Posts Tagged ‘side cabinets’

19th Century Sideboards, Cellarets, Tambour Secretary, Regency Side Cabinet, Desks, Worktables. New Trends.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS
IN THE EARLY 19TH century, many
different forms of furniture were developed for specific purposes. Previously; furniture was placed against the wall and had to serve multiple functions, but this had gradually changed through the 18th century and, by the early years of the next century, more specialized pieces were made. The same period saw the rise of novel patent furniture. Thomas Morgan and Joseph Sanders of London specialized in the “Patent Sofa-Bed & Chair-Bed”. They also made a celebrated type of armchair that hinged over to form library steps.
Not only were new forms of furniture developed, but old types were revitalized after taking forms derived from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. For example, a cellaret, or wine cooler — an 18th-century invention — might be reconfigured in the form of an ancient sarcophagus.
New types of furniture were made for the dining room. The sideboard was still a relatively new invention. Often of rectangular form with a bowed front, it usually had two compartments separated by a drawer.
These might contain shelves or even a cellaret drawer. They frequently had a brass railing at the back, although they are now usually missing. British
sideboards are generally made of mahogany with brass or ebonized stringing. Side cabinets and chiffoniers, both developments of the commode, were also new. They often had a pair of doors with brass grilles backed with pleated silk.
The cheval mirror, or Psyche glass, was a new piece of bedroom furniture. It consisted of a large single mirror held within a plain frame on a pivot, through which it was attached to the uprights of its stand. This was generally set on splayed legs with casters, so that it could be moved around easily.
Other new types of furniture, such as campaign furniture, reflected the military turbulence of the period. Campaign furniture was specially designed to be portable and easy to dismantle (sec pp.280-81).
In similar vein, the chaise a l’officier (officer’s chair) was made in France. it had arm supports, but lacked elbow rests, to enable a man wearing a sword to sit down with relative ease.

AMERICAN D-SHAPED SIDEBOARD
The rectangular top of this satinwood and figured maple sideboard has a bowed front above a conforming case with an arrangement of drawers and cupboard doors. The reeded legs have ringed cuffs.
1800-05.
Each of the drawers and cupboard doors has banded and satinwood-inlaid borders.

ENGLISH CELLARET
This Sheraton mahogany, arched-top cellaret -as a domed lid above a rectilinear case with central oval panels and geometric inlay, set on ,cpe-twist legs. c.1800.
AMERICAN TAMBOUR SECRETARY
This desk has a rectangular upper section with tambour doors that open to reveal a fitted interior. The lower section has two long drawers raised on square-section legs with tapering feet. c.1795.
ENGLISH REGENCY SIDE CABINET
–e shaped top of this parcel-gilt rosewood side :abinet is outlined with satinwood stringing. The frieze beneath contains five drawers, each
with lion’s-mask ring handles. The cupboards below have front grilles, and there is a centre shelf. The cabinet has gilt-wood lion’s-paw feet. c.1805.
AMERICAN KLISMOS CHAIR
This mahogany chair has a curved, rectangular top rail with scroll carving, and a shaped, carved back rail. The seat is supported on sabre legs. c.1815.

REGENCY WATERFALL BOOKCASES
AMERICAN WORKTABLE
ENGLISH DAVENPORT DESK
Each mahogany bookcase has a three-quarter gallery above four graduated shelves and a single drawer with ivory handles. The cases have brass carrying handles at the sides.
This Classical mahogany astragal-end worktable has various compartments. It sits on a reeded urn pedestal on four splayed, carved legs, which end in brass feet and casters.
The hinged top of this pollard oak desk has a three-quarter spindle gallery enclosing two real and false drawers, flanked by a pen drawer and slides above four side drawers.

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 CHESTS OF DRAWERS

MANY OF THE CHESTS made and sold in this period were direct descendants of their 18th-century counterparts. The chest was still in widespread use, both in the bedroom as a clothes store and in the salon, very often for display purposes only. Examples with specialist uses, such as music cabinets and folio chests, augmented the range of commodes, cabinets, and vitrines already found in the home. The traditional low, broad chest was frequently of very fluid form, incorporating serpentine, bombe, or bowfront curves reminiscent of 18th-century styles. Elaborate commodes were rare, however, and, in the drawing room, were often replaced by credenzas, or side cabinets.
CONTRASTING STYLES
A more contemporary look was provided by a new generation of tall and slender, rather elegant, filing cabinets, precipitated by the bestselling Wellington chest. These filing
cabinets tended to be less fussy than the more old-fashioned chests of drawers, particularly those in the Rococo-revival style, which were often excessively ornamented. Profuse use of gilt-metal mounts, sabots, and inlays combined with marble tops, carved skirts, friezes and aprons, and intricate marquetry decoration often made these very busy items of furniture. Neoclassical and Gothic forms sat alongside chests in the Rococo style, although these labels often referred to little more than token applied decoration, used by cabinetmakers to distinguish an otherwise plain piece of furniture.
FAVOURED WOODS
Tropical hardwoods, such as mahogany and rosewood, were frequently used for chests, although Dutch cabinetmakers often substituted walnut for their marquetry-decorated pieces, and cherry wood was sometimes used in the United States.
FRENCH COMMODE
This 18th-century-style commode has a moulded, veined marble top above a Rococo-style, rosewood- and walnut-veneered bombe case with polished, gilded, bronze mounts. The front of the piece is inlaid with colourful
marquetry, and shows an asymmetrical floral pattern. The case is set on cabriole legs. It is an accurate copy of a Louis XV commode and uses expensive materials. However, this mid 19th-century example was constructed by
machine rather than by hand.
ITALIAN PARQUETRY COMMODE
This kingwood parquetry commode is of bombe form and has a moulded Siena marble top above two chequer-veneered drawers. Each drawer has a flower-head motif centred over
the escutcheon plate. The same motif appears on the sides of the case. It is raised on square, cabriole legs, terminating in sabots. Although almost an exact copy of an 18th-century piece, its excessively slender legs reveal its 19th-
century origins.
