Posts Tagged ‘fruitwood’

Antique 18th-19th Century Commodes

THE COMMODE EVOLVED slowly during
the late 18th century, only gradually incorporating Neoclassical elements into its design. In its early transitional stage, in the 1760s, its shape retained many Rococo features, such as rounded corners and cabriole legs, but, the
case became more rectangular and the decoration Neoclassical. However, by the 1770s, the shape of commodes had also been refined, as commodes became plainer and more linear in design, with straight legs. Their angular shape was sometimes augmented by the adoption of a breakfront — the result of inset drawers being placed on either side of protruding drawers — a feature that was particularly popular.
By the 1790s, the French commode generally had two or three short frieze drawers with long parallel drawers below them. Columns of term figures, headed by female masks in Classical or Egyptian garb, flanked the drawers. The columns were also often headed by engine-turned, plain, Tuscan, gilt-bronze capitals. Commodes with three
deep drawers on short feet turned like tops were also common.
In the 1770s and 80s, commodes with sumptuous ormolu mounts and pictorial marquetry were still made for royal households, but decoration became more sparing after 1790.
Mounts were rare and plain ring handles and escutcheons, inspired by simple Grecian design, were used. Transitional commodes used satinwood veneer or mahogany but, as designs became more refined, plain, well-figured wood such as mahogany, or fruitwood for provincial pieces, was used with marble tops. Decoration was provided by moulded wood, ebonized columns, and grisaille panels.
In Britain the side cabinet became plainer but was still of good quality. No particular shape was favoured, but some designers were influenced by Egyptian campaigns. Italian designers used walnut, olive, and tulipwood, combining a pictorial frieze drawer with two plain drawers. Geometric marquetry was used to emphasize the commode’s rectangular shape.
The rounded corners of the case Crossbanded veneers and light
are inlaid with three rectangular boxwood string inlays emphasize
panels corresponding to the the edges of the drawers. depths of the drawers.
Lion’s head brass pulls like these became popular towards the end of the 18th century.
hepplewhite COMMODE
This commode has three walnut-veneered drawers. Its skirt is slightly shaped and it has short, cabriole legs with carved toes.
ITALIAN COMMODE
This rectangular walnut commode has three drawers, the top one narrower than the two below. Its drawers have floral marquetry and a central oval inlaid with an architectural scene. Its handles are lion’s head masks with a circular pull held in each lion’s mouth. c.1780.
ENGLISH CHEST OF DRAWERS
This mahogany william and mary chest of drawers is serpentine in shape. It has a moulded edge, four graduated drawers, a moulded plinth, and the piece terminates in four ogee bracket feet. The top drawer of the chest is fitted as a dressing chest. c.1770.
GERMAN COMMODE
This rosewood commode’s rounded, breakfront shape is echoed in the conforming top, which slightly overhangs the case. It has three drawers of equal size with Rococo-style drawer pulls. Its base moulding is shaped and the case stands on small bracket feet. c.1770.
PARISIAN A LA GRECQUE COMMODE
This commode has three drawers, the upper one hidden by an applied ormolu entrelac frieze. Its two lower drawers are covered with a veneer pattern. The four cabriole legs end in feet ornamented with sabots. c.1775.
SWEDISH COMMODE
This breakfront commode, with three small drawers flanking three larger central drawers, is closely related to French styles. This one is slightly heavier, particularly in the canted corners and the marginally tapering legs.
PARISIAN MARBLE-TOPPED COMMODE
This rectangular commode has three drawers, and doors in the central section, flanked by a single door on each side. It has rounded pilasters on the sides that connect with its turned and tapering legs. It has circular escutcheons with swags, and circular pulls.
MILANESE VENEERED COMMODE
This kingwood-veneered commode has three long drawers, a straight apron, and square, almost bracket-shaped legs. Its light, distinctive colour is a result of the inner sapwood of the kingwood being used for the veneer. Its pulls are Neoclassical in design. c.1790.
ITALIAN COMMODE
This rectangular fruitwood commode has three drawers, the upper one narrower than the others, and stands on short, tapering feet. It has a floral inlay, and its central cartouche, outlined in a darker veneer, is inlaid with birds and flowers. c.1780.
