Sep
27
17th Century French Antiques
September 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
France
Meanwhile across the Channel, the French were enjoying an even more
glittering period under Louis XIV. As in England and Holland, the
exotic imports of the East India companies stimulated both household
and sartorial fashions and gave the French, in particular, a taste for
richly embroidered silks. Louis XIV himself had a huge band of em-
broiderers working for his entourage at Versailles, and anybody who
was anybody spent vast sums of money on lace and embroidery for their
clothes. Some even sent materials to China to be embroidered with
oriental motifs.
The chain-stitch embroidery known as tambour work, another Chinese
import, was a favourite occupation with French needlewomen from the
end of the 17th century, and the habit spread to othercountries, especially
England, in the mid-18th century. On the whole, the best French
embroidery was done by professionals. Many of these were Huguenots
and after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1695 a great number
ol them fled to England, Germany, Switzerland and Holland where they
soon set up successful workshops. Ironically, a proportion of their
embroideries found their way back to fiance
Louis XIV’s minister. Colbert, himself a mercer’s son. worked haul
to establish France’s pre-eminence on all fronts, and especially in the
textile industry. As well as encouraging French lace and tapestry he
helped to promote linen manufacture at Cambrai, Valenciennes, St
Quentin and Lille. Most important of all - for it was probably the most
successful - the silk industry of Lyons became supreme in the late 17th
century. The colourful garlands of flowers woven on rich cream grounds
were as luxurious as any embroidered materials, and they soon became
fashionable for the best-dressed people all over Europe.
Chintz made its first appearance in Europe around the turn of the
century and was immediately popular because of the brilliance and
fastness of its colours. From 1640 the supply of chintz became an im-
portant branch of the East India Company’s trade and by 1680 demand
was enormous. Prohibition of chintz imports by France in 1686 and Eng-
land in 1700 caused trade to fall but chintz still reached both countries
in substantial quantities. Before 1650 chintz was used only as a furnish-
ing fabric but by the 1670s it is frequently mentioned as a costume fabric.
One of the major influences exerted by East India Company imports
of printed cottons and chintzes was, surprisingly enough, on the wool
embroidered bed hangings so essential to keep out winter draughts in
northern Europe and America. Again, these were mainly the province
of the domestic embroideress, who worked the bed-curtains and
valences the pelmet-like hangings round the roof of a four-poster bed
in coloured crewel wools on a linen or cotton ground. Her designs for
these crewel or Jacobean embroideries, worked in long and short, chain
and stem stitches with French knots and a variety of fillings, were
frequently taken from oriental originals.
The Tree of Life pattern was much favoured. In this, a swirling tree
laden with improbable fruit and flowers springs from a rocky base.
Among and beneath its branches hover birds of paradise and all kinds
of animals - lions, squirrels, stags, rabbits and insects - which were
usua ly taken not from oriental sources but from the needlework pattern
books which had been in current use for most of the century.
America
In the late 17th century, life in the American colonies was beginning to
grow less spartan than it had been in the days of the early settlers, and
with increasing comfort came an emphasis on domestic embroidery.
American wool hangings were at first confined to repeating motifs
worked in a single colour, but by the end of the 17th century these had
progressed to colourful crewel embroideries similar to those made in
north rn Europe.
Embroidery
Americans, as well as Europeans, used knotted pile Turkey work for
covering cushions, chairs and other furniture in the late 17th century.
Carpets and rugs of Turkey work had originally been imported to
Europe from the Near East by the East India companies, and they soon
became popular for their hardwearing properties and colourfulness.
They were made by pulling wool through canvas or coarse linen stretched
on a loom and then cutting it to form a pile. The technique lent itself to
formal geometric designs and heraldic motifs in bright colours and was
soon made on a commercial scale in Europe. Like many professional
crafts, it was also done by persevering ladies at home, and in America
Turkey work was more often done domestically than by professionals.
Japanese Swords
Japanese swords made from about 1600 are known as ’shinto’ (new
swords), and most of the blades still in existence are shinto. This class of
swords includes the Katana, with a blade length of 53-76 cm (21-30 in),
and the wakizashi with a blade length between 30-60 cm (12-24 in).
Various knives and daggers such as yoroi-ioshi, a short fighting knife
used to pierce armour, were smaller versions of the swords.
The two swords of a samurai were called daisho; the katana, allowed
only to samurai, could be replaced with the shorter wakizashi and a
dagger, tanto or yoroi-toshi. On rare occasions members of other classes
could carry the short sword and dagger. Also, free peasants (goshi)
might carry swords at their own risk. The sword and dirk were carried in
the waist sash. Although the long hilt on Japanese swords allows two-
handed use they were usually used single-handed with a slashing action
rather than a thrust, though the point was used with daggers and knives.
Samurai women were not allowed to handle a sword, but they were
trained in the use of other weapons such as the halberd. Samurai
dominance over other classes was often despotic: sword blades were
tested on criminals and even passers-by as well as on iron bars and hay
bales.
All the famous swordsmiths were of samurai rank. Smiths were
regarded as artists rather than artisans, and founded dynasties and rival
schools of swordmakers, some of which lasted for centuries. The
Japanese also invested the sword with a religious quality - it was the
’soul of the samurai’. Japanese ideas about swords reflect the mixture of
Shinto, the indigenous beliefs, and imported Buddhist ideas: swords
were thought to have magical qualities, and to be made of the Five
Elements, earth, fire, water, wood and metal. Smiths tended to lead
moderate, even ascetic lives; forging was complex and took weeks of
skilful work.
The iron and steel from which the blades were made was obtained
from local supplies of ferrous ores and a ferruginous sand, although
from the 17th century some imported steel was used. There were two
basic methods for making blades, one for blades made only of steel, the
other for blades made of a combination of iron and steel.
In the first method two pieces of steel of different grades were placed
on tbp of each other and welded to form a billet. An iron bar was then
welded to this to act as a handle. The billet was then folded on itself,
welded again and hammered out to its original length. The whole process
was then repeated at least fifteen times. A special fire was used made from
a type of pine charcoal and before each firing a mixture of clay and straw-
ash was used to coat the blade, care being taken not to touch the metal
with the hands. Occasionally three or four of these billets would be
welded together and the above process repeated five times, producing
more than four million layers. This method was called muku-gitai or
muku-tsukuri (’pure forging’ or ‘unalloyed make’).
There were several methods of making blades from iron and steel but
they all consisted of a soft iron core enclosed by a piece or pieces of hard
steel. The core metal (shintetsu) was subjected to the folding and welding
process followed by hammering out some dozen times. The outer metal
(uwagane) was made from pieces of steel, from which the slag had been
removed, which were forged into a bar, notched, and then folded, welded
and reforged some 15 times. A common method of combining the two
was to form the uwagane into a V-shaped bar into which the shintetsu
was inserted and welded and the whole then put through the blade-
making process again.
Many of the blades of this period exhibited a wood-grain effect called
mokume made by one of two methods, hada-gitai and masume-tsukuri.
Both methods began with the finished billet and in the former method
the bar was randomly dented and gouged and then flattened by hammer-
ing or grinding so that the various layers of the bar were revealed. The
second method involved hammering the bar on its edge until it became
the face so revealing the layers of metal which look like wood-graining.
Since the makume effect disappeared on tempering it is not visible on
the tempered edge.
When forging the hard edge on a sword blade, an almost religious
ritual was followed. The smith and his assistant wore special robes
indicating their social rank; the smithy was locked and Shinto rites were
performed to make it into a shrine with plaited straw hangings and paper
flags to prevent the entry of evil spirits.
[To produce a hard edge on a sword blade it was covered with wet clay
in which a line was drawn about 12 mm (£ in) from the edge. The clay
was removed between the line and edge and the remainder allowed to
harden, the blade was then placed in the furnace and watched for the
right colour change. The blade was then removed, the clay taken off
and the blade quenched. This process produced a hardened, decorative
cutting edge (yahibd) with a milky white colour where the exposed steel
had crystallized.
ktharacteristic designs were used when drawing the line of the yahiba.
These included a jagged line signifying a horse’s tooth, and a stepped
line indicating a road up the mountains. These patterns (hamon) may
be used to date and value a sword and place it in its tradition or school.
The blade was sharpened and polished over several weeks to produce
a mirror finish. The effect of the repeated folding and welding of the
Sep
27
17th Century Silver and Clocks
September 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Colonial silver
Early American silver shows all the influence of the immigrants’ mother
countries, particularly England and Holland. The first indigenous silver
industry arose between 1634 and 1650 in Boston and the early styles
reflected those current in London in the years 1629 to 1641. Typical
decorations of mid-17th century colonial silver include matting, beading
and foliate-chased stems. Lacking hallmarks this early silver needs a
detailed analysis of style to be dated correctly.
Probably the first silversmith in Boston was John Hull (1624-83), but
it was Robert Sanderson (1608-93) who was responsible for establishing
the Boston silver industry. Hull and Sanderson had opened a standard
Mint in Boston by 1652 where they produced the well-known pine and
oaktree shillings and sixpences. The first presentation church silver by
these two smiths was produced in 1659 and are important examples of
early colonial style displaying real craftsmanship. Collectable silver
from this period includes the silver spoons produced by John Hull and
John Coney (1655-1722), which have oval bowls and handles that are
either trend-shaped or straight and rectangular with initials engraved
on the underside.
The first metalrolling machine appeared in 1692, which meant that
silver could now be rolled from ingots. Since this invention reduced the
time needed to fashion a piece of silver, prices fell and demand rose. The
arrival of the metalrolling machine also gave impetus to a form of
decoration known as cut-card work, which had been known in England
since at least the middle of the century. The early technique consisted of
soldering cut-out patterns, often leaves or strapwork, to plain surfaces.
A later development involved the use of several leaves instead of a single
one, whilst towards the end of the 17th century the decoration was
applied in more than one layer.
Until the turn of the 16th century clockmaking in England had not been
widespread. At the beginning of the 17th century there emerged the
characteristic English lantern clock. Made of brass, it was weight
driven, with a verge and balance foliot rather than a bar foliot. This was
to remain virtually unchanged until about 1660 when the latter was
slowly replaced by the short pendulum.
Ajdevelopment of the Joseph Zech clock of the 15th century was the
square or hexagonal table clocks which were becoming common in the
firsiklecades of the 17th century. Like the drum-type clock this clock
had the dial uppermost, but it also had a striking mechanism. Made in
brass gilt with silver chapter rings, the square clocks usually stood on
foulrifeet and the hexagonal ones on three, the feet tend to be claw-shaped
and the hammers often appear in the form of grotesque animal heads.
Jother clock popular in the early 17th century was the miniature
ir or tabernacle clock. These were similar to the lantern clock except
I they have a spring-barrel, fusee and gut instead of a pulley, wheel
ope. 17th century examples have brass wheels instead of the earlier
stewones.
The introduction of the use of the pendulum revolutionized clock-
making. The first practical application was to a clock made in Holland
by Salomon Coster in 1657 to designs by Christian Huygens. It was now
possible to achieve a far higher standard of timekeeping. Portable spring-
driven clocks made by Coster at this time were enclosed in wooden cases,
the dials covered in velvet upon which a gilded or silvered chapter
jrominently appeared. France adopted a similar style, while clocks
this device were introduced into England during 1658 by the
lantccl family.
first English bracket clocks also date from 1658 and were only
in and around London for the first 25 years or so. Architectural-
>racket clocks were popular from 1660-75 and the earliest examples
had either plain matted dials, or dials engraved with tulip flowers. The
mak r’s name was engraved on the dial plate below the chapter ring.
Bracket clocks often had alarum devices and sometimes a calendar
aper urc. From 1670 a different kind of case appeared with a handle on
top and the pediment gradually gave way to a dome-shaped top.
An unusual form of bracket clock which first appeared not long after
the invention of the pendulum was the ‘night clock’. It had no hands
having instead a revolving dial with the numbers carved through it:
a light placed inside the clock enabled the numbers to be read at night.
The introduction of the spring-driven pendulum clock into England
heralded the Golden Age for English clockmakers. The main factors
contributing to this being the upsurge of awakened interest in the new
ideas and concepts carried back to England by Charles II, returning
from his exile on the Continent, combined with the many advances made
in the field of mathematics which enabled further technological progress
Left: Longcase clock, John Knibb,
Oxford, c.1680; right: longcase clock,
Thomas Tampion. London, c.1685.
Clocks
and the masterly skills of such clockmakers as Edward East, Daniel
Quare, Joseph Knibb and George Graham.
Thomas Tompion was one of the greatest clockmakers of all time.
Born at Northill in Bedfordshire he was admitted to the Clockmakers’
Company in 1671. In 1676 he was commissioned to make the two main
clocks for the Octagon Room at the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
In 1671 William Clements produced a clock with a new escapement -
the anchor or recoil escapement. It is generally accepted that its invention
should be accredited to Dr Robert Hooke( 1635-1703). With this escape-
ment the short bob pendulum, as used with the verge escapement, could
be abandoned and a longer pendulum with a heavier bob could be
introduced. The weights of the weight-driven pendulum clocks were by
now encased in a slender wooden trunk, standing upon a wooden plinth
so it needed but a slight modification to make the trunk sufficiently wide
to accommodate the arc of the swing of the long seconds pendulum.
This combination of anchor escapement and seconds pendulum became
and remained the standard design for English longcase or coffin clocks
as they were initially called.
Bracket clock dftdmovement, Joseph
Knibb, London]Al670-75.
Bracket clock, fohn Fromanleel, London,
About the turn of the century case styles altered dramatically. The drum
shape favoured by the Germans gave way to the oval, round, square and
more exotic form cases such as stars, crosses, shells, flowers and birds.
Casemaking had now become the task of the lapidist, enameller and a
little later the gold and silversmiths. Apart from the cloisonne and
champleve work already seen on dials and cases, there now appeared
other forms of enamelwork. Beautiful examples can be seen with scenes
painted in enamel. It is generally acknowledged that the fine enamel
work of this period was never surpassed.
This type of enamel painting, in which pictures are painted in colours
using metallic oxides on a white background enamel, seems to have been
originated by Jean Toutin (1578-1644) of Chateaudun in France. It is
not known how or when enamel painting began in Geneva. Jean Petitot
(1607-91) acquired a wide reputation there (even as discoverer of the
method) but this may have been due more to his renown as a miniature
enamel painter. While the origins of the industry in Geneva are obscure,
it was the Huaud family who raised Geneva to the level of Blois. Pierre
I luaud (b. 1612) painted his first watches around mid-century and passed
the craft on to his three sons. A characteristic of Huaud watches is
enamelling on the dial as well as on the bottom of the case.
Tile relatively fragile enamelled eases necessitated some form of pro-
tection. Originally made of stiffened leather, by mid-century these outer
cases were of metal covered with leather, shagreen, tortoiseshcll and
often decorated with pique work. Perversely the inner case became
plainer with the outer case receiving more attention. Although there
continued to be made some highly decorative cases, towards the middle
oft he century there was introduced in England a simple watch with both
outer and inner silver cases completely devoid of any form of embellish-
ment. This innovation is generally attributed to firstly the Puritan
influence and then to the introduction of the pocketed waistcoat.
Tlie lead in the field of watchmaking had initially been held by the
German makers, but at a time when watches were regarded not as serious
timekeepers but merely beautiful baubles, the French with their natural
flair Iftr artistic work rapidly overtook and passed them. The English
makers, although somewhat tardy in the 16th century, were to dominate
in the 17th with what in modern parlance would be described as a tech-
nical breakthrough. This was the successful application of the balance
spring to a watch by Thomas Tompion in 1675. There are several
claimants to the invention of this device, but in this particular watch by
Tompion tribute is paid to Robert Hooke as the inventor. Although the
use of a balance spring did not solve all the problems that needed to be
overcome before the watch became a precision timekeeper it most
certainly did change its role. Cases became much plainer and simpler:
Verge escapement mechanism for a watch.
The horizontal wheel is the balance, the
lower, toothed one, the escape wheel.
Sep
27
17th Century Antique European and Chinese Porcelain and Pottery
September 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
‘The Rose’ factory was in operation from 1662-1775, and their blue-
and-white plates painted with scenes from the New Testament made a
welcome change from the masses of Delft inspired by Far Eastern
porcelain.
It was the Delft potters who first introduced the five-piece garnitures,
intended for the decoration of high chimney-pieces or the tops of cup-
boards. The set comprised three covered jars, of Chinese form, and two
beakers, with flaring mouths. This form was quickly taken up by the
Chinese potters when producing wares for the European market and
later produced by several 18th century European factories.
It is impossible to discuss Dutch tin-glazed wares without referring to
the prolific manufacture of wall-tiles. Those made during the 17th century
were usually quite thick and decorated in colour with fruit and flowers
with distinctive corner motifs. Tiles of the late 17th century and early
18th century were only about 6 mm (i in) thick and 12.5 cm (5 in) square,
and favoured Biblical illustrations, ships, sea-monsters, mounted
warriors or men-at-arms, sometimes inspired by well-known engravings,
painted in either blue, manganese-purple or a combination of both.
There is quite a lucrative business in Holland today in the manufacture
of ’tiles for the tourist’, often deliberately ‘crazed’ to suggest age.
The Dutch imported great quantities of English salt-glazed stonewares
and cream-coloured earthenwares, which were usually left in an un-
decorated state, ready for enamel decoration to be added on arrival in
Holland. There was also a small production of poor quality creamware
made in Holland for the home market, but few factories could compete
with the quality and low cost of the English exports.
English Delftware
The term English Delftware is rather an inappropriate one, since Flemish
potters were producing tin-glazed earthenware first in Norwich, East
Anglia, and later in London by about 1570 - nearly half a century before
Delft achieved fame. The production of Jacob Jansen (or Johnson), and
other Flemish potters, centred first around Aldgate, in London, neigh-
bouring Southwark becoming a further popular area in the early 17th
century. Lambeth, Brislington, Bristol, Wincanton, Liverpool, Lan-
caster, Glasgow and Dublin were all to become well-known centres of
production. All were noticeably within easy reach of the coast, enabling
the Accessary Cornish tin to be transported by sea. Recent excavations
of me early sites have made attributions to specific areas more accurate
tha n! has formerly been possible.