DUTCH CHEST OF DRAWERS
The moulded top of this Dutch, Empire-style, walnut and marquetry tall chest of drawers has an outset frieze drawer. Below this are five equal-sized drawers, decorated sans traverse with fine floral marquetry inlaywork, which
exhibits a mixture of mid 18th- and late 18th-century styles in its overall design. The oval border is Neoclassical in inspiration, while the floral design within it is asymmetrical and, therefore, more Rococo in style. The case is supported on tapering, square-section feet. 1880.
FRENCH FILING CHEST
This late Louis XVI-style ebony and brass filing chest has a moulded edge above eight drawers. The drawers have leather fronts and brass catches and are supported on a plinth base. c,1900.
ANGLO-INDIAN WELLINGTON CHEST
Made of the distinctively striped coromandel wood — a type of ebony from the Coromandel coast of India —this Wellington chest also features surface carving typical of the subcontinent. c.1880.
BRITISH WELLINGTON CHEST
The moulded top of this figured maple chest protrudes above its frieze. Beneath the frieze are seven graduated drawers, flanked on either side by a locking flap. At the top of each flap is an applied scroll-leaf decoration. 1860.
GERMAN COMMODE.
This mahogany commode has a protruding rectangular top above four flame-mahogany veneered drawers. The front of the case has canted corners, with a carved scroll and acanthus top and bottom. The case is supported on carved scroll, bracket feet. c.1850.
FRENCH COMMODE
This bowfront kingwood commode has a moulded, veined marble top. The four drawers have veneered fronts, and are divided and flanked by brass-lined flutes. A veneered herringbone pattern is on each side. The commode has a shaped apron with gilt mounts and stands on bracket feet. c.1900.
AMERICAN CHEST OF DRAWERS
This chest has been grain-painted in ochre and yellow with dark green mouldings and recessed side panels. The backboard is dark green with the initials “A” and V’ in gold and copper. The chest has two short above four long drawers. Each side panel is stencilled with a vase of flowers.
AMERICAN BUTLER’S CHEST
This cherry wood chest has panelled sides and four dovetailed drawers with glass handles. The top drawer has a drop front with spindle columns and opens onto a fitted interior with four drawers, eight cubbyholes, and a central prospect door. Mid 19th century.
BRITISH CREST OF DRAWERS
This rectilinear chest of drawers has two short above three long, equal-sized drawers. Each drawer is decorated with laurel swags, and the long drawers also feature a central carved rosette. The chest is supported on a shaped plinth base. Late 19th century.
GERMAN COMMODE
This small commode is made from solid mahogany and veneered in various exotic woods. There is a single frieze drawer below the moulded top and two additional, bombe-form drawers decorated, sans traverse, with flowers, figures, and rocaille. c.1900.

Classicism, Empire, and Biedermeier
England
English furniture makers between the sixteenth and eighteenth century adopted both the ornamentation and forms of continental furniture, although with a British tendency towards modesty and simplicity. There are three main periods of English furniture. The first is the Elizabethan era in which solid oak dominates. This lasted into the reign of the Stuarts. At this time Dutch furniture, which had much in common with the character of the English pieces, was imported together with luxury Flemish and French furniture.
The first new era of a distinctive English style was that of William and Mary when walnut was widely used.
The form of chairs brought over from the Dutch republic were adapted. The fretwork backs were raised in height and given scrolls. Fabric upholstery was replaced with harder woven seats and chair backs. Other types of chairs also evolved from this original type. A bench with a back was also created (a settee), a two-seated bench (double stool), and small sofa, known as a lover’s seat. These types were made well into the eighteenth century.
Oak furniture was often covered with walnut or other veneers and decorated with inlays. The Dutch example of tulips, other flowers, and birds was also adopted.
Both the cabinet and secretaire on turned legs were important pieces of furniture, which were fitted with drawers. Both marquetry and lacquer along the Dutch lines were popular between 1680 and 1720. Things continued in this vein until 1750.
The most important piece of furniture though was the chest of drawers, made in the form of a low or taller commode.
The wide and curved cabriole leg was very popular during the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) but was being replaced by 1710 with the bull and claw foot. The ubiquitous English Windsor chairs has neither of these characteristics.
THOMAS CHIPPENDALE
English furniture making was significantly altered in 1754 by Thomas Chippendale. He preferred to work in mahogany and had taste preferences drawn from French and Asian examples. But he was also inspired by native English Gothic. He brought together Rococo shells for instance with late Gothic elements.
Chippendale produced a number of types of table including reading tables, bookcases closed at the bottom and enclosed with glazed doors above, card tables, glazed dressers with a taller central section, three-part cabinets, a small table on bowed legs, a round folding table, and bureaux or writing commodes.
His commodes shared a curved front with those of France. But his greatest love was probably for chairs. Following on from his Chinese and Gothic influences he produced chairs with square legs and the merest hint of decoration. All his creativity went into the decoration of the backs of his chairs.
The curved central `splat’ of the back was fretcut and carved in the form of woven leaves and flowers, with curls, scrolls, `ribbons’, and loops.
ROBERT ADAM
Robert Adam gained great fame in the subsequent stage of English furniture design. Adam used Classicism in a very decorative way.
His semi-oval commodes have their front decorated with painting and extremely fine marquetry. The painting took the form of banding, garlands and laurel wreaths, mounted trophies, oval forms, urns, and columns.
Robert Adam’s storage furniture with its geometrical lines was made solely using light-coloured timber. This was mainly sandalwood. The top leaf and stringers of tables were decorated with either carved or burnt in patterns. These too utilised simple geometric motifs.
SHERATON AND HEPPLEWHITE
Thomas Sheraton and George Hepplewhite differed from Adam. Both made different types of cabinets but instead of using carving they preferred to see the natural figure of the grain of the wood.
Both Sheraton and Hepplewhite had a hand in the development of several types of table and they also made bureaux with cylinder locks, dressing tables, tables for placing against a wall, and bedside tables.
In common with Robert Adam they gave considerable attention to the backs of the chairs they made. Sheraton made the simpler type of chair, using sober, fitted for the purpose, and geometric designs. After 30 years as a furniture maker he reintroduced the use of rush seats for his chairs.
