Posts Tagged ‘guilloche’

19th Century Mirrors. Wall Mirrors, Picture Frames. ENGLISH WALL MIRROR, ENGLISH GILTWOOD MIRROR, AMERICAN GIRANDOLE

EARLY 19TH CENTURY MIRRORS
MIRRORS, LIKE PICTURE FRAMES, are decorative so are rarely subjected to much wear. As a result, they are often gessoed and gilded. Painted examples from this period also exist, as well as Empire pier glasses, which often have mahogany frames and ormolu mounts.
From the late 18th century larger plates became available, so early 19th-century mirrors with a divided plate became less common. Although not new, convex plates became especially fashionable in Britain and the United States, and were used in dining rooms to give servants an all-round view of the table. The convex mirror plate was usually framed by an ebonized and needed slip with a gilt frame echoing the shape of the mirror. The frame
The acanthus leaves are pierced and scroll-carved.
was often surmounted with an eagle or similar motif and frequently had candle arms attached to it.
Also fashionable was the use of verrc eglomise in which glass was back-painted in black and then engraved with a design before gilding. Verne eglomise plates were frequently inserted above normal plates. Mirrors with a more rectilinear design were also popular, particularly those intended to stand above pier tables between windows. From the late 1820s, revival styles led to the reintroduction of Chippendale-style mirrors in Britain; these are often difficult to distinguish from the 18th-century originals. In Florence, boldly carved foliate frames were introduced in imitation of the Baroque originals.
The guilloche motif is stylized.

ITALIAN WALL MIRROR
This rectangular giltwood wall mirror has a carved softwood frame featuring guilloche and stylized, scrolling acanthus leaves. The whole frame has been covered in white gesso and then given an undercoat of red paint, before
being gilded. The ornate, sculptural form of the mirror frame is reminiscent of the Baroque style of the 17th century, and harks back to the designs of Andrea Brustolon and the work of the Genoese carver, Filippo Parodi.

REGENCY MIRROR
This giltwood mirror has a moulded cornice with ball decoration above a panel with a shell cresting flanked by latticework. Columns flank both sides of the mirror. Early 19th century.
ENGLISH PIER GLASS
With a concave cornice above a ring-and-leaf frieze, this giltwood and gesso pier glass has 11 plates of varying sizes divided by astragals and flanked by half columns.

AMERICAN LOOKING GLASS
This simple, late Neoclassical maple looking glass has a rectangular mirror plate set within a relatively unadorned rectangular frame. The top and sides of the mirror frame have corner blocks joined by half-section balusters with
gilded and moulded ends. Like the mirror above, this type of overmantel mirror is sometimes erroneously referred to as “Adam”, perhaps because of its rectilinear Neoclassical styling, or perhaps because such mirrors frequently featured in Robert Adam interiors. c.1835.

This giltwood and ebonized girandole has a convex mirror plate with a reeded slip. The frame is decorated with carved leaves, has four candle arms, and is surmounted by the Federal eagle. c.1825.
The circular, mirrored plate sits within a reeded ebonized slip and a ball-moulded frame. The frame is surmounted by a dragon flanked by two sea serpents. Below is a leaf-carved apron. c.1815.
This mirror is set within a moulded gadrooned frame, surmounted by a painted figure of Neptune. At the base is a giltwood figure of Triton, and foliate arms that end in candle nozzles.
This simple Regency giltwood mirror has a convex mirror plate within a circular leaf-moulded and reeded border. It might originally have had candle arms or cresting. Early 19th century. Diarn:58cm
ENGLISH WALL MIRROR
ENGLISH GILTWOOD MIRROR
OVAL MIRROR
AMERICAN GIRANDOLE

AMERICAN LOOKING GLASS
This tall, narrow, carved mahogany looking glass frame has a moulded cornice above a veneered frieze. The mirror plate is flanked by projecting blocks linked by carved urns and slender pilasters. c.1825.
AMERICAN LOOKING GLASS
The moulded cornice of this giltwood mirror is hung with ball decoration above a wreath-andacanthus moulded frieze. Below this is a tablet. The colonnettes are rope-turned. c.1800.
IRISH OVAL MIRROR
This oval mirror, one of a pair, has its original plate set within a copper frame, which is decorated with applied, alternating blue and clear crystal facets. Late 18th–early 19th century.
BIEDERMEIER PIER GLASS
The rosewood-veneered frame of this southern German pier glass has an architectural pediment above an ebonized panel depicting the Goddess Diana in gilded brass. c.1820.
AMERICAN LOOKING GLASS
This Classical mahogany and carved giltwood looking glass has an architectural pediment above a carved eagle tablet and a mirror plate flanked by colonettes. Early 19th century.
This carved and gilded looking glass has a moulded, projecting cornice above a carved frieze, with a verre tablet, and reeled pilasters. Early 19th century.
AMERICAN GILTWOOD MIRROR
This Federal mirror has a broken pediment with ball decoration above a verre eglomise panel depicting Hope with an anchor, flanked with festoons. The columns have spiral beading.