1 1 ates or dishes decorated with paintings of reigning English monarchs
ery popular with collectors but are also very expensive to acquire,
datable wares are ideal indicators to the forms of border decoration
lies, and so forth, in vogue at a certain period, but the facial likeness
e characters could hardly have met with the approval of the indi-
ls. The majority of the dishes made before the end of the 17th
cerjtjbry had a clear glaze applied to the reverse, to economize on tin, and
the yt usually had a small undercut foot-rim, which would retain a cord
foi hanging purposes. The popular term ‘blue-dash chargers’ refers to
iht blue painted strokes around the rim. ‘Dish’ would in most cases be a
m< re accurate description than ‘charger’.
” he early English and Flemish potters were actively engaged in making
a \ ariety of wares for the use of the apothecary, including wet and dry
driig-pots and pill-slabs. The simply decorated ointment-pots could well
have been made in either the Low Countries or England.
‘ “he popularity of the tulip, and its association with Holland, is seen
on njany dishes made in the last quarter of the 17th century, the style of
pa rting often having much in common with the early Isnik dishes of
Tu f. :ey. Unlike most of the Continental faience potters, the British
counterpart used only high-temperature colours - blue, green, man-
gai (ise-purple, yellow and sometimes a poor quality red.
i unong the most desirable British tin-glazed wares are teawares,
wh ch are extremely rare; flower-bricks, a brick-shaped vessel with
penfprated top; puzzle-jugs, with fretted designs around the neck. The
wares illustrating Lunardi’s balloon ascent of 1784, which took place
doorfields, near the Lambeth factory, are among the class of pieces
ght by today’s collectors, even when in poor condition.
The Potteries’
Di ej to the fragile nature of the material and the consequent difficulties
ansportation by road, the early potter catered primarily for his
diate neighbourhood. But by the middle of the 17th century, the
we now know as Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, had become
nized as an important pottery centre, with Burslem known as the
her of the Potteries’ or sometimes the ‘Butter-pot Town’, due to the
production of red earthenware jars made for the local farmers for
to market. These same potters could, when the
ion arose, produce what might well be termed ‘English Peasant-
ry’, dishes or drinking vessels which were decorated by trailing
pfslips of contrasting colour on to the body of the unfired ware, their
igns appearing at times to have been suggested by contemporary
lework.
ares of a similar type were also made at Wrotham, in Kent, and in
ondon area, where the decoration often included such pious in-
tions as ‘Watch and Pray’. All these low-fired earthenwares were
red with a thick lead-glaze, which often had disastrous effects upon
ealth of the potter,
Earthenware dish by Thomas Toft.
Highly decorated 17th-century
Coromandel lacquer cabinet mounted on a
carved and silvered gesso stand.
Ceramics
Salt-glazed stontware jug by John Dwight.
Painted Tyrolean bridal bed, inscribed
with the bride name and the date of the
wedding 1771.
for the production of salt-glazed stoneware or ‘Stoneware vulgarly
called Cologne Ware’. Dwight’s main production was of German style
wine bottles made to the order of specific inns. There is little doubt that
he was also occupied in carrying out experiments concerned with the
manufacture of Chinese-type porcelain, which at that time was still only
being produced in the Far East. Some of his fine mugs of about 1680 are
so finely potted, that despite being made of stoneware, they do show a
slight amount of translucency by transmitted light.
Two further important potters working in England during the late
17th century were John and David Elers, born in Utrecht and Amster-
dam. They claimed they acquired their knowledge concerning stoneware
while on the Continent of Europe. The name of Elers is best associated
with high quality red stoneware, which they may have been making while
working for Dwight at Fulham, but which they were definitely producing
at Bradwell Wood, Staffordshire, from about 1693.
German Stoneware and Faience
The most colourful of all German stonewares are the early 17th century
tankards made at Kreussen. They are of a dark-brown salt-glaze,
decorated with brightly painted enamel figures of the Apostles, the
planets, the Electors of the Empire, or hunting-scenes, the decoration
has a great deal in common with that seen on the contemporary glass
made in both Germany and Bohemia. A further form peculiar to the
Kreussen potters is a square or octagonal flask with a metal screw-
stopper (Schraubftashen). In the latter part of the 17th century Freiberg,
in Saxony, was producing a class of stoneware decorated with hand-
carved patterns, sometimes picked out with black, white, red or blue
enamel colours, often so geometrically precise that the designs were
rather dull.
The manufacture of salt-glazed stoneware has continued in Germany
to the present time, but usually confined to these made from a grey-
bodied clay, decorated with a very bright high-temperature blue. Early
German stoneware did not normally bear a recognized factory-mark and
collectors should note that the mark of an impressed jug within a triangle
denotes the work of S. M. Gerz I, who only started making such pieces
in 1857.
Apart from the tiles made from the beginning of the 16th century by
the German stove-maker Hafner, very little use appears to have been
made of tin-glaze and it was early in the 17th century before Hamburg
became well-known as a faience centre, specializing in blue-painted jugs
decorated with the heraldic arms of well-known local families. Their
dishes were invariably painted in imitation of Chinese blue-and-white
porcelain of the Wan Li period (1573-1619).
By the third quarter of the 17th century faience was being made in
both Hanau and Frankfurt of a quality to rival the Delftware of Holland,
both often using an additional clear lead-glaze to achieve a brilliance
akin to that of porcelain. Hanau and Frankfurt faience was sometimes
used by well-known outside decorators (Hausmaler) as a ground for
fine enamel painting. From the mid-17th century until at least the second
quarter of the 18th century, the work of fine painters such as Schaper,
Faber, Rossler, Helmhack, Heel and Schmidt, may often be recognized.
In the 16th century ihe secrets ol’ Venetian glassmaking were reaching
the countries of northern Europe as some of the craftsmen of Murano
managed to escape the restrictions of the Venetian authorities. By the
middle of the 17th century other countries were beginning to develop
their own national styles and this was most apparent in Germany and
Bohemia where a combination of fine artistic style and technical innova-
tions led to their wares being the most sought after in Europe.
Cutting and engraving is Bohemia’s great contribution to glass art.
Ihe revival of this craft is attributed to Caspar Lehman (1570 1622).
lapidary to the art-loving Rudolf II at the court of Prague. Visiting Italian
artisans recalled the work of Cellini with their artefacts in rock crystal
and precious stones, and Lehman was inspired to transfer rock crystal
cutting techniques to the medium of glass. The brittle Venetian soda
glass was quite unsuitable for lapidary work, and it is a remarkable
achievement that Lehman did succeed in his objective although a robust
potash-lime glass was not developed in Bohemia until about 1671). A
splendid armorial beaker of 1605 showing allegorical figures engraved
in a broad stylized fashion at the Industrial Art Museum of Prague is the
only piece signed by Lehman’s hand. The Victoria and Albert Museum
is in possession of an engraved panel attributed to this artist. In 1609
Lehman was granted a monopoly for glass engraving which passed to
his pupil George Schwanhardt (1601 67), who left Prague for Nurem-
berg during the Thirty Years’ War.
Aj talented school of glass engravers sprang up in Nuremberg with
Schwanhardt’s sons George and Henry. H. W. Schmidt and Hermann
Schwinger (1640 S3) as some of the most gifted. The finest engraving is
usually applied to the typical Niirnberg Deckelpokal, a tall covered
goblet of thinnish metal wkh a knopped or hollow baluster stem, or
both, interspersed by several pairs of flat collars or mereses, an un-
mistakable feature. Signatures of engravers are frequently present.
Johann Schaper (1621-70), a Nuremberg decorator of both glass and
china, produced work in a different genre but of equally high standard.
His distinctive technique consisted of delicate enamelling in Schwarzlot
ol landscapes and figures in black or sepia, often seen on glasses so much
his own that they are called Schaper glasses cylindrical beakers on
three flattened ball feet. The same medium is employed by Ignaz Preissler
(r. 1675 1733) who, together with his son. worked for a rich Bohemian
landowner. Count Kolovrat. Preissler, however, already expressed the
Rococo taste of his period with chinoiserie motifs set within garlands
and foliage, hunting scenes and vivacious small figures.
Sep
27
17th Century Dutch and English Furniture
September 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
The United Netherlands the expanded enterprises of the Dutch East
India company brought wealth to the rising class ot maritime merchants,
who patronized painters, silversmiths and furniture craftsmen. Dutch
17tl century interiors were lively and colourful, decorated with checker-
board marble floors, tapestries, portrait paintings, chandeliers and
uphplstered furniture. Furniture was gilded, crisply carved, painted,
lacquered in the oriental manner, and faced with figured veneers. Portu-
gue e and Spanish Baroque influence inspired boldly turned legs and
upri dils, scrolled feet and caned backs and seats. The tall, straight backs
of sjttles, chairs and daybeds, painted black or gilt, or plain walnut,
wer i richly carved with Flemish strapwork, putti and grotesques.
Tie naturalism of the Dutch 17th century still-life school, and of
scul )tor Artus Quellin, was reflected in floral marquetry and inlay
compositions executed by craftsmen such as Jan van Vlekeren and Dirk
van Rijswijk of Amsterdam.
An influx of craftsmen from Germany and Belgium popularized
Top: Leather studded side chair.
Centre: Early oak armchair with sturdy
turned posts and plank seat.
Bottom: Charles II walnut stool with
upholstered seat.
Furniture
expensive furniture of ebony; witwerkers worked in soft white deal and
pine, producing painted pieces for less wealthy purchasers. The tall,
double-doored kas often had a flat, bold cornice and arched panels
separated by pilasters or twisted columns. Tables stood on tapering or
spiral-turned legs often with the curves of the apron echoed in the
stretchers.
The designs of Daniel Marot, who became Minister of Works to
William of Orange after leaving France, popularized ornamented volutes,
strapwork and grotesques, and features such as curved chair backs,
diagonal stretchers and tapering legs.
Of enormous influence to the Dutch and English furniture crafts at
this time were the rare and highly fashionable foreign specimens brought
from the Orient in East India Company cargoes. In both countries,
oriental cabinets raised on silvered or gilt stands displayed porcelain
treasures, and lacquered furniture was especially sought after.
Known in the Orient since the last centuries B.C., lacquer was used to
cover boxes, leather armour, bows, chests, household utensils, baskets,
earthenware, incense-burners and furniture. The grey resinous sap of
the Rhus vernicifera tree, urushi in Japanese or ch’i-ichou in Chinese, was
utilized because it hardens, develops a gloss and turns black upon expo-
sure to air. Dyes were added to produce coloured lacquer, and the puri-
fied urushi was applied in about 30 separate coats.
Various lacquer treatments were used including ‘Coromandel’ lacquer,
with incised and coloured designs; raised designs with mountainous
landscapes; mother-of-pearl inlay; and Japanese maki’e, in which the
design was formed of sprinkled gold particles on a black ground.
Imported screens were cut up and inserted into European cabinets,
secretaires, mirrors and tables, often with total disregard for the cohesion
of the oriental scheme. In Amsterdam, before 1610, a guild of Dutch
lacquerworkers existed, and pieces were made at about the same time in
London and Copenhagen. Although the craft suffered a decline in the
mid-17th century, it became increasingly popular in England after the
publication in 1688 of Stalker and Parker’s Treatise of Japanning,
Varnishing, and Guilding which provided essential information for
professionals. Publications in the following century raised the craft to a
level of a fashionable pastime in England, inspiring accomplished ladies
to entertain themselves at lacquer-making parties.
Foreign influences permeated England after the Restoration. Early in
the century heavy oak pieces still persisted. Jacobean gate-leg and draw
tables, presses, benches and chests were ornamented with carved
Renaissance foliage and mouldings, grotesques, strapwork and spindles
and bosses. Chests-of-drawers, faced with geometric panels which were
ornamented with ebony mouldings as well as mother-of-pearl inlay,
appeared about the middle of the 18th century.
The widescale rebuilding programme that followed the Great Fire of
London of 1668 made great use of walnut, and also popularized the
classical interior architectural style introduced to England by Inigo
Jones (1573-1652) after the example of the Italian Renaissance architect
Andrea Palladio. The Flemish style carvings of Grinling Gibbons
(1648-1720), appointed Grand Carver to Charles II, initiated a school
of highly delicate and realistic carvings, decorated tables and picture
Iran es such as those in the Carved Room at Petworth House, Sussex,
with putti, fruits, flowers, vegetables and birds.
T ie accession of William and Mary in 1689 brought Dutch craftsmen
to I ngland. Carved black, gilt and occasionally silvered chairs and day-
bed! reflected the Flemish Baroque style, as did the rectangular forms,
marquetry and figured veneers, spiral-turned legs and curved stretchers
of cabinets, stands and tables. An intricate, lacy form of marquetry
kno vn as ’seaweed’ developed in England, possibly from the examples
in tortoiseshell and metal of Andre Charles Boulle.
R chly hung state beds, such as the one at Knole in Sevenoaks, Kent,
witl fabric woven with silver threads, were the prized features of the
best 17th century manor houses. They were draped with silks, damasks,
brocades, crewel embroidery, mohair and gold cords and fringes.
T ie production of long-case clocks also became an increasingly
imp irtant industry in England. As in Dutch examples, they were often
enlivened with colourful floral marquetry and small classical or twisted
coli mns on the hoods, and were frequently used to display pieces of
orie ital porcelain.
The accessories that made life comfortable in European courts, cities
and provinces filtered very slowly across the Atlantic, where architcc-
tura and decorative styles emerged in much simplified forms often
decades after they had dictated European fashion.
S nail houses, generally with a maximum of two rooms and a large
fireplace, were standard in the colonial settlements of the American east
coast until after the mid-17th century. Sparsely furnished, these homes
reflected the austere conservatism of religious emigres, such as the
Purjtans, and the simple lifestyle of a settlement economy. The essential
fun iture they contained was serviceable, sturdy and simple, although
free uently colourfully painted.
The northern Baroque idiom surfaced in North America in about
167 i. Until then colonial furniture continued to be made in the Renais-
sance style, based on Dutch, German, English or French prototypes,
acc( rding to the ethnic character of the region in which it was produced.
Joining and turning were used for construction: as in Europe, oak pre-
dominated, but pine, maple and cherry were sometimes used. Chests
fori led of six planks and painted with stripes existed side by side with
more solidly joined panel-and-frame examples, the latter carved with
ang icized classical ornament, such as pilasters and arches, or lunettes
enclosing broad acanthus leaves. This ornament showed regional
variations.
Bjulbous, fluted baluster uprights, showing the influence of Hans
Vricdman de Vries, appeared on presses and court cupboards in the
Eng ish Jacobean manner with knob pulls, ‘ebonized” spindles and
bos: es, chequered inlay, colourful paint and carved figures. Toward the
end of the century walnut gained favour, and veneers and dove-tails,
togi trier with new pieces such as chests-of-drawers, were introduced.
himigrants and imports took the primarily Flemish William and
Ma y Baroque style to America through English intermediaries.
American highboys, lowboys and tables were veneered simply with rich
Top: William and Mary table with
drawers, continuous curving stretcher and
turned legs; bottom: Queen Anne
walnut bureau cabinet.
walnut burls. European forms including cabinets with convex top
drawers and arched panels, and tables and flat-topped highboys with
curved stretchers and aprons were adopted, as were carvings of Flemish-
style strapwork on day-beds and chairs.
Germany also received the Baroque late in the century, but there the
style became rigid rather than relaxed. The small courts of Germany’s
many principalities translated the already exaggerated ceremonial
Baroque in dazzling statements of pomp and grandeur. Yielding to
Italian influence and then to the example of Versailles during the first
half of the 18th century, court rivalries inspired palaces such as Pommers-
felden, Charlottenburg and Belvedere, on which state rooms and suites
were lavishly decorated with mirrors, marquetry panels and collections
of porcelain.
Engravings of court interiors and furniture designs by Paul Decker,
J. J. Schiibler, Joseph Furttenbach and Friederich Unteutsch, circulated
widely along with pattern-books of designs showing the French influence
of Daniel Marot, Berain and le Pautre. Unteutsch’s Knorpelwerk, de-
signs of masks and other ornaments disseminated a taste for soft, earlike
forms. Especially successful in silver, this ‘auricular’ ornament was also
carved on walnut chairs and cupboards. Engraved and embossed silver
furniture was made in Augsburg and Nuremberg, where collectors’
cabinets, with miniature drawers and architectural details, were executed
in silver, gold, painted glass, boxwood, ivory and precious stones. In
Eger, now part of Czechoslovakia, similarly rich cabinets were faced
with mythological or Biblical scenes, executed in wood and intarsia in
low relief.
For the Brandenburg court, Gerard Dagly produced a refined
imitation of ornamental lacquer on various grounds, those on white
suggesting oriental porcelain.
Jul
28
Antique English Glass
July 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment
GLASS: ENGLISH
ENGLISH tableware of fine quality was first made in England by JEAN CARRt, who in 1570 established a glass-house in the Crutched Friars, London, for the purpose of producing glass resembling the Venetian. Imported Venetian glass was highly fashionable, more than fifty families in London being supported by the sale of such glass. After Carrel’s death in 1572 GIACOMO VERZELINI (152216o6), his chief assistant, acquired the glass-house and commercialized the manufacture of this fragile Anglo-Venetian soda-glass, which was clouded by microscopic air bubbles and discoloured in various hues. His success was such that by 1575 he was appointed glassmaker to Elizabeth I and granted a monopoly to make ‘Venetian glass’. About a dozen of his goblets, elaborately engraved by the diamond-point, are known to remain. Venetian traditions dominated fine glass-making for the next hundred years.
SIR JEROME BOWES acquired the monopoly from Verzelini in 1592, paying the Queen an annual rental of 20o marks (£133 6s 8d) for the privilege. In 1614 James I extended the monopoly to cover all branches of glass-making, and granted it to a group of financiers in return for a payment of ki,000 a year. By 1618 the monopoly was under the control of SIR ROBERT MANSELL, who reorganized the industry on a rational basis with more than four thousand workers under his authority. Charles I demanded ICI,5oo a year from Mansell and his associates, this being paid until the King’s death in 1649, when monopolies were ended.
Little improvement was made in the quality of AngloVenetian glass during the reign of Charles II, and within a decade of GEORGE RAVENSCROFT’S introduction of flint-glass in 1674 (see below) its manufacture had virtually ceased. Early flint-glass was, naturally, influenced by Venetian design and the new metal was blown thinly. By 1682 it was found that by doubling the gather of metal taken from the pot a far more substantial ware was produced without loss of translucency. New forms in tableware now appeared, ponderous and heavy, purely English in character.