Hepplewhite in turn introduced the Prince of Wales feathers or ears of corn designs into the oval framing of his chair backs. More pointed oval forms and heart shape panels were also used by Hepplewhite.
ENGLISH REGENCY
The great flourishing of English furniture making drew to a close at the end of the eighteenth century. The English Regency period is considered by some as a mere variant of the French Empire style. It was not again until the 1860’s that English furniture once more emerged with fresh ideas.
France — Louis XVI and Empire
A new style arose in France out of the Louis XVI style known as Empire. It was directly derived from the Napoleonic ideal of a Roman Empire.
French ebenistes were not greatly inspired by theexamples from classical antiquity given by wealth of treasures uncovered by excavations.
Fortunately it was an era of artists with vivid imaginations and this included the architects P. Fontaines and Christian Percier who drew on the classical past for their designs for interiors, covering walls with carpet or colourful silk. Classical
Early 19th century mahogany half-moon table.Antiquity was glorified at this time so that artistic concepts of these idealistic days gained a romantic heroic overtones. This expressed itself through an almost pathetic level of ostentation, which was revealed in interior furnishings.
It is striking how similarly Empire furnishings are worked, making them readily distinguishable and rather uniform in appearance.
The furnishings were uncluttered and derived their form from architecture. The solid looking furnishings are strongly symmetrical with straight lines.
The Empire style also expressed itself in the design of furniture for the rooms. Important elements for Empire furniture are the cornices, pilasters, and columns
The decorative mouldings of acanthus stems, dolphins, egg and tongue mouldings, nymphs, laurel wreaths, lions, palmettos, sphinxes (which referred to Napoleon’s Nile expedition), urns, and swans created their own identity.
Empire style tables were fairly lavishly made for a range of purposes. Many four-legged tables served as writing desks but there were also bureaux with shutters and desks with pedestals.
Ordinary tables were round as was the case in ancient Greece and Rome. But tables were also made in various polygonal forms. Initially the table top was borne by a carved figure but this was later replaced by a plain columns with inlay and bronze capitals The wash stand also evolved.
A separate leaf was added for a water jug and the wash basin was often supported by a swan. The sliding drawer of the dressing table was often fitted with a mirror for hair styling.
Secretaires were an enclosed but compact piece of furniture. Commodes were simples and without curves, with two drawers or two doors. A new item in the bedroom was a large swivel cheval glass mirror or psyche set in a frame on a stand. Considerable attention was given during the Empire period to the design of beds. Although these no longer had canopies they still remained pretentious. Furniture makers happily used a boat form for beds, known as lit de bateau. Matching style bedside cabinets and night cabinets with decorated fronts were also made for such beds.
Chairs and other seating from the Empire period is characterised by an emphasis on woodworking skills and heavy construction.
At first these had round turned legs but later these stood on arched sabre legs. Interiors were also furnished with dumb waiters, plus flower and sewing tables and a bird cage. The strong love of music also meant that pianos were increasingly found that were mainly imported from London and Vienna.
Germany
German furniture making reached a crescendo in style shortly after the French Revolution. It is entirely unfair to compare the German style of this period with the style of Louis XVI.
New directions in art in Germany generally arose from philosophers rather than practitioners. The Louis XVI style had reached Germany by 1760 by way of the Rhineland. German copies lack the same finesse of the French originals and did not fully implement the style.
Furthermore Baroque influences still endured in Germany and affected this new style import.
Furniture from the area around Liege and Achen was much closer to the French examples. Further north in Germany, along the North Sea coast and around Lubeck, the Louis XVI style was diluted by traditional Scandinavian styles.
The heavy in scale white furniture from this region was influenced by the simple beauty of furniture from Sweden and Denmark. German furniture makers were increasingly influenced as the years passed by their English compatriots. Wide use was made in Berlin and Hamburg and other major cities of veneer.
In addition to the use of native wood from cherry, conifers, walnut, and pear, mahogany was imported on a greater scale. Eventually the native timbers were forced to yield to the imports. Types
of furniture dating back to the time of Queen Anne were copied from Britain, such as double commodes, sawing and dressing tables, and bureaux.
These were later followed by bookcases and glazed-fronted cabinets. English style tended to rule until the emergence of Biedermeier.
Display cabinets though were mainly inspired along French lines, largely due to David Roentgen. These pieces were largely made of course for the palaces and castles of the ruling German princes. These were decorated with inlays of animals, birds, and floral still life designs at Roentgen’s instigation.
After some time these designs were supplemented with allegorical scenes and chinoiserie along Dutch lines. The sober way in which ordinary German folk furnished their homes stood in stark contrast with the overwhelmingly ornate interiors of the palaces.
It is impossible to over-emphasize the longevity of the influence of Baroque throughout the whole of Germany. We have seen how English style influenced the north. In Prussian Berlin Karl Friedrich Schinkel was open to both high classical and emancipated popular classical examples. In the south, in Munich, Leo von Klenze was rather more inspired by French style. Vienna in Austria was another matter though. Furniture makers there combined decorative tastes with comfort.
GERMAN BIEDERMEIER
The first tendency towards more approachable furniture for the ‘ordinary’ home could be seen in the work of Klenze of Munich and these were popular with the generations leading up to the revolutionary year of 1848.
Biedermeier style became popular in the German-speaking countries of Germany, Biedermeier style was a counter to the rigid and pathetic Empire. It was inspired by furniture design that was popular with ordinary people around 1800.
The ordinary citizen preferred more approachable furniture with rounded corners and lightly curved surfaces, circles, ovals, and curved broad lines. The popular notion of comfort meant for instance wide sofas and divans. Sets of tables and chairs were given pride of place in the ‘ordinary’ home. Little use was made of bronze encrusted decoration or fittings in Biedermeier furniture. This was restricted to small turnkeys, horns of plenty, and key escutcheons.
In Germany, as in England, bookcases consisted of three parts.
Wardrobes, linen cupboards, and china cabinets had pilasters at their corners and otherwise were entirely glazed. secretaires managed to stay in existence during the Biedermeier period but their style varied from area to area.
The tops of these secretaires were sometimes reminiscent of a cathedral. The inside of a secretaire was subdivided along architectural lines with small drawers, mirrors, and small columns. It is fun to find all the secret cavities.
