Posts Tagged ‘kneehole dressing table styles’

Mid 19th Century Furniture: Styles.
FURNITURE THAT DEBUTED during the
mid 19th century was imbued with the innovative spirit, social mores, and the whimsy of its age. Metamorphic furniture allowed cabinet-makers to show off their technical expertise.
The German-born American cabinetmaker, George Hunzinger, pioneered the design of functional, mechanical pieces in the United States, and many manufacturers soon followed suit.
Stephen Hedges patented a desk in 1854 that converted from an elegant side table to an ecritoire combined with a seat. It became known as the Aaron Burr desk after an article appeared in the New York Herald in 1911, stating that Burr had challenged the presidential candidate Alexander Hamilton to a duel in a letter written at one of them. In fact, Hedges had patented the ingenious desk 50 years after the duel and 18 years after Burr’s death, but the desk became forever known as the Aaron Burr desk.
Various collapsible and extendible forms, including dining tables and buffets, proliferated as people became enamoured with their ingenuity and space-saving qualities.
SOCIAL MORES
The fashion for lavish entertaining gave rise to the cocktail cabinet, which contained crystal decanters and perhaps a cigarette case or humidor. The wealthy displayed their valuables in a glass-topped bijouterie — the name is derived from the French word for “jewellery”. The Sutherland table, named for Queen Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes, was used for taking tea and playing cards. A precursor of the coffee table, it was never very popular.
The repressive morality of the period conspired to create the dos-a-dos and the conversation suite. Both these seat forms enabled courting couples to become acquainted in what was regarded as a seemly manner.
The exterior surface of the desk has a simple panel with beading.
The hinged top opens to reveal a seat and a drawer.
The seat is upholstered In leather, fixed to the wood with rivets.
The underside of the desk
bears the patent label, “by
Stephen Hedges”.
Lockable drawer
The scroll feet terminate in brass casters.
AMERICAN AARON BURR DESK
This ingenious, space-saving design was patented by Stephen Hedges. The long, oval top of an unassuming mahogany side table is hinged so that it can fold back on itself, and the case of the desk is also hinged to open at
the front. When both are opened, the table is transformed into a writing desk with a drawer to one side and a leather upholstered seat to the other. The piece is supported on cabriole legs and scroll feet on casters for portability.
CONVERSATION SUITE
this upholstered suite in Louis XV manner comprises four independent buttoned sections - two long sides and two short ends – arranged Dock-to-back with each other. The angled ends of each section make it easy for a person
seated with another in one of the long sections to turn towards a person seated in the adjacent smaller section and converse. The sections are supported on rosewood scrolling feet and casters: a 19th-century innovation allowing ease of movement around the room. Late 19th century.
s early Victorian show-frame sofa is made
rosewood. it has two high-backed,
ends and a lower back section with
2 l fluted supports. The seat, back, and
arms are upholstered in green raised
fabric. The seat is supported on carved legs with ceramic casters. The sofa is a combination of styles: the twist decoration is Jacobean, while the cabriole legs are inspired by Louis XV style. c.1850.
METAMORPHIC OAK CHAIR
This chair converts into a set of library steps. The chair seat is hinged near the front so the chair back swings up and over the seat to become the rear support for the steps, which double as the back legs of the chair. Late 19th century.
GOTHIC-STYLE CHAIR
This walnut chair features Gothic-style, needlework upholstery and Jacobean twist carving. The tall back is framed by barley-twist columns above a spreading seat. The high back and low legs make this a new form.
SCOTTISH DINING TABLE
The top of this extending dining table has demi-lone ends and boldly moulded edges above a plain frieze. The table top is raised on turned and tapering legs with fluted decoration, ending in brass caps and casters. The table is extended by using a winding mechanism operated by a key. The mechanism was
invented in 1835 but became popular later in the century. It can use up to six extra leaves. Late 19th century.
ENGLISH MAHOGANY BUFFET
The top of this buffet has moulded angles and a counterbalanced undershelf. Beneath that lies a third shelf. On opening the buffet, the bottom shelf slides down the supports at each end of the table, the middle shelf remains in place, and the top opens out to form the upper tier. It is raised on panelled trestle supports and scrolled console brackets. c.1860.