EARLY 19TH CENTURY
BRITISH EXOTICISM
A RICH MIX OF BOTH FOREIGN AND HOME-GROWN INFLUENCES AFFECTED THE DESIGN OF BRITISH FURNITURE DURING THE REGENCY PERIOD.
FROM MOGUL DOMES to Islamic arches, Regency designers drew on a wide variety of exotic sources. When Napoleon invaded Egypt in July 1798, his invasion force included not only soldiers, but artists and poets, botanists, zoologists, and cartographers. The ensuing publication of Descriptions de I’Egypt established a vogue in France for all things Egyptian.
ANCIENT EGYPT
The Egyptian craze surfaced in Britain following Nelson’s subsequent defeat of Napoleon in 1798 at the Battle of the Nile. Sphinx heads appeared on the pilasters of bookcases and side cabinets and lotus leaves were carved on chair splats and printed on textiles and wallpaper designs.
Thomas Hope designed furniture based on the engravings of the French Egyptologist, Baron Denon, and Thomas Chippendale the Younger, who had inherited his father’s famous workshop, created a suite of furniture for Stourhead in 1805, resplendent with sphinx masks. These pieces were made in mahogany, but the foreign motifs of the period were often complemented by the use of highly polished, unusual, imported timbers: streaky salamander, dark ebony, or flecked amboyna.
CHINOISERIE REVIVAL
An integral part of the Rococo repertoire in Britain during the mid 18th century, Chinoiserie enjoyed a revival in the early 19th century. The Royal architect,
A DWARF GOTHIC CABINET
This lacquered cabinet has a crenellated
Lipper section with octagonal corner
towers. A deeper base with a pierced
quatrefoil gallery sits above a pair of
tracery panelled doors flanked by
clasping buttresses. The cabinet
stands on a plinth base. Early 19th
century.
REGENCY TORCHERE STAND This stand is made, of bronzed and gilded wood. Below the top is a guilloche moulded frieze and three gilt supports, with lion masks, joined by Cross supports with applied rosettes. The concave base rests on gilt paw feet.
A CHINESE EXPORT BUREAU This bureau has u fall front above three drawers, a shaped apron, and is raised on cabriole legs. All the surfaces are black and gilt lacquered with lake scenery and flowers.
19th century.
Henry Holland. was profoundly influenced by Sir
George Stauntons An Authentic Account of an Embassy
“M the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China n 1797: and interest in the Far East increased after Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, when further British envoys ere sent to the new emperor of China, Chia-Ch’ing.
Furniture was japanned black with gilt to simulate lacquer – as in the late 17th century – while lacquer cabinets (or lacquer panels reused from early screens) were incorporated into British cabinet work. Oriental bamboo was also echoed in the ring turnings on late Regency chairs. Many pieces of furniture were made out of genuine bamboo, while others were turned
and painted to simulate it.
The Prince Regent gave the royal seal of approval to this trend when he furnished several rooms at the Brighton Pavilion with bamboo furniture imported from China. Indeed, this architectural folly became the most famous mixing pot of all the exotic styles of the Regency period.
Western styles of lacquer and bamboo furniture were also imported from Canton. The trade in goods from China to Britain had been established since the early 17th century, but the scale of Chinese imports in the 19th century was unprecedented. As well as imported, Chinoiserie-style furniture, Oriental motifs such as dragons appeared on the crestings of convex mirrors, while latticework and Chinese panelling were applied to chair backs, commode friezes, or brass grills on side cabinets or chiffoniers.
STYLES FROM THE SUBCONTINENT
India, as well as China, influenced the decoration of the Brighton Pavilion. Nash was inspired by William and Thomas Daniell’s book, Oriental Scenery, and included pierced screens, copied from Indian jails (perforated stone screens from Madhya Pradesh), in his designs. The interest in India manifested itself more in the importation of Western-style furniture, than in the application of Indian motifs to British furniture. Exotic ivory-inlaid rosewood furniture and boxes came from Vizagapatam, and ebony chairs of Regency form were shipped from Ceylon.
HISTORICISM
Towards the end of the Regency period, designers and furniture-makers turned away from exoticism and towards their own traditions for inspiration. The Napoleonic wars and their subsequent victories spawned a surge in nationalist feeling. This, along with the historic novels of Walter Scott, inspired designers such as George Bullock and Richard Bridgens to include Elizabethan and Jacobean motifs in furniture for Abbotsford and Aston Hall in the late 1810s and early 1820s. Gothic motifs were always prevalent, particularly as tracery in glazing bars and in panels for cabinet doors. Pointed arches appeared as early as 1807 in the backs of hall chairs published by George Smith. This furniture, often commissioned by a new breed of antiquarian collectors such as William Beckford, was usually made in oak or other native timbers.

MID 19TH CENTURY BUFFETS AND SIDEBOARDS

THE VICTORIAN PENCHANT for formal
social gatherings made the buffet and the sideboard very important items of furniture in more affluent households. Both were used in the dining room to display food and house crockery. They differed in that the buffet was a rather grand superstructure with two or more tiers, similar to the kitchen dresser,
whereas the sideboard was a less imposing, single-tiered cabinet.
DIFFERING STYLES
A wide variety of shapes were popular during this time, incorporating elements from various periods and styles. Arched tops and backs became more common as forms in general grew more rounded, although the traditional rectangular shape certainly persisted. The range of leg shapes used included cup and cover, square, tapering, and cabriole – all very different in style.
Woods used for buffets and sideboards tended to vary just
as they had in the late 18th century. Although these pieces of furniture were often made of mahogany or oak, many carried veneers of burr timbers.
From the mid 19th century. people wanted everything in a room to match in style and material. As a result, in many houses, all the furniture in the dining room, including the buffet or sideboard, would be made of a single wood, such as oak or walnut.
DESIGNED FOR STORAGE
As well as displaying and serving food, the buffet was used to store cutlery, dinnerware. and even decorative objets. Victorian households were Cluttered environments. and the sideboard was a reflection of this. They were peppered with various Compartments, cupboards, and drawers, each with their own specific purpose and many fitted with locks. Buffets in the grandest houses could be exceptionally large, with an average height of more than 183cm (6ft).
BRITISH SIDEBOARD
This early Victorian, possibly Anglo-Indian, oak sideboard has an elaborately shaped backboard surmounted by a number of finials and with an urn at its centre. Below the urn is an applied, carved coat-of-arms. The stepped, rectangular
top of the sideboard has a carved edge, above a gadrooned guilloche frieze and an elaborately carved strapwork apron. The sideboard is raised on carved cup-and-cover legs with gadroon
supports above plinth bases carved with paterae and pedestal feet.
FRENCH LOUIS XV-STYLE BUFFET
This Louis XV-style, cherry and burr walnut buffet has a moulded, gently arched top above a frieze carved with a flowering basket. The upper section of the buffet has a number of open shelves for displaying cups, plates, and decorative objects. These open shelves are
flanked by a pair of decorative serpentine panelled doors. The lower section of the buffet has two small frieze drawers and two further large panelled doors carved with swirling foliate decoration. The buffet has an ornamental shaped apron and is raised on short, slightly cabriole legs. Late 19th century.
BREAKFRONT SIDEBOARD
British mahogany breakfront sideboard is v decorated with satinwood banding and wood and ebony stringing. Two square,
doors flank the two graduated central
The case stands on six square,
tapering legs, terminating in spade feet. This elegant piece is Neoclassical in style and was probably based on a Sheraton example of around 1780. The deep cupboards would have been used for storing wine, and the frieze drawers for storing silver or cutlery. Late 19th century.
BRITISH MAHOGANY SIDEBOARD
This mahogany sideboard has a scrolling, arched backboard that is centred by a cabochon with mask surmount. The reverse breakfront top contains ogee frieze drawers and the four arched panelled doors enclose both sliding trays and shelves. The whole sideboard is raised on a plinth base.
FRENCH OAK BUFFET
The upper section of this oak buffet stands on turned supports and has a moulded cornice above two glazed doors, which open on to a shelved interior. The doors are flanked by fluted pilasters. The rectangular top of the lower section has two frieze drawers above two cupboard doors with applied carved decoration showing a Classical urn filled with flowers. It stands on squashed bun feet. Late 19th century.
BRITISH PEDESTAL SIDEBOARD
This fine George III-style mahogany, satinwood, and marquetry sideboard was made by Wright and Mansfield. The pedestals of the desk contain cellaret drawers for storing wine. The decorative motifs are strongly Neoclassical in manner, inspired by Robert Adam’s (1728-92) delicate interpretation of the style. The
elongated urns centred on each of the pedestals also serve to indicate their contents. Lightly drawn swags and striking anthemion motifs are used to define the individual drawers and cupboards, and to accentuate the essential symmetry of the piece with its carefully balanced use of curved and flat surfaces, sinuous lines, and geometric shape. c.1880.
ANGLO-INDIAN SERVING TABLE
The backboard of this hardwood serving table is elaborately carved with anthemion, acanthus, and birds. The rectangular top has bold, leaf-carved edging and rests on carved brackets with foliate fretwork to the back and sides. The table has a curved support with carved paw feet. Mid 1911) century.
ANGLO-INDIAN CABINET
The shelved upper section of this rosewood bookcase cabinet has leaf-moulded cresting above twin doors with elaborate pierced and carved panels, flanked by scrolling brackets. The lower section has two long, carved frieze drawers above two similarly carved doors. The piece stands on carved bracket feet.