The most widely used woods were native elements. beech, ash, cherry, and pear plus ‘exotic’ mahogany. Most secretaires were decorated with paintings or veneer.
Furniture was often covered in floral cretonne with intensely coloured roses or with cotton rep. The walls were hung with plain wallpaper or with paper with floral or vine patterns. This made the rooms look busy even before the many items of furniture were added. These included sewing tables, dumb waiters for books and china, and wastepaper baskets.

Creamware and pearlware
In the 18th century Staffordshire became the most important area for the manufacture of everyday pottery. Tin-glazed earthenware, for centuries the European staple, was never made there, and very little porcelain was produced before the late 18th century. From the late 17th century north Staffordshire potters gradually refined their wares, until by the middle of the century they were making some of the finest pottery in Europe.
CREAMWARE
Thomas Astbury (1686-1743), Enoch Booth, and Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95) are all associated with the invention and development of creamware (cream-coloured earthenware). By the 1760s Wedgwood’s creamware was sufficiently developed to excite the interest of Queen Charlotte, who ordered a tea service (1765), and it was subsequently renamed “Queen’s ware”. For the next 100 years, creamware remained the standard pottery body in Britain and throughout much of continental Europe and North America. The close-grained body was composed of clay from
Devon mixed with flint and covered in
a very thin but smooth lead glaze. It could be finely moulded or cut with great detail. Furthermore, it was very receptive to underglaze blue, overglaze enamelling, or printing. English creamware includes ornamental wares and sophisticated pierced wares, which were made in Staffordshire and Leeds, and also figures. However, most of the output was of more mundane items such as dinner services, tablewares, and teawares. The versatility of creamware and its acceptance among the higher classes of European society (the 926-piece “Frog” service was made by Wedgwood for Catherine the Great of Russia in 1773-4) ensured its financial success,
as well as undermining virtually the entire European tin-glazed pottery tradition.
PEARLWARE AND PRATTWARE
Introduced by Wedgwood c.1779 as an improvement on his creamware, pearlware includes more white clay and flint in the body than creamware does. Suggesting an iridescent appearance, “pearlware” is a misleading term; the addition of cobalt oxide to the glaze imparted a bluish-white cast, which is particularly visible where there is pooling. Much pearlware is decorated in underglaze blue by painting or, later, by transfer-printing. Among the most famous printed themes are versions of the “Willow” pattern. In the early 19th century, manufacturers broadened the range of patterns to include Classical designs and English landscapes.
Prattware is associated with the Pratt family from Lane Delph in Staffordshire, although it was also made by a number of other factories. The body is similar to pearlware in weight and colour, but the ware is distinguished by a strong, high-temperature palette comprising ochre, brown, green, and blue. Wares include moulded teapots, jugs, and figures. From the 1840s the firm of E & R. Pratt & Co. was famous for multicoloured printing, used extensively on pot lids.
• BODY cream, thin, and lightweight
• GLAZE ivory-tinted lead glaze
• FORMS ornamental Neo-classical wares, tablewares, and more rarely figures
• DECORATION underglaze blue, overglaze enamels, or transfer printing
Pearlware
• BODY white flinty earthenware
• GLAZE bluish glaze to counteract the cream body
• FORMS mainly useful wares: dishes, plates, teapots, coffee-pots, and jugs
• DECORATION usually painted or printed underglaze
blue of English landscapes, Grand Tour ruins, etc.
Prattware
• BODY similar to pearlware
• PALETTE high-fired colours: ochre, yellow, brown, green, and blue
• FORMS jugs, teapots, and figures
Marks
The practice of marking pottery became more widespread from c.1800; some factories impressed their marks, but the majority are transfer-printed in underglaze blue; in addition the factory might also supply the title of the pattern on the back
Wedgwood: mark used on creamware
Leeds: impressed mark for the firm of Hartley, Greens & Co. (1800-30)

Beds
From the earliest times beds have been endowed with particular importance: as places of rest and privacy, or as symbols of power. The bed was
often the most important legacy, as it was regarded as a possession of consequence, representing the continuity of the family.
EARLY BEDS
The earliest European free-standing beds were basic structures comprising roofs, posts, and bases; the fabric hangings that decorated them were of greater value, and when noblemen moved around the country, they took their bedding, curtains, and valances with them, leaving behind the plain wooden construction. An early type of bed was the truckle or trundle bed on wheels, which conveniently slid under a standing bed when not being used by a servant. By the early 16th century most beds in northern Europe were made from oak; the heads were panelled and decorated with coats of arms, lozenges, chevrons, and lettering; squat, carved posts were placed at the corners, and testers (canopies) were added in the middle of the century. This form was replaced during the 17th century with a beech frame, with tester, ornate cornice, and a back covered in the same fabric as the curtains. On grand beds the posts were tall and more slender, with luxurious hangings crowned with finials, covered with the same material as the valance, from which issued ostrich feathers. More ordinary beds were hung with cloth, linen, or moreen.
18TH-CENTURY BEDS
British beds became more subdued at the beginning of the 18th century. Cornices became straight and projecting, and fringes and tassels disappeared in favour of plain trimmings. “Angel”, or half-tester, beds, without posts at the foot, imitating the French lit a la duchesse, retained the height of their four-poster counterparts.
The panelled back was reintroduced on mahogany bedsteads of the first half of the century, with cabriole legs ending in lion’s-paw feet, and slender posts with vase-shaped plinths replacing silk-covered uprights. By 1775 the cornice had become simple in outline, straight or serpentine, still complemented by vase finials at the four corners; the surface was carved and/or gilded, and cheaper wood frames, such as beech, were painted. On Neo-classical beds the posts were often very elaborately carved with such ornament as fluting, paterae, lion masks, and acanthus. Red damask and moreen were the favoured materials for ordinary beds, although in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide (1788-94) George Hepplewhite (d.1786) recommended the use of white dimity for “an effect of elegance and neatness”. Late 18th-century beds had a much lighter feel, with decoration taking the form of narrow, fluted posts delicately carved with wheat ears or husks or painted with ribbons and garlands of flowers. These clean light lines were echoed in the Federal period beds made in North America by such makers as Samuel McIntire (1757-1811) in Salem, Massachusetts, and Duncan Phyfe (1768-1854) in New York, the posts often decorated with Classical urn-form turnings with delicate reeding. Hangings were based on the designs in The Cabinet Dictionary (1803) by Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) and Hepplewhite’s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide.