SWEDISH COMMODE
This three-drawer commode has a marble top. Its case has canted corners, as do the feet, which taper slightly towards the base. Its side panels and drawers are veneered, and the central drawer has an inlay of musical instruments c.1790.
FRENCH COMMODE
This three-drawer walnut commode has a moulded top over three graduated panelled drawers and a shaped and moulded apron.
Short, scroll feet, each with a block terminus, support the case. It is decorated with pierced, foliate C-scroll escutcheons and handles. The style of this commode is provincial and rather old-fashioned. c.1765. W.139cm (54 ‘ 7). 4
FRENCH VENEERED COMMODE
This commode has a breakfront shape, created by three short drawers inset either side of three protruding long drawers. It has a moulded
white marble top and geometric parquetry veneer, which includes kingwood, tulipwood, and rosewood. The cabriole legs are squared and veneered, and terminate in gilt-metal sabots. c.1770.
FRENCH DEMI-LUNE COMMODE
This mahogany commode has a semicircular, or demi-lune shape. It contains three central drawers, and curved side doors, which open to
reveal shelves. It has a marble top, gilded bronze escutcheons that are Neoclassical in design, and pulls with swags surrounding them. c.1795.

ART NOUVEAU TABLES: MARQUETRY TWO-TIER TABLE, NEST OF TABLES, MARQUETRY TABLE NEST, PINE WORKBOX, ROSEWOOD STAND, BRASS FRAMED TABLE

ART NOUVEAU TABLES
ART NOUVEAU DESIGNERS transformed
the functional table into works of art, with motifs inspired by the natural world. A table embellished with dragonflies or sculpted leaves, for example, might take on the form of a tree, with its support shaped like a trunk, and feet resembling roots.
Those working in the French and Belgian style of Art Nouveau, such as Louis Majorelle and Emile Galle, created tables with tapering, sinuous legs; serpentine-shaped tops; and carved decoration or marquetry patterns of flower blossoms, trees, or fruit. These were rendered in veneers of precious and exotic woods.
The Glasgow School led by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and other like-minded designers, including Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, offered a radical contrast. They favoured tables with rectangular, geometric proportions, narrow,
elongated lines, and decorative cut-out motifs such as squares and spheres.
In England, tables mirrored historic styles, exotic Japanese or Moorish designs, or favoured simple construction and functional, aesthetic design, as seen in the work of C.F.A. Voysey and Charles Ashbee.
In Spain and Italy, tables were often incorporated into sofas or other pieces of furniture, or had practical features such as built-in cabinets.
The Japanese style was popular with its simple designs, asymmetric forms, undulating lines, use of lacquer or lacquer-look-alikes, and a love of nature, often appearing as typical Japanese motifs such as dragonflies.
Many innovative types of table appeared, such as the tripod, tier, and the nest of tables, while decorative features such as the arched stretcher showed how new techniques pushed wood to limits never seen before.
Raised edges prevent Brass handles enable
items from falling off. the table to be easily moved around the room.
Sculptural design with W-shaped table sides
MARQUETRY TWO-TIER TABLE
This two-tier nutwood and mahogany occasional table by Louis Majorelle is of double-framed construction. It has decorative carving, and each of the two tiers is embellished with floral marquetry. The top tier also has applied brass handles. 1900.
NEST OF TABLES
This nest of four Secessionist, black-lacquered tables is attributed to Josef Hoffmann. Each table has a rectangular top with rounded edges supported by turned, spindle-filled supports leading to platform stretchers. The largest of the four carries two sphere-turned carving handles. The Japanese influence is displayed in both the materials used and the form of this nest.
Floral marquetry table top
MARQUETRY TABLE NEST
This nest of four occasional tables wasdesigned
fined by Emile Galle. They are constructed from mahogany and various other hardwoodswith
high-grade veneer. The tops and side mouldings of the tables are supported by
frames with elegant scroll curves at the bases. Each of the rectangular table tops is decorated in marquetry using various fruitwoods with a different floral scene. The largest of the tables bears the signature “Galle” within the marquetry. c.1900.