Art Nouveau: Furniture
Furniture
The French, the main exponents of Art Nouveau, adapted Arts and Crafts designs to create inventive, sculptural furniture, embellished with fine organic decoration. Elsewhere in Europe interpretations of the style varied, although nature was always the main source of inspiration. In Belgium designers such as Victor Horta and Gustave Serrurier-Bovy combined originality
with traditional influences; in Austria the firm of Gebruder Thonet developed the bentwood technique, and the Wiener Werks6tte created rectilinear pieces. In Spain the designs of Antoni Gaudi were exotic, asymmetrical, and idiosyncratic, while in Italy those of Carlo Bugatti were highly inventive and inspired by North African motifs.
The two main centres of Art Nouveau furniture production in France were Nancy, in north-eastern France, and Paris. The Nancy School (est. 1901) drew heavily on nature for inspiration – a theme that was central to all Art Nouveau design. Furniture by members of the school typically features superb, Intricate marquetry panels, used to decorate organic-, naturalistic-, even zoomorphic-shaped supports and mouldings. The furniture made by the Paris School also took inspiration from nature but in a much more THE NANCY SCHOOL
Although perhaps more strongly associated with glassware, Emile Galle (1846-1904), one of the most prominent members of the Nancy School, also produced some of the most exquisite Art Nouveau furniture. He often ignored the conventions of traditional furniture construction and created sinuous, curving forms such as tables supported by huge dragonflies’ wings, bronze mounts in the form of insects, and handles in the shape of snails, grapes, corn, and barley. Much of his furniture. is embellished with fine marquetry decoration. In 1885 a cabinetmaking and marquetry workshop was added to Galle’s glassworks in Nancy: tea-tables, screens, nests of tables, and gueridons were produced until 1890, after Which larger, more sophisticated and exclusive furniture Was made. Furniture was produced in Galle’s workshop after his death, but these pieces are more traditional and have less inventive decoration than items produced during his lifetime.
Another celebrated member of the Nancy School was Louis Majorelle (1859-1926). An accomplished cabinetmaker with a sound knowledge of wood and veneers, Majorelle stayed within the established limits of furniture design, applying superb floral decoration to largely conventional carcasses. He combined dark, exotic, strongly grained hardwoods with mother-of-pearl and metal inlays. Majorelle worked mainly to commission, so his work is rare and highly sought after. Distinctive characteristics such as superb marquetry, often incorporating a chicory-leaf motif, pleated silk back panels, inlaid decoration, and symmetrical forms are found on his individual, elegant pieces. His finest pieces were produced between c.1898 and 1906 and were decorated with beautiful ormolu mounts of waterlilies and orchids. From 1906 to 1908 Majorelle’s workshop was industrialized and produced a wide range of lightly sculptured furniture, which was aimed at a more general market than his earlier, one-off pieces.
THE PARIS SCHOOL
Samuel Bing’s gallery, La Maison de I’Art Nouveau, provided a focus for the Paris School, with members including Hector Guimard (1867-1942), Eugene Gaillard (1862-1933), and Georges de Feure (1868-1928). Pieces were more restrained and sculptural than those of the Nancy School, but decoration was still based on nature. Guimard, heavily influenced by Victor Horta, whom he met in Brussels in 1895, is best known for the wrought-iron entrances he designed for the Paris Metro, which are the epitome of Parisian Art Nouveau. His finely made furniture, crafted mostly from fruitwoods, was equally stylized and sculptural. The same balance between naturalistic forms and elegant design is evident in the work of Gaillard and De Feure, whose symmetrical, graceful forms with bold outlines often feature organic marquetry designs and carved whiplash decoration.
The Nancy School
• STYLE most designs are highly imaginative in form, typically inspired by nature, and extremely decorative
• DECORATION this is important: designers used exotic-wood veneers, mother-of-pearl and metal inlay, ormolu Mounts, and superb marquetry, often with chicory-leaf or whiplash motifs
• COLLECTING all pieces are rare and valuable
The Paris School
• STYLE this is more stylized than that of the Nancy School, with nature often used symbolically
• DECORATION whiplash motifs are typical
Belgium Art Nouveau first took a clearly defined form in Brussels with the building of the Hotel Tassel, designed in 1892-3 by Victor Horta (1861-1947), but the style was short-lived and was quickly moderated after the International Exhibition of 1905 in Liege. However, Horta’s influence was longer-lasting, with his ideas and motifs – in particular his whiplash design –reinterpreted by many European designers. Elsewhere in Europe, although nature’s curves were a source of inspiration for all designers, interpretations of Art Nouveau were varied. Austrian designers preferred rectilinear, often severe forms, and Spanish and Italian designers created highly idiosyncratic furniture.
The painter, architect, and graphic designer Van de Velde gained renown after he created three rooms for
La Maison de I’Art Nouveau, the Parisian gallery owned by Samuel Bing (1838-1905) that acted as a centre of artistic inspiration for the Paris School. Van de Velde’s designs – similar to those of the Paris School – are characterized by an overall restrained sculptural form with little applied decoration. Chairs typically have slender splats, out-curving legs, and upholstery held in place by studwork. Van dc Velde designed whole interiors, including that of his own
house, Bloemenwerf, at Uccle, near Brussels, which he completed in 1896. He produced furniture mainly to commission, so his designs are rare, and correspondingly keenly sought after.
AUSTRIA
