Furniture - World Styles From Classical To Contemporary

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fur niture Judith Miller A Dorling Kindersley Book

LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE, MUNICH AND DELHI A joint production from DK and THE PRICE GUIDE COMPANY DORLING KINDERSLEY LIMITED Senior Editor Angela Wilkes Senior Art Editor Karla Jennings Editors Corinne Asghar, Kathryn Wilkinson, Jane Laing, Margaret Parrish Art Editors Anna Plucinska, Lee Riches, Ted Kinsey Managing Editor Julie Oughton Managing Art Editor Heather McCarry Art Directors Carole Ash, Peter Luff Publishing Director Jackie Douglas Production Melanie Dowland DTP Designer Adam Walker Picture Research Sarah Smithies Picture Library Neale Chamberlain Jacket Editor Carrie Love Jacket Designer Nicola Powling THE PRICE GUIDE COMPANY LIMITED Senior Managing Editor Anna Southgate Managing Editor Cathy Marriott Editorial Assistants Jessica Bishop, Sandra Lange Karen Morden, Alexandra Barr Publishing Manager Julie Brooke Digital Image Co-ordinator Ellen Sinclair European Consultant Martina Franke While every care has been taken in the compilation of this guide, neither the authors nor the publishers accept any liability for any financial or other loss incurred by reliance placed on the information contained in Furniture. First published in 2005 by Dorling Kindersley Limited 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL A Penguin Company The Price Guide Company (UK) Ltd [email protected] 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 Copyright © Judith Miller and Dorling Kindersley Limited 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 1 4053 0654 8 Colour reproduction by Colourscan, Singapore Printed and bound in China by Leo Paper Products Discover more at www.dk.com

for ewor d “A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.” LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE Anyone who has ever admired the proportions of a Chippendale chair or the finely carved pediment of a Queen Anne highboy will know there is no skill to match that of a cabinet-maker. There is an immense sense of achievement in bringing a furniture design to fruition – from the first sketch on paper to selecting the wood, working the surfaces until smooth, and adding final touches such as handles and escutcheons – a craftsman takes pleasure in each step of the process. This sense of satisfaction is a lasting one when you consider that a finely constructed desk or table will last many lifetimes and bring pleasure to all who use it. Furniture styles have changed so much through the centuries. At times designers have been inspired by the past: at others they have fixed their sights firmly on the future. Whether you are delighted by the simple form of a Shaker cabinet or the exuberance of a Belter sofa, furnish your home in the traditional Chippendale style or the futuristic designs of the Memphis Group, there is much to learn from seeing furniture from around the world placed in context as it is in this book. However, while designs and fashions change one thing remains the same: the enthusiasm and creativity of furniture-makers.



Contributors and consultants CONTRIBUTORS CONSULTANTS Willis Henry Auctioneer, Willis Jill Bace Expert in European Decorative Liz Klein Consultant and collector’s agent Henry Auctions Inc., Massachusetts Shaker Furniture Arts, Lecturer at the Wallace Collection and specializing in 20th-century decorative arts the V&A Museum, London Arts and Crafts, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Maître Lefèvre Maison de Ventes Art Nouveau, Art Deco Modernism, Mid-Century Modern, Postmodern and Contemporary Beaussant-Lefèvre, Paris France 1600–1900 Dan Dunlavey Writer on antiques and Nicolas Tricaud de Montonnière Marcus Radecke European Furniture collectables Ancient Furniture, Mid 19th Century European specialist Early 18th Century, Late Dept, Christies, London Italy, Spain, and Dr Henriette Graf Furniture Historian 18th Century, Early 19th Century, Art Deco Portugal 1600–1900 and Lecturer at the Technical University of Christopher Claxton-Stevens David Rago Consultant and auctioneer, Munich Early 18th Century, Late 18th Century, Early 19th Century Norman Adams, London 1600–1760 Rago Auction Center, Lambertville NJ. American Arts and Crafts Albert Hill Writer and curator Silas Currie Rowley’s Fine Art Patrick van der Vorst Director and specializing in 20th- and 21st-century design Auctioneers, Ely, Cambridgeshire Modernism, Mid-Century Modern, Postmodern 1600–present Head of Continental Furniture Department, and Contemporary Sotheby’s, London Italy, Spain, and Portugal Laurence Fox Evergreen Antiques, New 1600–1900 Scott Nethersole Art Historian and York Scandinavia 1700–1900 Jean-Jacques Wattel Pierre Bergé et lecturer on the History of Furniture Early 19th Century Beau Freeman Samuel T Freeman & Associés, Paris Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modernism, Mid-Century Modern, Postmodern Anne Rogers Haley International Company, Philadelphia America 1600–1840 and Contemporary furniture consultant and researcher 17th Yves Gastou Galerie Yves Gastou, Paris Century, Early 18th Century, Late 18th Century Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modernism, Mid-Century Jeremy Smith Senior Furniture Expert Modern, Postmodern and Contemporary and Deputy Director, Sotheby’s London 17th Century, Early 18th Century, Late 18th Century, Mid 19th Century PRICE BANDS Opposite page: Boston highboy This highboy from Massachusetts has a maple case and a white pine Some of the pieces of furniture in this book are accompanied by interior. The case is japanned and has Queen Anne- a number that gives an indication of value: style brass handles, escutcheons, and cabriole legs. c.1747. H:178.4cm (701⁄4in); W:100.6cm (395⁄8in); ●1 £100–500 ●2 £500–1,000 ●3 £1,000–2,500 ●4 £2,500–5,000 D:53.3cm (30in). ●5 £5,000–10,000 ●6 £10,000–20,000 ●7 £20,000–50,000 ●8 £50,000–100,000 ●9 £100,000–250,000 ●10 £250,000 upwards Previous page: The Swan This lounge chair was designed by Arne Jacobsen for the Royal Hotel, Copenhagen. The chair has a moulded, synthetic inner shell with red fabric upholstery and stands on an aluminium, swivelling base. 1958. H:85cm (331⁄2in); W:75.6cm (293⁄4in); D:63.5cm (25in).

