Antique Furniture

The word "rococo" comes from the French "roc" and "coquille", which could be literally translated into English as "rock cockle" and be quite accurate.

The term arose from the passion that existed during a portion of the Louis Quinze period for using rocks and shells along with wisps of nondescript foliage carved with bewildering scrolls in every conceivable variety of shape, as the prevailing details of ornamentation.


The broken shell, the twisted acanthus, the curled endive, and the flowing scroll formed a part of interior woodwork. The cornice, the wainscot, the mantel, the moldings of windows and doors, the frames of pictures, embodied one and the same idea.

To harmonize with this setting furniture was, of necessity, constructed on similar lines. Plain surfaces were abhored. Everything was ornamented to such a degree that its real purpose became a secondary consideration.

I like the look of wood grain. And like so many people buying antiques, often my first thought when looking at a painted piece is what it would look like stripped of its paint.

But for older pieces that were original painted furnishings, removing the paint lessens their value, and makes it harder to determine when they were made and by whom.

An article in the Herald-Dispatch by Jean McClelland explains the appeal of painted furniture:

The paint itself can often help tell the history of the table, chair or wardrobe. The pigments might have been imported from England or they might have been the result of home-grown vegetable coloring. Our ancestors painted furniture for many of the same reasons we decorate our surroundings. Not only was the paint an economical way of preserving the furniture, but it added beauty to the home. Painted furniture could be the result of a professional's hand or an amateur homemaker.

All the chairs of the Louis XIV period were instinct with dignity. In the earlier part of the period they were often pompous and stiff as well, whil in later years, grace and comfort were more evident characteristics.

Legs in the early part of this period were often straight, carved and moulded, joined by straight X or saltire stretchers which were also elaborately carved and moulded.

About the end of the seventeenth century, a graceful cabriole form appared, sometimes with a more pronounced curve than at others. The proportions were well moulded and the foot was often either a scroll resembling a dolphin's head or a cloven hoof or a pied de biche.



Some of the chairs were made without stretchers while many, on the other hand, had flat serpentine stretchers of the same general type as were seen in William and Mary chairs and settees.

The knee of the cabriole was usually adorned with some sort of shell, leaf, or cabochon motif and sometimes pendent husks extended partway down the leg.


Seat rails were both shaped and carved or straight (in which case the upholstery usually came to the lower edge of the rail so it was not seen). Seats, backs and arms were both caned and upholstered. Seats were broad and approximately square with a slight taper towards the back.

Backs had a considerable rake. Arms were long and nearly horizontal, followed by the straight line of the seat side, and flared only slightly at the ends. Upholstered backs were broad and square, or slightly flared at the crest; and the tops were straight; carved or moulded tops were curved and arched a little in the middle.

During the Stuart period, tables became more important articles of furniture than in preceding epochs.

The change from movable boards set on top of trestles to permanent table structures had occurred during Tudor times, but it's not till the Stuart period that we find them in significant numbers.

Then we meet with long tables that follow the traditional lines of the trestle boards, ingeniously devised drawing tables, gate tables with drop leaves, small rectangular tables, three-cornered cricket tables and many others.

The early Jacobean long or "refrectory" tables were often VERY long -- some were even thirty feet or more -- and narrow. "Drawing tables" were ingeniously contrived to double their length and seating capacity by means of two shelves, sliding under the central top, but so arranged that on being drawn out the upper top falls into their place forming a level surface.

The gate tables which originated during this period were found so practical and useful that the design has largely persisted to the present day.

About the time of the Restoration, owing largely to the prevalent habit of tea and coffee drinking, various small tables began to be made in great numbers. Drawers in tables became common during this time as well.

All the Stuart tables were braced by stout stretchers near the floor. Bulbous legs went out of fashion by the middle of the seventeenth century. Ringed baluster and columnar legs appeared about the time of the Restoration in tables as well as chairs.

Mirrors

Elaborate mirror frames found in England in this period were carved by Grinling Gibbon, Cibber, or their imitators. Pine or lime woods were generally used.

More plain frames were made of walnut or sometimes olive or ebony and were occasionally decorated with marqueterie. They were small and square or rectangular andhad a broad ovolo band with smaller mouldings at the inner and outer edges.

The top usually included a hooded motif formed of a semi circle and sometimes foliated fretwork. The glass was generally beveled.

Clocks

Both tall case and bracket clocks were found in this period and were usually subjects for rather elaborate ornamentation. Marqueterie, oystering, and lacquer were freely used in their decoration, particularly the tall-case clocks, many of which had a circular hole in the middle of the door with either clear glass or a bull's-eye. The tops often had the hooded or arched form. The dials were usually engraved or chased brass.

A view of the various kinds of souces of turning will reveal several phrases of international trade relations, but none of the decorative processes will reveal such varied and engaging aspects as laquer.

Brought in small quantities from the Orient, even as early as Tudor times, it elicited admiration and arrived from year to year.