One of the major factors in the development of Art Nouveau furniture in Austria was the pioneering of the bentwood technique by the innovative furniture designer Michael Thonet (1796-1871). The process involved steaming
solid or laminated wood so that it could be bent into shape, allowing angular corner joints to be replaced by gentle curves. The sinuous curves associated with Art Nouveau featured heavily in the first catalogue of bentwood furniture, produced by the Viennese firm of Gebruder Thonet (est. 1819) in 1859; the first bentwood rocker was created the following year.
One of Thonet’s major designers was the architect Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956), a leading member of the Vienna Secession, an independent group of architects and designers who aspired to introduce a purer, more abstract style of design. Hoffmann was one of the founders of the Wiener Werkstatte (1903-32), an association formed with the aim of producing
V Recliner by Gebruder Thonet
The elegant, curving shapes typical of bentwood furniture were a precursor of the Art Nouveau style and have remained popular. Larger examples, such as bentwood rocking-chairs, are highly sought after and valuable. This Austrian bentwood and cane recliner (no. 7500), with an adjustable back hinged in the centre, is a rare and collectable model.
aesthetically pleasing objects, including furniture,
for everyday use. Hoffman’s furniture designs for the Wiener Werkstatte were strongly influenced by the work of the Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928), and included tables and chairs made from beechwood, mahogany, limed oak, and other ebonized woods. The forms were characteristically linear and geometric, although his bentwood designs have gently rounded corners. Decoration consists largely of open-centred rectangles or squares, with a ball motif at intersections. From 1903 these rectangular and rectilinear shapes replaced the more French-influenced floral and curving style of the earlier Austrian Art Nouveau style.
SPAIN
In Spain the Art Nouveau style was dominated by a small group of Catalan architects, most notably Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926). Gaudi’s highly idiosyncratic furniture was generally designed for the interiors of his extraordinary, sculptural buildings: for example, he designed a kidney-shaped chaise-longue and dressing-table for the Guiell Palace (1885-9) in Barcelona, the home of the textile-manufacturer Count Eusebi Guell, who was one of Gaudi’s major patrons. Especially striking in the designer’s work is his bold rejection of symmetry and his use of twisting, strangely contorted forms. The employment of the central Art Nouveau theme of nature is evident in Gaudi’s preference for extremely sculptural, curving, organic
structures over straight lines, and his frequent use of floral decoration. In common with other Spanish Art Nouveau
furniture, Gauch’s pieces often serve multiple roles: sofas sometimes incorporate
small tables, while display-cabinets house mirrors and cupboards. Gaudi’s preferred wood was oak, but other Spanish designers used pale woods including ash, birch,
Lind sycamore, which were characteristically combined with burnished metal and fine marquetry decoration.
ITALY
The major designer of Italian Stile Liberty (Art
Nouveau) furniture was Carlo Bugatti (1855-1940), who, like Gaudi, designed furniture for specific locations, notably the Moorish interior he created for the Italian Pavilion at the Turin International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in 1902. The influence of North Africa is evident in his use of subdued colours (largely browns and blacks), circular seat-backs, strips of beaten and pierced metal, tassels, and vellum upholstery. Bugatti’s lavish use of ivory, brass, and pewter inlay is also a predominant feature, but such intricate decoration is very vulnerable and often slightly damaged. However, the rarity and desirability of Bugatti’s work means that even less than perfect examples are still highly collectable. His range of designs included larger pieces
such as sectional bench seats, elements of which were produced as cabinets, tables, and chairs. As with Gaudi, Bugatti’s designs were highly inventive and often involved a combination of different elements – scats had integral lamps, and tables sometimes included cabinets. Another Italian designer of this period was Carlo Zen (1851-1918), whose furniture is typified by inlaid mother-of-pearl, silver, and brass and restrained forms similar to those of the Paris School.
Belgium
• STYLE Serrurier-Bovy: designs are more restrained than French pieces; Van de Velde: pieces have a restrained, sculptural form with no applied decoration; most chairs have slender splats and out-curving legs, with upholstery (often leather) held in place by studs
• COLLECTING commissioned furniture is rare and sought after; Serrurier-Bovy: Silex furniture is more accessibly priced; fakes are virtually unknown
Marks
Serrurier-Bovy: the Silex range is all clearly stamped “SILEX”; Van de Velde: work is rarely marked; pieces can often be identified from contemporary photographs
Austria
• STYLE Thonet; bentwood furniture is strongly characterized by sinuous curves; Wiener Werkstatte: their work is typified by geometric, angular designs
• COLLECTING Thonet: bentwood chairs with cane seats were mass-produced in various designs and in large quantities so arc readily available; more desirable are the rarer large rocking-chairs and recliners
Marks
Wiener Werkstatte: pieces are rarely signed but the quantities of original designs and contemporary photographs that survive make identification easier
A Dressing table designed by Antoni Gaudi
The keynote to this dressing-table, designed for the Guell Palace in Barcelona, is asymmetry The piece rests on five inlaid and carved legs, each of which is a different shape, with a curved iron stretcher. The mirror is placed at an angle, and the cylindrical cupboards at the sides are placed at different levels. Such a rejection of traditional forms is absolutely typical of Gaudi – both in his fantastic architectural work and in his furniture design.