contents 4 Foreword 42 Pietra Dura and Scagiola 80 Italy 6 Contributors and Consultants 44 The Low Countries 82 Italy: Venice 8 Contents 46 Germany and Scandinavia 84 Germany 12 Introduction 48 England 86 Rococo Interior 14 Period Styles 50 France: Henri IV and Louis XIII 88 The Low Countries 52 France: Louis XIV 90 Spain and Portugal Ancient Furniture 54 Boulle Marquetry 92 Scandinavia 4000BCE-1600CE 56 Spain and Portugal 94 Britain: Queen Anne and George I 58 Early Colonial America 96 Britain: Palladianism 20 Ancient Egypt 60 Case Pieces 98 Thomas Chippendale 22 Ancient Greece and Rome 62 Cabinets 100 Britain: George II 24 Ancient China 64 Tables 102 America: Queen Anne 26 The Middle Ages 66 Chairs 104 American Chippendale 28 Renaissance Italy 106 America: Southern States 30 Renaissance Europe Early 18th Century 108 New Forms 1700-1760 110 Commodes 17th Century 112 Highboys 1600-1700 70 Exuberant Luxury 114 Tables 72 Rococo Furniture 116 Chairs 34 Power and Grandeur 74 Elements of Style 118 Evolution of Mirrors 36 Baroque Furniture 76 France: The Régence 120 Mirrors 38 Elements of Style 78 France: Louis XV 40 Italy

LAte 18th Century 174 Mechanical Pieces 224 Spain and Portugal 1760-1800 176 Fall-front Desks 226 South Africa 178 Commodes 228 Federal Interior 124 A New Classicism 180 Tables 230 American Federal 126 Neoclassical Furniture 182 Occasional Tables 232 American Empire 128 Elements of Style 184 Chairs 234 European Influences 130 Italy 186 Chippendale Chairs 236 The Shakers 132 The Grand Tour 188 Armchairs 238 North American Vernacular 134 Transitional Furniture 240 Windsor chairs 136 France: Louis XVI Early 19th Century 242 Chairs 138 English Pattern Books 1800-1840 244 New Developments 140 Germany 246 Mirrors 142 David Roentgen 192 Rebellion and Empire 248 Chests of Drawers 144 Russia 194 Empire Furniture 250 Sofas 146 The Low Countries 196 Elements of Style 252 Desks 148 Britain: Early George III 198 France: Directoire/Consulat 254 Tables 150 Britain: Late George III 200 French Empire 256 Occasional Tables 152 Robert Adam 202 France: Restauration 258 Painted Furniture 154 Gustavian 204 Italy 156 Scandinavia 206 Regency Britain Mid 19th Century 158 Spain, Portugal, & Colonies 208 British Exoticism 1840-1900 160 America: Chippendale to Federal 210 British Vernacular 162 America: Southern States 212 George IV and William IV 262 Turmoil and Progress 164 British Influences 214 Germany: Empire 264 Revival Styles 166 Gothic 216 Germany: Biedermeier 266 Elements of Style 168 South Africa 218 The Low Countries 268 Grand Exhibitions 170 Chinoiserie 220 Scandinavia 270 France: Louis-Philippe 172 Painted Furniture 222 Russia 272 France: 1848–1900

