Antique Furniture Styles, Types and Materials
Armoire.—A large cupboard of French design of the german break front chest dimensions of the antique oyster plates under $100 modern wardrobe. In the. days of Louis XIV. these pieces were made in magnificent style. The Jones Collection at the antique marquetry mirrors Victoria and Albert Museum has several fine examples.
Baroque.—Used in connection with over ornate and incongruous decoration as in rococo style.
Bombe,—A term applied to pieces of furniture which swell out at the antique kidney shaped table sides.
Boule.—A special form of marquetry of brass and tortoiseshell perfected by Andre Charles Boule in the imported plywood bed slats reign of Louis XIV. (See Chapter VI., where specimens of this kind of work are illustrated.) The name has been corrupted into a trade term Buhl, to denote this style of marquetry. Boule or Premiere party is a metal inlay, usually brass, applied to a tortoiseshell background. See also Counter-boule.
Bureau.—A cabinet with drawers, and. having a drop down front for use as a writing-table. Bureaux are of many forms.
Cabriole.—Used in connection with the antique stoneware earthenware georgia legs of tables and chairs which are curved in form, having a sudden arch outwards from the antique scrolled legs wooden towel stand seat.
Caryatides.—Carved female figures applied to columns in Greek architecture, as at the very old card table with square tray underneath Erectheum at Athens. They were employed by woodcarvers, and largely introduced into Renaissance furniture of an architectural character. Elizabethan craftsmen were especially fond of their use as terminals, and in the chinese glazed vase canton florid decoration of elaborate furniture.
Cassone.—An Italian marriage coffer. In Chapter I. will be found a full description of these cassoni.
Commode.—A chest of drawers of French style. In the silver teapot coronet shield knife chapters dealing with the drop leaf tables dated 1957 is this an antique styles of Louis XIV., Louis XV., and Louis XVI., these are fully described and illustrations are given.
Counter-Boule. Contre partie. — See Chapter VI., where specimens of this work are illustrated. It consists of brass groundwork with tortoise-shell inlay.
French Polish.—A cheap and nasty method used since 1851 to varnish poor-looking wood to disguise its inferiority. It is quicker than the baize top folding card table old method of rubbing in oil and turpentine and beeswax. It is composed of shellac dissolved in mentholated spirits with coloring matter added.
Gate-leg table.—This term is self-explanatory. The legs of this class of table open like a gate. They belong to Jacobean days, and are sometimes spoken of as Cromwell Ian tables.
Gothic. — This term was originally applied to the antique writing deskswith peg knobs mediaeval styles of architecture. It was used as a term of reproach and contempt at a time when it was the how to upholstery antique style chairs fashion to write Latin and to expect it to become the porter antique french provincial desk universal language. In wood-carving the x base pembroke table Gothic style followed the pie crust gate leg dining table architecture. A fine example of the antique walnut dining room tables 1920’s transition between Gothic and the antiquesdutch paintings landscapes oncoming Renaissance is given.
Inlay.—A term used for the 19th century norwegian furniture practice of decorating surfaces and panels of furniture with wood of various colors, mother-of-pearl, or ivory. The inlay is let into the lock, roll top desk, antique wood of which the genuine antique candlestick table lamps piece inlaid is composed.
Jacobean.—Strictly speaking, only furniture of the 1940 chair days of James I. should be termed Jacobean. But by some collectors the antique small corner cupboard period is held to extend to James II.—that is from 1603 to 1688. Other collectors prefer the antique jacobean table term Carolean for a portion of the 19th century english chairs with carved lion heads and feet above period, which is equally misleading. Jacobean is only a rough generalisation of seventeenth-century furniture.
Lacquer. Lac.—A transparent varnish used in its perfection by the oak barley twist dining table round Chinese and Japanese. (See ”Consular Report on Japanese Lacquered Work,”" in Bibliography.) Introduced into Holland and France, it was imitated with great success. Under Louis XV. Vern’s-Martin became the teapot czechoslovakia lusterware rage (q.v.).
Linen Pattern.—A form of carving panels to represent a folded napkin. This particular design was largely used in France and Germany prior to its adoption here.
Marquetry.—Inlays of colored woods, arranged with some design, geometric, floral, or otherwise, are classed under this style.
Mortise.—A term in carpentry used to denote the spanish dining trestle table hole made in a piece of wood to receive the art deco dining table victoria end of another piece to be joined to it. The portion which fits into the antique matching upholstered chairs with scrolled arms and back mortise is called the antique dining tables 1850-1880 tendon.
Oil Polish.—Old furniture, before the perriand arcs commode introduction of varnishes and French polish and other inartistic effects, was polished by rubbing the winged animals used on mirrors surface with a stone, if it was a large area as in the spanish gilt leather screen case of a table, and then applying linseed oil and polishing with beeswax and turpentine. The fine tone after centuries of this treatment is evident in old pieces which have a metallic luster that cannot be imitated.
Parquetry.—Inlays of woods of the what is a chippendale chair worth same color are termed parquetry work in contradistinction to marquetry, which is in different color. Geometric designs are mainly used as in parquetry floors.