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Console, side, and pier tables
Tables conceived to stand against walls were first recorded in the 15rh century and served as both serving tables and sideboards. It was not until the 17th century that purely ornamental pier tables came into fashion. Invariably executed in giltwood, often by a specialist carver or sculptor, the finest Roman side tables of the 1670s and 1680s are characterized by their thick, marble slabs supported by boldly scrolled foliage, acanthus, and mythological figures. Not to be outdone Louis XIV had pier tables designed for him with caryatid, putto, and scrolled dolphin supports, and side tables, usually gilded, with thick marble tops; legs draped withlain1hrccluins and foliage, are either figurative or of tapered licrin form, joined by a waved and scrolled X-shaped stretcher.
THE 18TH CENTURY
The general pattern of the Louis XIV side table was inspirational to cabinet-makers throughout Europe and following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), when Huguenot craftsmen settled in England, English side tables became increasingly elaborate and sophisticated, with oyster-veneered parquetry, marquetry, or even inlay in the style of Charles-Andre Boulle (1642-1732).
Lord Burlington (1694-1753) and the architect William Kent (c.1685-1748) returned from the Grand Tour in 1719. Kent revolutionized the design of English side tables bringing to them a Baroque magnificence. Usually of giltwood or mahogany, his tables arc characterized by their architectural design and grandeur, embellished mainly with Vitrux-ian -scroll, guilloche, or Greek-key fret mouldings.
Defined 1w their bracket construction and designed to be affixed to the wall, console tables arc first recorded Ili the late 17th century. Kent is credited with the design of consoles supported by the splayed wings of Jupiter’s eagle, arguably the most celebrated George II pattern. The luxurious tradition of Louis XIV consoles, usually of giltwood, oak, or walnut, survived during the Regence (1715-23). Principally designed as stands to support expensive and exotically figured marble tops, they are usually serpentine-fronted and supported by tapering, double C-scroll front legs, perhaps headed by espagnolette masks or dragons, while the X-shaped stretchers are often centred by gadrooncd finials or urns. Louis XV consoles arc closely related in form to their way to a taste for or the exotic and Oriental, particularly
giving chinoiserie and Turkish motifs, before finally in to Neo-classicism in the 1760s.
Ili England the architects Sir William Chambers 1723-96) and Robert Adam ( 1728-92) revolutionized the design of English side, pier, and console tables during the late 18th century. Side tables were often gilded or of carved mahogany; pier tables tend to be either rectangular or semi-ch ptical, their panelled friezes perhaps fluted or centred by breakfront tablets, and
the legs either tapered or turned and fluted, possibly even headed by Neo-classical urnsand standing oil stepped block feet. From the I770s the tops of ornamental pier tables were frequently decorated with marquetry. Plainer examples, often in satinwood and inlaid with fans, flutes, husks, and richly figured woods, were also supplied in pairs. During the 1780s
there was a fashion for semi-elliptical pier tables that were painted, often on satinwood, with flowers, Musical trophies and Classical vignettes. A loading influence in the late 1780s was the Prince of Wales (later George IV) who, with his architect Henry Holland (1745-1806), 45-1806), promoted the fashion for tables in the elegant Louis XVI style. Often of “white and gold”, although those of satinwood and mahogany often inlaid with shells or simply crossbanded still found favour, late Georgian tables are light and delicate fit form.
The fashion for Neo-classical marquetry side tables was reflected throughout Europe and North America, perhaps nowhere more prolifically than in Italy, where the name of the Milanese cabinet-maker Giuseppe Nlaggiolilii (1738-1814) has since become synonymous With furniture decorated with magnificent arabesque marquetry, sphinxes, and mythological trophies. However, cabinet-makers such as David Roentgen (1743-1807) fit Germany, Georg Haupt (1741-84) Ili Sweden, and Thomas Seymour (1;’71-1848) in North America were also keen exponents of - marquetry Ili the Neo-classical style.
THE 19TH CENTURY
The console table represents arguably the purest expression of the Empire style. Inspired by the architectural schemes proposed by Napoleon I’s architects, Pierre Fontaine (c.1762-1853) and Charles Percier (1764-1838), in their Reciueil de decorations interieures (1801), as well as by the publication of Aventures damps /,7 passe et la haute Egypte (1802) by Baron Vivant Derion (1747-1825), Empire consoles are usually rectangular in form. Their overhanging marble slab tops supported by Egyptian winged perm-caryatids, griffins, and sphinxes, arc designed to be reflected by their mirrored backs often mounted with superb chased and burnished ormolu, the burnished areas often deliberately contrasted with “antique” urigildcd bronze elements. Although they are usually executed in the finest figured mahogany, the British blockade of 1806 pushed the prices up prohibitively and forced ebeizistes (cabinet-makers) to resort to such indigenous woods as maple, ash, elm, and walnut. The Empire style was embraced in Germany by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (17811841) of Berlin, and in Britain Thomas Hope (1769-1831) included several designs for console and side tables with winged griffin and sphinx supports in his Household Furniture and Interior Decoration Executed from Designs 1)), Thomas Hope ( 1807). The mounts of Regency mahogany tables were more restrained and sparse, their “Grecian” ornaments – wreaths, palmettos, patcrae, sphinxes, and lion-masks – often being carved.
From c.1815, side tables and consoles became increasingly elaborate in both form and decoration. The Buhl revival of the 1820s, as well as the fashion under the French King Charles X (1824-30) for furniture en hoist Clair (pale wood), gradually gave way to the Gothic Revival of the 1820s and 1830s, a style in England identified with William Beckford ( 1760-1844) and subsequently A.W.N. Pugin (1812-52). From c.1830, consoles in the Louis XV or Rococo Revival taste again became fashionable; these were gradually superceded by an enthusiasm for all things Italian – particularly of Baroque and, subsequently, Renaissance design including the Milanese ebony side tables inlaid with ivory and copied by the English firm of Gillow (est.
c.1730) of Lancaster.
• REGARDING the fashion for regilding in the 18th and 19th centuries often results in less crisp detailing, as the carved decoration becomes obscured under lavers of gesso and gilding; it is not uncommon to find 18th-century furniture with four or five layers of gilding or gold-painted decoration; the commercial value of a piece of giltwood furniture is affected by the quality and condition of the giltwood surface.
• FAKES many giltwood console tables in the style of Kent have been faked; the provenance of the piece is therefore important
• COLLECTING the variety of tables is huge and usually there is something available for every pocket; many console tables were made as vehicles for the expensive marble that topped them, and those examples that retain their original tops will command a premium; pier tables were usually made in pairs, and the value is considerably more.