274 Italy Arts and Crafts 366 The Glasgow School 276 Early Victorian Britain 1880-1920 368 Britain 278 Late Victorian Britain 370 Edwardian Britain 280 Campaign Furniture 320 Reform and Reaction 372 Germany 282 Germany and Austria 322 Arts and Crafts Style 374 Austria 284 Thonet’s Bentwood 324 Elements of Style 376 Wiener Werkstätte 286 Low Countries 326 Britain: The Aesthetic Movement 378 Tables 288 Spain and Portugal 328 America: Aestheticism and Revivals 380 Case Pieces 290 Scandinavia 330 Britain: Arts and Crafts 382 Chairs 292 Russia 332 William Morris & Co. 294 America 334 The Cotswold School Art Deco 296 Belter and the Rococo Revival 336 America: Arts and Crafts 1919-1940 298 Japan 338 Gustav Stickley 300 India 340 Chairs 386 From Boom to Bust 302 China 342 Tables 388 Art Deco Furniture 304 New Styles 344 Cabinets 390 Elements of Style 306 Chests of drawers 392 1925 Paris Exhibition 308 Buffets and Sideboards Art Nouveau 394 France 310 Chairs 1880-1915 396 The United States 312 Sofas 398 Streamlining 314 Tables 348 Age of Transition 400 Britain 316 Garden Furniture 350 Art Nouveau Furniture 402 Art Deco Interior 352 Elements of Style 404 Europe 354 Paris Exposition 406 India and East Asia 356 France: The Nancy School 408 The Suite 358 France: The Paris School 410 Chairs 360 Belgium 412 Tables 362 Italy and Spain 414 Cabinets 364 Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Modernism 464 Arne Jacobsen 512 Italy 1925-1945 466 Scandinavia: Second Generation 514 France 468 Italy 516 Britain 418 A New Age 470 Gio Ponti 518 Craft and Technology 420 Modern Design 472 Britain 520 Europe 422 Elements of Style 474 Japan 522 The Americas 424 Gerrit Rietveld 476 France and Germany 524 Japan 426 Bauhaus 478 Experiments in Seating 526 Marc Newson 428 Germany 480 1960s Scandinavia 528 Office Furniture 430 France 482 1960s France 530 Chairs 432 Le Corbusier 484 Pop Interior 532 Tables 434 Tubular Steel 486 1960s Italy 436 Scandinavia 488 Castiglioni Brothers 534 Anatomy of Furniture 438 Britain 490 1960s United States 536 Useful Addresses 440 America 492 Coffee Tables 538 Further Reading 438 Italy 494 Sideboards 540 Dealer Codes 444 Chairs 496 Lighting 544 Glossary 446 Tables 498 Chairs and Stools 550 Index 500 Lounge Chairs 558 Acknowledgements Mid-Century Modern 1945-1970 Postmodern and Contemporary 450 Optimism and Wealth 1970 onwards 452 Mid-Century Modern Furniture 454 Elements of Style 504 Social Unease 456 Charles and Ray Eames 506 Post-1970 Furniture 458 The United States 508 Elements of Style 460 Australia 510 Memphis and Alchimia 462 Scandinavia

Introduction The story of furniture is inextricably linked with the story Paxton House near Berwick that I was first struck by the of our civilization. From Roman day beds to Louis XV wonderful furniture made by an 18th-century craftsman armchairs, and from Neoclassical desks to Postmodern called Thomas Chippendale. It was the beginning of a long storage units, the furniture people have used in their and exciting journey of discovery. homes has always reflected the aspirations, fashions, and technology of the time. Since then I have been able to study furniture in a huge variety of styles and in a wide range of countries, from I was born into the “Formica Generation” of the 1950s. French Art Nouveau in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris to the My parents were proud to say they had thrown away the American Furniture Collection in Williamsburg, Virginia old Victorian furniture they had inherited and replaced it and Modernist pieces in the Bauhaus Museum in Berlin. with the latest modern designs. I, however, spent many All of them have added to my fascination with furniture. happy hours wandering through the grand stately homes in the Scottish Borders where we lived, many of them Being able to identify a piece of furniture requires an designed by Robert Adam and his sons. I think it was in understanding of how it was made, what is was made from, and who it was made for. Most of the grand

furniture that we see today was made for the aristocracy who wanted to show off their wealth and good taste. By the mid 19th century, however, furniture was more affordable and the middle classes could furnish their homes in the latest styles. This book shows not only the masterpieces created for the finest homes, many of which are now in museums, but also the less expensive, everyday furniture designed for more modest settings. While furniture design has evolved over time, certain forms, such as the klismos chair, have often been revived. Some styles also spread across continents: the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum, for example, inspired French Empire furniture, the designs of Hepplewhite and Sheraton, and American Federal furniture. There are many fine specialist books on furniture but I always felt the need for one which would provide a definitive overview of world furniture. This book looks at the evolution of styles from the earliest times to the end of the 20th century, and is illustrated with 3,000 photographs. Each chapter investigates a specific period, setting the development of styles within a social and political context. It provides an overview of furniture design and a guide to the key elements of decorative style, then shows how furniture developed from country to country, including features on styles, designers, and movements. Finally, themed collections of pieces from different countries are analysed and compared and include price bands, where possible, to give collectors an indication of value. Some pieces are accompanied by a letter code identifying the dealer or auction house that is selling or has sold them. I hope that this magnificent and comprehensive book will fire your imagination, just as that first piece of Chippendale fired mine, and will give you a lifelong interest in the styles, techniques, and history of this fascinating subject.