BEECH TABLE NEST
This nest of four “968″ tables is made of beech. They were designed by Josef Hoffmann and produced by J. & J. Kohn of Vienna (see .c.376). The tables are raised on slender, tapering legs, joined on three sides by stretchers. The
largest of the tables has handles and trellis splats on the sides. Each of the smaller units slides into place on runners, which store the tables in a hanging position. The table nest has a mahogany stain and the remains of an original paper label underneath. 1905.
This table, designed by Louis Majorelle, is known as les Goings, meaning quinces. Constructed from walnut, the tops of the legs and the apron boards carry deep-carved decoration depicting
quince fruits on the branch. 1905.
This French tea table, from the Ecole de Nancy, is constructed from walnut, brass, and glass. It has a tray top with a raised edge to prevent items falling off. Below the tray top is an additional shelf with fold-down sides. These offer more table space but can be folded
away when not in use. c. 1900.
PINE WORKBOX
FRETWORK OCCASIONAL TABLE
ROSEWOOD STAND
This J.S. Henry occasional table has a shaped top above an elaborate fretwork frieze. It is supported on slender, tapering, cabriole legs with pad feet that are linked by a lower tier. The maker’s label is still attached.
This stained pine artist’s workbox is from the Scottish School. The rectangular top has a twin-hinged lid, which opens to reveal an interior fitted with compartments for materials. The pegs used for joining are visible at the sides.
This rare rosewood and marquetry stand was designed by Emile GaII6. The lobed top is inlaid with floral decoration and butterfly motifs. The four moulded legs are united by an elegant arched stretcher.
This small Austrian bentwood three-tier table is designed in the manner of Josef Hoffmann. It has a rounded square top supported on splayed legs. Two undertiers with wooden balls at the joints provide additional storage.
THREE-TIER TABLE
HEXAGONAL TABLE
GILT SIDE TABLE
BRASS FRAMED TABLE
TILED OCCASIONAL TABLE
Originally sold by Liberty & Co., this hexagonal table has a moulded top raised above square, tapering legs, which are linked by distinctive pierced stretchers halfway up the legs. The piece terminates in simple, pad feet.
This opulent, giltwood side table with relief-moulded decoration was designed by Louis Majorette. A mottled-orange marble top is set within a leaf-and-berry carved slip, with a wavy frieze below. Arched stretchers link the legs.
The elegant brass tripod of this Richard Muller-designed table bends towards the centre at the top. The plain, circular table top is made from mahogany. Two triangular mahogany tiers provide additional storage. 1902.
This occasional table is made of oak. The circular top features a red and green tiled insert in a geometric pattern. The three tapered supports are pierced with decoration

Settles and sofas before 1840
The box-settle was in existence in northern Europe by the 15th century. The earliest examples usually have planked seats and pierced trellis or linen-fold panelled backs, and are often richly carved. A plainer and sturdier form was the oak “monk’s table”, which had a bench-like seat, often set above an enclosed well used for storage, and a hinged back, which when brought forward served as a table. This basic form was adopted by furniture-makers in Britain (particularly in the provinces), and the Low Countries from the 16th century. Early box-settles were usually of oak, although elm, chestnut, and fruitwood were increasingly used during the 18th century; they continued to be made in the provincial tradition until well into the 19th century.

DOUBLE CHAIR-BACK SETTEES
The double chair-back settee dates from the mid-17th century, and its evolution reflects that of the chair back (splat). Invariably of walnut, this type of furniture is distinguished by caned seats, carved upright splats, and baluster-turned or strapwork legs joined by stretchers. By the late 17th and early 18th centuries the double chair-back settee was characterized by a drop-in, upholstered seat, slightly serpentine toprail with vase or baluster-shaped splats, and cabriole legs with pad feet. Usually made of walnut, it became increasingly bold and elaborate in form and decoration; by the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14) settees were frequently veneered with burr-walnut and enriched with seaweed marquetry on the splats and legs. George I examples (1714-27) were often inspired by the architect William Kent (c.16851748), and have carved shells, foliage, lion-masks and paws, and eagle’s-head arm terminals and claws. Mahogany settees were first made under George II (1727-60); those from the 1750s and 1760s frequently follow chair-patterns in the Chinese, Gothick, and French Rococo styles popularized by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754-62). Continental examples were often gilded or painted with flowers and chinoiserie decoration, and are far more Rococo in form than their English counterparts, with exaggerated cabriole legs, serpentine toprails, and asymmetric splats. This latter feature is also characteristic of Dutch double-chair back settees, which parallel English Queen Anne and early Georgian examples, save for the enrichment of floral marquetry. However, Dutch chair-back settees with floral marquetry on a mahogany, as opposed to a walnut, ground are more usually 19th century. English settees of the late 18th and early 19th centuries are usually of carved mahogany or satinwood. Painted designs include peacock feathers and flowers in the manner of George Seddon & Sons (est. 1785), and Etruscan-black decoration, inspired by Classical vases. These painted examples are usually of beech and often display caned or rush seats with squab cushions.
