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ANTIQUE WALNUT FURNITURE
July 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
FURNITURE: WALNUT
THERE is some doubt about the exact date when the walnut tree was introduced into England, but it is certain that it was being used for furniture in the Tudor period, especially for beds. One of Henry VIII’s great beds had a headpiece of walnut, and in 1587 we read of ‘a bedsteed of wallnuttrye in Ladies chamber’. But as the chief wood of fashionable furniture the great period of walnut can be considered to cover the best part of the century beginning at 166o. Two main kinds of walnut were used, the European (Juglans regia) and the North American ( Juglans nigra, the black or Virginia walnut). The former had many good qualities for furniture. Its attractive colouring, with beautiful figure and uniform texture, made it very suitable as a veneer, on a carcase of yellow deal. When properly seasoned (a process which might take seven to ten years) it was a solid and compact wood, hard enough to carve into delicate shapes, and, unlike oak, comparatively free from shrinkage or swelling. The burr and curl woods were particularly beautiful, the former being cut from the burrs or abnormal excrescences which grew at the base of the trunk and produced a finely mottled grain, and the latter from just below a fork in the tree. The timber’s one great defect was that it was liable to worm, especially in the sap wood. In this respect the Virginia walnut was much better, as the well-seasoned timber was largely immune from worm.
The Juglaru regia grew throughout most of Europe and was the chief kind used until about 1720. The English variety was considered to be somewhat coarse and featureless for high-quality work, though at times it produced some good varieties of figure. Italian walnut was rated very highly, for the timber which grew in the mountainous regions had a close-grained texture with dark streaks, ideal for decorative work. French walnut was also greatly esteemed; it was straight-grained with a lighter, quiet grey colour. The Grenoble area produced timber which became a hall-mark of distinction in furniture. Spanish walnut was similar to the French, but it was liable to have more faults. The superiority of these foreign timbers over the English led to considerable imports of walnut into England, especially from France. Some of the black variety was grown in England in the 17th century, but there is little doubt that the shortage of English walnut and the cost of imported walnut had much to do with the great use of veneers. After the Spanish Succession War, during which the severe winter of 17og had killed off many trees, the French Government prohibited the export of walnut in 1720, with the result that from that date, though supplies continued to come in from Holland and Spain, much more of the North American variety was imported. Virginia walnut was darker and of a more uniform colour than European (it is the only walnut with traces of purple), and its strength and excellent working qualities explain the bolder designs in the solid after the Queen Anne period. But after the first quarter of the 18th century walnut was beginning to feel the effects of competition from mahogany, and was entering on its last phase as the fashionable timber. In 1803 Sheraton wrote in his Cabinet Dictionary that ‘the black Virginia was much in use for cabinet work about forty or fifty years since in England, but is now quite laid aside since the introduction of mahogany’.
CHIEF PERIODS AND STYLES
In the walnut period the styles take their names from the reigning monarchs — Charles II (1660-85, and including the short reign of James 11, 1685-8); William and Mary (16891702) ; Anne (1702-14) ; and the early Georgian (George I, 1714-27, and George II, 1727-60). The furniture of the whole period reflected the growing standards of wealth and comfort; many new pieces were produced to satisfy social needs, and adapted to conform with improving standards of design. Two factors which helped to make the knowledge and use of good furniture widespread were the increased skill of the craftsmen and the development of London as the chief furniture-making centre of the country. This was the period when the joiner was being replaced by the cabinetmaker as the supreme furniture craftsman. It will be noted that Evelyn, in the passage quoted above, was already referring to cabinet-makers as early as 1664, and he frequently used this term in his various works. The English craftsmen had to learn many new techniques at first from foreigners, but on the whole it can be said that they assimilated them and interpreted them with good Sense and balance; and by the end of the 17th century they were not only supplying the home market but had also built up a flourishing export trade in furniture to all parts of the world. London’s size was meanwhile making it a focal point for the whole kingdom. By 1700 the capital had half a million inhabitants; the next largest towns had no more than
30,000. Though there were other notable furniture centres –Lancaster, for instance – there was no doubt about London’s leadership in styles. The social convention of the seasonal migration of the landed gentry to London helped to spread furniture fashions throughout the country, as Defoe noted early in the 18th century, and for the first time it was possible to distinguish town and country pieces.