14 INTRODUCTION PERIOD STYLES Developments in furniture design have always been subject to various factors – economic and political change, technological advances, necessity, status, and fashion. Not all countries have experienced exactly the same influences, nor are the features of any one style seen in all the furniture made at that particular time. However, each period style does have its own defining characteristics, whether it is the overall shape of a piece, how it is decorated, or the materials used, which make it easier to identify as belonging to one era rather than another. Renaissance Baroque Originating in Italy in the 14th century An expression of wealth and power, and finding expression throughout the Baroque style was sculptural and Europe over the following 200 years, theatrical. Drawing on Classical and Renaissance means “rebirth”. The style Renaissance motifs, designers produced was inspired by a renewed interest in elaborately carved furniture on a grand, ancient Greece and Rome. Taking their architectural scale, using exotic materials lead from architects, furniture-makers and techniques such as marquetry, pietra applied Classical features, such as dura, and velvet upholstery. Evident in its columns, cornices, and pediments to purest form in Rome around 1600, the their work, producing symmetrical, style was adopted by other European architectural pieces. Popular motifs countries as the century progressed, included vases, putti, and caryatids. with varying degrees of exuberance. Renaissance sgabello chair (see p.29) Italian Baroque cabinet (see p.37) Chinoiserie Chinoiserie was a style that developed from the European fascination with the exotic porcelain, lacquerware, and other forms of decorative art imported from China and Japan, from the 17th century onwards. Derived from chinois, the French word for “Chinese”, the style developed in its own right as European designers created their own fanciful interpretation of exotic Oriental styles and motifs. The result was a style that lasted in various forms for about 200 years, combining ornament from China and Japan, sometimes with both styles evident in one piece. Characteristic of the style was the use of exotic motifs such as pagodas, dragons, and lotus blossoms, stylized landscapes, Chinamen, imitation lacquerwork known as japanning, and luxurious materials. Gothic armchair (see p.166) Lacquered commode in the Chinoiserie style (see p.170) Georgian chest of drawers (see p.179) Gothic Georgian Influenced by medieveal ecclesiastical architecture, Georgian is a term used to describe furniture Gothic-style furniture has enjoyed a number of made in Britain from 1715 to 1811, during revivals. The first emerged in Britain from the mid the reigns of Georges I, II, and III. Early 18th century, when furniture-makers such as Thomas Georgian furniture was primarily made from Chippendale applied Gothic architectural elements, walnut, and incorporated a number of the such as cusped arches, ogee curves, and quatrefoils, Rococo features prevalent at the time, such to their designs. The style was revived during the as serpentine curves, C- and S-scrolls, and 19th century and had a considerable influence on claw-and-ball feet. Late Georgian pieces the Arts and Crafts Movement. were mostly made from mahogany, and displayed the rectilinear shapes and Neoclassical ornament that became popular towards the end of the 18th century.

PERIOD STYLES 15 Louis XV The French interpretation of the Rococo style was named after the early 18th-century monarch, Louis XV. The style was influenced by a more informal, intimate, and comfortable way of life, with an emphasis on the interior as a harmonious whole. Colour schemes were either rich and vibrant or pale and gilded, and new forms, such as the duchesse (chaise longue), the bergère (armchair) and delicate bonheurs-du-jour (lady’s desks) reflected the increasing influence of women in society. Gilt-bronze mounts and japanned surfaces imitating Oriental lacquerwork were also popular decorative features. Rococo commode (see p.73) Louis XV giltwood bergère (see p.78) Queen Anne chair (see p.116) Rococo Queen Anne By the beginning of the 18th century, furniture designers began to reject the heavy formality of the A more understated form of Rococo design emerged in Britain, Baroque style and sought to create a lighter, more influenced, in part, by prevailing trends in the Low Countries. feminine look. Emerging in France, the Rococo style Furniture forms during this period (1700–15) were more dominated European design for the first half of the restrained than elsewhere in Europe and elegant proportions 18th century and made much use of curvaceous were considered more important than decoration. Pieces bombé forms, asymmetrical ornament, and the tended to be made of lightly carved wood – usually walnut – cabriole leg. Popular motifs included C- and S- and had very little additional ornamentation. Characteristic scrolls, naturalistic foliage, and rocaille, which often features included the cabriole leg, claw-and-ball feet, and vase- took the form of elaborate gilded mounts. shaped back splats on chairs. The style was adopted with considerable success in the United States from about 1725. Neoclassical Popular during the second half of the 18th century, Neoclassicism was a reaction against the Rococo style and was linked to a renewed interest in ancient Greece and Rome. Furniture- makers were inspired not only by the rectilinear shapes of Classical architecture, but also by its decorative details, such as the Greek key and Vitruvian scrolls. Applied ornament, often gilded, took the form of laurel swags, urns, and medallions. Neoclassical secrétaire (see p.177) Gustavian armchair (see p.155) Federal wall mirror (see p.247) Gustavian Federal style The Gustavian style was a restrained version of French Neoclassicism Taking its name from the creation of the Federal which was unique to Sweden during the reign of Gustav III (1746–92). constitution in 1787, the Federal style was an Characterized by light colours and rich silk damasks, it was based on Neoclassical American form of Neoclassicism, based primarily elements, such as friezes, fluting, and laurel festoons, but the furniture was painted on British forms. Furniture was predominantly rather than gilded. Klismos-style chairs upholstered in silk and oval-backed chairs made of mahogany, and was light in style, with a with straight, fluted legs were typical. Entire rooms were decorated in the Gustavian sparing use of ornament. Typical motifs included style and often had panelled walls embellished with tall giltwood-framed mirrors. the American eagle, carved scrolls, bellflowers, swags, and shells. Late Federal pieces began to reflect the influence of Empire style, with applied ormolu mounts and brass banding.

