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Stools, Chairs and Settees
Early forms of stools—development of the chair—scarcity of chairs before the 17th century—etiquette of the joined stool—upholstered farthingale chairs—”monk seats” and Commonwealth chairs—Restoration chair design—characteristics of William and Mary chairs—Queen Anne cabriole legs and the fiddle splat—wing chairs—Chippendale chair designs—chair backs of Hepplewhite—Adam’s classical shapes—Sheraton elegance—Regency and early Victorian chairs—the mystery of the Windsor chair—harlequin sets—the emergence of the settle—love seats and the development of the settee two tiered tables .
On a marble panel in Athens which dates from around 400 B serving tray antique tea table for sale .c antique butler type ashtrays . a woman is to be seen seated on a chair which has all the characteristics of a British chair of the Regency period antiquing furniture . The designers of Regency furniture, like Thomas Hope and Henry Moses, went to the ancient civilisations for their inspiration and this chair in the Athenian sculpture is an interesting case of “it has all happened before” 6 legged table antique .
After the disorders of the Dark Ages when so much of art and craftsmanship was lost, the way of making beautiful and serviceable things had to be rediscovered or reinvented antique regency revival sideboard . At the beginning of the early Tudor period it can be said that in any house, even of the greatest importance, most people had to be content to sit on stools blacks, meissen, porcelain . Sometimes these were of the planked type as illustrated in Chapter 1, but more often they were made of turned wood with triangular shaped seats women brass lamps . This type of stool was common throughout northern Europe and when they are encountered it is difficult to say what may have been their country of origin painted romer glass .
Small chests were also used as seats in early times and formed one of the sources from which the chair developed, the other being the triangular-seated stool japanese black lacquer round tea table . In both these instances the need to provide additional support for the body brought about the addition of backs and arms to the stools antique french office chair . The first box or chest chairs were very heavy and cumbersome and it became evident that there was little advantage in constructing chairs in this way antique half circle dropleaf table . For a short while this type of chair was made without the lower side and back panels but with the front panel still included staffordshire figure lovers couple . By the middle of the 16th century the oak armchair, without any lower panels in the framework, was to be found in most houses of the reasonably well-to-do antique porcelain +swan +painted .
A custom, lasting for many years, delayed the employment of the chair for general use black stinkwood table sale . During the second half of the 16th and for the greater part of the 17th century it was commonly accepted that only the head of the family or the master of the house should occupy a chair 2 tier adams style table lid . In some homes a thoughtful husband might provide a chair for his wife but as for the rest of the household, they had to use stools or remain standing wiener werkstatte chair . The modern word chairman, to denote the head of a committee, is probably derived from this ancient practice earthenware mixing bowls antique with handles . On a point of etiquette, observed in Britain during the 17th century, a host and his wife would vacate their chairs when entertaining an important guest and would sit on joined stools, as a mark of deference, while the guest occupied a chair american spoonback armchair .
The heavy oak arm-chair of the late Elizabethan and the early Stuart periods was of very much the same pattern with turned legs and a carved or inlaid panel in the chair-back candlestick 17th century church . The only marked difference in construction was in the top rail of the back antique display cabinet half round . While the Elizabethan chair had the top rail jointed between the uprights, the Stuart version had the uprights jointed into the top rail which projected at the sides and was supported by “ears” or small brackets 18th century card table .
The joined stool must have been made in considerable numbers during the 17th century as it was frequently referred to in bequests and inventories empire pier table . Nowadays, it is sometimes called a coffin stool which is rather a misnomer breakfast serving tables . It is true that in many old churches joined stools are to be found carrying piles of hymn books or collecting boxes and occasionally they may have been used for supporting a coffin during a burial service, but they were certainly not designed for that purpose european porcelain marks 1742 . A joined stool was the average person’s seat in the 17th-century household, either at the dining table or around the fire kidney shaped tables antique . It is likely that those found in old churches today were banished there from the vicarage when custom and funds permitted the parson to provide himself with the more comfortable chairs botanical antique ceramics collectors .