19TH-CENTURY BEDS
Beds in the French Empire style, particularly lits en bateau, are usually richly and exquisitely decorated in a restrained manner; the structure had large unbroken panelled surfaces veneered in both light and dark woods, which were sometimes used in combination, and decorative themes, usually represented in ormolu, included oak, laurel, and olive wreaths, shields, helmets, swans, lions, sphinxes, and vine-leaves. Beds were made in two principal types, both of which were meant to be placed in alcoves and seen from the side; therefore only one of the four faces was properly decorated. The first type was influenced by the beds of the Louis XVI era, with straight uprights in columnar or pilaster form, no roof or curtains or excess fabric, but lavishly decorated with bronze mounts. The second type was the lit en bateau, as it vaguely resembled a small boat, with two straight ends of equal height, and rolled over, linked by a steeply curved traverse. Both types were sometimes overhung with canopies in the style of earlier fashions. This is a type of bed particularly associated with the Biedermeier period.
The Empire style was the most important influence on English beds of the early 19th century, and numerous examples can be found in A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1808) by George Smith (active c.1786-1828), and in the journal Repository of Arts (1809-28) by Rudolf Ackermann (1764-1834). The desired goal was to achieve “tasteful simplicity” by having less drapery; mahogany, or rosewood posts decorated with bronzed or gilded “Grecian ornaments”; domed testers, and hangings of red, yellow, or blue silk or calico trimmed with lace or a fringe. By the 1820s the French couch form beneath a canopy was used, although this fashion was short lived.
Throughout the later 19th century revivalism dominated fashions. ln Italy the Renaissance Revival, known as “Dantesque”, was interpreted in heavily carved beds and others decorated with ally certosina, a style of ivory and bone inlay, which had been popular in the 16th century. In North America such firms as Berkey & Gay (est. 1859) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, designed suites of bedroom furniture in the Renaissance Revival style, while the firm of Prudent Mallard (1809-79) made high-post beds at his workshop (est. 1838) in New Orleans. In Britain the “Jacobethan” Revival gave rise to the production of heavily carved four-poster beds. Tubular brass was used for bedsteads from the 1820s, and as manufacturing techniques improved during the century, cast-iron beds were made. Iron campaign beds, first made in the early 19th century, were designed to be easily assembled and transported for use on the battlefield.
• ALTERATIONS four-poster beds have often been reduced in height because of changing circumstances; check that the decoration and carving continue up the piece completely; also check to see where any reductions have been made, as the frames may have been cut to make the bed narrower or have added sections of wood to make the bed wider or longer — look along the rails for tell-talc signs in the colour and wear of the timber.
• MADE-UP BEDS these can be made up of elements from other beds, and usually it is only the front posts that will be original; the most commonly found made-up beds are tester beds from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Library and writing tables.
The earliest-known tables specifically designed for writing date from 16th-century Italy, when cabinetmakers produced elaborately carved walnut tables with sloping desks fitted into the tops and small drawers below for the storage of writing materials. Similar tables, or bureaux, probably originated in France during the third quarter of the 16th century.
THE 18TH CENTURY
Tables designed specifically for writing were introduced in England after the Restoration (1660). French tables influenced English designs during this period, and both French and English examples were usually made of oak or walnut with a rectangular folding top. The flap was supported by baluster or tapered pillar legs they are often decorated with “seaweed” or floral marquetry and closely parallel the Dutch models. During the early 18th century the Louis XIV concept of a free-standing bureau plat (a flat-topped writing table) invented by Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) was taken up and adapted by English cabinet-makers. Intended to occupy a central position in the library, and to act as a statement of the wealth and power of its owner, such desks reached the zenith of their popularity in England during the mid-18th century, and by the third edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1762) by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79), no less than 11 types of carved open pedestal desk were illustrated.
As postal systems developed, and as paper became cheaper and standards of education improved, so the need arose for less stately versions of the writing table, particularly for use by women. Some of these tables appeared in Chippendale’s Director; while others featured in The Universal System of Household Furniture (1762) by John Mayhew (1736-1811) and William Ince (c.1738-1804). A great range of new forms came into use at this time, which were notably lighter than their predecessors. Neo-classical tables were made in exotic hardwoods such as satinwood, an expensive and very fashionable wood that was particularly suited to this lighter style of table, and many examples were adorned with fine marquetry.
THE 19TH CENTURY
Several new types of writing table developed during the Regency period (c.1790-1830), including the Carlton House desk, named after the London home of the Prince of Wales (later George IV). Another fashionable form featured curved X-shaped supports at either end, with drawers in the frieze, and the flat top enclosed by a three-quarter brass gallery. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, furniture designers were given the opportunity to create a wide range of new forms, when the technology required to marry wood
to metal – developed for military purposes – was applied to furniture. The furniture of the Regency period was therefore characterized by elegant design combined with ambitious construction techniques. New features included galleries at the top of the table, used either for decorative effect or to hold books safely; numerous small drawers, hinged flaps, and curved ramps, which could be pulled out as required, extending the available surface and facilitating activities such as drawing and painting; and screens that extended beyond the main structure in order to shield the writer’s face from the heat of the fire. In addition, revolving circular or polygonal “drum”tables were invented for the library, where they were used for storing and displaying books and paper.
• “BUHL” WORK examples tend to be inferior to those of the 17th and early 18th centuries: the gilding is generally brassier and the tops are inlaid, in contrast to the leather-lined tops of the 17th-century prototypes; the drawer-linings of original examples were usually in oak, while on the copies they are in walnut.
• ALTERATIONS leather tops can get ripped and have often been replaced – this should not affect value; heavy legs have often been replaced with lighter legs of an earlier style to make the table more commercial.