16 INTRODUCTION Biedermeier Biedermeier was a more restrained version of the Empire style and developed in Germany, Austria, and Sweden during the first half of the 19th century. Principally a middle-class interpretation of the high French style, Biedermeier furniture was simple, classical, comfortable, and practical. The majority of pieces were rectilinear, and Classical motifs and the sabre leg were common features. Although many pieces were made from mahogany, light-coloured native woods such as walnut, cherry, birch, pear, and maple, were also used, often punctuated with ebonized highlights. Biedermeier furniture was visibly hand-crafted, adding to its homely appeal. Chairs and sofas were usually upholstered in pale fabrics to match the overall light colour schemes that were a prominent feature of Biedermeier interiors. Empire mahogany-veneered commode (see p.200) Empire fabrics. Designers used architectural elements, Biedermeier walnut-veneered commode (see p.217) such as pediments and columns, on case A form of late Neoclassicism, the Empire style pieces, and sabre or splayed legs on seating. Modernism dominated European furniture design in the Popular motifs included swags, laurels, and first half of the 19th century, originating in medallions, as well as sphinxes and Napoleon’s Pioneered by the Bauhaus School in Germany in France under Napoleon. The style was inspired personal emblems: the crown and the bee. The the wake of World War I, Modernism was a rejection not only by ancient Greece and Rome, but also style directly influenced the Regency style in of all historical styles. Expressed initially through by ancient Egypt. Rectilinear forms took on Britain, the Empire style in the United States, architecture, the movement spread, and furniture grand proportions and were often embellished and the Biedermeier style in Germany. designers embraced manufacturing processes with with brass or gilt mounts, or with sumptuous renewed verve. Forms became predominantly stark, geometrical, and stripped of all ornament – being Art Nouveau Art Deco table functional was all-important. Preferred materials by Ruhlmann included glass, laminated wood, and tubular steel, This decorative style flourished in Europe, (see p.293) and new designs included the cantilever chair. particularly France and Belgium, at the turn of the 20th century. In a reaction against the historical revivals of the mid 19th century, designers sought to create a “new art”. The style was characterized by sinuous, asymmetrical lines and was primarily inspired by nature, although there were variations from one country to another. It echoed many of the decorative motifs of the Rococo style 200 years before and was also influenced by Japanese art. Art Nouveau lady’s desk (see p.349) Art Deco Modernist Wasilly Chair (see p.434) Coined in the 1960s, “Art Deco” is a term used to describe a decorative style that blossomed at the end of World War I. Essentially of French origin, and inspired by influences as diverse as Neoclassicism, the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb, and Cubism, Art Deco furniture was large, geometric, and sumptuously decorated. Typical motifs included stylized sunbursts, chevrons, and abstract geometric patterns. Art Deco also developed in Central Europe, the Far East, and the United States, where streamlined pieces were particularly successful.