The reign of Charles II was marked by an exuberance and flamboyancy which was reflected in such things as costume and plays, as well as in furniture. The reaction to the Puritanism of Cromwell’s regime and the return of Charles and the aristocracy from exile abroad opened the country to a flood of Continental fashions – French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch and Flemish. Increased trade and colonization brought riches to the upper and middle classes. The Great Fire of 1666 both led to a greater output of furniture and brought it under the influence of architects like Sir Christopher Wren and of craftsmen like GRINLING GIBBONS. New ideas, or new twists to older ideas, were apparent in the use of glass, cane, turning, veneering, marquetry, gesso and japan. The reign of William and Mary saw, in general, a sobering down in furniture styles, due to William and his Dutch background, and the work of his great craftsman DANIEL MAROT, a Huguenot refugee, who in his furniture for his royal patron interpreted Louis XIV fashions in a quieter Dutch idiom. But there was no decrease in output. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis in 1685 sent many Huguenot refugees to England, and one result was the flourishing Spitalfields silk industry and improvements in upholstery. There were developments in such things as writing furniture (in which increased letter-writing, due to improved postal services, was a major factor), card and tea tables, bookcases, chests of drawers and cabinets, the last-named due to the upper-class fashion for collecting ‘rarities’ or curiosities of all kinds. It was in the Queen Anne period that walnut furniture reached its best phase. With its emphasis on graceful curves, and a return to veneers to bring out the beauty of figure, compared with the previous Dutch fashion of marquetry, this reign is distinguished by its simple elegance, shown in such details as the hooped-back chair, the cabriole leg, the bracket foot and a general stress on good design. The earlier Georgian period produced a heavier and more florid style, partly perhaps as a reaction to simpler fashions, but mainly due to the Palladianism Of WILLIAM KENT, the architect (1684– 1748), who affected much elaborate gilt ornament with classical motifs, carried out in softwoods or gesso.
OTHER TIMBERS
Though walnut put the seal on fashionable furniture, many other timbers were important during the same period. The great popularity of veneers, inlay and marquetry led to a demand for a wide range of coloured woods. Among the native timbers used for these purposes, lighter shades, white or yellow, could be obtained from apple, holly, dogwood, boxwood, maple, laburnum, sycamore and plane, and darker colouring from olive, pear and yew. Elm and mulberry were also prized for their burr veneers. Timbers imported from the East, South America and the West Indies included ebony (black), fustic (yellow, turning to a dead brown), and kingwood, lignum vitae, partridge wood, rosewood and snakewood (all giving various shades of brown and red). For carcase work, and as a ground for veneers, yellow deal was almost always used. But for clock cases wainscot oak was used. Great quantities of deal were imported from Baltic countries in the late 17th century. Oak and ash were used for drawer linings.
DECORATION
Gesso: gesso work came into fashion in England just before 1700 and was a popular form of decoration until about 1740. It was a mixture of whiting and parchment size which was applied coat after coat and allowed to dry. When there was sufficient, a pattern was formed in relief by the background being cut away. The former was burnished and the latter left mat. Furniture was given a brilliant and highly ornate effect when gold leaf was used, but there was also much cheap colouring which tended to fade. Gesso lent itself to the Kent style of decoration, and it had the same appearance as the work on the carved and gilt table .