Pembroke and sofa tables
The elegant dropleaf table known as the Pembroke table, so called, according to Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) in his pattern-book The Cabinet Dictionary (1803), “from the name of the lady who first gave orders for one of them”, was part of the evolution of the breakfast table. The Pembroke table was eventually replaced in the fashionable drawing-room by the sofa table, an extended version of the type, v developed in the last years of the 18th and the first decade of the 19th century.
Pembroke table
This English mahogany serpentine Pembroke table is an elegant example of its type. It has square-tapered legs, brass feet, and casters, which are all typical features of Pembroke tables of this period.
PEMBROKE TABLES
Recorded in accounts from the 1750s, Pembroke tables were placed in the drawing-room and the boudoir where they were used for taking meals, playing cards, writing, and needlework. By the 1770s this elegant, useful form was well established, and was often a vehicle for the finest cabinet-making of the Neo-classical period. The basic structure, with its two side flaps supported on hinged brackets, lent itself to almost limitless variations. The opened table may form a rectangle or a square, an oval or an octagon; it can be straight or bow-fronted, with rounded, serpentine, or D-shaped flaps; the wood can be plain or crossbanded, with marquetry, painting, or carved decoration; and the legs may be of cabriole or straight-tapered shape, of round or square section.
A drawer in the frieze is usual, but some examples have sliding sections concealing compartments, while the rare “harlequin” type includes a mechanism to raise and lower compartments of drawers and pigeon holes within the centre. Most 18th-century Pembroke tables are Supported on their four legs without understretchers, while others have decorated base supports or small platforms. Appropriately for a highly mobile piece of furniture, nearly every example is fitted with casters.
While examples are known in the Gothic and Chinese tastes of the 1760s, those produced between 1770 and 1800 reflect the Neo-classical taste at its most refined.
Veneers are of mahogany, satinwood,
or other luxurious woods; lines
are simple, proportions carefully
considered, and ornament is of the greatest delicacy. The examples illustrated by George Hepplewhite (4.1786) in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide (1788-94) are typical of those available to the gentry during the last quarter of the 18th century. Pembroke tables with tapering legs of attenuated cabriole form, ending in the thinnest of scroll feet, were the result of French influence toward the end of the 18th century. Some had finely chiselled gilt-brass mounts.
Decoration took the form of plain stringing or crossbanding, or marquetry borders of anthemion, husks, guilloche, or scrolling acanthus, with such
embellishments as shells, medallions, or florets. These could also he painted, although garlands, beribboned swags, or tapering trails were the most usual.
The proportions of late 18th-century Pembroke tables are crucial; the side flaps are usually (but not always) equal to half the width of the central section, and should be one-third of the table height in their fall postion. There should be a frieze drawer at one end with a dummy drawer oil the opposite end. An oval table usually also displays bow-fronted end friezes to match the curve of the top. Each flap should have one or two fly-bracket Supports, opening sideways on wooden hinges. The legs should be tapered and the tops of the legs should continue upward to form the side frame of the drawer.
Pembroke tables continued to be made in the 19th century, the most advanced design having a central column with splayed legs (called a pillar and claw), which Sheraton illustrated in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book (1791-1802). A slightly later variant was the platform base. Pembroke tables of the 1820s and 1830s are of characteristically squat proportions, with turned tapered legs, and often have two frieze drawers, one above the other.
A Pembroke table
The top of this British oval Pembroke table is set with segmented satinwood veneers and decorated with marquetry The large oval paten medallion in the centre of the top is surrounded by a band of sycamore set with scrolling plants and flowerheads, with similar decoration on the outer moulded border. Its delicate construction and graceful appearance give it especially feminine associations. As with many tables of this type, this sofa table has a real and an opposing dummy drawer; the legs are decorated with pendent husks typical of late 13th-century Neo-classical ornament.
SOFA TABLES
The sofa table was as varied as the Pembroke table in the details of its design and decoration and, like its predecessor, it followed a defining form. According to Sheraton in The Cabinet Dictionary (1803), the sofa table was specifically for use “before a sofa” where “the Ladies chiefly occupy them to draw, write or read upon
Sofa tables are usually between 1.52m (5ft) and 1.83m (6ft) long, when fully extended, and 61cm (24m) wide. The flaps, supported on fly brackets, are each about one-quarter of the width of the central section. Some examples have sliding-topped compartments in the middle for games, or rising desks for writing and drawing, but the majority have one long or two short drawers on one side of the frieze, with corresponding dummy drawers on the opposite side.
The edges of sofa-table tops are always straight, and the corners of the flaps rounded, or chamfered to form “octagon corners”, but the bases are hugely varied and closely reflect the evolving design styles of the Regency period. The top may be set on end supports, with or
without stretchers across the middle, or central supports rising from a platform base. The legs are so designed that the feet can fit a little way under a sofa, allowing the table to be pulled close to the sitter. They arc nearly always on casters.
The plainest sofa tables have plank-shaped supports dividing into splayed tapered or sabre legs with brass cappings and casters. Alternatively after c.1810, rectangular plinths were set at right angles to the uprights, often with scrolls in the angles and with scrolled feet. For more luxurious sofa tables lyre-shaped end supports or patterns of decorative spindles were favoured, and while the lion monopodia that were advocated by George Smith (active c.1786-1828) in A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1808) were rarely executed, the lion mask often appears on the decorative brass drawer handles. “Hipped” sabre or cabriole legs were also popular; they appear often on sofa tables with central supports. All of these shapes could be embellished with reeding, lines of inlaid wood or brass, or strategically placed carved paterae or leaves. Cross-stretchers provided many, opportunities for decorative turnings. Inlaid brass decoration on the table top and frieze was sometimes matched on the legs, and/or on the fronts of the fly brackets.
The timbers used for sofa tables range from plain mahogany or more fashionable timbers such as rosewood to exotic woods including calamander; lightly coloured woods such as satinwood for veneering were now no longer in vogue in the 19th century, except for crossbandings as a foil to the dark woods now in favour; common timbers such as beech could be stained or ebonized to simulate these. By c.1815 brass inlays in the manner advocated by George Bullock (c.1777-1818) were generally used to create decorative contrasts; the most lavish examples have ormolu mounts as well as inlaid brass. A rare but significant form of surface decoration on sofa tables was black and white penwork, painted by ladies to imitate inlaid ivory decoration.
Because they have been highly desirable for a long time many sofa tables have been “improved” or even fabricated beyond acceptable levels of repair and restoration. As well as “marriages” between tops and associated bases, decoration such as crossbandings or brass inlays may have been added to tops to enhance the commercial value. Bases may have been legitimately repaired, but many sofa tables have been “made up” with the trestle supports from old (and much less expensive) cheval mirrors. These arc liable to look somewhat flimsy in proportion to the table tops. Wood grain running the length of a sofa-table top, rather than across it, may indicate a top made up from another larger piece of old furniture.
• PEMBROKE TABLES beside the genuine repairs that may be necessary in the course of time, collectors should beware of later restorations and alterations to Pembroke tables: these include substituting an oval top for a (less valuable) square or rectangular one; inserting decorative veneers or crossbandings into a plain surface to increase the value, or later painting, on a previously undecorated table – usually identifiable by the quality
• SOFA TABLES those tables that have low stretchers are generally less popular than those with higher stretchers, which allow more leg room; sometimes lower stretchers have been moved, and the scars that are left should be visible, although often these areas have been re-veneered to hide them; satinwood or rosewood tables are more desirable than mahogany, and end-support tables more sought after than those with central pedestals; the best sofa tables have cedar-lined drawers
В