While chairs with wooden seats were in use throughout the 17th century and also during the 18th in the houses of country-folk, upholstereed chairs did appear in the early Stuart period antique extend side table . These, like the farthingale chairs, have already been mentioned in a previous chapter but during the Commonwealth somewhat heavy oak dining chairs were taken into use about the same time as the gate-leg table appeared thomas sheraton games table . These were similar to the farthingale chairs but had lower seats and higher backs which were upholstered in thick leather and edged with large brass round-headed nails antique empire pier table .
An interesting, dual-purpose piece of furniture was developed about this time satsuma pottery thousand flower . Known as a table-chair, it was constructed so that when the table-top was tilted to a vertical position it formed the back of a chair kidney shape dressing table . It is sometimes referred to as a monk’s seat, but the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the consequent banishment of the monks from the British way of life had occurred over a hundred years before the table-chair was invented 19th century tables .
The chief characteristic of Restoration chair design was the spiral twist for legs and backs english refectory table . A favourite motif of the wood-carver for chair decoration was the device of two cherubs, or amorini, supporting a royal crown c 1840 antique pedestal card table . This was inspired by the return of the monarchy after the Commonwealth and remained in popular favour until the close of the century antique secretaire . Chairs of the better quality were usually made in walnut but in the provinces many dining chairs were produced in oak 18th century chamber pots . Two varieties of these are usually referred to as Yorkshire and Lancashire chairs antique chair tall skinny back . They were quite heavily made and the former had two shaped and rounded back-rails, decorated with carving and bearing a small bearded mask century hepplewhite walnut card table . Traditionally, this was said to represent the death mask of the martyred Charles I and earned for this Yorkshire type the name of mortuary chair antique soup terrines . The Lancashire chairs, on the other hand, have panelled backs and I have an example in my possession on which the carving is very similar to that on a set in the ancient Chetham’s School, Manchester, which dates from the mid-17th century royal sheffield candlesticks . The finials on the uprights of my chair are the same as those on a settle which appears in Brueghel’s painting The Village Wedding meissen scattered flowers tea sets . The Brueghel picture was painted about 1530 and so we realise the slow movement of continental influence showing itself in the north of England over a hundred years later 16th century japanese tables .
Portuguese and Spanish characteristics, entering England directly through royal marriages or more deviously through France and the Netherlands, considerably affected the design of William and Mary chairs scriptoire . Here is found the tall, narrow back and the scrolled foot which during the reign of Queen Anne was to develop into thy, cabriole leg art deco polished matte lost-wax castings o nude women in bronze by viennese artisans . On these chairs the design of the upper back rail is often repeated in the lower front rail antique chippendale dining chairs with bronze leg decoration .
The type of chair which evolved during the first decade
of the 18th century was very pleasing to the eye antique brown staffordshire . The first cabriole legs were quite plain but the chair-makers of the lime did not consider that the chair legs were sufficiently strong to be made without connecting stretchers antique dining room with bulbous legs . However, by introducing a deeper seat rail it became possible to make a stronger joint at the top of the chair leg and eventually the stretchers were dispensed with altogether antique dresser names . The chair-backs of the Queen Anne period were of a pleasantly rounded appearance with a fiddle-shaped central splat, curved to support the sitter’s back meissen figures .
During the early Georgian period the cabriole leg remained in favour and without the stretchers was more sturdily fashioned than the finer Queen Anne shape 17th century writing desk . Moreover, it became the custom in the better class of chair to ornament the knees of the cabriole legs with carved shells, acanthus leaves or satyr masks american art deco bar furniture . Instead of a simple pad at the bottom of the leg, the ball and claw foot was adopted 19th century pennsylvania furniture prices . This was a pattern derived from a Chinese dragon motif which clasped in its claw a celestial pearl 19th century antique hall table . All-over upholstery of chair backs now became fashionable, but it was a vogue which died out when Chippendale and his contemporaries introduced the elaborately carved chair backs of the mid-18th century duncan phyfe table and buffet .
Chippendale included a straight, square sectioned leg among the designs for his chairs and when made in the Chinese taste these were covered in low-relief carving to simulate lattice work edward round drum tables . As if there was some doubt as to the structural efficiency of these legs, the use of stretchers was re-introduced art deco round glass chinese painted coffee table value . Chair backs were generally rectangular, whether the style was Gothic, Chinese or one of the many rococo patterns which decorated the pierced splats antique bedside toilet . Some of these complicated designs from Chippendale’s Director were rather pleasingly simplified by country craftsmen, e antique silver fish knives ivory handle .g english knife box . the well-known rush-seated ladder-back chair early american wall mirror .