Japan work: japanned or lacquered furniture enjoyed a considerable vogue in the walnut period. As early as 1661 Pepys recorded seeing ‘two very fine chests covered with gold and Indian varnish’. Lacquer work was originally imported from the East, and was known variously as Indian, Chinese or Japanese, but the best kind was made in Japan, and was called ‘fine’ or `right’ Japan, to distinguish it from substitutes. Most of the genuine Japanese work was brought to England by the Dutch, but the English East India Company handled Chinese and Indian varieties, which had a ready sale in the home market and went under the general name of ‘Indian’ goods (and were sold in ‘Indian’ shops).
So great was the demand for these goods that some English merchants exported patterns and models of all kinds of furniture to be copied and lacquered by native workmen, who could thus manufacture English-style furniture. The completed goods were reimported and sold at home. But meanwhile an English japan industry had sprung up. In
1688 STALKER and PARKER published their Treatise of japanning and Varnishing, and in 1693 a company was formed with the title of ‘The Patentees for Lacquering after the Manner of Japan’. Naturally, the home producers of japan disliked the practice of sending goods abroad to be lacquered, and so did other cabinet-makers, who looked upon it as unfair competition. In 1701 the London cabinet-makers, joiners and japanners petitioned Parliament to put a stop to it, and an Act was passed imposing heavier duties on all imported lacquer. Thus from that date nearly all japan work was home made. It was very popular until about 1740, and much of it was exported. The colours used were bright ones, often scarlet, yellow, etc, and carried out Eastern designs, but English work lacked the high quality of the true Oriental variety. In fact, inferior work was merely varnished. It was usually applied on a background of deal for carcases, or of beech for chairs. Good-class work often had a smooth-grained, veneered surface as a basis. Normally, designs were raised on the surface, but a rare form of lacquer work, known as Bantam work, used incised designs. Cabinets, chairs, bureaux, screens, clock cases and mirrors were among the more usual pieces for japanning. There was a revival of this fashion in the later 18th century.
Mouldings: mouldings, the contours given to projecting members, were an important part of the decorative treatment of walnut furniture. On tall pieces – cabinets, tallboys, clock cases, etc – the profiles of the straight cornices, which were popular until the Queen Anne period, were built up in architectural style, usually in layers of cross-grained wood. One characteristic feature of the later 17th century was the convex (torus or swell) frieze. This was not universal, how-frieze was used a
ever, for the concave (cavetto) Mouldings
time, same
at , and superseded it early in the next century. the
also accentuated the arched curves and the varieties of broken pediments when these came into fashion. Towards the end of the walnut period dentil mouldings (tooth-like cubes) were often found on straight-line cornices or angular pediments.
Another moulding of convex profile, the ovolo (or lip), was applied to the top edges of chests of drawers, stands and tables, and on the upper sections of bureaux. Chests of drawers and bureaux also had plinth mouldings, above ball, bun or bracket feet. The general development of drawer furniture produced several kinds of smaller mouldings (sometimes called reeds) around the drawer fronts, to offset the otherwise flat surface. These were normally cross-banded veneers of walnut glued to a back of deal, and applied at first to the carcase, and later to the drawer edge. From 1660 to about 1700 the most usual kind was a half-round moulding on the rails between the drawers, but just before the end of the century two smaller half-round mouldings, or sometimes three reeds together, were applied to the rails, and this vogue lasted until about the end of Anne’s reign. From 1710 a distinct change in method was beginning; the mouldings were now applied to the edge of the drawer, in ovolo section, and projected sufficiently (about a quarter of an inch) to hide the join between opening and drawer when the latter was shut .From about 1730 cock-beading, a half-round bead projecting outwards from the edge of the drawer, was introduced, and became the chief drawer moulding for mahogany furniture. Mouldings also edged the doors on clock cases and surrounded mirrors or panels on cabinet doors. On the latter broader types of moulding were common, in astragal section, semicircular with the addition of a fillet at each side.