Noble goblets, known as tall-boys, with sturdy baluster stems supporting thick-walled, heavy-based bowls of the round funnel or conical type, became fashionable. Other ware was made on similar massive lines. In 1695, when twenty-seven flint-glass houses were operating in England, it was recorded that ‘the makers of Flint Glasses have long since beaten out all foreigners by making a better glass and underselling them’.
Glass collectors must possess a background knowledge of the improvements made in flint-glass manufacture between then and 182o. Each influenced the quality of fine metal, making it possible for specimens to be grouped chronologically, due consideration also being given to form.
Early flint-glass varied considerably in weight and clarity; formulae were not standardized, ingredients were impure, and furnace heat was irregular and could not be raised to a temperature adequate for efficient fusing of the materials. Flint-glass made in these circumstances was highly brittle and its fabric unable to withstand without fracture the stresses caused by sudden changes of atmospheric temperature or slight surface shocks, even though it had been annealed in an oven above the furnace. Improvements in this toughening process were made in about 1740 and again in about 1780. It was found in about 1745 that double annealing produced a stronger and more brilliant glass.
The introduction of the Perrott furnace in about 1734 provided a vastly increased and more uniform temperature than had previously been deemed possible. The capacity of melting pots until now had been little more than that of a large bucket: now they might contain as much as 1,5oo lb.
of glass. The quality of the glass was itself improved by these means, and by 1740 glass from such furnaces lacked the dark tinge usually associated with early glass and displayed greater clarity and brilliance. The manipulative capabilities were improved, enabling more pieces to be made per pound weight of molten glass. As the 18th century progressed the clarity of fine flint-glass was somewhat enhanced.
So prosperous became the glass trade that in 1745, and again in 1777, excise taxes were levied upon glass. Illegal glassmakers working old-style furnaces and not operating a tunnel leer (see Annealing), perforce continued making dark, heavy flint-glass in forms similar to those fashionable early in the century.
Manufacturers of the new metal did not rely upon pure form for ornament, and it rapidly became a field for applied decoration. Toughness resulting from the introduction of the tunnel leer in c. 1740 permitted shallow cutting to be commercialized: the improved leer of 1780 made possible such annealing of the glass that deep-relief cutting could then be carried out on a commercial scale.
Until about 1802 flint-glass was melted in pots ’set in a furnace and directly heated’, adversely affecting clarity. The new furnace evolved at this time reduced fuel consumption by two-thirds, provided such intense heat that the materials fused in half the time, and produced the more crystalline glass associated with early 19th century-deep-relief cutting.
GLOSSARY
Ale-glass: long, narrow flute for serving strong ale, a highly alcoholic drink; from 1740 might be engraved with the hop and barley motif.
Anglo-Venetian Glass: tableware in fine soda-glass made in London from 1570 until about 1680.
Annealing: toughening flint-glass by raising it to a high temperature and then cooling it gradually. (a) Annealing oven: an oven known as the tower, built above the melting mber and operated on waste heat from below; (b) anneal- chamber
ing tunnel, or leer: a tunnel five or six yards in length through which newly-made glass passes slowly to cool, toughen, and acquire increased brilliance.
Arabesques: engraved scrollwork of flowers and foliage on hollow-ware.
Beilby, William (1740-1818): a celebrated enameller of flint-glass who worked in Newcastle-upon-Tyne from about 1760 to 1776, signing his best work by name and with a lifelike butterfly.
Bowls, drinking-glass: (a) thick-walled type until the 174os. The stem may be drawn from the base of the bowl, drawn into a short neck to which the stem is attached, or the bowl may be attached to the top moulding of the stem, traces of the weld being visible; (b) from 1740, light, thin-walled; (c) from 1790, thick-walled with cutting in deep relief.
Bowl forms: (a) bell, 1715-80: a deep, waisted bowl with incurved profile and wide mouth derived from the funnel bowl. The base, until 1740, might be a solid mass of glass and welded to the stem; (b) bucket, 1730-70: with sides almost vertical and horizontal base. Some late i8thcentury bucket bowls are lipped. The waisted bucket and incurved bucket are also found; (c) double-ogee, 1700-20: expansive shallow examples of thick section; from 1750, smaller and with thin walls. Ogee and waisted ogee are also found; (d) round funnel, characteristic of the 17th century, when rarely with a collar at stem and bowl junction. Until 16go the bowl was long in proportion to the stem; as the bowl lost depth it became wider at the rim: less massive from 1710; (e) straight-funnel or conical; a straight-sided bowl shaped like the frustum of an inverted cone; (f ) thistle, from 1715: in several profiles in which the lower part is a solid or hollow sphere of glass; (g) trumpet: a waisted bowl of incurving profile merging into a drawn stem.
Champagne glasses: (a) 1678-1715: tall flute with short stem or button; (b) 1715 to mid-’ 730s: tazza-shaped bowl, often ogee in form, usually on moulded pedestal stem;
(C) 1730-45: drawn flute; (d) 1745-1830: long-stemmed flute; (e) from 1830: the hemispherical bowl or coupe. Cordial glasses: during the 17th century cordials were taken from miniature wine-glasses measuring four inches to six inches in height. A distinct type of glass, its bowl shorter, squarer, and of smaller rim diameter than a wine-glass bowl, became fashionable from about 1720; (a) 1720-40: straight stem of normal length and diameter; (b) from 1735: the stem was lengthened, of extra thick diameter, and might be centrally knopped; (c) from 1740: the bowl was less capacious; (d) 1740-70: the flute cordial, often termed a ratafia glass.
Cords: slight striae discernible to the fingers on the surface of the glass.
Cresting, also termed bridge-fluting, C. 1748-1800: an extension of faceting from the stem to bridge the junction of bowl and stem; (a) until about 1760 merely bridging the junction; (b) 176o–8o extending over the Low] base in simple designs; (c) from 178o might extend half-way up the bowl.
Cutting: depressions ground into the surface of glass by revolving wheels. Three fundamental types of cutting -hollow-, mitre-, and panel-cutting - are capable of producing some fifty variants of design; (a) pre-174.0: edge-cutting and scalloping; almost-flat cutting in geometric patterns; giant diamonds and triangles in low relief; shallow slices; (b) 1740-1805: similar types of cutting with the addition of the sprig motif, fluting, stem faceting, incised zig-zag, sliced motifs, and, from 1750, large diamonds double cut; (c) 1790-1830, more especially from 1805: cutting in deep
relief (see below).
Cutting in Deep Relief: some of the more frequent types are: (a) chequered diamond: the flat surface of a diamond in relief cut with four small diamonds; (b) cross-cut diamonds or hob-nail cutting: large relief diamonds each with a flat point incised with a simple cross; (c) herring-bone fringe, or blazes: a row of upright or slanting lines cut in an alternation of crest and trough; (d) printies: circular concavities ground into the surface ofhollow-ware; (e) prismatic. or step-cutting, 1800-20 and 1830-40: deep, horizontal prisms adapted to curved surfaces; (f) splits: formally arranged upright grooves; (g) strawberry diamonds from c. 1805: the flattened point of each large relief diamond cut with numerous very fine relief diamonds.
Cyst: a round protuberance in the base of a wine-glass bowl.
Decanters: (a) 1677-1700: with loop handle and mouth expanded into an almost hemispherical funnel with spout lip and loose stopper; (b) 1677-176o and after 1804: shaftand-globe, near replica of the long-neck wine-bottle. With a high kick to 1740; (c) 1705-30: straight-sided mallet shape; (d) 1725-50: quatrefoil body; (e) 1740-1800: shouldered decanter in two forms: narrow-shouldered with outward sloping sides, or broad shoulders narrowing towards the base: more slender of body after 1750; (f) 1755-8o and 1810-20: labelled with engraved, enamelled or gilded inscriptions on the body; (g) 1765-8o; tapered body; (h) 1755-1800: barrel-shaped body with shoulder and base of equal diameter, cut with vertical lines to represent staves and incised rings to suggest hoops: sometimes termed Indian club or oviform; (i) 1775-1830: Prussian type, often mistermed barrel: a broad-shouldered type, sides having a greater inward slope than formerly, the lower portion encircled with narrow flutes extending half-way up the body. Diamond-cut in relief from about 1790; (j) 1790— I830s: cylindrical body, cut in deep relief.
Decanter stoppers: rarely ground until 1745• Afterwards ground as a routine process.
Dram glasses: known also as nips, joeys, ginettes, and gin-glasses; (a) 17th century: small tumbler with four tiny feet; (b) 1675-1750- cup-shaped bowl with short, heavy knop or moulded baluster; (c) 16go-1710: straight-sided bowl of thick section on flattened spherical knop; (d) 171050: short, plain stem on foot attached directly to bowl; (e) 1720-1850′- short, drawn-stemmed, trumpet-bowled: some early examples have folded feet.
Enamelling: white, 1720-1800; coloured, 176o-18201
(a) advertised as `white japanned flint-glass’ in late 172os: a thinly applied wash enamel in white; (b) from c. 1750, a dense, full enamel thickly applied (see Beilby, William).
Engraving: (a) diamond-point: patterns hand inscribed, using the point of a diamond or graver. Armorial work during 172os; arabesques and scroll patterns 1725-40; spontaneous efforts of amateurs throughout 18th century; early Victorian revival with sporting and coaching scenes;
(b) wheel-engraving: patterns cut into the glass surface by pressing it against the edge of a thin, rapidly revolving wheel. Early wheel engraving was left matt; from 1740 it might be partially polished, the tendency to polish increasing as the 18th century progressed. Wheel-engraved rim borders popular from late 1730s to the end of the century: at first simple designs of intertwined scrollwork and leaf arabesques; from 1740 wider borders of flowers and foliage, daisies predominating and, from 1750, individual motifs sometimes extending the full length of the border.
Feet: (a) folded, to about 1730: the rim was folded underneath while hot, forming a selvage, giving extra strength to a part most likely to become chipped in use. Pre-16go the fold was very narrow: (b) domed, to about 1800: with hemispherical, sloping, or square instep, often surface-moulded from about 1705. Expansive with folded rim until 1750, then smaller and plain-edged, except on sweetmeat and allied glasses. Domed and terraced: the foot tooled in concentric circles rising one above the other; (c) plain, conical foot tapering up towards stem junction, to about 1780: rare in 17th century and infrequent until about 1740. Early examples almost flat beneath; by 1735 concave beneath, resting upon extreme rim. From 1750 instep height gradually decreased, until by 178o had become almost flat beneath with punty mark ground away; (d) solid square, 1770 to end of period: might be stepped, terrace-domed, or domed.
Finger-bowls from c. 1760: known variously as wash-hand glasses, finger-cups, finger-glasses until 1840. Not to be confused with wine-glass coolers.
Fire-polishing: reheating of finished ware at furnace mouth to obliterate marks left by tools and produce a smooth, even surface.
Firing-glasses, also known as hammering glasses. Used for thumping the table as form of acclamation. Stumpy glass with drawn bowl on thick stem and heavy, flat foot.
Flint-glass, now termed lead crystal: developed by George Ravenscroft (1618-81), who was granted a seven-year patent in May, 1674, to make a glass in which the silica was derived from calcined flints. In 1675 he first used lead oxide as a flux in place of vegetable potash. This produced a glass denser, heavier, softer, and with greater refractive brilliance than anything previously made. Hollow-ware, if flicked with thumb and finger, emits a resonant tone. After improvements to the process had been made during the 168os, world glass trade became an English monopoly for more than a century and a half.
Flowered glasses: I 740-80s: trade name for tableware engraved with naturalistic flowers on the bowl; (a) 174o, a single flower ornamented one side of the bowl; (b) from early 175os reverse side of bowl might also be engraved with a bird, butterfly, moth, bee, or other insect.
Flute: a drinking glass with a tall, deep conical bowl. Also a vertical groove cut into a stem or bowl.
Gadrooning: moulded convex flutes forming a decorative border; a ribbing impressed on a second thin layer of applied glass.
Gilding: traces are visible on existing Elizabethan AngloVenetian drinking glasses; fashionable as rim decoration 1715-90, the finest bowl ornament in this medium 1760—go; (a) early 18th-century gilding fixed beneath a film of flint-glass by a process akin to enamelling; (b) 1715-6o: japanned gilding, burnished; (c) 1755-65: honey gilding: the rich brilliance of the gold was destroyed and could not be burnished; (d) 176o-182o: amber-varnish gilding, burnished; (e) 178o onward: mercury gilding; (f) from 185o: liquid gold of sparkling brilliance.
Goblet: a drinking glass with the bowl large in relation to stem height and holding a gill or more of liquor.
Jacobite glasses: propaganda glasses bearing emblems and mottoes of a cryptic character associated with the Jacobite cause. Most common is the six-petalled Jacobite rose with one or two buds: the rose represents the House of Stuart, the small bud the Old Pretender, the large bud on the right being added later, either in honour of Prince Charles Edward’s arrival in Scotland or after James’s proposal to ‘abdicate’ in favour of his son. Other Jacobite emblems include a stricken and burgeoning oak, oak leaf, bee, butterfly, jay, Jacob’s ladder foliage, carnation, daffodil, fritillary, triple ostrich, plumes and thistle.
Kick: the pyramidal dent found in the bases of many pre-1760 decanters, bowls, and bottles.
Knop: A protuberance, other than a baluster, either solid or hollow, breaking the line of a drinking glass or other stem. (a) acorn: a tooled motif in the form of an acorn, sometimes inverted; used also as a lid finial; (b) angular: a rounded-edge flattened knop, placed horizontally; (c) annulated : a flattened knop sandwiched between two, four, or six thinner flattened knops, each pair progressively less in size; (d) ball: a large spherical motif often found immediately above a shouldred stem; (e) bladed: a thin, sharp-edged flattened knop placed horizontally; (f) bullet: a small, spherical knop, sometimes termed the olive button; (g) collar: see merese; (h) cushion: a large spherical knop flattened top and bottom; (i) cylinder: a knop in the form of a cylinder, often containing a tear; (j) drop: resembling in shape the frustum of an inverted cone, and usually placed half an inch to an inch above the foot; (k) merese: a sharp-edged, flattened glass button connecting bowl and stem, or between foot and stem of a stemmed vessel; (1) multiple. knops of a single shape repeated in a stem; (m) mushrooms usually associated with incurved and funnel bowls; (n) quatrefoil: a short knop pressed into four wings by vertical depressions, the metal being drawn out with pincers. The wings may be upright or twisted; (o) swelling: a slight stem protuberance containing an air tear.
Metal: the substance of glass either molten or hard in the form of finished ware.
Pressed glass: shaped mechanically by means of a press, plunger, and metal moulds.
Prunt: a glass seal with plain or tooled surface, applied to the stem or bowl of a drinking glass.
Panty or pontil: a long iron rod attached to one end of blown glass during the finishing processes after removal from the blowpipe.
Panty mark or pontil mark: a scar left on blown glass when the panty is broken off. Generally found on the base of a glass. Ground and polished into a smooth depression, usually from about 175o, and invariably so on fine glass from about 1780.
Purled ornament: all-over diaper moulding with small round or oval compartments.
Reticulated: a moulded pattern in diamond-like formation; also called expanded diamond.
Rib or diamond-moulding: straight or twisted lines forming diamonds or other patterns impressed upon the surface of a bowl.
Rigaree marks: applied bands of glass tooled in parallel vertical lines to form tiny contiguous ribs; produced by the edge of a small metal wheel.
Romer, 1675-1825: a drinking vessel usually of pale green glass, consisting of a bowl more or less spherical with a slice taken off the top. The bowl opened into a hollow cylindrical stem studded with prunts and supported by a
hollow, conical foot.
Rummer, 1760-1850- short-stemmed drinking glass with capacious thinly blown ovoid bowl and small foot. From 1790 a series of thicker section and on heavy feet for holding hot toddy.
Scalloping: a rim outline formed by a series of semicircles with edges ground sharply until about 1750. Castellated rims date from about 1770.
Sealed glasses: early flint-glass tableware to which were applied small glass discs impressed with the maker’s mark: raven’s head, George Ravenscroft, September 1675-1681; the King’s arms, Henry Holden, glassmaker to the King from 1683; lion and coronet, Duke of Buckingham.
Seeds: minute air bubbles in the metal, indication that the glass-house could not raise furnace temperature high enough to eliminate all air bubbles trapped among the raw materials.
Stems
AIR-TWIST, 174o-65: (a) single-twist air spirals in a drawn stem formed by the extension of air bubbles: multiple spirals throughout the period, from 1745 two or four corkscrews; not until about 1750 were threads of uniform thickness and spaced regularly; (b) single-twist in a three-piece glass: 1740-65 the shank cut from long lengths made by extension of air bubbles; from 1750 spirals made by a mould process, filaments finely drawn and coiled with precision in some thirty variations; (c) compound-twist in three-piece glass: 176o-65 in a dozen variations.
BALUSTER, 1685-176o: stem consisting of a pure baluster form which might be inverted: also a baluster associated with various knopped motifs; (a) 1685-1725-. heavy inverted baluster with solid bowl-base and interior bowl depth almost invariably less than stem length; (b) 1700-25: simple knop such as angular, annulated, cushioned or drop knop, with or without a baluster; from 1710 acorn, cylinder, or mushroom knops; from 1715 true baluster alone or with various knops and a pair of balusters placed head to head between a pair of knops; (c) 1725-65: light balusters, true or inverted, supporting bowls with thin bases; illustrated on trade cards of the 176os. Between 1725 and 1740 the stem and collar baluster in which a merese separated bowl from stem.
COLOUR-TWIST, 1755-75: Spirals of glass, opaque or transparent, singly or in combination: commonly in blue, green or ruby, less frequently in red, yellow, sapphire, black, and greyish blue.
COMPOUND-TWIST, 1760-1800: a pair of air or enamel spiral formations, one within the other: a central spiral or (in enamel) a closely knotted central cable with another formation spiralling around it. In straight stems only.
DRAWN, from 1682: a plain knopped or baluster stem drawn directly from a gathering of metal at the base of the bowl; (a) to 1725 in large, heavy forms; (b) 1720-45 with waisted thick-based bowl; (c) from 1735 the standard pattern was a straw shank drawn from a trumpet-shaped bowl; by 177o had degenerated into a thin-stemmed tavern glass.