Around the beginning of the 18th century the wing-wardly curving upholstered arms and cabriole feet antique german breakfast table . Later in the century the arms were made more upright and the side wings larger victorian cherry drop leaf table . The wing-chair is deceptive both in size and comfort small antique dressing table with cabriole legs . It often looks smaller than it really is and care should be taken before buying one to ensure that it will really fit in wherever it is intended to go early 19th century mahogany desks with lion feet . Although the winged chair marked a great advance in human comfort at the time, the unsprung seating feels hard compared with the resilience of 20th-century upholstery antique inlaid marquetry dutch chairs .
While George Hepplewhite was known to have made a considerable quantity of furniture to the designs of Robert Adam, he himself was probably responsible for many well-known types of chair such as the shield-back, the oval-back and the feathers pattern sofa table mahogany antique . The backs of Hepplewhite’s chairs were more rounded than those of his predecessors and he also favoured tapered legs which were often fluted utensils used in britain for cooking . His furniture generally was of a lighter appearance than that which had gone before occasional tables painted india . Sets of dining chairs usually consisted of ten or twelve single chairs and two arm-chairs or carvers antique rectangular drop leaf dining table . These latter were designed to accommodate the broad figures and full frock coats of the l8th-century gentlemen and the seats were made proportionately wide rue la la . The curve and sweep of the arms is also noteworthy for they were cut from solid blocks of mahogany of a size which would make it uneconomic to employ in modern reproductions “myott, son & co” .
Robert Adam designed his chairs to match the classical interior decoration of the houses he built vintage wooden card table . They had turned and fluted or tapered legs and the lyre-back pattern was typical 19th century glass fronted cabinet . He contrived some elegant gilded chairs whose backs were adorned with small painted medallions on which appeared figures from Greek and Roman mythology georgian dressing tables . These were painted by contemporary artists like Angelica Kauffmann and Zucchi lenci mermaid figurines . Adam also introduced the fashion for painted beechwood furniture, and chairs in this style were often finished in black or white paint, neatly lined with gilding kem weber furniture designer prices .
For some time previously gilded furniture had enjoyed considerable popularity art deco reproductions clock . It is said that it was first introduced according to the wishes of the wives of those Georgian gentlemen who were filling their Palladian mansions with the rich but somewhat sombre mahogany furniture rare antique drop leaf . Quite a large proportion of this gilded furniture was imported from France and it is very difficult to identify English made chairs from the French originals german antique work tables . French chairs are believed to have upholstered pads on the arms and small peg-like ends to the scrolled feet while English gilded chairs are supposed not to have had any upholstery on the arms while the scrolls reached right down to the end of the legs bauhaus style furniture +scale . 1 have, however, seen both English and French chairs with variations of all these characteristics oriental writing bureau cabinet .
The rectangular chair-back returned with Thomas Sheraton, who of all the 18th-century designers could probably claim to have the greatest delicacy of taste antique chamber cabinets . He owed this success to a lightness of construction, hitherto unattained, and to his use of the natural beauty of the mahogany and satinwood grain directoire sofa . This he left without embellishment except for a slight amount of inlay and some boxwood stringing along the edges antique 18th century cedar chest . Sheraton was very close to the 20th century in his chair designs and I have seen dining chairs produced by well-known designers of the present day where the influence of Thomas Sheraton has been very strong indeed andre delatte .
Regency chairs have a distinctive elegance of their own, and although they could be bought quite cheaply in sets before the 1939-45 War, today they are very much in demand nest of 20 drawers . They are rather simply shaped with slender, turned legs and attractively scrolled backs antique art deco fixture . The back rails are often inlaid with ebony or brass and the lower rail is sometimes found carved like a rope length silver forks made in london . It was during this period that the top back rail was constructed so that it protruded on either side of the uprights, this design often being associated with the so-called sabre-shaped leg small sterling silver clocks .