Turning: until about 1700 turning was one of the outstanding features of the legs on chairs, tables and stands, and of the uprights on chairs. It was carried out on the foot-operated pole lathe which rotated the wood while the turner’s chisel cut the required shape. Twist turning, which came to England from the Continent shortly after the Restoration, and replaced the earlier bobbin turning, resulted from a mechanical device which moved the chisel continuously to produce the oblique curves. For this walnut was a much better medium than the more brittle oak. At first the Flemish ’single rope’ style was used, but this was followed by the English double rope or ‘barley sugar’ twist, finished by hand and sometimes pierced. The design was working itself out on chairs by 1685, but it persisted on tables for some time longer. Another form, baluster turning, was produced by the turner holding the chisel himself and varying the pressure to get a number of diverse shapes. This type is connected with William and Mary furniture. There was an almost bewildering variety of such designs, but among the more popular can be distinguished the Portuguese swell, a bulb-like shape, followed by the mushroom, and, later still, by the inverted cup. Some legs were squared off by hand to octagonal and other patterns.
Veneers, Marquetry and Parquetry: veneering was the chief decorative feature of walnut furniture. It originated on the Continent, and gave opportunity for flat decoration, which showed to the full the beauties of the grain. Veneers were thin layers of wood cut by hand-saw, perhaps one-eighth of an inch thick, and glued to a carefully-prepared surface, which was nearly always of imported yellow deal, a variety of pine or fir which was better able to take glue than oak. Not only did the veneers preserve and strengthen the wood underneath, but they were found to be the only practical way to use the rare woods like walnut burrs, which would twist if worked in the solid. The chief patterns were the ‘curl’ or ‘crotch’, a plume effect taken from the junction of a side branch with the main trunk, the ‘oyster’, cut from branches to show the rings and the ‘burr’, an intricate figuring from abnormal growths at the base of the trunk. Successive veneers from the same piece of wood, showing duplicated patterns, were often quartered, or glued in sections of four, on suitable surfaces. Besides walnut, yew, elm and mulberry made high-quality veneers, and laburnum and olive produced excellent oyster figures.
Marquetry was an advanced form of veneering which first came into prominence in English furniture from Holland about 1675. With infinite patience and skill veneers of various coloured woods were cut into delicate patterns and fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle. For this process walnut could be changed in colour by dyeing, scorching with hot sand, staining, bleaching and fading, but, naturally, many other timbers of suitable colour, both native and foreign, were used (as indicated under ‘Other Timbers’ above). At first English marquetry followed the Flemish mode and concentrated on bird, flower and foliage designs, sometimes with the aid of other materials than wood, such as bone and ivory. The colours tended to tone down to quieter dark or golden shades about 169o. By 17o0 arabesques were popular, together with the most intricate form of all, the seaweed or endive marquetry, which was shown to great effect on clock cases, cabinets and table tops. Early in the 18th century the marquetry phase was running out, and there was a return to the plainer veneering. Parquetry was a form of marquetry which emphasized geometrical patterns, with the same skilful use of contrasting colours.
Veneered surfaces had two characteristic decorations, cross-banding, or cross-grain, veneered strips bordering other veneers, and herring-bone banding, two smaller rows of tiny strips of veneer applied diagonally, often in contrasting colours. Each could be used singly, or together, on drawer fronts, table tops, bureau flaps and similar fields. The popularity of veneering introduced distinct changes in the construction of furniture as well as in its appearance. The panelling technique of oak was unable to provide the flat, smooth surfaces necessary for taking veneers. For angles on carcases and drawers the old method of dovetailing (the through or common dovetail), though the strongest form, had the great disadvantage of showing the end grain on both sides of the angle, and this was unsatisfactory for holding veneers. Shortly before 1700 it was replaced by the lap or stopped dovetail, which had the end grain on the side only, leaving the front quite clear for veneering.