FACET-CUT, C. 1748-1800: almost invariably drawn stems; (a) elongated diamond facets, two or three times longer than width with angles Of 120 degrees and 6o degrees: found throughout the period; (b) 1755-8o, elongated hexagonal facets; (c) 176o-8o, shouldered and centrally knopped stems; (d) 1760-75, scale facets; (e) 1770-1800, facets cut deeper than formerly; (f) 1790-1800, stems shorter than formerly.
HOLLOW, early 176os to late 178os: stem in the form of a hollow cylinder, sometimes, though rarely, knopped.
INCISED, 1678-17811 ` alternating ridges and grooves spiralling around the stem surface; (a) 1678-1720, incised balusters; (b) 1740–60, closely spaced medium to coarse spirals with almost imperceptible reduction of stem diameter at centre; (c) 166o-1780, finer, more uniform, incisions on stem of unvarying diameter.
KNOPPED, 1700-55: stem composed of four to six knops, none sufficiently large to dominate its fellows; (a) to 1740 heavy knops, well-modelled until 1735; (b) from 1740 light knops.
MERCURY-TWIST, 1745-65: air-twists of exceptionally large diameter spiralling down the centre of a stem in close coils, or a pair of corkscrew threads.
MIXED-TWIST, 1750-70: a combination of air-twist and opaque-white twist in a single stem.
MOULDED PEDESTAL, 1705-85: known also as Silesian and shouldered stem; on good quality ware until about 1730;
(a) 1705-20, four-sided moulded stem, never collared at the base; by 1710 the shoulders were being shaped in the form of four arches; (b) 1720-40, sides moulded with deep, vertical reeds; (c) 1727-35, six-sided pedestal; (d) 1730-5o, eight-sided pedestal lacking precision and definition; (e) 1750-8o, thin, coarse-ribbed versions of the earlier types; (f) 176585, well-designed pedestal stem with four or six sides enriched with cutting.
OPAQUE-TWIST, mid-17402 to end of 18th century. Spirals of dense-textured white enamel, varying from fine hairs to broad solid tapes; single or compound in more than a hundred variations; (a) straight stem with single twist;
(b) with shoulder or central knop and single twist, usually multiple spiral; (c) straight stem with compound-twist -the most common type - from 176o; (d) with knops in various positions, shoulder, central, base, or any two or all three, with compound-twist, from 1760.
RIB-TWIST, see Incised.
SILESIAN, see Moulded Pedestal.
SINGLE-TWIST, late 1740s to early 1800: one formation of air, enamel, or coloured threads spiralling around a clear glass centre, or a pair of reciprocal spirals.
STRAIGHT, PLAIN, 1725 to 19th century: on three-piece glasses; after 1748 tended to be thinner than formerly.
VERTICAL FLUTE-CUTTING, mid-17806-1800: (a) to 1790, stem fluted above and below a central diamond-cut knop; (b) 1790-1800, long, straight flutes from foot to bowl, either notched on alternate angles, horizontally grooved, or sliced.
WORMED, see Air-twist.
WRYTHEN, see Incised.
Step: a flattened glass button connecting the stem of a rummer with its foot.
Stones: red and black specks within the fabric of early flint-glass, the result of imperfect fusion between oxide of lead and silica.
Straw shank: see Stems, drawn.
Striae: apparent undulating markings within the metal, perfectly vitrified and transparent, show the metal to be of uneven composition because insufficiently molten before working.
Stuck shank: a stem made from a separate gather of metal welded to the base of the bowl.
Tears: bubbles of air enclosed within the metal for decorative purposes: first appeared in stems; from 1715 to about 176o clusters of spherical or comma-shaped tears appeared in bowl-base, knop and finial.
Thread circuit: a thin trail of applied glass encircling a bowl rim or decorating the neck of a vessel.
Three-piece glasses: bowl, stem, and foot made separately and welded together.
Tint: a residual colour tinge inherent in the ingredients from which the metal is composed.
Toasting glass: a flute Of fine metal with tall stem drawn to a diameter of one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch.
Toastmaster’s glass: a thick bowl designed to magnify its capacity, on a tall stem. Short, deceptive glasses, known as sham drams, were used by tavern-keepers, 1775-1850-
Toddy-lifter: a pipette with bulbous or decanter-shaped body for lifting hot toddy from bowl to drinking glass,
C- 1800-40.
Trailed ornament: looped threads of glass applied to the surface of a bowl or foot.
Trailing, pinched: applied bands of glass pinched into wavy formation.
Two-piece glasses: stem drawn in a piece from the bowl and a foot added.
Venetian glass: thinly blown soda-glass, worked at a low temperature, cooling quickly, and requiring great speed of manipulation. Lacks the brilliance and toughness of flint-glass.
Vermicular collar: a wavy trail of glass encircling a stem or decanter neck.
Writhing: surface twisting or swirled ribbing or fluting on bowl or stem.
Wine-glass coolers, 1750s- I 86os: resemble finger-bowls but with one or two lips in the rim.
Jul
28
Chests of Drawers and Tallboys sdj9my4vbz
The time-honoured chest, long distinguishedfor its frame
construction and carving in the oak period, became the more useful chest of drawers after the Restoration. Already in 1661 Pepys bought ‘a fair chest of drawers’ in London. The chest itself did not disappear quickly; it persisted well into the next century, made in the traditional oak, then walnut and, later, mahogany, or japanned, when that form of decoration was popular. But long before 166o its future development was indicated when the bottom drawer was added to it, to form the mule chest. The chest of drawers developed along three lines: the familiar solid type, from the chest; the chest on stand; and the chest on chest, or tallboy.
The solid type was still being made in oak in Charles 11’s reign, but it was gradually replaced by walnut and incorporated all the refinements and techniques due to the new wood. Larger chests of drawers stood up to three and a half feet high, usually with five drawers, three long ones at the bottom and two smaller ones at the top. But many fine smaller ones were also made. They were admirably suited for veneers (applied to the top and sides of good pieces, as well as to drawer fronts, with cross-banding and herringbone patterns), marquetry and japan. Besides walnut, or used with it, other woods, particularly yew, fruit woods and burr elm, made good veneers. To overcome the straight-line effect of the drawers, various mouldings, at first on the frame and then on the drawer edges, were applied to give decorative effect. The tops also had larger ovolo mouldings jutting out over the edges, and similar mouldings at the bottom of the carcase, above the feet. The development of the feet showed a constant search for good design. At first they were of the turned ball or bun type, but as this did not harmonize with the general appearance of the chest, they gave way to the square bracket feet, flanked by small curved pieces. These details appear in a smaller chest of drawers of the William and Mary period, which has, besides bracket feet, the top and bottom mouldings, half-round mouldings on the carcase and cross-banding on the drawers. It is also an excellent example of oyster veneers.
The use of stands for mounting chests of drawers was common after the Restoration, and lasted until the early 18th century. The chest of drawers developed on the same lines as the solid type, and the stand bore very close relationship to contemporary side tables (see Tables). At first the stand was low in appearance, on thick turned legs linked by a succession of arches, but by the 16gos it was higher, with twist-turned and later baluster-shaped legs joined together by curling stretchers. Drawers were added to the stand, usually a shallower central one and a deeper one at each side. The apron piece, an important decorative feature, took the form of smooth-flowing curves, which balanced the severer lines of the upper work. In the William and Mary period two other characteristics were the inverted cup legs and the pronounced swell frieze below the cornice. The drawers in the stand tended to shorten the legs once more, and they took cabriole form by Anne’s reign. From about 1710 there was a natural transition to the tallboy, in which the stand was replaced by another chest of drawers. Tallboys reached monumental proportions, and came in for a great deal of architectural treatment. The frieze lost its swell outline and became concave. By about 1730 the drawers throughout are cross-banded and have ovolo mouldings. The corners of the upper section have been canted to take partly fluted and partly reeded pilasters, and the feet have gone from the plain bracket to ogee form, resembling cabrioles. The tallboy had a long vogue in the 18th century as a cabinet-maker’s show-piece, until the awkward height of its top drawers led to its gradual disuse in England. It persisted longer in America, where some very fine examples were produced.
Clock Cases
The long clock case (or grandfather clock) was another new piece of furniture which appeared at the time of the Restoration. Two major factors in its development were Robert Hooke’s invention of the anchor escapement (which made the long pendulum possible) about 167o, and the outstanding work of great English clockmakers like Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb. From its beginning the case took on the familiar design of a hood for the dial and movement, a long, narrow body for the pendulum, and a pedestal base. The body became wider as the clock dial increased in size but retained its slender waist appearance until mahogany was extensively used. Naturally, the size of the cases (up to seven feet in even the earliest examples) and their prominent position in the house brought out all the case-maker’s skill, and the large space available was ideal for the best decorative work in veneers, marquetry and japan. At first – about 1660 – the cornice of the hood was surmounted by a classical pediment which was followed after 1670 by a carved and pierced cresting. The glass face of the dial was usually flanked by two columns, which were either twist-turned or plain-turned with tiny capitals and bases. Oak was the usual carcase wood, veneered with ebony and walnut and often finely decorated with the various kinds of fashionable marquetry. The door on the body was edged with half-round moulding in rectangular lines. Many of these features can be seen in a late William and Mary clock case with a movement made by Samuel Stokes of London about 1699. It is veneered with seaweed marquetry, and there is a narrow fret-carved frieze below the cornice. By 1700 the hood had begun to change its appearance. A flat dome was added to the top, which was sometimes ornamented with brass or gilt wood finials at the corners and centre. From about 1715 the clock dial was arched, and the cornice above it took the same curving shape, as did the moulding over the door in the body. The clock case, in other words, underwent the same treatment of arched curves as cabinets and mirrors. English japanners had a partiality for clock cases, and hundreds were exported during this period; but walnut enjoyed a considerable vogue for cases, and retained its popularity until after 1750.
Mirrors part in interior
Mirrors began to play an important p
decoration in late Stuart times, and an indication of their growing use is that while in 166o they were still being imported (particularly Venetian glasses), by 17oo English-made glasses were being sent abroad. Between those two dates progress was largely explained by the establishment of the Duke of Buckingham’s famous glass works at Vauxhall in 1665 and the emergence, some twenty years later, of the specialist looking-glass makers. Mirror plate was expensive for some time to come, but wealthy people used it in many ways, for wall mirrors, toilet mirrors, tall ornamental glasses and on cabinet doors. Until about 16go wall mirrors were square in shape and the glass, with bevelled edges, was enclosed in frames up to six inches in width, topped by a semicircular crest in the Italian manner. They were naturally picked out for fine (especially oyster) veneers and marquetry work. By 1700 taller mirrors were becoming fashionable (of large Vauxhall plates, or smaller mirrors joined together with a moulding to cover the join) and the influence of Wren and Gibbons was shown in architectural features like pediments and pilasters, or in intricately carved lime-wood frames. Colourful decoration was emphasized and took several forms, bright gilding, marquetry, japan, gesso and even silver. These forms continued into Anne’s reign, but there was also a return to simpler styles. Three main trends can be distinguished among the many varieties. One attractive type of wall mirror had a narrow frame, the glass itself surrounded by a thin gilt gesso moulding, and wide flat crest and base, both carved in graceful flowing curves, veneered with walnut and holding two circular inset pieces with the shell motif. Another kind had an inch-wide frame all the way round following the top of the scalloped glass in simple arched curves. It was this design which was often found on cabinet doors, the mouldings surrounding the mirror plate taking the same curves as the top of the cabinet. A third kind was the pier glass, tall and narrow in shape, usually made in pairs to stand between windows, in elaborately carved and gilded frames, often with another mirror in the arching crest, and with pilasters at the sides. John Gumley, who opened his glass works at Lambeth in 1705, specialized in these. Towards the end of the walnut period gilded mirrors were common, and came under architectural
influence.
The early 18th century also saw the introduction of the `chimney glass’, a wide mirror above a chimney-piece, consisting of three plates, two smaller ones flanking a larger one, and all topped by flowing curves, framed in walnut or following the other decorative fashions. Another development, the toilet mirror, had the same curved top and was mounted on two uprights resting on a miniature chest of drawers. Some of these, in walnut or japan, were beautifully made and were designed for the slender dressing-tables of the period.
Tables
The walnut period inherited the gate-leg tables introduced during the preceding oak period, and these continued in use for dining, with modifications due to the new timber. Gate-leg tables retained their popularity for a long time, and in larger houses several were used together, when required. Their legs gradually took on cabriole form. But a new feature from 166o was the variety of small tables, many of them multi-purpose, the more formal side and occasional tables, and others used for specific requirements like writing, tea-drinking, dressing and card-playing. At first solid walnut was usual, but later table tops (and drawer fronts, wherever these were found) were decorated with veneer or marquetry, with cross-banded or herring-bone borders and ovolomoulded edges.
The side table, with oyster veneers, single drawer, twist-turned legs and wide flat stretcher was very characteristic of the later part of Charles Ws reign. The legs ended on ball or bun feet, immediately above which the stretcher terminated in small square platforms. The stretcher was noted for its curves and central shelf. Twist-turning persisted on tables for some time after it had passed out of fashion on chairs. But by the William and Mary period varieties of baluster turning, or the more elaborate scroll form, were coming into use. By 16go the stretcher has become more slender and has a pronounced X-shape. The finial on the shelf is matched by similar finials, inverted, on the apron piece, which has become an important part of late 17th-century work. Tables fitted with drawers and a knee-hole could be used as dressing or writing tables. The marked change in design by the early 18th century is well illustrated by the Queen Anne card table. The slender cabriole legs and ball-and-claw feet did not require stretchers and gave the table a shapely line. The tops of these card tables unfolded and were supported by swinging out one of the legs; or else in some cases the whole top was pivoted sideways and opened to rest on the frame. The surface was covered with cloth or veneered. To protect it the corners were rounded to hold candlesticks (later small movable trays, hinged to the top, were used for this) and small circular depressions were made for money or counters. The wide ovolo mouldings found at the edges of the earlier table tops were now replaced by flatter, vertical mouldings. Decoration was usually limited to a carved shell or leaf on the outside of the knee and a scroll on the inside, and to a curve on the frieze. These tables emphasized the beautiful figure of walnut. Despite subsequent changes, this simple design was never entirely lost, for small tables were made in walnut, even when mahogany was becoming fashionable. But, by contrast, from about 1725 pier tables (standing between mirrors and windows) and console tables (permanently standing against the wall with bracket-shape legs) had a florid magnificence, in the Kent tradition. Made of gilded softwoods, or with the addition of gesso, they relied for effect on masks, scrolls, foliage and classical designs, and heavy marble tops.
Small tripod tables also appeared after 166o for use as candle-stands, in the form of a tray held by a turned pillar standing on jutting-out feet. As can be expected, the upright at first was often twist-turned, and the feet had scroll shapes. From about 1685 the feet began to show sharper angles where the various curves met. By the Queen Anne period the feet were beginning to show cabriole form and the balland-claw ending. This type of table was to have a long vogue, as candle-stands were in great demand when large plate mirrors came into use and as much light as possible was called for to add brilliance to large rooms.
Jul
27
FURNITURE: SMALL PIECES
July 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
FURNITURE: SMALL PIECES
A FAIRLY wide interpretation has been given here to the term ’small furniture’. It includes, in general, those smaller pieces which were not dealt with in the chapters on furniture in the previous volumes of this series, or which were there given only a passing mention. It has also been assumed that readers will be familiar with the main developments of English furniture styles, to which smaller furniture, as well as the larger, conformed; with the warning that ‘country’ furniture might continue to be made in a style which had passed out of fashion, perhaps some considerable time previously, in London and the chief provincial towns.
The collection of small pieces of furniture can be a most fascinating pastime, not only for obvious financial reasons but also because they are a constant delight to the eye, and –a point of special weight in these days when living room is not so spacious as in times gone by — because they can be frequently used as their original makers and owners intended.
The study of the evolution of smaller articles of furniture can also be a study of social history; for they portray, as Horace Walpole wrote of the furniture in Hogarth’s pictures, `the history of the manners of the age’. One can see how they came into use as the rooms of houses began to take on their separate character and as new conventions established themselves in society. Note, for example, how, at the end of the 17th century, the two new fashions of tea-drinking and displaying china produced a whole range of small pieces among which can be included, on the one hand, tea-boards, kettle-stands and caddies, and, on the other, china-stands, brackets and shelves. With the coming of home manufacture of mirror glass, the development of special processes of decoration such as Tunbridge ware and straw-work and the introduction of new materials like Clay’s papier-mach, many new articles came into production or new forms and modes of decoration were given to older ones. The great diversity of small pieces in Georgian dining-rooms tells its own story of the importance placed by the upper classes in those days on eating and drinking.
With regard to the furniture which is described hereunder, one might be tempted to write, as did Sheraton in his Cabinet Dictionary, that ‘the reader will find some terms which he will probably judge too simple in their nature to justify their insertion’. One feels, however, that this apology is unnecessary; the simplest articles are often the most useful, and their names, though no doubt very familiar, do not give what is, after all, the intention of this section, viz. their history and development. It might be added, in conclusion, that Sheraton’s own period delighted in small furniture which combined, to a greater degree than at any other time, usefulness with extreme delicacy of appearance.
GLOSSARY
Basin-stand:see Washing-stand. Beer-wagon: see Coaster.
Book-rest: a stand used in Georgian libraries to support large books, consisting of a square or rectangular framework with cross bars, the upper bar being supported by a strut which was adjusted on a grooved base. This kind of stand was sometimes fitted into the top of a table.
Book-shelf: see Shelves.
Box and Casket: boxes were among the most attractive of the smaller pieces of furniture, and were used from medieval times for a multitude of purposes – personal effects, toilet and writing materials, valuables, documents, etc. Tudor and early Stuart boxes were usually square in shape and made of oak, carved, inlaid or painted, and occasionally stood upon stands, few of which have survived. In the later 7th century walnut was commonly used (sometimes decorated with marquetry or parquetry), but other materials included parchment, tortoise-shell and stump-work, the latter particularly on the boxes kept by ladies for their cosmetics, etc. The interiors were often ingeniously fitted with compartments and drawers. In the 18th century some beautiful mahogany and satinwood boxes were made, until they were gradually replaced by small work-tables, though boxes on stands, conforming to the prevailing decorative fashions, were to be found. Among other examples were Tunbridge ware (q.v.) boxes, and travelling boxes fitted with spaces for writing, working and toilet requisites. About 1800 work and toilet boxes covered with tooled leather were in vogue.