MAHOGANY COCKTAIL CABINET
This cabinet has a divided, hinged top, which encloses a rising interior with crystal decanters, glasses, and a cigarette box. It is supported on square-section, tapering legs with brass caps and casters. c.1900.
MAHOGANY BIJOUTERIE CABINET
The circular hinged top of this cabinet is inset with bevelled glass. The capriole legs have gilt mounts, terminate in hoof feet, and are joined by a shaped stretcher. Late 19th century.
BIJOUTERIE CABINET
This mahogany and gilt-metal mounted cabinet has a serpentine top with floral marquetry, inset with glass. The case is supported on slender cabriole legs, which are united by an undertier.
ENGLISH ROSEWOOD CARD TABLE
The serpentine top of this Victorian table opens out and swivels to provide a playing surface. It has a moulded edge, enclosing a round baize lining, and rests on four scroll supports with a central finial and scroll legs with recessed casters. Mid 19th century.
SUTHERLAND TABLE
This burr walnut, oval, drop-leaf table has a veneered top over twin, carved, baluster uprights with carved cabriole supports on casters, joined by a turned stretcher. It has a swinging action to each side.

Decorative tableware
In the 18th and 19th centuries the utilitarian plate on dining-tales was complemented by richly
decorative pieces such as bread-, fruit- and cake-baskets, epergnes, and centrepieces. Made as much to display wealth as to be practical, these are characterized by high-quality casting, chasing, and, especially on baskets and epergnes, piercing. Such objects are among the most popular with collectors today because they are particularly attractive as
display pieces on a table.
SILVER EPERGNES
First used at the French court in the 1690s and in England c.1715, the epergne was an elaborate centrepiece for the dinner-table or sideboard. The name “epergne” is probably derived from the French word epargner, meaning “to save”: space could be saved on the table by
bringing together several dishes on one stand. By the 1740s the epergne was associated with the dessert course and generally took the form of a central
pierced basket surrounded by four to six pierced dishes or baskets for holding fruit or sweetmeats. It was most popular during the mid-18th century, when the light and delicate pierced forms, often ornamented with cast shells and flowers, were particularly suited to the Rococo style. Some epergnes, particularly those by the leading English maker Thomas Pitts (c.1723-93), demonstrate the contemporary vogue for chinoiserie, with their pagoda-like canopies with suspended bells.
In the 1760s and 1770s epergnes became wider and headier with the addition of more baskets, and in the 1-80s the influence of the Neo-classical style was
evident, with simpler oval or circular baskets, sometimes with blue glass liners, and decorated with Vitruvian scroll borders and swags. The leading specialist maker of epergnes in late 18th-century England was Thomas Pitts’s son William Pitts (active 1781-1806). Like other silversmiths, he offered clients a choice between more expensive epergnes, which had cast branches and decoration, and less expensive examples with mechanically produced ornament.
Heavier and more solid than 18th-century examples, Regency epergnes are usually mounted on a heavy Square or round foot, with branches ending in large floral sockets supporting cut-glass bowls rather than pierced silver baskets. Very few epergnes were made after this period, as they were generally replaced by the ornamental centrepiece.
SILVER CENTREPIECES
Large centrepieces as a decorative focal point for the dining-table or sideboard have always been among the most expensive items of plate and were often displayed as a sign of the wealth and status of the owner. One of the most famous and inventive pieces is the English silver-gilt Poseidon or Neptune centrepiece of 1741, made for Frederick, Prince of Wales. It features an elaborate stand of sculptural cast dolphins and mermen and is decorated with shells and marine creatures. Although this piece bears the maker’s mark of Paul Crespin (1694-1770), it may in fact have been designed and made by Nicholas Sprimont (1716-71 ); both were
leading English Huguenot makers of Rococo silver. The centrepiece was made with many matching salt-cellars and sauceboats, as befitting a grand table service for a royal patron.