Somewhat before the closing years of the seventeenth century it had come to be imitated with varying success by English craftsmen and the enthusiasm for laquered furniture became on of the dominating mobiliary influences of the area.

Not only did laquered furniture retain its vogue undiminished during a large part of the eighteenth century, but it seems also to have created a widespread taste for Oriental wares and Oriental designs that cropped up persistently from time to time under one form or another with periodic recrudescence.

The contour and style of the Jacobean period, as of every other period for that matter, more or less faithfully reflected the social, intellectual and religious temprament and manners of the times. It is as unimaginable to think of Dean Hook or one of Cromwell's lieutenants seated in an Adam settee or a dainty Sheraton char as it is to imagine Julius Caesar driving a Model-T Ford.

Jacobean furniture was stout and staunch, even to clumsiness and severe in form and line even though bedizened with a superfluity of ornament.

It matched the coarse manners, abrupt morals and vigorous theology of the day with all their intense earnestness and redundancy of polemics, brimstone anathema and persecution.

In the cabinet work of the later Cromwellian era the contours remained much the same except that cupboards, while still squatly, were often of greater length and, with teh growing strength of Dutch influence, bun or ball feet on chests and cupboards became more common.

In the truly Jacobean or early Stuart period we find a predominance of straight lines, simplicity of structure and craftsmanship of downright British vigor and energy. All the different cupboards and dressesr were squat, and even beadsteads with their large testers carved and panelled, supported on heavy posts, were low. Much lower than one would imagine from looking at pictures of them. The squat proportions of the furniture were due to consistent with the unusually low ceilings prominent in the period.

For the student and lover of old furniture, or for the collector of antiques, there is no asset more useful than a trained eye, quick to detect and remember the slightest variation of line or proportion. such practice of critical scrutiny incalculably benefits the sense of appreciation and further more stands one in good stead in a thousand other ways.

It is not too much to say that anyone who thoroughly knows the contours of furniture in its successive periods, and has conscientiously followed the steps of its evolution, has learned the most important part of the whole subject and gained a grasp and mastery of which no expert need feel ashamed.

To the practiced observer of contour, the Flemish scroll legs of late Carolean chairs, the cup-turned legs of William and Mary highboys and tables or the bun feet of their cabinets, the broken swan-neck pediments and cabriole legs of Queen Anne's reign, the bombé fronts of Chippendale's French work, the serpentine fronts or the tapered legs and spade feet of Hepplewhite's dainty productions, all mean infinitely more than they do to someone who is not in the habit of observing.

Understanding these details will allow a collector of antique Furniture to have an assurance and confidence in his own judgement that he may rely on, in large part, while growing his collection.

Identifying period furniture becomes somewhat easier if you remember that furniture is subject to the same laws of gradual change and development that we find in everything else, one type merging almost imperceptibly into another. In almost every instance there are numerous cases of overlapping between consecutive periods.

It is by FORM that we most quickly recognize things, and even a novice, by giving a little study to chronology and illustration, will find himself growing familiar with the shapes of each period so that soon the whole field will lie out simply before him as a well-marked map.

Styles that matured in periods in the periods where they are considered typical often will have begun their evolution towards the close of the preceding epoch.

Persistence in the types and forms far beyond periods in which they were representative, by duplicating old models, is evens more noticeable than cases of premature arrival.

This is naturally to be expected in country districts where local furniture makers and joiners, far removed from urban centers where new ideas were taking root, just went on copying the objects they had before them with little or no innovation. Oak settles of Cromwellian pattern were thus made during the reign of Queen Anne and even in that of George I.

This tendency to overlap in both directions need not disturb our classifications, however, as they are merely the exceptions that prove the well-established rule.

The William and Mary period is short, concise and easily understood. Especially compared to the preceding Jacobean period. Because it lasts a mere 14 years, styles did not have the opportunity to run through numerous changes.

With the names of William and Mary we associate one clearly defined type of furniture -- hooded tops, ogeed and flat arch aprons, straight cup turned legs and shaped stretchers.

At the same time there is enough variety and evolution to make the period one of intense interest.

Between the arrival of William and Mary and Queen Anne's accession, we can see a marked increase in popular appreciation of refinement and simplicity. Queen Mary herself wielded an immense influence on the public taste, and it was she who gave the initial impetus to china collectin, which in turn affected furniture types as well as social customs.

The Queen had excellent taste in furnishings, and her taste, through its dominance in court circles, had great weight in setting the style for the whole kingdom. Of course, with a dutch ruler on the thrown, it's not surprising to see Dutch styles and influences everywhere in vogue in this period.
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Although Chippendale was the first of the great Georgian Cabinetmakers, he was quickly followed by other famous figures, among whom are the brothers Robert and James Adam. Robert Adam was born in 1728. He studied architecture in Italy and also explored the uncovered ruins of the Roman Empire. These created his interest in the classical designs brought about by the discovery of these ancient ruins. He became the leader of the Classical Revival - England's neo classical period. Upon his return to London he published a book dedicated to King George III.

