended beyond the main structure in order to shield the writer’s face from the heat of the fire. In addition, revolving circular or polygonal “drum”tables were invented for the library, where they were used for storing and displaying books and paper.
• “BUHL” WORK examples tend to be inferior to those of the 17th and early 18th centuries: the gilding is generally brassier and the tops are inlaid, in contrast to the leather-lined tops of the 17th-century prototypes; the drawer-linings of original examples were usually in oak, while on the copies they are in walnut.
• ALTERATIONS leather tops can get ripped and have often been replaced – this should not affect value; heavy legs have often been replaced with lighter legs of an earlier style to make the table more commercial.