Posts Tagged ‘neoclassical design’

Art Nouveau English Furniture: OCCASIONAL TABLE, TWO-TIER ETAGERE, DISPLAY CABINET, REVIVAL FURNITURE

WHILE SOME EDWARDIAN households
embraced the latest Art Nouveau forms, many returned to the furniture styles of the past and the latest Classical revivals. Designs from various historical periods were dusted off and reworked by companies throughout Britain. Inspiration ranged from the distant past – Renaissance, Elizabethan, Jacobean, and even Gothic – to the more recent Neoclassical work of Sheraton, Hepplewhite, and Robert Adam. The result was comfortable rather than cutting-edge, and less cluttered than the Victorian ideal.
Art Nouveau and Revival furniture were made in parallel to satisfy the needs of the less adventurous Edwardians as well as those who subscribed to
the latest fashions.
REVIVAL FURNITURE
The Revival trend had started in the late 19th century after a new series of interior design books, aimed at the middle classes, reignited the fashion for the three great names of British Neoclassical furniture. Then, in 1897, Sheraton’s The Cabinet-Maker and
Upholsterer’s Drawing Book and Hepplewhite’s The Cabinet-Maher and
Upholsterer’s Guide were reprinted and the Revival was confirmed. The result was a fusion of the work of these three designers, adapted to suit smaller
Edwardian rooms and a desire for comfort. It was also a rejection of the heavy, sombre furniture popular in Victorian times.
Revival furniture was often made from light mahogany, satinwood, or satin-birch, and decorated with stringing, crossbanding, and wooden inlays of fans or shells, set with bone, or painted with flowers and foliate scrolls. Decoration was often elaborate. Sometimes pieces were made from less exotic and expensive wood and
painted to resemble satinwood. Some designers slimmed down Sheraton’s designs to make them more delicate. This occasionally went too far and resulted in pieces that were spindly and out of proportion.
Others took the path of true imitation
and aimed to recreate Sheraton and
other Neoclassical designers exactly
Some of these pieces are so faithful to
the original that it takes an expert to tell them apart. Gillow of Lancaster and Edwards and Roberts of London are among the best of these furniture-makers, but many other firms made inexpensive copies for the mass-market. Many pieces were not marked by the makers, so attributing them can be difficult.
A STEADY DEMAND
Despite the volume of furniture made, much Edwardian furniture was of
good quality However, veneers were sometimes used to disguise poor construction. There was a great demand for desks; bookcases; chests-of-drawers; display cabinets; commodes; side, dining, and other chairs; tables including dining, occasional, and dressing; marble-topped washstands; bedside cupboards; and wardrobes that were frequently part of a bedroom suite.
Sofas were often based on Sheraton and Hepplewhite styles, but were less overblown than Victorian examples. Manufacturers made suites of chairs with matching sofas, usually from
mahogany, but sometimes walnut or satinwood. Seats were often upholstered in silk or damask, while the backs and sides were caned.
PRINCIPAL MAKERS
Important names in Edwardian furniture included Waring and Gillow and Maple and Co. Maples was based in Tottenham Court Road, London, and was the largest furniture store in the world. It made its own furniture
for sale at home and abroad, and drew its customers from both the middle and upper classes and even royalty – Tsar Nicholas of Russia furnished his Winter Palace with furniture from its workrooms. Maples also furnished British Embassies, even going so far as to arrange for a grand piano to be carried up the Khyber Pass on packhorses.
For those whose taste did not fit in with either the Revival or Art Nouveau movements, there was an opportunity to furnish their homes in an exotic
manner using the new bamboo and wicker furniture, or pieces with a Moorish or Japanese influence.

SIDE CHAIR
This is one of a pair of Sheraton Revival satinwood side chairs. The pierced, oval back is centred by a portrait of a young girl, and the seat is covered with caning. The front legs are turned. Early 20th century.
SATINWOOD VITRINE
The elegant proportions of this cabinet are characteristic of the Edwardian era, when furniture became more slender and delicate. Influences were diverse, but the painted swag decoration, medallions, and motifs typical of
Glass panels allow treasured objects to be displayed.
Painted swags and medallions are Classically inspired.
The casing and legs are slender and delicate.
the period, are Classical in style. The cornice and pediment are decorated with portrait-style paintings. Vitrines did not become common until the second half of the 19th century. This one bears a label from Maple & Co.
OCCASIONAL TABLE
This circular table is made from mahogany and has satinwood banding and floral marquetry. The square tapered supports are united by stretchers. Early 20th century.