PERIOD STYLES 17 Victorian armchair Arts and Crafts cube chair (see p.277) (see p.338) Historicism Arts and Crafts Movement The second half of the 19th century was a time of A forceful rejection of the mass-produced, shoddy historical revivals. Epitomized by the Victorian furniture produced as a result of the Industrial interior in Britain, reproductions of earlier pieces in Revolution, the Arts and Crafts Movement championed the Gothic, Renaissance, and Rococo styles were good design, skilled craftsmanship, and the finest mass produced, in line with industrialization. There traditional building materials, as part of an ideal of the was a greater emphasis on comfort, reflected in good life . The style associated with the movement curvaceous forms and deep-buttoned upholstery. developed in Britain and the United States during the second half of the 19th century and lasted well into the Aesthetic Movement 20th century. Designers worked with native woods – predominantly oak – and produced simple, geometric Evident in Britain and the United States towards pieces based on traditional vernacular forms, such as the the end of the 19th century, this was a short-lived settle. Additional forms of decoration were sparingly movement advocating “art for art's sake”. Designers used, the idea being that the grain of the wood, often were influenced by the decorative arts of Japan, but quartersawn, was sufficiently decorative in itself. also by Gothic, Moorish, and Jacobean styles. Pieces borrowed elements from all these styles and were Pop often ebonized to create a lacquered effect. Pop is a term used for design of the late Aesthetic Movement rosewood cabinet (see p.326) 1950s and 1960s that exploited popular culture. Furniture could be made very Mid-century Modern chair cheaply and took the form of gimmicky, by Eames (see p.451) brightly coloured pieces, often inspired by the space age and designed predominantly for a young audience. Characteristics of Pop are bright, moulded plastics and organic, amorphous forms. Postmodern Mollusc desk (see p.519) Mid-century Modern Pop wire-cone chair Postmodern (see p.480) Mostly associated with designers working in the United States Peaking in the 1980s, Postmodernism was a style that rejected and Scandinavia after the end of World War II, Mid-century the ideals of Modernism and promoted the creation of eclectic, Modern furniture was a natural extension of Modernism, but distinctive furniture. First expressed in architecture, the designers had a looser, altogether more sculptural approach to Postmodern style was interpreted in a variety of ways by furniture- furniture. They continued to make use of the latest technological makers. Some borrowed motifs from different historic styles and advances, which now included the production of moulded incorporated them into a single piece, often made from a mixture plastics, foam padding, and lightweight aluminium frames. of expensive and inexpensive materials. Others produced “High Characteristic of the period was the experimentation with Tech” pieces, or minimalist, unadorned designs using rudimentary innovative, often organic, shapes and a bolder use of colour. materials such as clear acrylic and wicker.



ancient Furniture 4000BCe -1600Ce

4000 BCE –1600 CE20 ANCIENT FURNITURE ANCIENT EGYPT ANCIENT EGYPTIAN FURNITURE is better documented bed, a carrying chair, and other items including Golden Throne This throne from than that of other ancient civilizations, and it was numerous boxes. The tomb of Tutankhamen, who Tutankhamen’s tomb has a obviously very well regarded in its day. Indeed, was born in c.1340BCE and died more than 1,000 wooden frame wrapped in gold excavations at sites in Mesopotamia and further years after Hetepheres, contained artefacts designed and silver sheets with inlaid, afield have shown that furniture of Egyptian specifically for the burial site: his funerary couch, for semiprecious stones, and lion’s origin was also exported and given in tribute example, is carved in the form of Ammit, the eater of head and paw decoration. to foreign dignitaries. the dead, a god with the head of a crocodile, the body of a leopard, and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus. Low, straight-legged tables were used to display The ancient Egyptian world-view included a Tutankhamen ruled for less than ten years, and much water vessels or the faience vases so treasured by complex set of beliefs regarding the afterlife. The speculation surrounds the circumstances of his death. Egyptians. Stands designed specifically for vases were Egypitans believed that one aspect of the eternal soul, constructed from timber poles terminating in a collar “Ka”, was the double of the physical body, freed at the When Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamen’s that supported the vessel. moment of death but able to return to the corpse at tomb in 1922, there were immediate consequences for will. This aspect of the soul required sustenance in the decorative arts. Art Deco furniture, in particular, Beds were usually made of timber, although metal order to continue to exist and this is why the burial reflected the influence of ancient Egyptian forms and and ivory were also used. Woven cord was suspended chambers of Egyptian dignitaries were filled not only decorative motifs, just as furniture of the French between the two sides of the frame to support a with food, but also with ceremonial and household Empire period had done following Napoleon’s mattress of folded linen. There was no uniform height: furniture that represented the highest achievements of triumphant entry into Egypt in 1798. many beds were low, although some were high enough Egyptian craftsmen. Being perishable, wooden frames to require a low step or mounting board. did not always survive interment. However, gold DOMESTIC FURNITURE casings and ivory inlays, found on tomb floors, have Depictions of items in everyday use by the more WOODS enabled Egyptologists to recreate the furniture. affluent members of society have been preserved in Timbers available to ancient Egyptians included paintings and carvings. The most common item of native sycamore fig, acacia, and sidder, a hardwood SECRETS FROM THE TOMBS furniture documented was the stool – both three- and also known now as “Christ’s Thorn”. These were Reconstructions of artefacts found in the tomb of four-legged types, with varying degrees of decoration. supplemented by woods imported from Middle Eastern Queen Hetepheres have revealed an elaborate canopy trading partners, such as cypress and Lebanese The folding stool, constructed from a pair of cedar, which were also used for boat construction. wooden frames and a slung leather seat, CONSTRUCTION AND DECORATION originated in the Middle The arid climate curtailed the growth of trees, so Kingdom and became a large pieces of timber were hard to come by. This staple of ancient interior led to a certain amount of ingenuity on the part of design, from Aqua Sulis to Constantinople. Another kind of stool in common use had a concave seat, supported by four upright legs linked with stretchers and reinforced with diagonal braces. Copy of a wall painting This painting from the Tomb of Rekhmira, 1475BCE, shows an Egyptian youth constructing a chair using a bow drill to bore a hole in the seat. TIMELINE 4000BCE –31BCE c.4000BCE The c.3150BCE The earliest known hieroglyphs, Djoser, is built at It remains the highest building the necropolis of on Earth for more than 4,000 years. Egyptians discover found in a tomb at Abydos, date from this Saqqara. papyrus, the period. Originally used as an accounting tool, c.2540BCE Most authorities date precursor to these symbols developed into a complete and c.2560BCE The Great modern-day paper, complex written language. the construction of the Great Sphinx and guard the Pyramid of Khufu, or to this period, during the reign of King secret closely for c.3100–2125BCE The Old Kingdom sees Cheops, is built from Khafre, although some controversial thousands of years. some two million theorists contest the Great Sphinx the introduction of the 365-day calendar blocks of stone. may be 12,000 years old. Sphinx in front in Egypt, as well as the construction of of King Khafre’s some of the most enduring monuments Ruins of Karnak temple c.2040–1640BCE Egypt is reunited under pyramid, which is ever created by man. complex and obelisk, in the desert region Luxor, Thebes, Egypt. the Middle Kingdom and trade with foreign of Giza, Eygpt. c.2630BCE The world’s first major stone nations is resumed. structure, the Step Pyramid of King