This book contains paintings, plans and explanations of these Roman ruins. He drew inspiration for his own work from Roman, Greek and Etruscan designs. He was such a distinguished architect that he was appointed architect to the king. He was replaced by his brother James when he resigned from his post. They were good businessmen as well and together they ventured into buildings and real estate that brought them both wealth and fame. They achieved a total revolution in furniture design. They advocated lightness and grace in furniture design. They eliminated the bulky designs of the previous periods. They replaced the ornate curvature of the Chippendale designs with the straight lines of Roman columns. Although the style of the Brothers Adam is similar to the neoclassical style of Louis XVI, both styles evolved independently from each other. Both styles were influenced heavily by the excavation of the Roman ruins.

The following are the characteristics very identifiable to the Adam design.

1. The legs are straight and fluted like the Roman columns. Unlike its French counterpart, it doesn't have the square box with carved rosette at the top of the legs, which makes it easily distinguishable from the neoclassical design of Louis XVI. It is far more delicate that the French design.

2. The chair back usually has the classical motif like the shape of a Greek lyre. Other typical Adam chair back designs are the delicate open "Spokes" design and the Shield shape design.

3. The use of classical motifs that later became the standard for many English designs that followed. These motifs are used everywhere not just in furniture. These are also applied in fireplace mantels, walls and ceilings. They are often painted in casepieces aside from being defined in relief where the motifs are usually vases and urns.

Robert and James Adam were both architects and their greatest achievement was designing rooms not just furniture. They were the first to come up with the concept of designing entire rooms not just a part of it and not just one or two pieces of furniture. Unlike other architects of their time, they did not only design the shape of the room but rather they get into the details. They designed the walls, ceiling, floors, doors and windows and oversaw the placement of every piece of furniture in the room. The Brothers Adam marked the beginning of a whole new style in English furniture and Architecture.

Written by: Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Furniture

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Are you new to collecting? Or have you been given some wonderful heirlooms and haven't the faintest notion on how to care for them?

Antiques can be a wonderful reminder of our family, history or even an exotic touch from another place and time. Caring for these special items properly ensures that they can be passed down for another generation or sold at their highest value.

The following is a brief overview of caring for antiques. Sites such as the BBC and Antiques-UK provide detailed information on caring for various antiques. If you are in doubt you can contact a professional conservator that specializes in your type of antique.

GLASS, POTTERY and PORCELAIN:

Avoid extremes and handle gently. Wash individually in a padded washing basin to prevent chips. Use warm water - never hot or cold - and a gentle cleanser with a soft bristled brush. Never wash antique glass or dishes in the dishwasher. The extreme heat and harsh detergent can be harmful. Gently wipe glasses dry and allow dishes to air dry.

Liquids left in glassware can stain so avoid leaving cut flowers in contact with the glass if the water starts to turn or the leaves start to dry out.

Store or display glass and dishes in a safe place away from heavy traffic. Avoid displaying on an open shelf, rail or on the wall if your home is subject to vibrations from nearby trains or is busy with people passing along those walls.

RUGS and TEXTILES:

Both rugs and textiles require extremely gentle handling when moving, storing or cleaning.

Moving should be done slowly and carefully as antique fabrics are delicate and can easily tear or pull apart.

Rugs should be rolled with the pile facing outwards to prevent crushing or damage. Garments should be hung on sturdy hangers and covered in white cotton or rolled with acid free paper and tied closed on either end.

Rugs and textiles can be cleaned gently with a vacuum on a low setting. Be very careful with textiles as the suction can pull fibers apart. For spills it is recommended by BBC Antiques to put white paper towels under the rug and above, replacing them until no more liquid comes out. Any other cleaning should be done by an expert. Avoid exposure to sun or humidity.

FURNITURE:

Dusting should be done with a soft, lint-free cloth and wooden furniture only waxed with quality beeswax. Avoid placing furnishings in bright light or in rooms which experience great changes in temperature or humidity. Be very cautious when moving antique furniture, always lifting and never dragging.

It is a great privilege to own antiques and proper care will help your investment increase in value or enable you to pass them on for the enjoyment of your family.

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The most common types of furniture from this period are:

• chairs
• stools
• forms
• settees
• love seats
• day beds
• bedsteads
• mirrors
• tables
• foot stools
• chests
• cupboards
• cabinets
• buffets
• dressers
  
• sideboards

The early part of the Jacobean period is a wide diversity in the contours and turnings of pieces because the native English traditions were beginning their mingle with continental influences.

Overall, though, the furniture of this period was bulky and, in spite of the heavy ornamentation, almost severe in form. All the different sorts of cupboards and dressers, and even the bedsteads, were low. The ceilings of the period were also quite low, so seeing pictures of the furniture in context can be deceiving.

As the period wears on, through the reign of Cromwell, some of the pieces become longer, and the occurence of dutch "bun" or ball feet became more prevalent.


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