LADY’S WRITING DESK
Probably made by Maple & Co, this rosewood and marquetry compact lady’s writing desk, or bonheur, du jour, has a raised, galleried back with lidded interior compartments. The inset-leather writing surface sits above three frieze drawers and the piece is raised on slender legs. c. 1905.
Elaborate drop handle
Classical inlay motif
ROLLTOP DESK
TWO-TIER ETAGERE
The lid of this satinwood marquetry-decorated piece opens to reveal a mechanical interior. Initially introduced in the 18th century, the rolltop desk was reinterpreted during the Art Nouveau period to meet changing tastes. Early 20th century.
This etagere is made of inlaid mahogany and satinwood banding. The top is formed from a later glass-based tray, and the piece stands on square, swept supports. Etageres were used for displaying objects or serving food.
Early 20th century.
This impressive mahogany cabinet has fine crossbanded decoration and an astragal-glazed door and panels. The cornice is centred with an architectural pediment and the base is decorated with fiddleback mahogany and satinwood lozenges on the central door and canted sides. The cabinet is supported on slender legs. Early 20th century.
DISPLAY CABINET

Early 19th Century Tables: REGENCY SOFA TABLE, AMERICAN NEOCLASSICAL CARD TABLE, CHINESE EXPORT CENTRE TABLE, BRITISH CONSOLE TABLE, SCOTTISH REGENCY CONSOLE TABLE, FRENCH WORKTABLE, REGENCY LIBRARY TABLE.

THE EARLY PART OF THE 19TH century is
characterized by the development of many different types of furniture that were designed for specific tasks. The Sofa table, which was developed around 1800, is one example. Intended to stand directly in front of a sofa, it provided a support for reading, writing, sketching, and similar tasks. Although the sofa table was an English invention, it was widely copied on the Continent.
Sofa tables were usually veneered in mahogany or rosewood and were often banded in exotic timbers or outlined in brass stringing. Closely related to the Pembroke table, the sofa table has a flap at either end — unlike the centre, writing, or library table — although they all share the same basic function.
The sofa table also usually has two frieze drawers, which are sometimes set opposite dummy drawers. It is supported on end standards linked by a stretcher. Alternatively it may be supported on a central pedestal, often with splayed legs on later examples,
with brass tappings and casters.
Console tables traditionally stand against a window pier beneath a high mirror that reflects light around the room. Consequently, the back of the table is usually unfinished as no one ever sees it. Consoles are often screwed directly onto the wall so they do not have back legs. If they do, the legs are purely functional and do not match the more elaborate, decorative forms of the front legs.
Serving tables and hall tables are often similar in shape to console tables, but they are usually longer and were often intended to stand against a windowless wall.
Although smaller, card and tea tables (the former does not have a baize lining) are often similar in style to sofa tables, and have identical decoration, veneers, and construction timbers. Their fold-over tops are usually supported on a swing leg, or they are supported on a central pedestal so that they can pivot.
REGENCY LIBRARY TABLE
This fine rosewood writing or library table has a rectangular top with gently rounded corners, the whole of which is surrounded by a pierced gallery. There are two short drawers set into the frieze, both of which have round brass handles.
The table top is raised on elegant twin lyre-shaped supports with brass “strings” in the centre. The supports terminate in brass-capped paw feet, and are joined by a central, turned stretcher. This typical form of Regency table was also produced with two flaps, to be used as a sofa table. c. 1820.
The sofa table is decorated throughout with brass inlay
The lyre-shaped supports area recurrent motif of late Neoclassical design.
The “strings” of the lyre are made from brass.