ANCIENT EGYPT 21 4000 BCE –1600 CE The painting on the domed lid depicts Tutankhamen hunting lions in the desert. This panel depicts a chariot- Painted box This box from borne Tutankhamen Tutankhamen’s tomb has a defeating the Nubian army. domed lid above a rectilinear case and is decorated all over Egyptian carpenters, who developed many of the society, lion’s paws. Among the finest examples known with exquisite painted images sophisticated panelling and joining methods that to have existed are stools with goose-head terminals, of Tutankhamen in heroic have been used ever since. inlaid with ivory eyes and neck feathers. pursuits. c.1347–1337BCE. Upholstery was usually Dovetails, mortice-and-tenon joints, and even limited to rolls of Bed from the tomb of Tutankhamen This bed has tongue-and-groove were well known, alongside more linen or other fabrics. a rectangular wooden frame sheathed in gold leaf, primitive techniques involving pegging and lashing. Furniture was also painted and a mat of woven cords. The bed has a headrest Some workshops specialized in complex intarsia and, in fact, the ancient and is supported on animal-shaped legs, which designs, often painstakingly constructed from tiny Egyptians sowed the terminate in paws. c.1567–1320BCE. slivers of the most valuable timbers. Untidy joins or embryonic seeds of poor-quality wood were frequently masked with Western art that continue veneer, gesso, and paint. to flourish and develop today. The “frontalist” style, in which figures Surface decoration was an important consideration, are depicted with the head in profile and and the finest furniture was sheathed in silver or gold the torso facing outwards, was a defining leaf. Carved and applied decoration could be just as characteristic of ancient Egyptian culture. elaborate. The legs of a folding stool often terminated in ducks’ heads or, for a higher-ranking member of Valley of the Kings, c.1550–1070BCE The warrior kings of the c.1300BCE The Biblical account of Moses projects such as the Ramessuem which contains tomb complex, decorated with the tombs of New Kingdom aggressively defend Egypt leading the Israelites from Egypt, as exaggerated accounts of the many pharaohs, from foreigners and embark on a programme related in the Book of Exodus, dates king’s achievements. including that of consolidation and an expansion of power. from this period. of Tutankhamen. 31BCE Egypt and Greece c.1540BCE The Egyptian kings 1279–1213BCE c.1470BCE Thutmose I decrees the are incorporated into the abandon the necropolis The 66-year reign Roman Empire following extension of the massive Karnak temple at Memphis and begin of Ramesses II is the defeat of Anthony and complex, including the erection of a to construct tombs in characterized by Cleopatra’s naval forces at mighty obelisk, which still exists. the Valley of the Kings. great building the Battle of Actium. Thutmose I was the first of around 60 figures This wooden stool Statue of Ramesses and his daughter from to be interred here. has lion supports the Karnak temple complex. and a lattice design. c.715–332BCE.