Candlesticks are among today’s most popular and collectable silver items. The earliest-surviving domestic examples date from the mid-17th century, but most found today were made from the 18th century onward. A great variety of styles is available, from the Classical column shape of the late 18th century to the inventive figural and telescopic forms of the 19th century.
Early candlesticks were cast in solid silver, but huge numbers of less expensive examples stamped from rolled silver sheet were being produced in Birmingham and Sheffield by the 1770s – these were among the first-ever items mass-produced by industrial methods. It is important to remember when buying candlesticks and candelabra that most were made as pairs.
Candlesticks Before 1800
Until the age of mass production, silver candlesticks were used mostly by the Church and the wealthy; others tended to be made of less expensive pewter. Examples made before the mid-17th century are rare. Medieval candlesticks, made largely for church altars, featured tripod feet and a pricker (metal spike) to hold the candle: sockets or sconces for the candle were not introduced until the 15th century. Candlesticks were usually made as pairs and are generally sold as such today; single candlesticksmay sometimes be worth as little as a quarter of the value of a pair.
BAROQUE AND QUEEN ANNE STYLES Silver Candlesticks
Although many candlesticks are recorded from before the 17th century, few survive; they were often melted down because they were damaged, or for conversion into coin. In particular, there are very few English candlesticks dating front before the 1650s, as much silver was melted down during the Civil War (1642-9).
In the 17th century most silver candlesticks were raised from thin, hammered sheet metal. The earliest candlesticks found on the market today, dating from the 167()s and 1680s, have stems of fluted Classical columns, or clusters of columns, and octagonal or square bases. Some rare examples have scalloped, richly embossed bases – a speciality of Dutch silversmiths. American candlesticks made before c.1760 are rare; the earliest-known pair, made in Boston, dates from 1675.
In the 1690s immigrant Huguenot silversmiths revolutionized the production of English candlesticks by casting them in solid silver rather than raising them from sheet. The base, stem, and sconce were cast separately and soldered together. The earliest pattern of cast candlesticks, •generally 15 to 18chn (6-7in) high, had a plain baluster stem with a series of knops (bulbous rings) on a square, round, or angled base. During the 17105 and 1720s octagonal and hexagonal faceted stems and bases, typical of the Queen Anne style, became fashionable. These elegant candlesticks, made in the higher-standard (”Britannia”) silver, were plain except for an engraved coat of arms at the bottom of the stem.
ROCOCO AND NEO-CLASSICAL STYLES Silver Candlesticks
The baluster shape remained the most popular design in the early and mid-18th century, but IT, the early 1730s candlesticks were slightly taller (19-23Cro/7e’2_9jlj high), with richer ornament of pleated, lobed forms on the base and stern. The influence of the Rococo style is evident in the chased shell motifs and flared, flower-like nozzles
of examples from the 17305 to the 17605. Some exceptionally fine candlesticks of this period have ornately cast and chased steins of figures holding the candle sconce above their heads. In the 1740s detachable nozzles were added to the spool-shaped sconces for saving dripping wax and for easier removal of candle stabs; some candlesticks found today have replacement nozzles because the originals were damaged or lost. Throughout this period some silversmiths specialized in the production of candlesticks; in England, the best known were the Gould and the Cafe families.
In the 1750 and 1760s simpler forms returned under the influence of the Neo-classical style. Candlesticks of this period, averaging 24 to 28.5cm (9f —I Ist) high, have plain, circular nozzles, square bases, and plain or faceted stems decorated with typically Classical gadrooning around the base, knici and sconce. By c.1765 Corinthian column
candlesticks had become fashionable, and by he 1770S and 1780s the French style of plain or fluted tapering baluster stein on a circular base, decorated with Neo-classical ornament such as reeding, beading, swags, and ram’s heads, was popular. Noted architects such as Robert Adam, James Wyatt, and Sir William Chambers also produced designs for Neo-classical candlesticks as part of their overall schemes for interior decoration.
Simple Neo-classical forms with restrained decoration were particularly v suited to new methods of manufacture. Silversmiths in the growing industrial centres of Birmingham and Sheffield used rolled sheet silver, made in flatting mills, to manufacture candlesticks on a large scale. As this silver was often of very thin gauge, the base of the candlestick was weighted, or “loaded”, with wood, pitch, or plaster of parts for stability. Mass production of loaded candlesticks in Birmingham and Sheffield increased after the opening of assay offices in those two cities in 1773; the candlesticks proved SO popular that London silversmiths often bought in provincially made pieces and overstani them with London marks. Loaded candlesticks were significantly less expensive than cast ones because much less silver was used, and they still fetch lower prices today.
SILVER TAPERSTICKS, CHAMBERSTICKS AND SNUFFERS
From the late 17th century silversmiths made taperstick, — smaller versions of candlesticks (10-13crr/4—Sin) —for holding a taper, or thin candle, with which to melt sealing wax and light tobacco pipes. Since the designs of taperstick, copy almost exactly those of candlesticks, many such pieces were probably supplied as a set, although taperstick, were usually made singly rather than as a pair. Front the irricl century the taperstick was replaced by the waxjack, featuring a central rod, around which the taper was coiled, on a circular foot.
chambersticks were used to light the way at night. Because each member of a household would need one, they were made fit large sets, but pairs were common after c.1800. They usually have a saucer-like base, decorated with reeding, beading, or gadrooning, with a central socket on a short stem, and detachable nozzles from the mid-18th century. Rare, early 17th-centUry chambersticks have long, flat handles, but ring- or scroll-shaped handles were introduced front the 1720s, with a thumb-piece and socket fora conical extinguisher. Some chambersticks also have a pierced slot under the sconce for snuffer scissors, but matching snuffer scissors and chambersticks are rarely found today.