The Restoration spiral twist now re-appeared in the Abbotsford furniture of the early Victorian period antique kayseri silk carpet pictoral niche . These chairs were usually made of walnut or rosewood but could never be mistaken for late 17th-century pieces antique oakchamber pot chair with hinged top . In spite of their rather fussy character and beadwork upholstery they are attractive and well worth acquiring bone handled fork converted to knive . About 1860 the cabriole leg returned to favour and many sets of attractive chairs, designed for the drawing room or parlour, were produced walnut escutcheons . Country-made rush-seated chairs with turned spindle backs and club legs date from the early 19th century and are still made in some northern counties french table stretcher draw leaf .
The origin of the Windsor chair is shrouded in mystery, as is also the name antique dresser with drawers stamped 54 . The tale that George III discovered this turned-wood type of chair at a house in the Chilterns and found it so to his liking that he had it sent to Windsor for his personal use may be accepted with that degree of credulity accorded to many fables concerning antiques cabinet makers antique work bench . Some authorities date the Windsor chair from the late 17th century and others from the mid-18th edwardian wardrobes . It is more than likely that in areas such as the Chilterns, where there are extensive beech forests, turned-wood stools and chairs have been produced for a very long time, even as far back as the 16th century desk boulle style . The Windsor chair as it is known today was really a product of the 18th century and it was probably during that time that it reached that very high degree of functional design for which it has become famous william kent eagle console table . Traditionally, these chairs have legs and spindles of beech which until a short time ago were shaped on crude lathes in the beechwoods by turners known as bodgers antique draw leaf dining table . The hooped backs and arms were made of ash which could be easily steamed and bent to shape while the seats were of elm because they could be cut in one piece from the broad elm boards silverware sets real fake . Some Windsor chairs have yew-wood arms, backs and spindles but are rather more rare and consequently more expensive to acquire italian provincial furniture . Those which have a shaped central splat in the back with a small wheel-like figure incorporated in the design are usually referred to as wheel-back chairs german antique sideboards and buffets fluted .
I have already mentioned sets of Georgian dining chairs and these command a high price, even when country-made russian porcelain antique . Due to a 19th-century custom of dividing sets of chairs among the beneficiaries of the will on the death of the owner, it is quite common to find single specimens or pairs of chairs of almost any period in sale-rooms and antique shops 18th century victorian toilet in dining room . Accordingly, it is not a difficult matter to collect what is sometimes referred to by the antique trade as a harlequin set of different chairs, either of the same or various periods empire curved bureau . In my dining room I have a very pleasant example of the Hepplewhite period, a pair and one single chair of Sheraton design, and two Regency carvers song dynasty bluish green glazed earthenware . None of these cost more than £5 and some much less countries that art deco was very popular .
High-backed oak settles look cosy and attractive before an open fire in a country inn but they are not really very comfortable and seldom fit in with a modest collection of antique furniture 18th century king george red velvet arm chair value . They often have a chest beneath with a hinged lid in the seat and sometimes shaped wings at the sides to combat the draughts pilaster bookstand price . The low-back settle or panelled settee with cabriole legs and a long overlaid cushioned seat are a better proposition and can be bought for under E10 antique cherry drop leaf table claw foot .
Of much rarer vintage is the double seated settee or love seat, designed according to tradition for the use of courting couples “desk”+”antique” . I believe that this is just another fable as these seats are not infrequently found in pairs, the second one provided, perhaps, for the chaperone simple design dressing table . More likely these love seats were merely part of the seating accommodation provided in a large salon or ballroom for the assem-blies and routs so much beloved by the Georgians ornate antique silver roast serving platter .
Longer settees with cabriole or square Chippendale type legs, and with padded arms and upholstered seats and backs, made an appearance in the second half of the 18th century francaise antique . Apparently they did not develop in popularity as there are comparatively few about and their places were taken by the sofa and couch swansea duck egg .

Oriental Persian Carpets.

Persian Carpets before 1800.

The origins of pile weaving are obscure, but that it is an ancient skill is proven by a hand-knotted rug found in Pazyryk, southern Siberia, dating from between the 3rd and 5th centuries BC. Fragments of piled weavings (3rd-6th centuries AD) have been found in Xinjiang (eastern Turkestan); others dating mainly from the 13th century have been uncovered at Fostat in Cairo.