AMERICAN LIBRARY TABLE
AMERICAN PIER TABLE
-his rosewood worktable has a crossbanded ectangular top above two drawers and opposing dummy drawers. It has lyre-shaped trestle supports joined by a turned stretcher and sabre egs.
This table has a rectangular top with canted corners above a conforming frieze. It is supported on fluted cylindrical columns on an incurved rectangular plinth joined to shaped, downswept legs.
EMPIRE CONSOLE TABLE
his table has a rectangular marble top above a ieze drawer. There are front consoles with paw set and two rear pilasters on a plinth base. arty 19th century.
FEDERAL TABLE
This mahogany table has a rectangular top above two graduated frieze drawers, and turned legs, joined by a stretcher and terminating in outswept feet. c.1810.
AMERICAN CLASSICAL TABLE
FRENCH WORKTABLE
This Neoclassical mahogany table has a hinged ,ectangular top with drop leaves, a drawer and 3n opposing dummy drawer, a pedestal base, end outsplayed legs on casters. Early 19th
century.
The rectangular marble top of this American Empire-style table rests above a moulded frieze with carved scrolls supported on turned columns. Below the tabletop is a framed mirror. c.1815.

SCOTTISH REGENCY CONSOLE TABLE
The rectangular top of this mahogany console table sits above an ogee frieze. The table top is supported on palmette-carved, scrolling front console legs, which terminate in bun feet. The square-section back legs are panelled and have square, block feet. c. 1820.
GERMAN CARD TABLE
This mahogany table has a rectangular top with moulded sides and rests above a frieze flanked by carved scrolls. It is supported on a column with a carved base, four splayed legs carved with stylized swans, and scroll feet. c.1820.
BRITISH CONSOLE TABLE
This William IV mahogany console table has a rectangular slate top raised on a base with a frieze. The table top is supported on a pair of elaborately scrolled and leaf-carved console legs with paw feet at the front. The back legs take the form of rectangular-section, panelled pilasters. c.1830.

DANISH EMPIRE SOFA TABLE
This fruitwood-inlaid, ebonized, and parcel-gilt mahogany sofa table has a rectangular top and D-shaped drop leaves above a frieze with a fruitwood drawer. The end supports are flanked by giltwood and ebonized bird-head supports. 1810-20.
AUSTRIAN TABLE
Veneered in cherry wood, this table has a rectangular top above a frieze with a single drawer. The table top is supported on two elaborately-carved lyre supports with upturned ends, joined to each other by a turned stretcher. c.1830.
CHINESE EXPORT CENTRE TABLE
This highly decorative, Regency-style, black lacquer table has a rectangular top with rounded corners. The frieze has two front drawers and two dummies at the back. The splayed end- supports rest on a plinth with bun feet. c. 1830.

GEORGE IV CARD TABLE
The rectangular top of this pedestal card table has a narrow brass inlay and rounded corners. It is supported on a sturdy octagonal, tapering column with a nulled collar, a round platform, and four outswept legs which end in brass terminals and casters.
Early 19th century.
AMERICAN NEOCLASSICAL CARD TABLE
The rectangular, hinged top of this mahogany table has a bowed centre section above a conforming apron with a brass outlined panel and central applied brass foliage. It sits on a lyre-form pedestal with brass strings, on outsplayed legs with brass paw toes and casters. Early 19th century.
REGENCY SOFA TABLE
This rosewood sofa table has satinwood crossbanding. Below the rectangular top there is a frieze with two drawers and rounded drop leaves. The table sits on rectangular-section supports on inlaid sabre legs terminating in anthemion-cast brass caps and casters. Early 19th century.

Antiques Recently Found on Antcollectors (1)