Snuffers (scissor-like implements for trimming and collecting wicks) were an essential accessory for candles before the self-consuming wick was invented c.1800. They were produced by specialist makers. The earliest sets, from the late 17th to early 18th century, have vertical stands with faceted baluster stems and bases similar to contemporary candlesticks, sometimes with a conical extinguisher attached. Later sets have oblong or hourglass-shaped stands, like trays, with feet or handlts. Snuffer trays are sometimes sold today as pen trays.
Silver Candlesticks after 1800
By the late 18th century huge numbers of loaded sheet-silver candlesticks were being made using mechanized production in the English industrial centres of Sheffield and Buirraigham, primarily to meet demand from the newly prosperous middle classes. The Ire, mechanized techniques of rolling sheet silver, die-stamping, and die-sinking gradually began to replace laborious casting methods (although the best-quality candlesticks were still cast). Candlesticks were also among the earliest items made in Sheffield plate. As the 19th century progressed, elaborate surface ornament, in keeping with Victorian taste, and revivals of 17th- and 18th-century styles characterized the production of candlesticks. They remained popular as decorative items even after the invention of gas and oil lighting and, later, electricity.
LATE NEO-CLASSICAL CANDLESTICKS
At the end of the 18th century candlesticks of all kinds —cast, loaded sheet silver, or Sheffield plate — were made either in the Corinthian column style on a square foot, or in the plain or fluted tapering baluster form on a circular foot: both types are decorated with ornament derived from Classical architecture, such as swags, ram’s heads, vreaths, urns, and formal leaves. Thee are generally 25.5 to 31cm ( 10-12m) tall. Sheet-silver and Sheffield-plate candlesticks have Visible seaming lines where the separate sheet or plate parts have been joined. They may also have small holes in the silver (or patches Of visible copper on plate pieces), especially on areas of high relief, caused by overstretching the sheet or plate. Any die-stamped ornament should be sharply defined.
The telescopic adjustable candlestick, a speciality of Sheffield makers, was popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Made in loaded sheet silver and Sheffield plate, it featured a cylindrical stem fitted with telescopic slides rising from the base. Although telescopic candlesticks occasionally appear in auctions today, most do not worl, properly; their restoration can be costly.
THE 19TH-CENTURY REVIVAL STYLES Silver Candlesticks
In the 19th century silver items were produced in an unprecedented range of historical styles, mainly as a result of developments in mechanized production, which meant that manufacturers could reproduce almost any form or type of ornament. The widespread dispersal of aristocratic collections of historic plate also provided inspiration for designers. Motifs such as trefoils and arches derived from Gothic art, while the Rococo — more ornate and bulbous than the original 18th-CCutUry version — remained one of the most popular revival styles throughout the Venture.
REGENCY AND VICTORIAN CANDLESTICKS
In the Regency period (late ISth—cariv :19th centres candlesticks became more ornate, with richer foliate and scroll decoration on the base, at the top of the stem, and around the socket. From about the 1820, and 1830, candlestick-makers concentrated on imitating 17th-and 18th-cenrur.% styles, beginning with the Rococo. Candlesticks in the Rococo Revival taste arc richly chased all over with scrolls and flowers and have undulating baluster stems, but the curves are heavier, the proportions less balanced, and the sconces more bulbous than on 18th-century originals; most were also made of loaded sheet silver, rather than cast as they would have been in the first half of the 18th century. Since mechanized manufacture resulted in less expensive products, large sets of matching candlesticks were more popular in this period than
Candlesticks in revival styles were produced in both larger and smaller versions of the originals; man, were also made as exact copies of originals to replace those that were damaged or lost, although there are although a number of fakes. Figural candlesticks were particularly popular during the 19th century, reflecting contemporary taste for novelty pieces. Subjects for figural candlesticks included caryatids, knights in armour, and rustic figures of shepherds and shepherdesses; pairs usually consist of male and female figures.
In the 1890s there was a revival of the fashion for column candlesticks, this time with stepped square bases and with inam, variations in the patterns of the borders and the capital. These are generally smaller than late 18th-centurN versions — about 14can 15′ 2111) high. Afam candlesticks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were wired for electrical lighting as dressing-table of desklights — in such cases there mac be holes in the base for the electrical cord. During the Vogue for the Queen Anne stele in the early 20th century, sonic silversmiths produced copies of early 18th-century styles; these can be distinguished from originals by their use of sterling silver instead of the Britannia standard and by their detachable no,zlcs, which did not appear before c.1740.
With the invention of the self-consuming candle wit: in the early 19th century, snuffers became obsolete, although some were made in revival stales.
THE NEW INDUSTRIAL CENTRES
Candlesticks were among the first items mass-produced in the English cities of Birmingham and Sheffield, using newly developed mechanized methods of manufacture. With the expansion of industry in those cities in the mid-19th century, candlestick manufacture became a specialized trade. The rolling, mill, invented c.1740, enabled a silver ingot to be flattened into a sheet of uniform gauge, while the fly press, developed in the 1760, and 1770x, made accurate and repetitive piercing possil-il, Both these inventions reduced labour and manufacturing costs, since they replaced laborious hammering and hand-piercing. Decorative components were also mass-produced by die-stamping. The sheet of metal was placed oil a block with a sunken die in the form of the pattern to lie reproduced; this was struck with a hammer with a relief pattern in the sart, shape as the dic. This method was used for items in both silver and Sheffield plate, and a vast range of styles and forms was made possible by interchanging the decorative stamped components. As complete sets of dies were highly expensive, then were often used by several manufacturers, resulting in the production of identical patterns by a Nall of silversmiths. These new industrialized methods were especially well exploited by the Birmingham makers Matthew Boutton ( 1728-1809) and John Fothergill (ti. 1782), who pioneered the use of the steam-powered rolling mill in the late 18th century.

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