Bracket: the detachable wall-bracket, as distinct from the fixed architectural feature, appeared towards the end of the 17th century, and seems to have been used at first for displaying china. Its prominent position in the room singled it out for special decorative treatment in carving or gilding. In the early Georgian period the bracket was often used to support a bust or vase, and as a result it tended to become larger in size and more heavily ornamented; but with the return of the fashion for displaying china about 1750 and the growing use of the bracket for supporting lights, it became altogether more delicate in appearance, and was adapted to the various styles of the Chippendale and Adam periods. The wall-bracket supporting a clock was a popular form of decoration in the later 18th century.
Brazier: a portable metal container used from Tudor times for burning coal or charcoal; with handle and feet, or sometimes mounted on a stand.
Butler’s Tray: a tray mounted on legs or on a folding stand, in use throughout the 18th century. The X-shaped folding stand was in general use from about 1750, the tray normally being rectangular and fitted with a gallery. Oval trays were sometimes made in the later part of the century.
Candle-box: a cylindrical or square box, of metal or wood, widely used in the Georgian period for storing candles.
Candle-stand: a portable stand (known also as a lamp-stand, gu6ridon and torch6re) fora candlestick, candelabrum or lamp. After 166o the fashion arose of having two candle-stands flanking a side table with a mirror on the wall above; the stands usually took the form of a baluster or twist-turned shaft, with a circular or octagonal top and a tripod base. At the end of the century more elaborate kinds, copying French stands, became fashionable, with vase-shaped tops and scrolled feet, all carved and gilded. Other examples were of simple design, but had rich decoration in gesso or marquetry. In the early Georgian period, when gilt stands followed architectural forms, the vase-shaped tops and baluster shafts were larger, and the feet curved outwards, replacing the scrolled French style. About 1750 stands became lighter and more delicate, many of them being enriched with rococo decoration. There was a distinct change in design in the later 18th century: the traditional tripod continued, often in mahogany, with turned shaft and a bowl or vase top in the classical taste; but a new type, which was originated by Adam, consisted of three uprights, mounted on feet or a plinth, supporting usually a candelabrum, or with a flat top. Smaller examples of the latter type were made to stand on tables. A much smaller version of candle-stand was also popular after 1750 — with a circular base and top, and sometimes an adjustable shaft.
Canterbury: (I) a small music-stand with partitions for music-books, usually mounted on castors, and sometimes with small drawers, much used in the early x9th century; and (2) a plate and cutlery stand particularly designed for supper parties in the later 18th century, with divisions for cutlery and a semicircular end, on four turned legs. The name ‘Canterbury’ arose, wrote Sheraton, ‘because the bishop of that See first gave orders for these pieces’.
Cat: a stand used after about 1750 to warm plates in front of the fire; it had three arms and three feet of turned wood
(or three legs of cabriole form). The turning was well ringed to provide sockets for plates of various sizes. CeUaret: the name given generally after 1750 to a case on legs or stand for wine bottles; prior to that date, from the end of the 17th century, the same kind of case was called a cellar. In the early 18th century cellarets, lined with lead and containing compartments for bottles, stood under side-tables, and they were still made later in the century when sideboards, which had drawers fitted up to hold bottles, came into general use. Sheraton classified the cellaret with the wine cistern (q.v.) and sarcophagus, and distinguished them from the bottle-case, which was for square bottles only.
Cheval-glass: a larger type of toilet mirror in a frame with four legs; also known as a horse dressing-glass; dating from the end of the 18th century. The rectangular mirror either pivoted on screws set in the uprights or moved up and down by means of a weight within the frame (’the same as a sash-window’ — Sheraton). Turned uprights and stretchers were often found on these pieces about 1800.
Cheveret: see Secretaire.
Chiffonier: a piece of furniture which has given rise to a certain amount of confusion. The French chiffonier was a tall chest of drawers, but the chiffoniers, a quite different piece, was a small set of drawers on legs. It was the latter which seems to have been copied in England in the later 18th century. Another form of chiffonier was popular in the Regency period — a low cupboard with shelves for books. As this was similar to contemporary commodes, it can be taken that the English version of the chiffoniers was the only true small piece of furniture.
China-stand: an ornamental stand for displaying china or flowers, introduced at the end of the 17th century and at first taking the form of a low pedestal on carved and scrolled feet, or of a vase on a plinth. In the early 18th century the form was sometimes that of a stool with cabriole legs, in mahogany. More fanciful designs, in the rococo taste, were evident after 1750, as in the ‘Stands for China Jarrs’ presented in Chippendale’s Director. In the Adam period some attractive stands for flower-bowls resembled the contemporary candle-stands with three uprights. Little four-legged stands with shelves were also made at this time for flower-pots.
Coaster: a receptacle which came into use before 1750 for moving wine, beer and food on the dining-table; also variously known as a slider, decanter stand and beer-wagon. For ease of movement, the coaster was normally fitted either with small wheels or with a baize-covered base, and the materials used in good examples included mahogany, papiermhch6 and silver. Beer-wagons were sometimes made with special places for the jug and drinking vessels.
Croft: a small filing cabinet of the late 18th century (named after its inventor) specially designed to be moved about easily in the library; it had many small drawers and a writing-top.
Cutlery Stand: see Canterbury (2).
Daventry: a small chest of drawers with a sloping top for writing; said to be named after a client of the firm of Gillow who claimed to have invented it.
Decanter Stand: see Coaster.
Desk: a term of varied meaning, but taken here to refer to two portable pieces. (I) The commonest meaning was that of a box (originating in medieval times) with a sloping top for reading and writing. Early examples in oak in the Tudor and Stuart periods had carving and inlay, and sometimes the owner’s initials and date. When bureaux came into use at the end of the 17th century these small desks were too useful to discard, and were fitted with drawers and pigeon-holes; many were veneered with walnut, or japanned, and some were mounted on stands. In the Georgian period they became less decorative, and were usually of plain mahogany; few were made after 1800. (2) In the later 18th century ‘desk’ was the current term for what would now be called a music-stand (which was also used for reading) ; it generally took the form of a tripod base supporting a shaft and a sloping, adjustable top.
Dumb-waiter: a dining-room stand, an English invention of the early 18th century, with normally three circular trays, increasing in size towards the bottom, on a shaft with tripod base. This established design gave way to more elaborate versions at the end of the century; four-legged supports and rectangular trays were found; and quite different kinds were square or circular tables with special compartments for bottles, plates, etc.
Fire-screen: an adjustable screen made from the end of the 17th century to give protection from the intense heat of large open fires. Two main kinds were used. (1) Pole screen: with the screen on an upright supported on a tripod base; known as a `screen-stick’ in the late 17th century; and in very general use in the 18th. The screen, often of needlework, was at first rectangular, but oval and shield shapes were fashionable in the late 18th century. In the Regency period the tripod was replaced by a solid base, and the screen was a banner hung from a bar on the upright. (2) Horse or cheval screen – two uprights, each on two legs, enclosing a panel. Elaborate carving and gilding of the crests was often found until the end of the 18th century, when lighter and simpler screens were in vogue. Needlework was the popular material for the panel.
Flower-stand: see China-stand. Gu6ridon: see Candle-stand.
Horse-glass and Horse-screen: see Cheval-glass and Fire-screen.
Kettle-stand (also Urn- and Teapot-stand): a special stand which was introduced with tea-drinking in the later 17th century, of two main kinds. (z) A small table, tripod or four-legged, with a gallery or raised edge round the top. Slender four-legged tables were common in the later part of the 18th century, nearly always with a slide for the teapot. (2) A box-like arrangement set on four legs; the box was usually lined with metal, and had an opening in one side for the kettle spout, as well as a slide for the teapot. Another version of the box type had a three-sided enclosure with a metal-lined drawer. The two main types of stand persisted until the end of the 18th century, when they were superseded by occasional tables.
Knife-case: a container for knives (and other cutlery) introduced in the 17th century for use in dining-rooms. Two distinct varieties appeared. (I) Until the later 18th century the usual shape was a box with a sloping top and convex front; the interior had divisions for the cutlery. Walnut, shagreen (untanned leather with a roughened surface) and later mahogany, sometimes inlaid, were the main materials. (2) This was succeeded by the graceful vase-shaped case the top of which was raised and lowered on a central stem around which the knife partitions were arranged; this type was designed to stand on a pedestal or at each end of the sideboard. Straight-sided cases were favoured in the early 19th century.
Lantern: a container fora candle or candles; portable, fixed to the wall or hung from the ceiling; especially useful for lighting the draughty parts of the house. Early lanterns (c. 1500-1700) were made of wood, iron, latten (a yellow alloy of copper and zinc) and brass, the most common filling being horn (whence the Shakespearean `lant-horn’). After 1700, when glass became more plentiful, lanterns were increasingly fashionable, particularly as they prevented candle-grease from falling about, and their frames, of metal, walnut and mahogany, followed the main decorative modes. In addition to these more elaborate kinds, simpler lanterns of glass shades, in a variety of forms, were in wide use in the 18th century.
Library Steps: found in libraries of large houses after about the middle of the 18th century, and of two main kinds: the fixed pair of steps, some with hand-rails; and the folding steps, sometimes ingeniously fitted into other pieces of furniture, such as chairs, stools and tables.
Linen-press: a frame with a wooden spiral screw for pressing linen between two boards, dating from the 17th century.
Lobby Chest: defined by Sheraton as ‘a kind of half chest of drawers, adapted for the use of a small study, lobby, etc’.
Mirror-stand: an adjustable mirror mounted on a shaft and tripod base, resembling a pole-screen; popular at the end of the 18th century.
Music-stand: see Canterbury (I) and Desk (2).
Night-table: a pot cupboard which replaced the close-stool after 1750; sometimes also fitted as a washing-stand (q.v.). Among the features commonly found on these pieces may be noted a drawer under the cupboard, a tambour front and a tray top. Some night-tables were given a triangular shape to fit into a corner.
Papier-rnitch6: moulded paper pulp used for many small articles and particularly suitable for japanning and polishing; the original process came to England via France from the East as early as the 17th century. Considerable stimulus was given to this kind of work in 1772, when Henry Clay of Birmingham, and later London, patented a similar material and began manufacturing various pieces among which trays, boxes, tea-caddies and coasters were prominent.
Pipe-rack: a stand for clay pipes. Of the various wooden kinds in use in the 18th century one can distinguish the stand of candlestick form with a tiny circular tray on the stem, pierced with holes for holding the pipes; and the wall rack, either an open frame with notched sides so that the pipes could lie across or a board with shelves from which the pipes hung down (cf. spoon-rack), In addition to these, metal pipe-kilns were widely used from the 17th century —iron frames on which the pipes rested, deriving their name from the fact that they could be baked in an oven to clean the pipes.
Pipe-tray: a long and narrow wooden tray with partitions for churchwardens, in use throughout the Georgian period.
Plate-pail: a mahogany container with handle for carrying plates from kitchen to dining-room (often a long journey) in large houses in the 18th century; of various shapes, generally circular with one section left open for ease of access.
Pole-screen: see Fire-screen.
Sconce: a general name for a wall-light consisting of a back-plate and either a tray or branched candle-holders. Metal seems to have been the chief material from later medieval times until the end of the 17th century when looking-glass became fashionable for back-plates (and when `girandole’ was another name for these pieces). The use of looking-glass meant that sconces tended to follow the same decorative trends as contemporary mirrors, but metal back-plates continued to be made, and for a period after 1725 there was a preference for carved and gilt wood and gesso-work, often without looking-glass. About 1750 sconces provided some of the freest interpretation of the asymmetrical rococo mode, either with looking-glass in a scrolled frame, or in carved and gilt wood only; Chinese features were often blended with the rococo. In contrast, the sconces of the Adam period had delicate classical ornament in gilt wood or in composition built up round a wire frame. Cut-glass sconces were in vogue at the end of the century.
Secretaire (or Secretary): the name somewhat loosely applied to different kinds of writing furniture of which two small varieties call for mention here. At the end of the 17th century appeared the small bureau mounted on legs or stand, very similar to the contemporary desk on stand (q.v.) - This kind seems to have been designed for ladies’ use, and sometimes had a looking-glass at the top. In the late 18th century large numbers of light and graceful secretaires were made, one popular kind taking the form of a small table with tapering legs enclosing a drawer and supporting a little stand with drawers and shelf. The stand, which was used as a small book-shelf, was often provided with a handle so that it could be lifted off. This type of table was also known as a cheveret.
Shelves: taken here to refer to hanging or standing shelves without doors, for books, plate and china. Small oak shelves of the Tudor period were square in shape; while arcaded tops appeared in the early 17th century. Carving was the chief decoration, and this became more ornate after 166o. It is probable that many walnut shelves were made, but few of these seem to have survived. It was at this time that shelves were used for displaying china; a fashion which continued into the early 18th century, but was then replaced by that of keeping china in cabinets and cupboards. Open shelves, however, returned to favour in the Chippendale period, when they were often decorated in the Chinese taste, and had fretted sides and galleries. Simple, light shelves were generally in vogue in the later 18th century, for books or china; Sheraton emphasized that shelves should be light enough for ladies to move about and to contain their ‘books under present reading’.
Slider: see Coaster.
Spoon-rack: a stand for hanging spoons, dating from late Tudor times when metal spoons came into general use. The usual form, until the end of the 18th century, resembled a miniature dresser – a wooden board with small slotted shelves for spoons, and, attached to it at the bottom, a box for knives and forks.
Straw-work: a method of decorating furniture, particularly smaller pieces, with tiny strips of bleached and coloured straws to form landscapes, geometrical patterns, etc. This craft came to England from the Continent towards the end of the 17th century and was centred at Dunstable. There was a big increase in output during the Napoleonic Wars, when French prisoners, many of whom were craftsmen who had been conscripted into the French Navy, decorated articles in this way during their captivity in England. Among the chief pieces thus decorated were tea-caddies, desks and boxes.
Tea-caddy and Tea-chest: a small box for storing tea. `Tea-chest’ was the common name for this piece from the end of the 17th century, when tea-drinking was introduced, until the second half of the 18th century, when `caddy’, a corruption of `kati’, a Malay measure of weight of just over one pound, came into general use. The custom of locking up the family’s tea in a box continued long after tea had ceased to be an expensive luxury; caddies, therefore, were invariably provided with locks, and were either divided into small compartments or were fitted with canisters (q.v.) for the different kinds of tea. A great variety of materials was used in their construction, including woods of all kinds – carved, inlaid, veneered, painted or decorated with tortoise-shell, ivory, straw-work (q.v.), Tunbridge ware (q.v.), etc – metal (silver in the best examples) and papier-mA66 (q.v.). There was also considerable diversity in shape, from rectangular to square and octagonal; while vase and pear forms were introduced after 1750.
Tea-canister: the container for tea in the caddy (if the latter were not already divided into compartments); made Of glass, metal or earthenware; usually bottle-shaped until c. 175o, and vase-shaped later.
Teapot-stand: see Kettle-stand.
Toilet Mirror (or Dressing-glass): a small mirror designed to stand on a table or, in early examples, to hang on the wall. This kind of mirror was a luxury in the medieval and Tudor periods, and did not begin to come into wider use until the late 17th century. Post-Restoration mirrors were usually square in shape, and frequently had their frames decorated with stump-work; they stood by means of a strut or hung by a ring. By about 1700 oblong mirrors with arched tops, in narrower moulded frames, veneered or japanned, had begun to replace the square shape. In the 18th century several changes occurred. Shortly after 1700 appeared the mirror supported by screws in uprights mounted on a box stand; the box was often in the form of a flap or desk above a drawer which contained the many toilet requisites of the time; the mirror had a pronounced arched heading at first, and the front of the box was sometimes serpentine in form. The older type of strut support, without the box stand, continued to be made, however, and occasionally a stand with small trestle feet was found. By
1750 mahogany was in general use for toilet mirrors, though some in the Chinese style were gilt or japanned. Simpler designs were introduced in the neo-classical period; mirror frames, in mahogany or satinwood, were often of oval or shield shape, and the uprights were curved to correspond. The stand was also a simpler arrangement, as toilet articles were now placed in the table on which the mirror stood. At the very end of the century and later, a wide oblong mirror was fashionable, and was usually swung on turned uprights. Mahogany and rosewood, often decorated with stringing, were the chief woods for such mirrors at this time.
Torchilre: see Candle-stand.
Tray: for food, tea-things, plates, etc; also known as a voider (the medieval term for a tray which was still in use in late Georgian times). Tea-trays (or ‘tea-boards’) were introduced in the late 17th century, and most of them were japanned; none, however, seem to have survived. japanned trays were still popular in the middle of the 18th century, though by then ornamental mahogany trays with fretted borders were being made. Later, oval trays decorated with fine inlay were in vogue. About 1800 there was a considerable production of trays in japanned metal and papiermicM.
Tunbridge Ware: a special form of inlay which developed at Tunbridge Wells c. 1650, employing minute strips of wood, in a great variety of natural colours, to build up geometrical patterns and, later, floral decoration, landscape scenes, etc; used for boxes, trays, desks, tea-caddies,
etc.
Urn-stand: see Kettle-stand.
Washing-stand (or Basin-stand): specially adapted for bedroom use after 1750, and of two main kinds. (1) A tripod stand with three uprights, a circular top fitted with a basin, and a central triangular shelf with a drawer (or drawers) and receptacle for soap. A four-legged version of this type was also made. (2) A cupboard or chest of drawers on four legs with a basin sunk in the top, the latter covered by a lid or folding flaps.
What-not: a portable stand with four uprights enclosing shelves, in use after about 1800 for books, ornaments, etc.
Wine Cistern (or Cooler): a case for wine bottles, very similar to a cellaret (q.v.), but normally larger, without a lid and designed to contain ice or water for cooling the wine. Bowl shaped wooden cisterns on feet or stand were lined with lead and came into wide use after c. 1730; stone and metal (especially silver) cisterns were also found. At the end of the century the tub form, with hoops of brass, was general.
Work-table: the name usually applied to the special table made in the second half of the i8th century for ladies’ needlework, etc. In Sheraton’s time these tables were of several kinds; some, mounted on four tapered and reeded legs or on trestle feet, might include, in addition to a drawer, such fittings as a pouch for the work materials, an adjustable fire-screen and a writing-board or slide. Another type, the `French Work-table’, was a tray on trestle feet with a shelf or shelves below.