Bureaux after 1840
The development of the bureau during the mid-19th century was more a matter of changes in decorative style than of any major technical advance. Desk forms of the 18th century, such as the French bureau de dame and bureau a cylindre, and the English fall-front bureau, were still current. As an important item of furniture in the middle-class interior, the bureau reflected the prevailing diversity of styles and techniques and was often fashioned with consummate craftsmanship.
MID-19TH-CENTURY BUREAUX
Mahogany and rosewood were still used for a considerable amount of writing furniture, but walnut was most fashionable and provided a greater diversity of figured surfaces, from the relatively plain straight-grained varieties to the variegated dappling of burr veneers. Yellow-toned woods such as satinwood, amboyna, and, especially in eastern Europe, maple, poplar, and birch, were much favoured. Locally available fruitwoods, yew, and oak were occasionally used.
The flat-topped writing-desk seems mainly to have been a feature of the male-oriented study, and was often of strikingly plain design, in keeping with the businesslike and usually private nature of this room. The bureau, on the other hand, often of small proportions and delicate decoration, appears generally to have been kept in the drawing-room, where it struck a distinctly feminine note. The influence of the French Rococo style is seen in the contoured aprons, and tapering cabriole legs with gilt-metal mounts, of bureaux made in England, The
Netherlands, Italy, and eastern Europe, as well as in France, between the 1840s and 1860x. Floral marquetry was the usual surface decoration, and was often more lavish in the 19th century than it had been in the 18th.
There was great variation in the superstructures of these bureaux, which were far from being slavish copies of 18th-century patterns. Some had arrangements of small drawers and pigeon holes around the writing areas; the very best examples might be fitted with gilt-bronze candle sconces or even clocks to match the highly elaborate cast-metal mounts and handles of
the main carcases. Others had superstructures of tiered drawers, or combinations of cupboards, drawers and pigeon holes; a central mirror in the upper part suggests a dual purpose bureau-cumdressing table. More restrained were those bureaux with shelves edged with gilt-metal or brass galleries for books or ornaments. Mechanical features such as rising or sliding sections, and concealed compartments, were sometimes included.
By the mid-19th century writing
furniture with brass-and-tortoiseshell marquetry, known as Boullework, was produced both by French cabinetmakers, who enjoyed a lively export trade, and by English firms, some of them employing French craftsmen. Boullework, used in France throughout the 18th century, was revived in England (where it was known as “Buhl” work) by George Bullock (c.1777-1818) during the Regency period. The best Boullework-revival pieces are close copies of the originals; the poorest examples have repetitive designs. Elaborate tours de force in ebony, brass, and tortoiseshell were seen in the major exhibitions of London, Paris, and other centres during the 1850s and 1860s. Writing furniture, including some monumental desks and bureaux, was among these extravagant examples of virtuoso craftsmanship. The English firms of Town & Emmanuel (1830-40), Wright & Mansfield (est. 1860), Jackson & Graham (1836-40), Hindley Wilkinson, and Holland & Sons (est. 1803) were some of the foremost manufacturers of high-quality reproduction Buhl and other French furniture, and the fashion for such pieces continued for the rest of the century. Another cabinet-making firm, Edwards & Roberts, was among the few English companies that regularly marked both the furniture it made and the items it restored. Edwards & Roberts used brass inlays with more restraint and practicality than other cabinetmakers, generally in the form of stringing lines on dark rosewood surfaces. Desks and bureaux in this style provide an elegantly muted contrast to the luxury of full-blown Rococo Revival, lending a note of gravitas to the inevitable abundance of decoration.
LATER 19TH-CENTURY BUREAUX
The Renaissance Revival stimulated ivory-inlaid furniture as well as the heavily carved oak associated with the later 19th century. While carved oak bureaux were produced, the eye-catching qualities of the more unusual ivory-inlaid pieces must have pleased the Victorians. In Italy, where walnut furniture with floral inlays of ivory and bone had a long history, the technique was revived with particular enthusiasm.
While wholly painted surfaces tend to be seen more often on folk and vernacular furniture than on typically middle-class pieces such as bureaux, painted flowers often embellished the delicate ladies’ writing furniture of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, much of it in the Sheraton Revival style. Painted panels were a feature of the Gothic Revival furniture of the 1870s and 1880s, Lind massive bureaux and roll-top desks in this style are occasionally seen.
Another 19th-century revival was the technique of arte povera in Italy, in which Oriental lacquer was
(very loosely) imitated by using paper scraps and painted vignettes applied to bright- or light-coloured painted grounds and covering the whole surface in varnish. This colourful form of decoration was sometimes applied to bureaux and bureau cabinets of traditional 18th-century design, and even to old items thought to be in need of “improvement”.
In The Netherlands, the bureau decorated with floral marquetry remained popular throughout the 19th century. The typical Dutch bureau is based on the English model, with a chestof-drawers surmounted by a sloping-topped writing section, with or without a cabinet on top; however, its shape, with a bombe swelling low in the base, is of French inspiration. The all-over design of flowers in different woods, usually on a walnut ground, is wholly Dutch. During the 19th century old pieces were often revamped with new marquetry, while new ones were produced with well-executed but rather mechanical flower designs.
From the late 19th century the vast majority of bureaux were made using factory methods, with all the variations of quality and design that a highly competitive industry implies. Most producers followed
the prevailing historic Revival, Aesthetic, Arts and Crafts, and progressive trends, tailoring their output to the economics of a growing mass-market. They were rarely innovative. Among the later 19th-century developments was the roll-top desk, a commodious but hardly decorative office cabinet with a kneehole arrangement of drawers beneath a slat-shuttered writing surface fitted with drawers and compartments. These functional desks, in oak, walnut and mahogany, sold in their thousands on both sides of the Atlantic.
Progressive designers of the late 19th century in Britain and on the Continent produced bureaux that met the reformers’ dictum of “fitness for purpose” and at the same time reinterpreted historical models in a highly original way, combining vernacular honesty with sophistication. Much of this furniture was sold by Liberty & Co. (est. 1875) in London, while the designers of the Vicuna Secession in the early 1900s made a further impact on design philosophy. The effects of the Arts and Crafts Movement have reverberated throughout the 20th century, with individual designer-
craftsmen producing bureaux and other furniture of simple, functional design from solid, often locally available timbers.