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
THE FURNITURE OF THE IBERIAN
peninsular during the early 19th century was strongly influenced by prevailing styles in other European countries, mixed with the various tastes, techniques, and regional differences that reflect both Spain and Portugal’s cultural backgrounds.
The greatest foreign influence was the French Empire style. Spain was dominated by France for a period following the abdication of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII in 1808, when Napoleon’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte, introduced a taste for Empire furniture. A similar Francophile furniture style also developed in Portugal, which had come under French rule the previous year.
FERDINANDINO
However, the true flowering of the Empire style in Spain only occurred after Napoleon’s fall. It consequently bears the name Ferdinandino after Ferdinand VII, who reigned from 1814 to 1833. Less sophisticated and clumsier than French pieces, the Spanish variants are usually made of mahogany, with carved gilt decoration instead of gilt-bronze mounts. Classical motifs were preferred, especially figurative devices such as putti or swans. These are epitomized on the typical Gondola chairs, which had legs featuring swans or dolphins. Similarly, the king’s desk in the Royal Palace, Madrid, is made of mahogany supported on carved gilt swans.
The Spanish love of walnut, pine, cedar, and olive wood is also evident in pieces with relatively little decoration and few appliques. Overall, like contemporary Portuguese work, the pieces are heavier than true Empire furniture and often of slightly exaggerated proportions. Spanish pieces from the south also feature an occasional motif echoing Spain’s exotic Moorish past.
Although France was the predominant cultural dynamo, British, German, and Italian influences are all discernable in Spanish furniture of this period. The presence of British cabinet-makers on the island of Minorca helped to diffuse the principles of British Neoclassical design, while 18th-century ties with Naples generated Italianate forms.
With the accession of Isabella (1833-70), and the development of the so-called Isabellino style, a more romantic trend emerged in Spain, which revived many of its historical furniture types, particularly Baroque. As such, it corresponded to the style of the Second Empire in France.
PORTUGAL
In the opening years of the 19th century, British Neoclassical style reigned supreme in Portugal. The French occupation introduced a ponderous version of the Empire style, but when power returned to General Beresford in 1811, so too did a preference for Regency design. Trafalgar chairs were most popular, while the engravings of Sheraton continued to be influential.
Portuguese furniture production experienced a downturn from this time onwards: with the return of Dom Joao VI from Brazil, political and social instability was accompanied by general economic decline. This reached its peak with the civil strife under Maria II de Gloria (1828-53).
Portuguese furniture is characterized by the use of South American timbers, particularly those from the Brazilian forests, such as jacaranda and
pausanto. These woods are easy to carve and allow sharp details, so carving is more common on Portuguese furniture than its French or British prototypes. However, the furniture produced in Lisbon tends to be far heavier and altogether simpler than the examples that inspired them. Generally, some fine-quality furniture was produced, such as the mahogany and gilt-brass mounted suite supplied for one of the bedrooms at the Royal Palace of Queluz.
From the 1830s, when Maria
II’s consort, Ferdinand of SachsenCoburg-Saalfeld, began building the Pena Palace, the German Biedermeier style became popular.
Portugal’s strong colonial ties with India and the Far East ensured that much colonial furniture was also imported, particularly from Goa and the Malabar Coast. Often simplified versions of European styles carved in Eastern hardwoods, they tend to echo 18th-century styles rather than reflect the latest European trends.

PORTUGUESE COLONIAL CABINET
The cabriole legs are joined by a wave-shaped cross-stretcher with a central urn finial in the centre.
The cabinet terminates in claw-and-ball feet. Early 19th century.
NEOCLASSICAL SIDE CHAIRS
These side chairs are part of a set of four. They have mahogany frames with parcel gilt decoration. A scrolled top rail sits above a rectangular backrest. The seat rails are plain, but mounted with gilt rosettes. The chairs stand on circular, tapered legs. Early 19th century.

DINING CHAIRS
These Spanish chairs are made of walnut and form part of a set of ten dining chairs. Each chair is decorated with mask finials. The seat back comprises two vertical rows of turned spindles – the upper row is of widely spaced,
long spindles, and the lower forms a tightly spaced decorative border. The leather seats are attached to the frames with brass studs, and the seat rails are shaped and decorated. The chairs stand on ring-turned, reeded legs, which are joined by an H-stretcher. Early 19th century
MALLORCAN COMMODE
This marquetry commode, one of a pair, is made from mahogany, fruitwood, and rosewood. The rectangular, white marble top rests above a convex frieze drawer, which is inlaid with scrolling leaves, and three drawers, that are
inlaid sans traverse. The drawers are flanked by canted scrolled angles, which are also decorated with leaf inlay. At the base of the commode is an inlaid concave-fronted drawer above a banded rim and acanthus-carved feet.