CANAPES AND CHAISES-LONGUES
Canapes with padded backs and seats dating from the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715) usually have walnut frames with simple channelled decoration to the legs and stretchers, scrolled arms, and cabriole legs. The most sophisticated canapes of the Regence period (1715-23) are masterpieces of the carver’s art; their giltwood or walnut frames were carved with foliage, shells, and chimerical dragons, and their backs strewn with flowers in the style of Juste-Aurele Meissonnier (1695-1750).
During the 1730s and 1740s, Rococo canapes became even more exaggerated in form and detail. They were usually gilded or of walnut, although Italian craftsmen also employed a mix of silver and gold leaf, a decoration known as mecca. Italian canapes are often less well constructed than French seat furniture.

The chaise-longue was characterized by its long seat, which enabled the sitter to recline horizontally, and was first recorded in France, Italy, and England in the late 17th century. Louis XIV chaises-longues were usually of carved walnut or beech, with caned seats and squab cushions. During the early 18th century the frames became richer and more florid, often being gilded or japanned in imitation of Oriental lacquer, while the caned seats were rejected in favour of fully stuffed and upholstered seats. Usually carved in lime or beech, and intended to be painted or gilded, inid-18th-century Continental chaises-longues were of a pegged construction. Although rarer, day-beds, usually without side-supports, were also made in England during the mid-Georgian period.
It was under the influence of the Prince of Wales (later George IV) and his circle that the chaise-longue reached its apogee in England. The form was the perfect vehicle for the reproduction of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian ornament. Simpler Regency chaises-longues were also widely manufactured, mainly in mahogany or rosewood, perhaps inlaid with brass in the “Buhl” manner. Painted examples with Etruscan-inspired ebonized and parcel-gilt decoration, or with a grained or stencilled finish, also abound. The earliest Regency chaises-longues are light and elegant, with simple, free-flowing lines, sabre legs, and brass caps and casters. Examples from the 1820s and 1830s are increasingly florid and heavy; they are supported on claw feet and arc often richly carved with exaggerated, stylized foliage.
DUNCAN PHYFE (1768-1854)
The best-known New York cabinet-maker of the early and mid-19th century, Duncan Phyfe also gave his name to the generic term for American furniture in the Neo-classical style, making use of the forms and ornament of Classical Greece and Rome. The work of Phyfe and his contemporaries incorporates “curule” (Grecian-cross design) legs or sabre legs, paw feet, harp and lyre backs, caned toprails, and decoration showing sheaves of wheat, thunderbolts, cornucopia, and swags. Unless documented by a bill or label, New York Federal and Classical furniture should be attributed to the Phyfe school. Phyfe-type furniture was made into the mid-19th century, with a revival in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

EARLY 19TH-CENTURY SOFAS
The development of the chaise-longue in the 19th century was mirrored by that of the sofa. From c. 805 to 1810 sofas became increasingly bold and luxurious. Frames of plain mahogany were initially fashionable, carved with Grecian ornament as promoted by George Smith (active c.1786-1828) in his book A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1808); these were superseded by more florid examples in rosewood and, later, walnut, upholstered with bolster cushions at each end. This extravagance was continued in the design and decoration of the frames, which often had tightly scrolled arm-terminals and were embellished with gilt-bronze mounts or inlaid in the “Buhl” manner with foliate arabesques, as on sofas by the firm of Gillow (est. c.1730). The sofas were supported by hairy-paw feet. As seen in the designs of Michel Angelo Nicolson (c.1796-1844) in The Practical Cabinet-Maker, Upholsterer, and Complete Decorator (1826), the basic Regency form persisted throughout the 19th century. However, sofa designs became heavier as the century progressed, with the introduction of shorter and fatter legs, often reeded, and tapering to brass caps and casters.