Bureaux, Cabinets, Bookcases, etc
The bureau was one of the pieces of furniture which met the demands of the new habit of letter-writing in the Restoration period. Early bureaux were mounted on stands and were nearly always of narrow width, with one or two rows of drawers under the sloping writing fall. The stands were gradually discarded and bureaux became wider and more solid. Most were now three feet six inches wide, though narrower ones (for standing between the windows of a room) continued to be made. The legs of the early stands followed contemporary side-table developments, while the more solid bureau followed the chest of drawers (see separate sections below). The Queen Anne bureau has bracket feet, slides for the flap, and ovolo lip moulding round the drawers, which also have cross-banding and herringbone inlay.
Another piece was the writing cabinet, which developed in two main stages. The first stage was the scrutoire, a boxlike structure consisting of an upper part of drawers and pigeon-holes, enclosed by a let-down front which made a large writing surface, and a lower part formed by either a chest of drawers or a stand with legs and stretchers. The disadvantage of having to clear away all papers before the front could be closed led to the second stage, the bureau writing cabinet or the bureau-bookcase as it is now termed. This had a shallow cupboard enclosed by two doors for the upper part and a bureau for the lower. The space in the bureau top for papers made this a more convenient piece than the scrutoire; it was also more elegant. In the Queen Anne bureau-bookcase the cornice balances the arched mouldings, which contain quartered veneers on the doors. The bureau drawer fronts have burr veneers and reeded mouldings. The opened flap displays the neat arrangement of the bureau top. The bureau-bookcase became fashionable in William III’s reign and was either veneered with walnut
orjapanned. Meanwhile, the cabinet was assuming the forms which had long been known on the Continent, and from the
increasing skill required in making it was producing the first English cabinet-makers. It developed from the chest, acquired a number of drawers (many of them `secret’), cupboards and pigeon-holes, and was mounted on tall stands or chest of drawers. At first the tops were straight, with rather heavy cornices, and two doors enclosed the front. Later the frieze was developed; the swell variety became more common, and a shorter stand was used. One type of cabinet that was mounted on a chest of drawers was copied from Chinese cabinets, and had engraved hinges and lock-plate, and finely figured walnut veneers to vie with japanned pieces. Other cabinets were excellent show pieces for decorating with marquetry and parquetry, applied to the many small drawers as well as to the doors inside and out.
There was, however, from 1600 onwards considerable diversity of decoration and design in these pieces, as the cabinet could be used for various purposes. With glazed front and shelves, it was used as a bookcase or display cabinet. It now seems clear contrary to former belief, that cabinets were not used to display china but held small curios like medals and miniatures. Other cabinet fronts had mirror-plates instead of clear glazing, or no glass at all, relying upon panels of finely figured walnut for effect; mirrors and panels were often enclosed in mouldings which had a graceful curving form at the top. These shapely curves were a predominant feature in the late 17th century and in Anne’s reign, and were applied to the tops of cabinets in various ways — double, and occasionally, triple arches and broken circular pediments. They showed the application of architectural principles to these larger pieces of furniture. But there was still a strong liking for the simple straight cornice.
It is not always certain now for what purpose some cabinets were intended. Many which resemble bureaux-bookcases, with the bureau replaced by a chest of drawers, have survived. They have been used for storing clothes in the bedroom or as a cupboard in the parlour.
For larger bookcases, such as those which Pepys bought from SIMPSON the joiner in 1666, the doors were glazed in rectangular panes like windows. The growing popularity of glass fronts made glazing bars important. At first they were usually semicircular, veneered with cross-grained walnut, or astragal, a half-round moulding worked on the edge. In the 18th century another form of astragal, with a small fillet at the top of the curve, came into use. These astragals, often larger in shape, framed the mirrors or veneers on doors which did not have clear glazing.