By the 13th century rug-weaving was well established it Anatolia and by at least the 15th century pile carpets were mad, in Egypt. Persian carpets are mentioned in 10th-century Aral records, by Marco Polo in the 13th century, and by the 14th-century explorer Ibn Batuta. Paintings of the 14th an( 15th centuries depict weavings similar to early Turkish carpets.
SAFAVID WEAVING
The great trade artery, the Silk Route, ran from Beijing in the east, through eastern and western Turkestan, Persia (Iran), and Turkey, to Europe. Under Timurid rule (1370-1506) Persia established strong links with China, and motifs such as cloudbands, cranes, phoenixes, and dragons were introduced to the Timurid court artists via Chinese textiles and pottery.
The Safavids (1501-1732) conquered Persia in 1501. Tahmasp, the second shah, established royal workshops for weaving carpets and textiles in Kashan, Kirman, Isfahan (now Esfahan), and Tabriz, ushering in the classic age of Persian carpet-weaving. These cities grew into the four great centres of production.
The earliest carpets, from the late 15th to early 16th century, are associated with Tabriz in north-west Persia. They have a large medallion often shaped like a lotus flower with cusped lobes, edged in stylized clouds. cloudbands and arabesques fill the field. As this design developed, the medallion acquired pendants, and animals in combat appeared in the field. Countless variations on this theme are found in 19th- and 20th-century carpets.
The hunting motifs of a magnificent 16th-century silk carpet from the silk-weaving centre Kashan were much borrowed in the 19th and 20th centuries in Tehran, Kirman, Isfahan, and Kashan. The design was popular with mid-20th-century weavers in Qom. Small silk rugs woven in Kashan in the mid-16th century, with a medallion and spandrel design, gave rise to countless modern imitations, many woven in the same city between c.1900 and 1930. In the 17th century, the great Islamic cultural centre of Isfahan in central Persia, under Shah Abbas, produced carpets with all-over designs of vine
tendrils supporting huge palmettes, curled “sickle” or saz leaves (shaped like a scythe blade with a serrated edge), and bold borders. Such designs are often on a strong red ground.
Certain carpets believed to be from Kirman are known as “vase” carpets. Made from the mid-16th to the late 17th century, some pieces depict Chinese-style vases on a trelliswork of vines, palmettes, and leaves. These carpets have a double layer of cotton warps, and three shoots of weft, the middle one silk. All carpets with this unusual structure are called “vase” carpets, even where the vase pattern does not appear. This trellis, palmetto, and leaf pattern was widely copied in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Many classical Persian carpets were exported to the West, and a great number can now be seen in museums. Wool carpets from Isfahan were popular, as were the silk Polonaise, or Polish, rugs originally thought to come from Poland, but in fact from 17th-century Isfahan. They are woven in bright green, blue, red, and ivory, with brocaded areas in silver or gilt metal (a thin strip of metal was wound around a white or yellow silk thread). Early 20th-century rugs from the Kum Kapi district of Istanbul were inspired by these rugs; modern silk and metal thread rugs from Hereke in Turkey are their distant cousins.
• MAIN CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Kashan, Kirman,
Tabriz, and Isfahan
• SCALE most examples are large carpets, although some small rugs were also produced
• WEAVE most are woven in wool or silk, sometimes with metal thread details; some are woven in silk on a silk and cotton foundation
• DESIGNS early Persian carpets were based on cartoons, many of which were drawn by court artists; the designs of these carpets form the basis of most later Persian weaving patterns
• MOTIFS these include cloudbands, hunting motifs, vegetation (palmettes, vines, lotus-flower-shaped designs, and leaves), cranes, phoenixes, and dragons

Persian Carpets after 1800.

The quality and quantity of Persian weaving declined greatly in the 18th and early 19th centuries compared to the fine traditions established in the 16th and 17th centuries. However, from the mid-19th century there was a revival of interest, mainly generated by a renewed Western fashion for Eastern products. Demand was accelerated by easier travel and trade links together with a new awareness which was to a large degree generated by British colonialism. Two distinct styles of carpet production emerged in Persia, both firmly based on earlier traditions: the city and town workshop style, and the tribal and village style. Associated with these were the more commercial carpets created to feed the new Western market.