Writing-table: many varieties of small writing-tables can be found dating from the end of the 17th century, when they were first introduced. Early examples were made with turned baluster legs and folding tops, and were frequently used also as side- and card-tables. Gate-legs were usual, and some were fitted with a drawer. Decoration with marquetry was often found. In the early 18th century small knee-hole writing-tables were popular, with tiers of narrow drawers on each side of the central recess. Similar tables, it may be noted, were also used as dressing-tables, and it is not always possible to determine their exact purpose. After the introduction of mahogany, when the fashion arose for larger pedestal tables in libraries, many versions of the convenient lighter table continued to be made. It was at the end of the century that perhaps the most elegant kinds of these smaller tables were seen, frequently of satinwood. Some closely resembled contemporary secretaires and cheverets; others were fitted with an adjustable board for writing and with a screen.
Jul
26
ANTIQUE OAK FURNITURE
July 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment
The scientific study of old oak furniture is of relatively recent growth. Indeed, it was not until the close of the i 9th century and, more especially, the early years of the loth that the subject showed clear signs of developing a literature of its own.
Even so, the debt to the early pioneers of oak-studies, and to the best modern authorities for their patient checking and counter-checking, is indisputable. Though the day is past when ‘old oak’ was the preserve of a handful of artists and collectors, it is largely due to their initiative that later generations have been enabled to build on the foundations thus laid down. If in what follows the emphasis is mainly on certain aspects of terminology, it may at least assist an average reader to recognize and to avoid some popular errors.
Among such solecisms one does not reckon the ‘Age of Oak’, though that, like other ‘labels’, means more (and less) than it says. That other woods were used in that Age is obvious: but the term is useful as covering furniture and woodwork through the Middle Ages onwards to the experimental period of Charles II and the rise of the ‘Age of Walnut’. Not that oak furniture ceased to be made at the end of the ►7th century; but whereas its milieu had been general, its later setting (before modern times) was mainly of the unmodish, and even the humble, home.
As will be seen, an oak collector’s vocabulary is a blend of words as used by carpenters, joiners, turners and architects, together with some recovered from documentary sources, and others truly or falsely traditional. The following brief glossary’s main concentration is on English usage, though one or two alien or post-oak terms are mentioned in passing.
GLOSSARY
Ambry (Aumbry, Almery; Fr. Armoire) - enclosed compartment or recess in a wall or in a piece of furniture, the original sense of the term having been usurped by CUPBOARD, which originally had a different connotation. `Cuppbordes, wyth ambries’ are mentioned in inventories of Henry VIII’s furniture. Today AUMBRY, etc, is principally used architecturally and ecclesiastically, as of the doored compartments or recesses for the Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament, this usage perpetuating the original sense. The French form ARMOIRE is often applied to large PRESSES or
PRESS-CUPBOARDS.
Apron-work: prolongation downwards, beyond what is essential to construction, of the lower edge of a member, such as the shaped lower edge of the front of certain BOARDED CHESTS, or the lower frontal frame-work, below the drawers, of certain DRESSERS. In such cases an APRON is purely ornamental; in others, e.g. the seating Of CLOSE-CHAIRS, its purpose is that of concealment.
Ark: term frequently encountered in medieval inventories, seemingly meaning (a) a CHEST with a coped or gabled lid; (b) perhaps a structure resembling a RELIQUARY (Fr. CHASSE), as exemplified by the 16th-century ALMERY in Coity Church, Glamorganshire.
Arming Chest: CHEST for the housing of armours and weapons. ARMING CHESTS might be fitted with compartments of varying size to accommodate breast-plate, etc (see Chest). (In navigation an ARMING BOX contains tallow for the `lead’.)
Barguefio (or Varguefio): Spanish cabinet with fall-front enclosing drawers and often mounted on a stand. Mixed materials are found.
Barley-sugar: see Twist-turning.
Bedstead: so far as practical collecting is concerned main basic types are the BOX- (or enclosed) BEDSTEAD, WAINSCOT- (including bedsteads panelled at head and foot), POST- (with two or four posts supporting the TESTER), STUMP- (or low type), and the TRUCKLE- or TRUNDLE- (With wooden wheels at base of uprights). These are not hard-and-fast definitions; one type may well overlap another (e.g. Box and WAINSCOT). Parts Of BEDSTEADS have been re-used for other purposes of a decorative nature, such as OVER-MANTELS.
Bench: a long seat, backed or backless, fitted or movable (see Form, Settle, Table-bench).
Bible-box: popular term for a variety of BOX, generally of small size. That some such boxes were used to hold the family Bible, or average meagre domestic library, is probable, though they doubtless served other purposes. LACE-BOXES enter this category.
Book-case: BOOKCASES, either fitted or, in some cases, contained in other furniture, were known medievally, but the domestic BOOKCASE mainly derives from the period of
Charles II (1660-85).
Boys and Crowns: old term for a type of carved ornament on the CRESTING of late 17th- and quite early 18th-century CHAIRS, DAY-BEDS, etc (see under Restoration). The motif, a CROWN, usually, though not necessarily, arched, supported by two flying or sprawling naked Boys, derives ultimately from the flying pulli frequently found in RENAISSANCE design. In England, the idea was familiar long before it achieved (temp. Charles II) a vogue on chair-backs.
Buffet: term variously applied to open, dourless structures, of more than one tier (see also Court Cupboard, Livery Cupboard).
Carolean: term of convenience strictly applicable to pieces made in the reign of Charles I (1625-49), those made under Charles II (1660-85) usually being dissociated. Actually the CAROLEAN style is as much an extension of the JACOBEAN as the latter was of the later ELIZABETHAN.
Caryatid: upright carved in semblance of a human figure or, more frequently, a demi-figure on a terminal base. Strictly, CARYATID implies a female, ATLANTA or ATLAS FIGURE a male figure, though CARYATID is used for either. The term derives from the legend of the women of Carya, enslaved and immured for their betrayal of the Greeks to the Persians. ATLANTA refers to the myth Of ATLAS upholding the heavens.
Casson: an Italian term for CHEST, COFFER, or chest of coffer-like construction, including magnificent DOWER-CHESTS, many of them elaborately gessoed, painted, gilt, or otherwise enriched.
Chair: in its old sense CHAIR meant, as like as not, an -CHAIR, what is now called a SINGLE- or SIDE-CHAIR being
ARM
a BACK-STOOL (stool with a batik). To what extent the CHAIR originated from such box-forms as the CHEST is suggested by early surviving examples of box-like structure. Development from the WAINSCOT CHAIR to the open-framed variety with panelled back belongs in general to the 16th century. Folding or RACK-CHAIRS and X-CHAIRS (so called from their shape) have also a long history. Certain 16th-century chairs with narrow backs and widely, splayed arms are so-called
CAQUETEUSE or CAQUETOIRE. The so-called FARTHINGALE
CHAIR (a term freely applied to pieces mostly of the earlier 17th century) has its back-support raised clear of the seat. Upholstery (not unknown earlier) had arrived, seats and back-pads being covered in velvet or in ‘Turkey-work’. Leather was used, especially on CROMWELLIAN CHAIRS, some of which date from the Interregnum, though the type endured until relatively late in the 17th century. LEATHER or RUSSIA CHAIR are old terms for such items. About the middle of the 17th century are found what are often termed `MORTUARY’ CHAIRS, a term of doubtful origin for chairs with a small moustachioed and bearded head (supposedly allusive to King Charles I) in the centre of the shaped and scrolled back-rails. Similar chairs occur without the masks, and the type is a variation Of YORKSHIRE or DERBYSHIRE CHAIR, Of undefined geographical distribution.
CAME-CHAIRS achieved main popularity in the second half of the 17th century, their backs and seats being caned. Scrolling, curlicues, BOYS AND CROWNS, etc, were favoured as carved ornament. Backs lengthen, assuming the form of a narrow panel or centre (often caned or stuffed) flanked by uprights. Already had been reached the period Of BARLEY-SUGAR TURNING (see Twist).
CORNER-CHAIRS, some of triangular formation, and sundry related types, were already in being. A later variety has the seat disposed diagonally to the low, rounded back. ELBOW-
CHAIR and ROUNDABOUT-CHAIR are synonyms in use. An allied type is the CIRCULAR CHAIR (with circular seat), often Dutch, and known as BURGOMASTER or (again) ROUNDABOUT-CHAIR, such terms being jargon. THROWN-CHAIRS of various
shapes, with much turnery, have been often assigned to the 16th century, though many are certainly later. Though scarcely belonging to the Age of Oak, the WINDSOR CHAIR may have owed something to older types. The basic characteristic of WINDSOR is not the bow- or hoop-back, but the detail that back and under-framing are all mortised into the wooden seat, itself frequently saddle-shaped and ‘dished’, but sometimes circular, etc. The BOW-BACK type (late 18th century and later), preceded by the COMB- or FAN-BACK (early 18th century and later), was itself followed by other formations on more or less ‘Regency’ lines. Types are many with much overlapping; woods are mixed. SCOLE or
MENDLESHAM CHAIRS are East Anglian types on WINDSOR lines. YORKSHIRE and LANCASHIRE WINDSORS usually show
`frilly’ splats and developed turnery, but the type was not confined to the North of England. In America Windsors were made from the early 18th century, and included some fine types. LANCASHIRE CHAIR is also applied to an extensively made type Of BOBBIN-BACK, much favoured in the 18th and early i9th centuries, but, here again, as with
YORKSHIRE and DERBYSHIRE CHAIRS in general, the geo-
graphical location has been overstressed (see Close-chair and -stool; also Restoration).
bevelled Pd e as when the sharp edges of a Chamfer:edge,
beam are bevelled off. A DUST CHAMFER (i.e. to throw off dust) is a smooth bevel at the lower edge of framework of a panel, the other edges being moulded, or part moulded and part of rectangular cut. Of STOP CHAMFER there is no better simple definition than Walter Rose’s in The Village Carpenter: where slope finishes and square begins’ [to arise].
Chest (see also Coffer) : one primitive form of CHEST is the DUG-OUT or TRUNK, its interior gouged in the solid. Some DUG-ouTs are of considerable antiquity; others may be of more recent date than their appearance suggests. In name and rounded lid the TRAVELLING TRUNK, as still known, recalls the ancient use of a tree-trunk. FRAMED CHESTS are also ancient, the earliest surviving medieval examples being formed of great planks so disposed as to present an almost or wholly flush surface at front and back. PANELLED CHESTS were being made in the 15th century, later becoming very popular. The earlier `flush’ construction was, however, to some extent perpetuated until a very late period in the BOARDED CHEST, made entirely of boards, including the ends which also form the uprights (cp. Wainscot). Unusually long examples are sometimes, but not necessarily correctly, called RAPIER CHESTS. The validity of the term is uncertain. Popularly called ‘NON(E)SUCH’ CHESTS, mainly of the latter part of the 16th century, are inlaid with formalized architectural designs, thought possibly to represent the Palace of Nonsuch, or Nonesuch, at Ewell, Surrey. Such architectural motifs are, however, exploitations of a Renaissance design favoured on the Continent, though a possible affinity exists between them and the crowded towns in GOTHIC art. MULE-CHEST (implying a hybrid) is collectors’ jargon of no validity
fora CHEST-with-DRAWERS.
Chest-of-drawers: this derives in name, and to a considerable extent in principle, from the CHEST, a link being the CHEST-WITH-DRAWERS, with a single range of drawers beneath the box. Such pieces were in being by the latter part of the 16th century, a gradual tendency to increase the drawer-space at the expense of the box resulting in the CHEST-OF-DRAWERS. At the same time various structures enclosing a quantity of drawers were also in being, on the Continent and in England, as with the ‘new cubborde of boxes’ made by Lawrence Abelle in 1595 for Stratford-upon-Avon or the `cubborde with drawing boxes’ of the Unton Inventory, 1596. ‘Nest of boxes’ is another old term (see also Barguefto, Writing-cabinet).
Child’s Furniture: mostly small-scale furniture for children’s usage, distinct from TOY FURNITURE. Some confusion exists between TABLES and the SQUARE JOINED STOOL (with unsplayed legs) which certainly existed as such. CHAIRS follow full-scale design, or are HIGH-CHAIR pattern, some of enclosed or WAINSCOT fashion, others elevated on tall legs. A framework on wheels to support a toddler has been given various names, e.g. BABY-CAGE or GO-CART.
Chip-carving: lightly cut (’chipped’) surface ornament, mostly of formal character and including WHORLS, ROUNDELS, etc. Such work, known medievally, persisted on items of much later date.
Close-chairs and Close- or Night-stools: were sometimes chair-shaped, sometimes rectangular or drum-shaped boxes (possibly covered and padded), and sometimes rectangular boxes on legs. A type Of JOINED STOOL with a box-top was so usable, though it does not follow that all sTooLs with this feature were for sanitary usage.
Cock’s Head: twin-plate hinge of curvilinear shape, the finials formed (more or less) as a cock’s head. Frequently found on woodwork of the late 16th and first half of the 17th century.
Coffer: term freely confused with CHEST. In strict definition a COFFER was a CHEST or BOX covered in leather or some other material and banded with metalwork, but it seems likely that the term was not always precisely used. It may not be wrong to class as COFFERS various stoutly built and/or heavily ironed STRONG-CHESTS and -BoxFs, even though they do not fulfil all the above requirements. TRUSSING COFFERS were furnished with lifting rings and shackles or other devices for transportation; but CHESTS and COFFERS not intended for transport might be chained to the wall for security.
Counter: HUTCH-like structure, sometimes approximating to a TABLE with an under-compartment. The name (surviving in SHOP-COUNTER, etc) derives from the top being employed for reckoning accounts with COUNTERS or JFTTONS disposed on a marked scale. When not so used the COUNTER was available for a variety of other purposes.
Cradle: child’s sleeping cot, most general form being a low-built, trough-like or box-like structure, with or without a hooded end, on rockers, but the CRADLE slung between uprights was also known in the Age of Oak (e.g. the so-called ‘Cradle of Henry V’, later than his time, in the London Museum).
Credence: side-table as used ecclesiastically for the Elements prior to Consecration, and for the Cruets, etc. therewith associated. Such tables were sometimes of Hutch-like formation, and the term CREDENCE has been loosely extended to cover other furniture of more or less similar construction.
Cresting: shaped and sometimes perforated ornament on the top of a structure, as in the CRESTING of a CHAIR.
Cromwellian: term of convenience applied to English furniture of austere character, actually or supposedly made about the time of the Commonwealth or Interregnum (1649-60), but also used loosely of related types.
Cupboard: originally CUP-BOARD, a species Of SIDEBOARD for the display and service of plate, etc, and having no essential connection with enclosed and doored structures. When equipped with such features, these might be noted (see Ambry). The modern sense of CUPBOARD, as an enclosed structure, is a long-standing usurpation, such items being mostly descended from the PRESS, PRESS-CUPBOARD, etc. LIVER-CUPBOARD (a much-abused term from Fr. Livrer, to deliver) was a doorless structure, as is clearly stated in the Hengrave Hall contracts, 1537-8• That it was distinguished from the COURT CUPBOARD is shown by such an entry as ‘ij court cubbordes, and one liver-ye cubborde’, in Unton Inventory, 1596 (’Liverie table’ is also listed). COURT cup-BOARD was likewise an open structure, or with a small enclosed compartment in the upper part. The tendency to compartment such furniture eventually resulted in enclosed pieces of similar outline being called COURT CUPBOARD, though PRESS CUPBOARD is preferable. Welsh varieties of the
PRESS CUPBOARD are the CWPWRDD DEUDDARN (two-tiered) and the CWPWRDD TRIDARN (three-tiered, the top stage often more or less open). DOLE-CUPBOARD strictly applies to hanging or other structures open-shelved, or doored and railed, used in the charitable dispensation of bread, etc, in churches and other institutions. The term is often wrongly applied to
FOOD-CUPBOARD, or, better, FOOD-HUTCH. SPICE-CUPBOARD is
a hanging ‘cupboard), usually ofsmall dimensions, internally fitted with shelves or compartments and drawers, and fronted with a door. Doubtless many were used to hold spices, herbs and medicaments, though they could have served various purposes. CORNER CUPBOARD is a triangular structure, doored or open, independent or fitted, and normally furnished with shelving.
Day-bed: known in England from the 16th century, though authentic examples are mostly of much later date. The original form approximated to a STUMP-BED with a sloped back at one end. In the period of Charles II, and later, DAY-BEDS were caned, their frames often being elaborately carved, quite likely en suite with CANE CHAIRS.
Desk: chiefly, a box with sloped top or lid, for reading or writing. Both standard and smaller DESKS were known medievally, but the average English domestic desk of the 16th and 17th centuries was standless. Such were sometimes
known by the useful term DESK-BOX. DESKS WITH STANDS were
being made, however, in the second half of the 17th century, if not earlier (see Writing-cabinet).
Deuddarn: see Cupboard.
Dowel: headless pin used in construction. Though, architecturally, DOWELS may be of other materials, wood is understood when speaking of furniture. TRENAIL (i.e. TREENAIL) is another term for a wooden DOWEL (see Nail).
Drawer: box in a framework from which it can be drawn. In some simple or traditional constructions DRAWERS merely rest on the framework, but a typical feature of the late 16th to 17th century was a groove on each side of a DRAWER, accommodating projecting RUNNERS on the framework. This gave way, in later furniture, to runner-strips at the base of the DRAWER itself, and the encasing of the interior framing with DUSTBOARDS.
Dresser: on which food was dressed; a species Of SIDEBOARD with or without a superimposed `back’; also for service of food, and/or storage of plates, dishes, etc. Some backless DRESSERS are closely allied to the SIDE-TABLE. DRESSERS are wontedly furnished with storage accommodation (such as AMBRIES, shelving, DRAWERS, etc, or combinations of such). WELSH DRESSER is used of local varieties of the tall-back DRESSER found virtually everywhere. NORTH WALES and SOUTH WALES types are differentiated.
Egg-and-Tongue (Egg-and-Dart): Repeat ornament of alternated ovolo and dart-like motifs; as much other ornament of classical origin, transmitted through RENAISSANCE channels.
Elizabethan: term of convenience, strictly applicable to furniture, etc, made in the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603), though loosely used of pieces of later date displaying Elizabethan characteristics. The reign was long; just as EARLY ELIZABETHAN furniture shows influences from previous reigns, SO LATE ELIZABETHAN merges easily into JACOBEAN.