•    BOX-SETTLES the most lavishly decorated settles, particularly those with linen-fold panelled backs, are often examples of 19th-century antiquarianism, in which old panelling has been reused or plain types have been later carved or embellished
•    DOUBLE CHAIR-BACK SETTEES the majority of these are 19th-century copies, which may be identified by the quality of the timber and carving, and by the use of carved ornament borrowed from different periods
•    CHAISES-LONGUES mid-18th century Continental chaises-longues should be of pegged construction; 18th-century examples were widely copied in the 19th century – these later pieces are usually betrayed by the stiffness of the carving; chaises-longues have very often been regilded (this will not affect the value if the work is of a high quality); examples that were once brightly painted have often faded

Trays, knife-boxes, cutlery-urns, wine coolers, cellarets, and buckets
TRAYS
Known as “voyders” in the Middle Ages, and conceived not only for clearing away but also for the presentation of delicacies and sweetmeats, the earliest utilitarian trays were probably made of pewter and wood. During the late 17th century lacquered trays imported by the East India companies and European japanned versions revolutionized tray designs. The fashion for tea in the early 18th century was directly reflected upon all of the component parts of the tea ceremony.
Modest trays in oak and elm also survive from the early 18th century, and from the 1750s mahogany trays first appeared in pattern-hooks. Thomas Chippendale (1718-79), in the first edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754), included four designs for trays in the Chinese style with carved fret borders. However, this type is very rare, and Chippendale also supplied designs for plain rectangular trays. From the 1780s trays became increasingly decorative; they were made in mahogany, and other exotic timbers, were sometimes richly inlaid with shells, fan-parquetry, and foliate arabesques of stained fruitwood, or were painted. Late 18th- and early 19th-century trays were dominated by the fashion for japanning, particularly in papier-mache. A process long practised in Persia (now Iran), it was patented in 1772 by the firm of Henry Clay, in Birmingham, and later by Jennens &, Bettridge (active 1816-64) in London. Although papier-mache trays were often of scalloped form, rectangular trays with similar decoration were also fashionable, particularly those of tole peinte or polychrome-painted metal.
KNIFE-BOXES AND CUTLERY-URNS
Supplied in pairs as ornamental containers for silver and enamel-handled cutlery and designed to stand prominently on the serving table, knife-boxes came into fashion during the reign of George II ( 1727-60). Although the basic form, with a serpentine front, remained remarkably unchanged until the 1780s, George 11 knife-boxes were often ten covered with silk-velvet or shagreen, rather than veneered. From the 1760s knife-boxes in mahogany were made and are characterized by their bow-fronted form, hinged slope with drop-handles, and shaped bracket or claw-and-ball feet; they are unembellished apart from the cockbeaded or chequerbanded edges. The interiors, with slopes pierced with holes to display the cutlery in tiers, were also often silk lined but otherwise restrained. During the 1770s their decoration became increasingly lavish, with crossbanding and featherbanding, ebony-inlaid star parquetry to the slopes, and even stylized green-stained shell inlay – a motif particularly identified with North Country workshops – while the feet were discarded altogether in favour of Classical plinths. With the age of satinwood ( 1780-1800), elaborate Neo-classical embellishments became commonplace, and these were often complemented by richly engraved Sheffield plate Mounts. During the 1780s the vase-form knife-box, published by George Hepplewhite (d.1786) in The Cabinet-Maker and upholsterer’s Guide ( 1788-94), was designed to stand either set at each end of the sideboard or on pedestals. Made of satinwood or other light woods, the most refined examples were painted or inlaid with Neo-classical marquetry, arabesques, and simulated flutes, while the spring-loaded lids opened to reveal a chequerbanded interior with concentric tiers for the display of cutlery. During the early 19th century, knife-boxes and cutlery-urns became increasingly redundant both by sideboards with fitted drawers for storage, and by cutlery-urns being affixed to pedestals.