TOWN AND CITY PRODUCTION
Certain towns and cities are synonymous with carpet weaving in Persia. Tabriz in the north-west, Mashad in the north-east, Isfahan (now Esfahan) and Kashan in central Persia, and Kirman in the south-east are of particular importance. Although there are regional
variations in the uses of colour and in the presentation of the subject-matter, there are several important characteristics in this group that identify the style.
Based on the designs of the earlier classic era (16th-to 17th-century Safavid weavings), the pattern details are essentially curvilinear in form, with particular emphasis on floral design elements. Flower-heads, palmettos (vertically split flowers), and associated vines and foliage are the predominant features, naturalistically drawn to create an image of a colourful garden. Variations on this theme may sometimes include people TRIBAL AND VILLAGE PRODUCTION
Tribal rugs are woven by the various nomadic groups during migrations with their flocks, and have been subject to few outside influences. The tribal tradition of rug-weaving is quite different from that of town manufacture: designs are woven from memory, with patterns passed down from generation to generation, or adapted from other products seen by the weavers on their travels; designs are therefore often highly original. The designs of tribal rugs are always geometric, and represent stylized versions of the more naturalistic drawing seen in town rugs. The geometric patterns are mainly determined by the use of the Turkish knot, which is suited to creating angular lines. Tribal products are woven with a wool pile on wool foundation; being a thick material, wool does not allow for such intricate detail as is possible on the cotton or silk foundations of products made in the towns.
Floral motifs abound and are often highly stylized. Animals, birds, and humans are also often depicted, although they are sometimes barely recognizable. Persian tribal rugs tend to be more densely decorated than their northerly Caucasian neighbours, whose designs are bolder and even more rigidly rectilinear.
The best-known Persian tribal groups are the
Kashgai, the Khamseh, and the Afshar, all of which
use wonderful, jewel-like colours – blues, reds, yellows, greens, and ivory – in all tones. Their work includes all-over designs and medallion formats, and they occasionally produce prayer-rugs. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the products of these three tribes, since they often borrow each other’s ideas.
Technical quality in tribal work can vary enormously, from extremely coarse to extremely fine depending on the experience or competence of the weaver. It is important to note that the value of a piece is not necessarily based on technical fineness, but may also depend on its visual appeal or its individuality. As well as rugs, artifacts such as bags and animal trappings are woven. Carpets are rarely seen, although in some villages around the main marketing towns settled tribespeople weave large-scale pieces.
WESTERN INFLUENCE
In 1882 Ziegler & Co., a British/Swiss firm exporting Persian goods to the West, set up carpet workshops in Sultanabad (now Arak) in north-west Persia. Traditional designs were adapted for the Western market, incorporating bold floral motifs linked by lattice vines and framed within wide borders. Such carpets are highly popular and valuable, although central-medallion carpets of this type are less sought after. A particular Western-led innovation was the employment of the human figure as the main, pictorial element of a design.
• MAIN CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Tabriz, Mashad,
Isfahan, Kashan, Kirman, Heriz, and Senneh
• MAIN TRIBES the Kashgai, the Khamseh, and the Afshar
• TYPES town and city production: mostly rugs and carpets; tribal and village production: smaller wares –rugs and artifacts such as bags and animal trappings are typical; carpets are rare
• WEAVES town and city rugs and carpets are generally finely woven with either wool on a cotton foundation or, sometimes, silk pile on a silk foundation; tribal and village designs are mostly woven in wool on wool
• COLOURS these vary enormously from the broad range of pastels and bright colours used in towns and cities to the bold, jewel-like colours typical of tribal production
• DESIGNS town and city pieces are based on cartoons; curvilinear designs, typically featuring floral motifs, are common; tribal and village rugs and carpets are woven from memory, so no two examples are exactly alike; design and colouring have often been governed by the export market – the use of the human figure as the principal design was mainly inspired by Western tastes
• COLLECTING avoid pieces in shades of orange and garish shades of red; tribal rugs made before 1900 are prized by collectors; modern 20th-century examples are likely to be well made and attractive but lack the individuality in colour and design of older 19th-century pieces; fine tribal weaves can be very valuable