Fake or Forgery: furniture (or other objects) made or assembled in simulation of authentic antiquities, with deceptive intent. Fakes are of several kinds, of which a few may be listed: (a) the wholly modern fake, though quite possibly made of old wood; (b) the fake incorporating old and in themselves authentic parts; (c) the `carved-up’ fake, as, for instance, a plain chest (itself antique) with modern carving added; (d) the ‘married’ piece, of which all, or considerable portions, may be authentic, but which has been `made-up’ from more than one source. Difficult of classification are certain items which have been liberally restored (see Restoration), each case demanding judgement on its own merits. Though over-restoration is reprehensible, cases occur of pieces reconditioned with innocent intent. An ordinary repair to a genuine antique need not disqualify it. At the same time, a watchful eye should be kept for an old faking trick of inserting an obvious ‘repair’ for the sole purpose of making the rest of a spurious piece look older by contrast.
Fluting: grooving with long hollows (see Scoop and Reeding).
Form: long, backless seat, with any number of supports from two upwards. Of ancient lineage, the FORM is simply a long STOOL. `Longe stoole’ occurs in old inventories.
Glastonbury Chair is collectors’ jargon for a type of chair with X-supports and elbowed arms linking seat and top of back. The name derives from an example at Wells, supposedly associated with the last Abbot of Glastonbury. Examples of like construction have been made or embellished at various, including modern, periods.
Gothic: term comprehensively applied to furniture and woodwork made between the 12th and 13th centuries and the early part of the 16th, when RENAISSANCE features began to intrude. This approximation is very rough, and the question of the SUrvivial of GOTHIC in later work, or its various revivals, is not a subject dealt with here.
Guilloche: band of curvilinear ornament suggesting
entwined ribbons.
Hutch: enclosed structure, often raised on uprights, or an enclosed structure of more than one tier. The name derives from Fr. Huche, a kneading-trough or meal-tub, but the significance Of HUTCH was much wider. FOOD-HUTCH, often confused with DOLE-CUPBOARD, is a name given to a HUTCH with perforated panels.
Inlay: surface ornament formed by insetting separate pieces of differently coloured woods, or bone, ivory, shell, etc, in a recessed ground.
Jacobean: term of convenience usually applicable to furniture made in the reign of James I (1603-25), and perhaps, though unusually, to that ofJames II (1685-8). In general, loosely applied to furniture styles in direct descent from the ELIZABETHAN tradition. It is thus employed of certain types of furniture covering virtually the whole of the 17th century and even later, though from the time of Charles II it is generally restricted to pieces of unmodish or traditional character. JACOBEAN is not now favoured as a descriptive label by scholarly writers, except in cases of uncertain dating, preference being given to a more precise system involving such approximations as ‘circa 162o’ or ‘first quarter of the 17th century’, etc.
Jewel: ornament with raised devices distantly suggestive of gem-stones, often combined with systems of REEDING
(q.v.).
Joined: term used in describing furniture made by a joiner.
KnOP: swelling member on an upright, etc; a KNOB. Thus a KNOPPED post.
Linenfold: carved ornament suggested by folded linen, first found late in the 15th century, very popular in the first half of the 16th, and continuing in diminishing quantity for many years.
Attempts to distinguish ‘true’ (realistic) from ‘mock’ (formalized) LINENFOLD need not be taken too seriously. Some of the single-fold types (often cusped and foliated) have been differentiated as PARCHEMIN (Fr.), from a supposed resemblance to cut parchment. Apart from its obvious decorativeness, no satisfactory explanation of the origin of LINENFOLD has been adduced. An attractive suggestion is that it was inspired by the Veil of the Chalice, though it could have arisen in other ways.
Lock-plate (or Scutcheon): front-plate of a lock, or the plate protecting a key-hole.
Lunette Ornament: formal carving composed of a horizontal system of semicircles, variously filled and embellished, frequently disposed in a repeat-band.
Marquetry: Fr. Marqueterie from Marqueler, to spot, speckle, variegate. Ornamental VENEER of wood or other materials, the ornament cut in whole or repeat patterns instead (as with INLAY as such) of being built up with independent solid shapes in separately hollowed recesses.
Melon-Bulb: jargon and comparatively modern term for the swollen member on legs or posts of furniture. An exaggeration of the KNOP, it attained full development in the ELIZABETHAN period, thereafter dwindling away.
Nfisericord: in ecclesiastical woodwork, bracket on underside of hinged seat of a stall, to support an occupant when nominally standing during certain offices. From a `monastic’ usage of L. Misericordia (pity, compassion), in sense of ‘an indulgence or relaxation of the rule’ (O.E.D.). MISERERE is an incorrect alternative.
Moulding: shaped member, such as used to enclose panels; or the shaped edge of a lid, cornice, etc.
Muntin: upright (other than an outer-most upright) connecting the upper and lower stretchers of a framework.
An instance is the BEARER between the doors of the lower stage of a PRESS-CUPBOARD; but the number Of MUNTINS 0- Stile). on the nature of the structure. (See also )
Nail: a popular notion that iron NAILS are never found in antique furniture construction is fallacious. In fact, metal NAILS have been known for centuries, though the use of the wooden DOWEL (q.v.) must not be minimized by implication. Old hand-made NAILS are very different from the modern, mass-produced variety; but the manufacture of hand-made NAILS (and SCREWS) has been revived.
Panel: compartment usually rectangular, and sunk or raised from the surface of its framework. PANEL is the filling of such framework, whereas PANELLING refers to the framework and its filling (see Wainscot).
Parquetry (Fr. Parquetene, from Parqueter to inlay) : a form of decorative VENEER - e.g. ‘OYSTER-SHELL’ - or INLAY.
Patina (and Colour): of furniture and woodwork, PATINA is the undisturbed surface, heightened by centuries of polishing and usage. Contrary to popular belief, some old oak furniture shows clear signs of having been originally varnished; some was also polychromed. PATINATION and COLOUR pose problems to a faker. To some extent they can be simulated, but, when artificially produced, deteriorate (see Fake and Stripping).
Pin-hinge: method of hinging, as found on i3th-century CHESTS, the lid being pinned through the rear STILES and pendent side-rails of the lid.
Poppy- (Popey-) head: decorative finial of a bench- or desk-end, as in ecclesiastical woodwork. Plant and floral forms are numerous; human heads, figures, birds, beasts and other devices are found. Derivation of term is uncertain, one suggestion (rejected by some writers) being from Fr. Poup9e (baby doll), or from Poppet, Puppet.
Press: broadly, a tall, enclosed and doored structure comparable to the modern WARDROBE or HANGING CUP-BOARD. Not to be confused with LINEN-PRESS, in the sense of a framework with a screw-down smoother. (For PRESS-
CUPBOARD see under Cupboard.)
Reeding: similar to FLUTING but with the ornament in
relief.
Renaissance (Fr. for rebirth) - applied to the effects of the revival of learning and embracing the use (often very freely interpreted) of cLAssicAL as opposed to GOTHIC motifs. Originating in Italy in the 15th century, RENAISSANCE design spread throughout Europe, beginning to make itself felt in England in the early 16th century.
Restoration: (I) a proper renewal of a piece by a candid replacement of hopelessly damaged or missing parts; (2) RESTORED is sometimes used to indicate either that a piece has been OVER-RESTORED, or that the extent of its RESTORATION is dubious.
Restoration Furniture: term applied to certain elaborately carved and scrolled CHAIRS, etc, their backs surmounted by crowns or BOYS AND CROWNS. It was said that such pieces recorded the restoration of King Charles II (166o), but many so-called Restoration chairs are now known to date from late in his reign when not from a subsequent period. Such chairs may be of mixed woods, and other than oak.
Romayne Work: old term for Renaissance carving with heads in roundels, scrollwork, vases, etc, some few heads being portraits, but most purely formal. The taste was widespread in Europe, and traditional traces survived in Brittany until quite a late period. The vogue for ROMAYNE WORK in England was under Henry VIII (1509-47), thereafter dwindling.
Roundel: circular ornament enclosing sundry formal devices on medieval and later woodwork; also human heads as in ROMAYNE WORK (see also Whorl).
Scoop Pattern: popular term fora band or other dis-position of FLUTED ornament, gouged in the wood, the flute having a rounded top and, sometimes, base. A motif of RENAISSANCE origin, its use was widespread (see Fluting).
Scutcheon: shield on which are armorial bearings or other devices, and, by extension, sundry, shield-shaped ornaments and fitments (see Lock-plate).
Settle: long, backed seat with boxed base, or on legs, and at each end side-pieces or arms. Fixed or movable, the SETTLE represents a stage preceding the SErrEE, a derivative of the CHAIR. Some quite late SETTLES have one end scrolled like a sofa-head. Some, mostly country-made, SETTLES have a storage PRESS in the back, such being loosely known as
BACON-CUPBOARD.
Sideboard: literally a SIDE-BOARD (as a CUPBOARD was a CUP-BOARD) ; a SIDE-TABLE or other structure convenient for the display and service of plate, foodstuffs, etc, and possibly including storage facilities such as AMBRIES, DRAWERS, etc. A near relative of the DRESSER, and in some cases indistinguishable from such.
Stile: in construction an outermost upright, as a MUNTIN is an inner one.
Stool: small, backless seat. Apart from RACK- or FOLDING STOOLS, the main basic types are TRESTLE and LEGGED. TRESTLE, with two uprights out from the solid, on the same principle as the ends of a BOARDED CHEST, may be included among STOOLS OF WAINSCOT. STOOLS with legs may have three or four supports, and some quite common, and indeed modern, STOOLS of traditional form are of very ancient lineage.
JOINED STOOL (JOINT is a corruption) : is proper to STOOLS made by joinery. The term COFFIN STOOL invariably used by beginners is only correct when the use of JOINED STOOLS as a coffin-bier (as in some old churches) is known. It is incorrect for the domestic article. For CLOSE-STOOL see that section. An old term for a BOX-TOP STOOL was ‘STOOL WITH A LOCK’.
Strapwork: of carving, band of ornament more or less suggestive of plaited straps, often highly formalized; distinct
from GUILLOCRE.
Stretcher: a horizontal member connecting uprights.
Stripping: furniture the old surface of which has been removed and reduced to the wood is said to have been STRIPPED. Though STRIPPING can be properly used, it should never be lightly indulged, as for a supposedly aesthetic advantage (see Patina).
Table: primarily, board forming the top only of such furniture, and by later extension the whole structure. ‘TABLE TRETTEAU’ (table, trestles) in the famous Epitaphe of FrancoisVillon is thus a precise, as well as a poetic, statement. The TRESTLE TABLE is a very old form, an advantage being in its ease of clearance and storage, but TRESTLE-supports are often ponderous. The other main basic type Of TABLE is that supported by a developed framework with a leg at each corner and possibly others along the sides. Of about the early 16th century frame-TABLES constructionally ancestral to later types are in evidence, though authentic examples are all but unprocurable in the market. By the end of the same century TABLES with a developed underframing and fixed legs were usual. The term REFECTORY TABLE is popular jargon, better replaced by LONG TABLE or other suitable description. DINING- or PARLOUR-TABLE is used of less extensive items. DRAWING- or DRAW-TABLE had movable extensions of the top, pushed in below it and drawn when needed. Various kinds Of SIDE-TABLE include what is now called OCCASIONAL TABLE. Some small examples are known, correctly or otherwise, as GAMES- or GAMING TABLES. Certain table-constructions are now reclassified as COUNTER. BILLIARDS TABLES were known in the 16th and 17th century. As apart from the
DRAW-TABLE, the FOLDING, FALLING (or FLAP-) TABLE, its
top with one or more hinged sections, was in more or less general usage by the early 17th century. Various forms include Bow- and BAY-FRONT (also found minus flaps). Flaps were supported by a movable bracket or leg. A development of the principle resulted in the GATE- or GATE-LEG TABLE, with oval or circular top, the developed underframing of legs and stretchers including movable sections or GATES. GATE-TABLES made to fold completely flat are known, but the more usual construction involved a rigid centre-section.
In churches the post-Reformation COMMUNION TABLE, replacing the medieval altar, is essentially similar to the domestic LONG, PARLOUR or SIDE-TABLE previously mentioned, though some examples have special features.
Table-chair, -bench: correct term for the absurdly misnamed MONK’S CHAIR, or -BENCH. CHAIR-TABLE is also used. Convertible CHAIR, the back pivoted to form a table-top when dropped across the uprights. Though the type existed in pre-Reformation times, most surviving examples are so much later in date (say 17th century) as to obviate any monastic association in England.
Trail: undulating band of formalized leaf, berry or floral pattern. Thus VINE-TRAIL.
Trees: old adjectival form of TREE; wooden. Now used of an extensive array of articles, mainly small and of almost any period, such as bowls, Welsh love-spoons, stay-busks, etc, and not excluding furniture.
Tridarn: see Cupboard.
Tudor: the Tudor dynasty reigned from 1485-1603; TUDOR is loosely used of furniture emerging from the GOTHIC or not fully developed as characteristic ELIZABETHAN. The periods of Henry VIII (1509-47) and Elizabeth 05581603) are usually given their own names.
Tulip-ornament: formalized ornament of TULIP-like form, influenced by the TULIP-MANIA in Holland, when huge sums were paid for rare bulbs. On English furniture the vogue for TULIP-ORNAMENT was from about the middle and in the second half of the 17th century.
Twist-turning: form of turning derived from the twisted columns of Romanesque via RENAISSANCE architecture. In England its main vogue on furniture was in the mid[latter half of the 17th century. R. W. Symonds has differentiated the single-roped twist (Dutch-Flemish type) from the English double-roped or BARLEY-SUGAR TWIST.
Veneer: thin sheets of wood applied to surface for decorative effect or to improve appearance of furniture. Though VENEERING arrives in the second half of the 17th century, at the end of the oak period, it is sometimes found as a limited enhancement of pieces which would be classed as oak by collectors.
Wainscot: now mainly used Of WALL-PANELLING, but anciently of wider significance, its derivation from MLG. Wagenschot, perhaps meaning wagon-boarding, referring rather to the planking itself, and thence to a wall-lining as well as to other forms of woodwork. BEDSTEAD, CHAIR, STOOL, etc, are frequently listed as being ‘OF WAINSCOT’. Though this term in some cases implied that their construction involved a noticeable amount of panelled work, furniture stoutly built of slabs or planks of wood, was perhaps ‘OF WAINSCOT’, involving various forms of boarded furniture with ’slab-ends’. As a term, WAINSCOT may have been loosely as well as precisely used (cp. definition of COFFER).
Whorl: circular ornament on medieval (and later) furniture, the enclosed carving raying from the centre of the circle, or in certain other, including geometrical, dispositions. The general sense of the term seems to approximate WHIRL. WHORL is freely used, though in doubtful or obviously inapplicable cases ROUNDEL is employable.
Worm-hole: tunnel bored in woodwork by various types of beetle, collectively and popularly called ‘the WORM’. WORM-HOLES are not per se evidence of antiquity, though they have been artificially simulated. `WORM’ is, however, a condition demanding attention to destroy infection. New WORM-HOLES usually show a light-coloured interior, whereas old ones may be discoloured. A simple, though not final, test for possible activity is to tap the suspected piece and watch fora fall of wood-dust. If the mischief is superficial, furniture may be cured by repeated applications of one of the proprietary fluids sold for this purpose; but more heavily infested articles may need expert attention. In some furniture WORM may have been extinct for centuries. When WORM-HOLES are laterally exposed to any noticeable extent, it may be inferred (a) that the wood has been recut after infestation; or (b) that the surface was formerly painted or otherwise covered with some since-vanished substance which formed a side-wall to the channel. Exposed channels occur on some FAKES, but are not per se condemnatory, though, in many cases, suspicious.
Writing-cabinet: fall-front cabinets, enclosing a system of small drawers, became prominent in the latter part of the 16th century, especially in Italy and Spain (see Bargueho), some of them serving as WRITING-CABINETS. Such cabinets were sometimes furnished with stands, though others were standless, placed on top of a table or chest as needed. Certain of the latter were supplied with stands at a later period.
Such pieces are ancestral to the fall-front SCRLTToIRE, SECRETARY, ESCRITOIRE (from Fr. Secritaire) of later times, the slope-front variety being at least in part a development
of the WRITING-DESK.
Jul
26
Mahogany Chests of Drawers, Commodes and Tallboys.
July 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Chests of Drawers, Commodes and Tallboys
Until about 1750 chests of drawers were still straight. fronted, with, normally, four or five drawers, bracket or cabriole-shape feet, and ovolo or cock-bead moulding on the drawer edges. Not much change had been made in the Queen Anne design except that the front corners were usually canted and carved, as were the top edges. Classical pilaster designs were popular on the corners. From 1740 chests of drawers began to be designed with their shape serpentine after the French style. Such chests of drawers were called commodes (though these in France had perhaps special reference to drawing-room pieces). A commode made completely in the French taste had pronounced outward-curving front corners, short legs, curved bottom framing, rococo carving or fine gilt mounts on the sides and legs, and often doors on the front to enclose the drawers.
Adam’s work expressed itself principally in two ways. Where solid work persisted, the carving naturally became classical in treatment, emphasizing the corner pilasters, and making use of dentil and key patterns on the cornice moulding. On the other hand, fine inlay, in all the fashionable woods, was used eagerly by designers when drawing-room commodes were in great demand and their doors were ideal for showing first-rate work. Great patience was expended in devising ovals and circles to show figures or scenes from classical mythology, surrounded by inlaid designs. This set the taste for a lighter appearance in chests of drawers, in satinwood especially, or for painted decoration. Sheraton is connected with the bow-fronted chest of drawers, which was now used with the serpentine and straight-fronted types. He by no means emphasized the new style, however. He designed in all shapes, including a return to the simpler straight lines of early pieces. Two other innovations were the stringing (in wood) or brass on the drawer fronts and the use of an exceptionally deep frieze above the top drawer, which gave the chest of drawers a characteristic tallness. In the Regency period the decline of marquetry decoration gradually led to the replacement of the drawing-room commode by the chiffonier, a low cupboard with shelves. Bedroom chests of drawers, tall, and either bow- or straight-fronted, had turned feet, and a distinctive feature on many were the quarter columns, spiral-shaped or Needed, on the front corners. By this time tallboys were going out of fashion, after a long vogue; they followed closely the designs for chests of drawers, and in their final period a few bow-fronted ones were made. These pieces do not require any separate description, therefore, except to stress that their great size led to special care being taken over their proportions and decoration.