Regency and Victorian centrepieces from the
19th century appear more frequently frequently at auctions today (although North American pieces are rare). Made with or without branches for candles, they usually have a central bowl, either solid silver or pierced with a glass liner, for fruit or sweetmeats. Centrepieces with all their original glass liners are rare today. Female caryatid figures supporting a bowl on a stand with heavy scroll or paw feet are characteristic of the Regency period, whereas later 19th-century centrepieces were made in
a huge variety of designs – naturalistic, sculptural figures were particularly popular. Many Victorian centrepieces were supplied with a flat, mirrored stand known as a “plateau” to enhance the decorative effect, but very often these became separated from the centrepiece and were sold on their own.
In the 19th century there was also a great demand for presentation plate, and the most important firms, such as Hunt & Roskell (est. 1844), Garrards (est. 1802), and Elkington & Co. (est. c.1830) in England, and Odiot in France, employed sculptors to design magnificent silver or electroplate centrepieces for historic or sporting occasions. Such pieces were shown at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. Centrepieces were also made in Germany and Austria, notably by the firm of Klinkosch, but these are not always of such good quality as English and French pieces because the metal is often thinner. By the second half of the 19th century centrepieces had been scaled down in size and elaborateness, with a single basket on a stand becoming the usual form. This developed into the dessert stand, which had replaced the centrepiece by the end of the century.
Regency and early Victorian baskets were produced in a wide variety of styles, but in many cases they can be distinguished from 18th-century examples by an unpierced body that is embossed and chased with heavy scrolls, flowers, and foliage, or radiating lobes. Silversmiths in the 19th century also reproduced the shell-shaped designs and elaborate patterns that were typical of the Rococo period.
Victorian baskets are generally less expensive and more readily available to collectors today than examples from the 18th and 19th centuries. The handles on these baskets are sometimes bent or damaged (or have been removed altogether), as the weight of the unpierced body puts strain on them. Any basket that does not have a handle should be carefully examined to see if the handle has been removed. As on earlier examples, the feet may also have been pushed up into the body of the basket if it has at some stage been overloaded.
SILVER BASKETS
Silver baskets designed for holding bread, fruit, cake, or sweetmeats are known from the early 17th century, but most of those surviving today date from (.1730 onward. They are oval or circular with pierced sides,
a flat base on a raised foot or four cast feet, and a fixed or swinging bail handle. In many cases, the flat base was engraved with a coat of arms. In the late 1730s and 1740s the leading English silversmiths Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751), Paul Crespin (1694-1770), and
James Schruder (active 1737–(.1752) produced intricate Rococo baskets with delicate pierced designs of scrolls, circles, crescents, and quatrefoils, elaborate engraving and chasing, and asymmetrical handles with cast and applied masks, animals, figures, and birds.
Another feature typical of the Rococo fashion for novelty was the imitation of inexpensive materials in silver; on baskets dating from the first half of the 18th century the sides are often pierced and chased to give the impression of wickerwork strips. Some extremely rare and expensive baskets by the best makers were made in the form of sculptural scallop shells with scroll handles.
By the late 18th century silversmiths used hand-piercing only for the finest baskets, as the majority of pierced parts were mass-produced quickly and
accurately using the newly developed fly-punch. The silver sheet was also much thinner than on earlier pieces, so baskets of this date should always be carefully checked to make sure that the piercing is intact. Simple wirework baskets embellished with chased and applied motifs such as flowers, vine leaves, and sheaves of wheat (for bread-baskets) were also popular in the late 18th century.
Epergnes
• COLLECTING individual baskets may be sold separately; check branches and feet for cracks or repairs
Marks
All detachable parts should be marked; crests or coats of arms on each piece should match
Centrepieces
• COLLECTING mirrored plateaux are now often sold on their own; inscriptions do not add value unless of particular historical interest
Marks
All detachable parts should be marked
Baskets
• DESIGNS solid forms with chased scrolls, flowers, and shells were typical in the early 19th century
• CONDITION piercing is particularly vulnerable to damage and should be checked carefully; ensure that the handle is not bent or damaged due to wear or overloading the basket; feet are prone to pushing LIP through the body on light, sheet-metal baskets
• COLLECTING early 18th-century baskets in heavy-gauge metal are more valuable than later, lighter ones
Marks
Both the handle and body should feature the same mark; marks arc sometimes pierced out.