Reeded.—This term is applied to the duncan phyfe harp mahogany rectangular coffee table style of decoration by which thin narrow strips of wood are placed side-by side on the split drawers in antique french cabinet surface of furniture.
Renaissance.—The style which was originated in Italy in the amethyst luster ware fifteenth century, supplanting the antique dumbwaiter table Mediaeval styles which embraced Byzantine and Gothic art; the console table with pie edge new-birth was in origin a literary movement, but quickly affected art, and grew with surprising rapidity, and affected every country in Europe. It is based on Classic types, and its influence on furniture and woodwork followed its adoption in architecture.
Restored.—-This word is the antique bloodhound table fly in the tudor and jacobian pot of ointment to all who possess antiquarian tastes. It ought to mean, in furniture, that only the antique cane-backed corner chair most necessary, repairs have been made in order to preserve the antique chippendale gothic desk object. It more often means that a considerable amount of misapplied ingenuity has gone to the 19th century german porcelain pompeii remaking of a badly-preserved specimen. Restorations are only permissible at the antique rectangle tables drop leaf hands of most conscientious craftsmen.
Rococo.—A style which was most markedly offensive in the outsize pocket watch time of Louis XV. Meaningless elaborations of scroll and shell work, with rocky backgrounds and incongruous ornamentations, are its chief features. Baroque is another term applied to this overloaded style.
Settee.—An upholstered form of the antique bureaus and sideboards settle.
Settle.—A wooden seat with back and arms, capable of seating three or four persons side by side.
Splat.—The wooden portion in the antique dining room table casters back of a chair connecting the classic antic mirror top rail with the pottery factories in vienna 19th century seat.
Strap work.—This is applied to the black french style scroll chairs form of decoration employed by the queen anne antique writing /secretary desk 1700’s Elizabethan woodcarvers in imitation of Flemish originals.
Stretcher.—The rail which connects the antique gold gilt wall mirrors with bird motif legs of a chair or a table with one another. In earlier forms it was used as a footrest to keep the louis xiiilouis xivcolbertcharles le brunfrench furniture stylescharacteristics feet from the viennese table cabinet damp or draughty rush floor.
Tenon.—” Mortise and Tenon joint.” (See Mortise?)
Turned Work. — The spiral rails and uprights of chairs were turned with the antique vitrine cabinet lathe in Jacobean days. Prior to the images of late victorian mahogany folding upholstered side chairs introduction of the papier mache table makers from the nineteenth century lathe all work was carved without the antique onslow silverware use of this tool. Pieces of furniture have been found where the george iii mahogany tip-top tripod table. maker has carved the triangular oak corner cabinet turned work in all its details of form, either from caprice or from ignorance of the george ii flat chasing existence of the jones glass bells czechoslovakia quicker method.
Veneer.—A method of using thin layers of wood and laying them on a piece of furniture, either as marquetry in different colors, or in one wood only. It was an invention in order to employ finer specimens of wood carefully selected in the sacristy armoire ‘ parts of a piece of furniture most noticeable. It has been since used to hide inferior wood.
Vernis-Martin (Martin’s Varnish).— The lacquered work of a French carriage-painter named Martin, who claimed to have discovered the table leg shapes regency secret of the oak gate leg table spiral legs carving Japanese lack, and who, in 1774, was granted a monopoly for its use. He applied it successfully to all kinds of furniture, and to fan-guards and sticks. In the cantagalli eagle days of Madame du Pompadour Vernis-Martin had a great vogue, and panels prepared by Martin were elaborately painted upon by Lancet and Boucher. To this day his varnish retains its luster undimmed, and specimens command high prices.
Woods used in Furniture.
High-class Work. — Brazil. wood, Coromandel, Mahogany, Maple, Oak (various kinds), Olive, Rosewood, Satinwood, Sandalwood, Sweet Cedar, Sweet Chestnut, Teak, Walnut
Commoner Work.—Ash, Beech, Birch, Cedars (various), Deals, Mahogany (various kinds), Pine, Walnut.
Marquetry and Veneers. — Selected specimens for fine figuring are used as veneers, and for marquetry of various colors the 1734 silver candlestick following are used as being more easily stained: Holly, Horse chestnut, Sycamore, Pear, Plum Tree.
Woods with Fancy Names.
King Wood, Partridge Wood, Pheasant Wood, Purple Wood, Snake wood, Tulip Wood.
These are more rare and finely-marked foreign woods used sparingly in the thonet bentwood chaise long most expensive furniture. To arrive at the french 18th century l.boudin botanical names of these is not an easy matter. To those interested a list of woods used by cabinet-makers with their botanical names is given in Mr. J. Hungerford Pollen’s ” Introduction to the books on 18th century german antiques furniture South Kensington Collection of Furniture.” At the antique desk with three drawers above a desk top cover that pulls up and folds out Museum at Kew Gardens and in the gothic french bed Imperial Institute are collections of rare woods worth examination.