• FORMS most 19th-century bureaux were based on 18th-century designs; roll-top desks were mass-produced in late 19th century.
• STRUCTURE URE cupboards, drawers, and pigeon holes were commonly used; many examples have galleries to hold books and ornaments; examples featuring gilt-metal mounts with matching candle sconces are sought after.
• DECORATIVE STYLES marquetry decoration and gilt-metal mounts were fashionable during the Rococo Revival; 19th-century floral marquetry tends to be more elaborate than that of the 18th century; “Buhl” work was widely employed in the mid-19th century by French and English cabinet-makers; inlays of ebony and brass were popular during the 1850s and 1860s; ivory inlays arc associated with the Renaissance Revival; painted panels are seen on Gothic Revival furniture of 1870s and 1880s.

Bookcases and bookshelves
The early history of the bookcase is tied up with the development of monastic and collegiate book collections. Books were a great luxury long after the invention of printing, and even the wealthiest people who knew how to read were unlikely to possess more than a few, which Could easily be stored in a chest or cupboard. The bookcase developed both in its own right, as a piece of library furniture, and in conjunction with other pieces such as bureau bookcases. The first bookcases of any significant note date from the early 18th century.
18TH-CENTURY BOOKCASES
Early 18th-century bookcases are extremely rare, and were made in oak veneered in walnut, of simple design and proportions. Examples were flat fronted and of two sections: the upper section was glazed with simple rectangular panes, while the lower section had two doors behind which were drawers. By the mid-1730s the form had become increasingly heavy and architectural, in the manner promoted by William Kent (c.1685-1748). Features include a broken pediment, pilasters, and richly carved Classical decoration.
By the mid-18th century the severely architectural Palladian-style bookcase was displaced by the lighter Rococo style. A familiar bookcase design, comprising a main central break-front section and two side wings retaining its upper glazed section, was developed. The preferred wood for bookcases, as with all furniture of this period, was mahogany. The scrolled pediment above the break-front centre was often pierced after 1750. Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) included 14 designs for bookcases in the third edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1762). Until c.1750, solid glazing-bars were used to retain the rectangular panes of glass in the upper section. After this time they were largely replaced by astragals (glazing-bars with semicircular profiles), which could be arranged in more elaborate and varied patterns, including Gothic and chinoiserie designs. The astragal decoration usually conforms to that on the rest of the bookcase.
From c.1770, Neo-classicism became by far the most important influence on the design of fashionable bookcases. The architect Robert Adam (1728-92) specifically designed large bookcases to correlate with the architecture and overall decoration of the rooms for which they were intended; they were usually made to stand in recesses. Some bookcases were made in satinwood while others were made in inexpensive pine and painted in various colours with gilded enrichments. Adam’s designs were published and particularly well received in Italy, and his influence may be seen in rare examples of grand, painted, and parcel-gilded Neoclassical Italian bookcases of the late 18th century.
The bookcases detailed in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide (1788-94) by George Hepplewhite (d.1786) were even more luxurious; the doors were veneered with waved or curled mahogany, which was sometimes crossbanded and inlaid, and were fitted with simple ring handles. The designs in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterers Drawing Book (1791-1802) by Thomas Sheraton ( 1751-1806) illustrated a new fashion for a lighter, narrower bookcase with a taller lower section. This type of bookcase was typically veneered in satinwood and topped with a lightly scrolled or lunette-shaped pediment, vase finials, and delicate mouldings. Some bookcases contained gathered silk curtains behind shelves in the centre, bordered by panels or doors, “calculated to contain all the books that may be required in a sitting-room without reference to the library”. This generally featured applied metal ornaments and gilded columns or terminals. Revolving bookcases were introduced c.1810, initially in circular form, although rectangular shapes were also produced;
rectangula examples of this space-saving form were made during the Victorian and Edwardian periods.
A great change took place in the early 19th century, initiated by the London publisher William Pickering (1796-1854), who issued books in cloth bindings, thus reducing their price and bringing them within reach of the general public. Machines were introduced for gluing, rather than sewing, the pages together. Together with the expansion of education, book-buying was encouraged. The increasingly literate population therefore created a demand for attractive book-storage space. Gothic Revival bookcases were generally made in oak and were in a style that was interpreted either as a basic functional bookcase, with decorative architectural details grafted onto it, or as a more authentic interpretation with exposed joints. This rather masculine style was considered to be an appropriate one for the Victorian library. One of the most popular types during the 19th century was the secretaire bookcase.
19TH-CENTURY BOOKCASES
In The Cabinet Dictionary ( 1803), Sheraton referred to the “bookshelf” or bookstand, which was a set of light, low, open bookshelves with socket casters on the feet, making it easy to move. There was a
variety of designs, some of which resembled the open-tiered whatnot or etagere. Dwarf bookcases were also in use at this time, and were particularly suitable for delicate Neoclassical decoration. In his book A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and
Interior Decoration (1808), George Smith (active c.1786-1828) recommended placing a dwarf bookcase at each end of a room, with a library table in between, to produce “a grand and pleasing effect”. Also popular was a hybrid version of a low bookcase and a commode, with revolving bookcase.
The patent for the revolving bookcase, a way of storing books and saving wall space, was taken out by Benjamin Crosby in 1808. This type of British rectangular mahogany bookcase was particularly popular in the Edwardian period and continues to be made today.
• ALTERATIONS make sure that the proportions of the bookcase are correct, as some were reduced in height or width in order to fit into the smaller 20th-century room: a large bookcase with up to six sections may well have been reduced to four, which could affect the Value of a piece considerably; pediments have often been flattened off, again so that the bookcases can fit into a room with a lower ceiling.
• GLAZING the astragals should be rebated into the door frame, and this should be visible on the inside of the door; in later 19th-century versions the glass is usually of one piece, and the mullions arc simply laid on top.
• PROPORTIONS the glazed section of a late 18th-century bookcase is frequently less deep than the base.
• MARRIAGES as in all two- or three-part furniture, it is important to establish that all the parts started life together and that the following features correspond: the quality, colour, patina, and figuring of the wood; the methods of construction; the decorative details such as applied moulding.