WINE COOLERS AND CELLARETS
As wine was an expensive luxury, receptacles for cooling and storing wine – whether of open-topped cistern (wine cooler) or lidded cellaret form, fitted with a lock, with divisions for bottles –were often lavishly decorated. Although metal and marble cellarets were first recorded in Britain in the late 17th century, it was not until the mid-18th century that lead-lined mahogany examples carved in the Rococo taste were made. Perhaps the most celebrated wine cooler is the Georgian form with a hexagonal or oval body, made of vertical sections of mahogany held together with two or three brass bands.
Neo-classical wine coolers and cellarets were usually conceived en suite with sideboards and pedestals, and were still predominantly of mahogany, although exotic timbers such as satinwood, padouk, and rosewood were also used. Although wine coolers with serpentine-channelled flutes to the body, which were directly inspired by Roman sarcophagi, and those with elaborate marquetry in a lighter style, continued to be made in the 1780s and 1790s, the most common examples were plainer mahogany- hooped with brass, with the lead-lined inside divided with partitions for the bottles. It is from this date that the majority of canted rectangular, circular, dome-lidded, and octagonal examples survive. Increasingly restrained in form and decoration, cellarets were rendered somewhat redundant by the inclusion of cellaret-drawers within designs for dining-room pedestals and sideboards.
During the early 19th century the lidded cellarets of Roman sarcophagus form, which were often of much larger size than its 18th-century predecessors, dominated Regency
pattern-books, and generally do not have stands. While firms such as Dillow (est. c.1730) of
Lancaster, Continued to supply cellarets in superbly figured
mahogany, from 1810 cabinet-makers under the
influence of George Bullock (c.1777-1818) increasingly promoted the use of indigenous English woods such as pollard oak and elm, frequently enriched with foliate marquetry arabesques in the “Buhl” style. However, from the 1830s this decoration became increasingly lavish, often combined with carving, and later Victorian cellarets arc often betrayed by their squatter, heavier proportions.
PLATE-BUCKETS AND PEAT-BUCKETS Plate-buckets are distinguished by their one-dished side that enabled servants to remove plates easily and straight-sided, or even polygonal form. Inspired by the need to ferry- plates the long distances from the kitchen to the dining-room, and usually made in pairs, plate-buckets were initially intended to be placed near the fire to keep the plates warm. The plate-bucket lent itself easily to embellishment and carving with pierced Gothick arcades, Chinese blind fretwork, and even marquetry inlay in the Neo-classical style; plain types were also made. The role of the plate-bucket was superseded in the late 18th century by the warmers enclosed within dining-room pedestals, and thus plate-buckets became increasingly plain, purely for use by servants for carrying china to the dining-room. The “peat-bucket” is an Irish term for a container traditionally thought to have been used for carrying peat to the fireplace. However, this is now thought to be unlikely as the bucket and peat together would have been very heavy indeed. It is now thought that they were used for carrying any number of items, including oysters. Although buckets are usually considered an English form, 18th- and 19th-century ones from The Netherlands arc among the most common found today, and can be distinguished from their English counterparts by their slightly smaller proportions, ribbed tapering bodies and, most characteristically, by the alternating use of light fruitwood and mahogany to give a streaked effect to the bodies.
• TRAYS 18th-century mahogany trays are rare; those that exist are often made from the leaves of old dining-tables; papier-mache trays may suffer from craquelure and
flaking; the best papier-mache examples have mother-of-pearl inlay.
• KNIFE-BOXES many have had the insides removed so that they could be converted to other uses – often as writing-cases in the 19th century; a premium is attached to those that retain their original fitments; examples with shell inlay sire usually from the North Country and Scotland; pairs of cutlery urns are very desirable.
• WINE COOLERS rare examples are those from the 18th century of carved mahogany or walnut.
• PLATE- AND PEAT-BUCKETS these are faked in huge numbers, often from old timber; look out for indications of consistent old damage, shrinkage, and seams to the brass bands, and beware of suspicious stains.