Clock Cases
Mahogany affected clock-case design somewhat later than other pieces of furniture, for japanning and walnut ver. e,-rs enjoyed a long vogue; indeed, figured walnut cases continued to be made until late in the 18th century. But by about 1760 mahogany was sufficiently in use to begin to give cases a heavier and broader appearance. At first veneering on an oak carcase was normal, followed by solid mahogany carcases for the best work, and carving. Hoods came in for elaborate treatment. As the arched dial was usual, the cornice was also strongly arched and moulded above it, and surmounted by a broken pediment, usually swan-neck, with finials as in the earlier fashion, or a simple plain pedestal in the centre. Naturally, full advantage was taken of the high case front to show the fine figure of the wood, and some very beautiful Cuban curls are found on outstandingly good work. In the mixture of styles of the Chippendale period detailed decoration was carried out in various ways; Chinese pagoda hoods and japanned cases, Gothic arches in the mouldings above the door, ornate rococo motifs; or fretwork in the frieze, across the top of the body below the hood, and around the bottom edge and sides of the base. The classicism of the latter part of the century emphasized the proportions of the case, used capitals at the sides of the hood (sometimes two at each side) and showed fluted pilasters worked in the canted front corners of the body, as on chests of drawers. The base was mounted on a solid plinth at first, but later acquired small bracket or cabriole-shape feet. Later work also included fine inlay such as satinwood inlays in classical designs on a background of mahogany. By Sheraton’s time the tall clock case was going out of fashion. His period produced some fine inlaid and veneered work in many woods, but such pieces were now comparatively rare.
Mirrors
Mirrors were no longer a novelty in the 18th century. Improved methods of production led to a greater output of glass and to larger plates. Very large mirrors were still expensive, but small wall and toilet mirrors in simple styles were cheap enough for tradesmen’s houses. In larger houses mirrors of all kinds adorned the best rooms, from smaller wall mirrors to pier and chimney glasses, often combined with wall-lights (sconces and girandoles), and their conspicuous position singled them out for highly decorative treatment, especially gilding. For this reason it cannot be said that mahogany played any decisive part in their development. In the Kent period pier glasses, already reaching a height of six or seven feet by the 1730s, were given brightly gilded frames and broken pediment tops, and this design affected wall mirrors in general. The pediments sometimes ended in a graceful acanthus leaf, and there was a prominent central motif in the form of a spread eagle, cartouche or shell. The gilding was carried out on softwoods. On the other hand, the simpler kind of Queen Anne mirror with carved flowing curves on crest and apron piece continued to be made. These had mahogany frames, sometimes partly gilt, and incorporated a dominating centrepiece in the prevailing fashion.
There was a distinct change after the mid-century, when mirrors provided perhaps the best examples of the almost fantastic limits to which the new styles could go. Several designers, including Lock, Copland and Johnson, paid particular attention to applying rococo and Chinese ornament to mirrors, and these trends were made fashionable by Chippendale, who employed the first two to produce designs for the `Director’. Mirror frames now avoided a symmetrical appearance and were carved and gilded in an intricate pattern of scrolls and foliage in the rococo mode, and to these were added numerous Chinese designs like exotic birds, pagodas, mandarins and bells, or even Gothic elements. Nowhere else were these styles so intimately united. This vogue did not last long, for Adam, and after him Hepplewhite, designed beautiful and delicately proportioned mirrors, oval or rectangular in shape, surrounded by much simpler scrollwork picked out with paterae, husks and honeysuckle and leading up to a vase or similar classical motif. Adam favoured gilt work, usually on carved pine, and he used the mirror frames to show fluting, the key pattern and Vitruvian scrolls.
Typical of the Sheraton and Regency periods was the circular gilt mirror, one to three feet in diameter. The gilt frame usually had a fillet on the inside edge and a reeded band on the outside; between the two was a pronounced hollow filled with small circular patterns of flowers or plain spheres. Above the frame was foliage, usually the acanthus leaf, supporting an eagle, one of the most popular designs for mirror crests during the, whole of this period, or a
winged creature.
Mahogany played a much more important part in the evolution of the toilet mirror. From early in the 18th century many dressing-tables were designed with collapsible mirrors which fitted into the tops of the tables, and the latter usually followed the design of chests of drawers, with a knee recess. But there was a great demand for the separate toilet glasses, the rectangular swing mirrors above minute drawers, made in mahogany. They preserved their simple, attractive shapes and avoided excessive decoration. In the Hepplewhite period the mahogany frames followed the design of the shield-back chair; later still, about 1800, they became flat rectangles. The tiny chests of drawers were often veneered and had serpentine or bow fronts. Sheraton devoted much skill to incorporating mirrors in dressing-tables. He also popularized cheval glasses, known for some time before. These tall glasses stood between two uprights ending in outward curving feet connected by a stretcher, and had decorative headpieces often painted, inlaid or fretted.
Tables and Sideboards
Small Tables: as mahogany came into general use and the heavy side-table of the Kent period went out of fashion, there was a return to the simpler style of small and occasional table which had been produced in Anne’s reign. By the time of Chippendale’s ‘Director’ the constantly changing needs of the upper classes were reflected in endless varieties of tea-, breakfast-, card-, writing-, and dressing-tables, as well as the more formal side- and pier-tables. One very characteristic piece of the mid-century was the Chinese tea-table. This had Chinese patterns on the frieze (usually in applied work), on tiny fretted galleries which ran round the edge of the top, and on the straight legs which were fretted or perhaps carved in the solid. Some of these tables had fretted stretchers which crossed diagonally between the legs.
Breakfast-tables, made for the convenience of fashionable people who rose late and had their first meal in their bedrooms, had the same kind of decoration but a different form; they usually included flaps and drawers and a shelf, which was enclosed on three sides by trellis-work in mahogany or brass wire. A restrained French taste showed itself in slender curved legs, sometimes with metal mounts, and curved friezes edged with gadrooning. The Adam period introduced two distinctly new trends. Besides rectangular shapes, others were appearing – oval, semicircular, kidney-shaped and serpentine – with tapering and fluted legs or, as on some contemporary chairs, slender cabriole legs ending on knurl or scroll toes. For the daintier kinds of tables,
satinwood and other exotic woods, inlays and gilding, and ll
the choicest figured mahogany were aused, and in some
of the best examples the tops were painted by Angelica Kauffman, Pergolesi and others. On the other hand, for the large rooms of the new town and country houses were produced many long side-tables in mahogany. In this table straight lines were emphasized. The legs are fluted, and taper to plinth feet. Carved decoration appears on the frieze in the classical moulding and the typical paterae over the legs and on the small central panel, where they are linked by husks. This kind of table represented the midway design between the dining- and side-table, and from it developed the sideboard, as is indicated below, as a separate piece of furniture.
This development of the sideboard seemed to re-direct the designers’ attention to small tables. Hepplewhite continued on Adam lines, but Sheraton designed a number of extraordinarily delicate tables, some, like his ladies’ worktables, with an ingenious arrangement of drawers and sliding tops, being specially made for carrying from room to room. Neatness was indeed Sheraton’s own word for this kind of work: ‘These tables should be finished neat, either in satinwood or mahogany’. He also popularized the Pembroke table (though it had been known for some time before), with two semi-circular flaps hinging on a rectangular centre. Usually the legs on his tables were unmistakable for their long, fragile-looking, tapering forms, but on some he showed a radical change in treatment which was to last through the Regency period. He used two solid end uprights, in the old trestle style, resting on short outward-curving legs; or else a lighter version, with a central stretcher joining the ends.
Another kind of table which was common in the early 19th century is the drum or capstan kind, with a deep frieze, for drawers (or sometimes this was left open for books) and a central support in tripod style, the legs having the pronounced curve typical of the period. Some of these tables had a solid three-sided pedestal base or monopodium mounted on claw feet. Rosewood or mahogany was usually the wood; some had light-coloured mahogany veneers and classical designs inlaid on the top and pedestal sides, in a contrasting colour.
Tripod Tables: the application of the tripod construction to tables in general, from about i800, indicates how popular this feature had become during the previous century. The small tripod tables developed from the candle-stands of the walnut period, but by Chippendale’s time they were being used for other purposes, as occasional and tea-tables. Mahogany led to a considerable increase in them as the tops could be made from one piece of wood, and, naturally, they became show-pieces for the various fashionable enrichments. The celebrated ‘pie-crust’ tables are named after the scalloped and slightly raised edge of the top, which is hinged so that it can stand against the wall when not in use. Other tripod tables had elaborate carving on the top as a border to the edges. On others, again, a small fretted gallery appeared, like those on contemporary Chinese tables. Feet might be hoofs, paws or dolphins (the latter copied from French tables). Later in the century the tops had often fine inlaid work when this fashion revived under Adam. About 18o0 the legs had tended to become very delicate in appearance, with definite concave or convex curves finishing on thin, pointed feet. Sheraton used these on screens as well as tables. But even in Hepplewhite’s work the three legs had sometimes been replaced by a solid base, and the extension of this practice, and the many varied leg forms, meant the loss of the original ‘pillar and claw’ principle.
Dining Tables: for the better part of two centuries it has been almost a convention to associate mahogany with good dining-room tables. One of the chief uses to which the early imports of San Domingo mahogany were put was to make the spacious tops of these tables. They had remarkable weight and strength and yet the mahogany legs were able to support them without stretchers. This gave clean lines to even the biggest tables and led to many developments in flaps and pivoted legs. In the second half of the 18th century large dining tables were made up of two smaller ones which were joined, when necessary, by flaps supported on gate legs. These legs at first either had cabriole form or were turned. The same construction continued in the Adam period, but very effective use was made of the size of the tables to give them figured veneers instead of solid mahogany, straight, tapering legs and a classical ornament. The side-table of this period in every way resembled the contemporary dining table, except that the latter had ten legs, four each for the two end-tables and an extra two for the flaps. The tops were of varied shapes – rectangular, semicircular, or D-shaped – but, naturally, the central flaps were rectangular. Cabinet-makers produced, and in some cases patented, many ingenious devices for extending tops. From about 1800 changes in design became marked. The circular table for dining – an enlarged version of the drum table referred to above – and long tables supported on two or three tripods or similar stands were Regency features. Sheraton also designed a `universal table’ with the old-fashioned draw-leaf top on four tapering legs. ‘This’, he wrote, should be made of particularly good and well-seasoned mahogany, as a great deal depends on its not being liable to cast’ – a reminder that dining tables had missed much of the changing fashions in new woods and applied
decoration.
Sideboards: the sideboard was a late 18th-century development and sprang from the table. It is said to have been originated by Adam, who introduced the custom of standing a classical pedestal mounting an urn at each end of a side-table. The obvious advantage of having this storage space so close to the table led to pedestals and tables becoming one unit, and later to the replacement of the pedestals by either smaller cupboards or drawers. The cupboards were used for many purposes; some were lined with metal to keep plates warm, or to hold water or wine-bottles. At first the urns which stood on the pedestals contained the cutlery, but this was transferred to a drawer when urns went out of use. Both Hepplewhite and Sheraton designed light and elegant sideboards. The former is credited with serpentine- and bow-fronted shapes and the latter paid special attention to the brass rail which often stood at the back of the table to hold plates. In the Regency period there was a return to the pedestal type of the early sideboards. Other versions discarded the side drawers or cupboards altogether and replaced them with two or four legs, often carved in animal forms. The deepening of the table frieze, and the elaboration of the brass gallery in classical designs on these pieces deprived them of the graceful symmetry of previous examples.
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ANTIQUE GLASS PAPERWEIGHTS
July 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment
GLASS PAPERWEIGHTS
THE glass paperweight is a 19th-century production, a masterpiece of technical skill that achieved its greatest triumph just over one hundred years ago. In the very teeth of the Industrial Revolution, this individual expression of an anonymous inventor reminds us that, in spite of the ever-conquering machine, there will be found always some medium in which an artist and craftsman can differentiate himself from those around him, and thereby produce some new challenge to the advancing army of robots.
Originating in Venice, but perfected at the St Louis glassworks in France, the glass paperweight very soon found many imitators, both in that country and elsewhere. But it is conceded generally that few can vie with the French productions, whether from St Louis or from its contemporaries at Baccarat and Clichy. Not only in the past have these attractive objects suffered the close attention of copyists, but today they are equally carefully imitated. It is a part of the game of collecting that the enthusiast should learn to distinguish between genuine and spurious until he, or she, is able to tell one from the other without doubt or hesitation.
It is true to say that owing to the complexity involved in their manufacture each paperweight is slightly different from any other of the same type; and although we do not know the names of the men who made them, each weight bears some personal touch that distinguishes it from the next.
GLOSSARY
America: the successful sale of French paperweights imported into the United States induced manufacturers there to imitate them with some success. Notably the factories of Deeming Jarves at Sandwich, Cape Cod, opened in 1825, and at East Cambridge and South Boston, in Massachusetts, opened in 1818 and in 1837. Not only were the French designs copied but original models were evolved.
Baccarat: this glassworks was one of the most eminent in France during the 19th century. All types of paperweights were made there, including encrusted (sulphide), millefiori, mushroom, flowers, fruit and butterfly. No dated weight from the Baccarat factory is known marked earlier than 1846, and as elsewhere, none later than 1849. The numerals are in red, blue or green in white canes set in a line, and there is often a letter ‘B’, similarly coloured, above and between the figures ‘8′ and ‘4′. The glassworks, which takes its name from the town in which it is situated, is still working.
Butterfly: a coloured butterfly occupies the centre of the paperweight. Sometimes the insect is poised over a flower, sometimes above a latticinio, or other filigree, ground.
Cameos: see Sulphides.
Cane: familiar name for the rods of coloured glass from which the patterns were formed in many types of paperweights (see Manufacture).
Clichy: Clichy, a suburb of Paris, was the home of a factory that made glass paperweights of most types. They were not dated but are found signed with an initial ‘C’. The presence of a rose in the pattern is an indication that a paperweight was made there, and the colours are often noticeably vivid.
Crown: familiar name for a paperweight composed of Coloured canes radiating in straight lines from the top.
Dates: dated paperweights from the Baccarat factory are known for the years 1846 to 1849. The St Louis weights start a year earlier, and also continue until 1849. The dates are often on millefiori weights, are not usually noticeable, and are never set centrally. Any paperweight in which the date is in the dead centre should be regarded with great suspicion.
England: French paperweights were copied widely in England, but it is doubtful whether any were made until quite a few years after the first appearance of the French ones. The glass-making centres of Stourbridge in Worcester and Bristol in Somerset both attempted to produce imitations of the imported article. The Whitefriars Glassworks in London and George Bacchus and Sons in Birmingham also made paperweights in the style of those from Baccarat and elsewhere.
The shapes of the English glass paperweights are usually different from the French ones, and the colour of the glass and of the canes embedded in it is seldom comparable.
The encrusted cameos (sulphides) made by Apsley Pellatt (1791-1863) are, however, a notable exception, and are difficult to distinguish in many cases from the French.
France: three glassworks in France were concerned in the production of glass paperweights. They were the Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat and the Compagnie des Verreries el Cristalleries de St Louis, both situated in the Vosges to the south-east of Paris; and the Clichy glassworks, which stood in the suburb of Clichy in Paris itself.
All three manufactories produced similar work. But there is enough evidence from specimens presented by the manufacturers to the French museums on which to base identifications, in most cases, as to exactly which factory was responsible for certain noticeable differences.
Latticinio: familiar name for the filigree glass of Venetian origin, composed of crossing and interlacing strips of opaque and clear glass.
Manufacture: the processes involved in making glass paperweights call for great skill. The final correct placing of the pattern within the clear glass calls fora high degree of craftsmanship. This is even more apparent when it is realized that the operations are performed with the glass in a molten, or near molten, state. Only a general description of the complicated manufacturing processes is given here; details vary with the different types of paperweights, and no doubt each factory had its secrets.
The canes to make the pattern are formed by several methods. In one, lengths of coloured glass are heated until they adhere together and form a solid mass. Alternatively, a rod of a chosen colour is dipped repeatedly in molten glass of other colours until a pattern is completed. In both cases, while still hot, the newly-made vari-coloured rod is drawn out until the section of it is of the required diameter.
The necessary canes are selected and sufficient thin slices cut from them and polished. The pattern is arranged on a piece of thin glass, a mould is placed over this, and molten glass is poured in. The half-formed paperweight is picked up on a pontil, dipped into molten glass, and shaped to the form of the finished article. Fruit and other subjects are made of coloured glass, but the process followed for making the paperweight is similar.
Great care is needed to maintain the temperature of the components throughout the manufacture, or cracking will result. The final operation is annealing: a slow cooling. When it is cold the mark of the pontil is removed by grinding.
Millefiori: the first millefiori (Italian: thousand flowers) paperweights were made in Venice. St Louis made them in 1845. In the next year they were made at Baccarat, and before long they were produced at Clichy.
Mushroom: a paperweight in which the canes are bunched together and raised in a sheaf from the bottom. Usually surrounded by a ring of lacework at the foot.
Overlay: the coating of the exposed surfaces of a paperweight with one or more layers of white or coloured glass. This finish is then cut to leave windows (see Purities), through which the interior of the paperweight is visible. Very rarely, after the above process, the weight is further encased in clear glass. Such a paperweight is known as an enclosed
overlay.
pontil: an iron rod held by the workman, and to which the glass adheres in the making of an article. When the finished work is removed it leaves a scar where it was broken off the rod – the pontil mark.
Punties: concave shaping cut on the surfaces of a paperweight. Overlay paperweights are often cut with punties.
St Louis: the St Louis glass works was founded in the second half of the 18th century and became a close competitor of the Baccarat factory. The first dated paperweights were made at the St Louis works in 1845. They were of millefiori pattern. Paperweights are known with the letters `SL’; sometimes with the `S’ reversed.
Sulphides: the earliest glass paperweights to achieve notice were the type known as sulphides, or encrusted cameos. In a few words, they comprise a plaque, made of unglazed white china with modelling in relief, embedded in glass. The process resulted in the china plaque appearing a bright silver colour. They were made at all three of the French paperweight factories and in England, with success, by Apsley Pellatt.
Swirl: familiar name for a paperweight composed of coloured canes radiating spirally from the top.