Chairs, Day-beds, Stools and Settees
Chairs were distinguished for their elaborate carving and turning. Twist turning was at first often applied to the back and front legs and uprights, and carving was the treatment for the top rail between the uprights and for the wide stretcher set half-way up between the front legs. Another novelty, canework, was found on the seat and back, framed in a carved panel, rectangular or oval in shape, separated from the uprights and seat. After the middle of the century carving improved considerably. At first it was heavy looking, emphasizing scrolls, foliage and crowns; later it became much lighter and pierced, and top rail and stretchers curved upwards, often ending in a crown supported by amorini. From about 1675 S-shaped scroll designs (the ‘Flemish’ scroll) were popular for front legs, and on arm-chairs this shape was continued in the arms which curved downwards in the centre and formed deep scrolls over the supports. By the end of Charles’s reign twist turning was being replaced by baluster turning. Canework was also becoming finer in texture, and many specialist craftsmen were making large numbers of cane chairs for export as well as for home use. The back legs were splayed for steadiness.
There was also a fashion for some chain to be entirely upholstered with over-stuffing, carried out in fine materials, damask, velvet, embroidery or Mortlake tapestry.
The lightness of cane helped to popularize a pre-Restoration piece, the day-bed, or couch. This had a chair-back (sometimes one at each end) and a long seat carried on six or more legs joined by richly carved stretchers. It was used in the living-room (which no longer had a bed in it), and had to be easily movable. Some day-beds were ornately japanned.
William and Mary chairs saw distinct changes in design. The flamboyancy of the previous period tended to give way to a simpler style, though there was still much rich carving. Backs had a tall and narrow appearance, due to the fashion in women’s hair styles, and took on a pronounced backward tilt. Chair legs either kept the scroll form or were decoratively turned in one of the many baluster or geometrical shapes. Prominent among these were the Portuguese bulb, mushroom, inverted cup and square. Feet were ball or bun shape, or else carved in the Spanish foot design. Another novelty was the introduction of curved stretchers under the chair, going diagonally from squares just above the feet, and either crossing directly, tied in the centre with a finial, or fixed into a central platform. Front stretchers in the older form still persisted, but the fashion now was to set them back from the front legs and fit them to the side stretchers. The upright aspect of the backs, very characteristic of this time, was accentuated by the arching of the cresting rail above the back uprights. Usually seats were upholstered, with a tasselled fringe, but backs were treated in various ways –pierced carving, canework (in thinner panels), or upholstery.
All these changes were nothing to the revolution in chair design in the early 18th century. Straight lines gave way to curves, turned legs and stretchers to cabriole legs without stretchers, and overstuffing to the drop-in seat. The back uprights took a graceful hoop form, and the centre of the back was occupied by a single solid splat, often veneered, showing a variety of smooth curves. For the first time the chair back was shaped for the sitter, giving the aptly-named `bended’ back. The cabriole leg came from France about 1700. Taking its shape from an animal’s leg, it had various endings, a hoof, a pad or club, or the celebrated ball-andclaw foot which came in about 172o. These legs, worked from the solid by hand, were strong enough to hold the chair without stretchers. The general emphasis on curves was continued in the frame of the seat. Carved decoration was usually limited to the knees of the cabriole legs, cresting rail and seat rail, in the form of shell or acanthus designs, or, later, a mask on the rail. A new treatment of chair arms was to set them back in a curve from the front of the chair, to allow room for the wide-hooped dresses of the time.
Another pleasant type of chair which had made its appearance by about 1700 was the upholstered wing variety. The wings at the shoulders curved down to well-padded arms which scrolled outwards. The legs often had cabriole shape, but the size and weight of the chair required stretchers, of the simple turned kind.
Towards the end of the walnut period some of the simple grace of the Queen Anne chairs was lost. In the early Georgian era they tended to become heavier and more squat in appearance, and carving was more ornate. The splat was not left plain, but was carved and later pierced with strap-work designs.
From 166o stools closely followed the prevailing chair designs. They had an importance which today may be easily overlooked. In general, their form was that of chairs without backs, except that all four legs were the same shape. They were often richly upholstered. A later development was the settee, which sprang from the fusion of two arm-chairs, with double backs, outer arms and five legs. In their earlier forms – later 17th century – they were often two cane chairs together.