Side cabinets
Although side cabinets were first made in the 18th century, the golden age was the 19th, when they were produced in a variety of styles that reflected the contemporary fashion for eclecticism. The form may well have been influenced by the French chiffonier – a small shallow cabinet topped by an open shelf or shelves and sometimes a drawer – and the Italian credenza – an early form of sideboard – both of which gave their names to types of side cabinet or meubles d’appui as they were known in France.
TYPES OF SIDE CABINETS
Eighteenth-century side cabinets were generally very simple: just shelves and drawers, with few decorative features. A variation introduced in good-quality, late 18th-century side cabinets was the replacement of solid wooden doors with silk-lined ones, sometimes protected by a brass grill. Regency side cabinets retained the simple rectilinear form with enclosed shelves and drawers; decorative inlay (often metal), crossbanding and applied brass mouldings were added. Both features are often found on Regency chiffoniers, many of which also have lyre- or S-shaped supports with brass rails for the exposed shelf sections, which may also be surmounted by brass galleries. Another desirable, but rare, feature is an adjustable shelf.
Credenzas became increasingly popular in the later 19th century. They tended to be larger than chiffoniers and side cabinets, with storage or display shelves fitted at either end. The most desirable pieces have serpentine fronts and glazed side panels; pieces with straight fronts and convex glass sides are generally less desirable. Traditionally the end shelves were lined with velvet. British examples were influenced by Continental models, especially those made in France and Italy. The centre-door panels offered good surfaces for decoration and in the best examples will be decorated with good-quality, undamaged pietre dare, marquetry boullework, or panels of ivory or porcelain. Therefore some unexceptional pieces may have exceptional decoration, and vice versa.
IMPORTANT MAKERS
After the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London there was a succession of international exhibitions at which British, Continental, and American furniture-makers showed spectacular pieces in the popular revival styles of the time. In France cabinet-makers such as Alexandre-Georges Fourdinois (1799-1871) and his son Henri-Auguste Fourdinois (1830-1907), Guillaume Grohe ( 1808-85), and Jean-Michel Grohe (b.1804) produced magnificent side cabinets in the Renaissance Revival style, which was popular at the time, for the Paris Exhibition of 1867. . Their works were immediately copied by other makers, who made inexpensive versions. Other influential French makers included Louis-Auguste-Alfred Beurdeley (1808-82), principal cabinet-maker to Empress Eugenie, and Henri Orison (1825-96), who is notable for his superb ormolu mounts. Francois Linke ( 1855–1946) is arguably the greatest exponent of the Louis XVI Revival, and his cabinets remain the most sought after. Pieces by such makers are generally very expensive, but the qualities that made their work so outstanding can be found in more modest forms. They include a well-made carcase (usually associated with French and English makers; Italian carcases are generally less well made, and liable to “move” and split the thin veneers that were used); good-quality ormolu mounts, and inventive decoration that is generous and includes the plinth and sides of the cabinet. In general, British and French examples are the most collectable.
Among the well-known British manufacturers, Wright & Mansfield (est. 1860) in London, was among the prize-winning British companies; its success was largely due to the production of a satinwood side cabinet in the Neo-classical style inspired by the work of the architect Robert Adam (1728-92). Most sought after are those made by such reputable firms as T.H. Filmer of London, which, working in the Renaissance Revival style, combined ebonized wood and pietre dure on credenza-style side cabinets with marble tops. The style was also Popular in the USA in the 1870s, where it was combined with Louis XVI ormolou decoration by Alexander Roux, a French maker active in New York from c.1856. Italian makers were known for their fine ivory inlay, although the pieces were not generally as well constructed as NEW MATERIALS
In the 19th century British furniture-makers, in particular experimented with some extraordinary materials in an attempt to capture the imagination and the purse-strings of the public. One of the success stories was the papier furniture made by Jennens & Bettridge (active 1816-64) in Birmingham, who from the 1820s used japanned papier-mache in conjunction with metal or wood frames to produce a range of furniture, and in 1825 patented a technique for incorporating mother-of-pearl inlay in papier-mache. In the 1840s and 1850s there were some 30 companies in Derbyshire producing marble furniture, in particular inlaid table tops influenced by the Florentine pietre dure models lent by the Duke of Devonshire from his collection at Chatsworth House. As a less expensive alternative, G.E. Magnus patented a technique in 1840 for colouring slate to simulate marble, and at the Great Exhibition he displayed a range of pieces; however, slate cabinet work was very unusual.
French and British examples. A notable exception was the work of Giovanni Battista Gatti (active 1850-80), prizewinner at the exhibitions in Paris in 1855 and 1878, who produced extremely well-made cabinets set with ivory and pietre dure plaques in the Renaissance Revival style.
In France, Rococo Revival side cabinets often had panelled doors with vernis Martin (a type of japanning) painted with fetes cbampetres (outdoor scenes) scenes after paintings by the 18th-century French artist Antoine Watteau, who specialized in this type of outdoor scene. Others were set with Sevres porcelain plaques, similarly painted or with flowers and birds. The more formal decorative vocabulary of the Louis XVI Revival included brass inlay and gilt-bronze mounts in Neo-classical motifs. Continental pieces were retailed by such British outlets as W Williamson & Sons (active c.1880-1920) in Guildford, and Maples of London, which imported French furniture during the 1880s.
• TYPES side cabinets were produced in three main styles: the side cabinet with enclosed shelves; chiffoniers (with exposed shelves on top of a cabinet); credenzas (with end shelves).
• DAMAGE the condition of the carcase and decoration is important; pietre dure and Boullework is very
difficult and expensive to restore.
• COLLECTING French and British makers were leaders in the field, with British makers influenced by French and Italian styles; Regency side cabinets and chiffoniers are generally more refined than many Victorian examples that were mass-produced; took for good-quality pieces with brass galleries, pleated-silk door panels, lyre-shaped shelf supports; original decoration, feet, and glass will usually add to value; some pieces of lesser quality may have superior decoration in the form of metal, ivory, or porcelain plaques that were taken from furniture made during an earlier period.