4000 BCE –1600 CE22 ANCIENT FURNITURE ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME THE CITY-STATES OF ANCIENT GREECE fostered a golden wood, and our knowledge of them is limited to Roman strongbox This strongbox is made age of culture that was far more sophisticated than depictions on vases, paintings, and carvings. of bronze with plaster relief decoration. that of Egypt. A more personal spirit of inquiry and Such boxes were used to hold important curiosity prospered, and mankind began to seek ANCIENT AND ENDURING MODELS household items, especially ladies’ scientific and philosophical solutions to the The diphros okladias was a direct appropriation cosmetics and jewellery. fundamental conundrums of life. The Minoans of of the Egyptian X-frame stool, and was certainly ancient Crete were great record-keepers, although in use as long ago as the Aegean period. A more ergonomics. There is evidence that the ancient more substantial evidence of their culture has proved original Greek stool design was the bathros, Greeks also used stools that were specifically elusive, limited to excavations of palaces. The Palace consisting of a flat, square top supported on designed to support infants. of Minos, when excavated, revealed a mighty stone four legs. Similarly, the Greeks made use of throne, proving that Europeans have been using Egyptian-style chairs for many years until they Tables were usually constructed with three legs to chairs for 4,000 years. developed the klismos, a design of extraordinary aid balance on the uneven earth or plaster floors of the longevity that is still encountered to this day. Greek home. The Greek word kline, root of the English THE GREEK HOUSE “recline”, was used to describe both beds and couches, The average Athenian male spent very little time at Regarded by the Greeks as a feminine piece of which were used while eating. The poor made their home, but devoted his attentions to civic activities furniture, the klismos has four curved legs that beds on the ground, while wealthier Greeks had at the Agora, religious commitments, and the bend under the seat of the chair before sweeping wooden, bronze, or ivory bedsteads on which they Gymnasium. As a result, there was not a great need back outwards as they reach the floor. The shaped arranged animal skins, woollen cloths, and linen. for furniture. A typical house consisted of two back, called a stile, displays an awareness of Kline were raised on legs at a height that allowed the pillared courts – the andronitis, or men’s apartment, occupant to reach the dining table. A number of these and the gynaeconitis, or women’s apartment, which couches would be present in the andron, or dining was used as a general living room. Surrounding room, of the richest Greeks. Some were constructed these courts were small cells used as sleeping from valuable imported wood, or decorated with quarters. The most important furnishings were the marquetry designs or precious metal inlays. hearth, at which offerings were made to the goddess Hestia, and an altar to Zeus. Seating furniture, The furniture of Etruria is known only through tables, and beds were made predominantly from excavation, as no Etruscan texts survive. Immigrants attracted to the area bought with them knowledge from the flowering civilizations of Greece, Egypt, and Asia Minor. Forms from all over the ancient world, such as the Egyptian X-chair and the Greek kline, thus found their way to the Italian peninsula before the advent of the Roman Empire. Etruscan sarcophagus This terracotta sarcophagus depicts the THE CONFLUENCE OF TWO CULTURES dead couple lying together, supported on a mattress and pillows, Hellenistic influence spread east into Asia Minor and on a low couch raised on carved, square-section legs. Quite often, west into Magna Grecia, the Italian peninsula. This couches were wide enough for two people. c.525BCE. TIMELINE 1250BCE –80CE 1250BCE Accounts 753BCE This is the date c.500BCE The development Ionic capital at the top of a column, part of the Parthenon, Athens. of the wars fought most commonly given for of the Ionic column by the Achaeans the foundation of Rome represents a refinement 323BCE Alexander the Great dies, having (a coalition of by Romulus and Remus, of ancient Greek Greek forces) descendants of Aeneas, architecture. spread the Hellenistic civilization across against the the defeated hero of Troy. Europe and south Asia. Trojans may be 480BCE The Greeks based on events c.530BCE Pythagoras that occurred win a decisive victory at at this time. founds a mystical order at the Battle of Salamina, Croton, devoted to learning thwarting Persian efforts Chair from a tomb and spiritual contemplation. to conquer all of Europe. in Salamina, Cyprus. 8th century BCE. Bronze Roman tripod from 432BCE The Greek Praeneste. 7th century BCE. Parthenon is completed.

ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME 23 expansion led to a clash between Greece in ancient Greece, both in size and opulence. Steps A Greek vase This vase is painted with images of women. One of them and Rome in southern Italy around were needed to climb onto the highest bedsteads. is sitting on a klismos chair, which has outswept front and back legs. 280BCE. The decisive Battle of Actium in Gold and silver feet, and veneers of precious woods 31BCE ushered in the period of Pax Romana, and and even tortoiseshell, displayed the wealth of the mirror. The glass manufacturers of Siddon, a port spelt the end of Greek independence from Rome. owner. One furniture innovation that the Romans city in present-day Lebanon, failed to become as Integration was swift and fruitful on both sides, and never quite developed to fruition was the glass popular as the polished silver mirrors that were Roman influence on the Greek world eventually in widespread use. resulted in a rejection of asceticism in favour of a more gleeful conspicuous consumption. The people of Rome were famous bon viveurs – so much so that Rome was forced to make periodic legislation against more extravagant trends, such as superfluous culinary largesse and the fashion for sheer, silk fabrics. This decadence, a marked contrast to the austerity of ancient Greece, was reflected in the furnishing and decoration of Roman homes, which became increasingly sumptuous through luxury imports from Asia Minor. Furniture was made in a greater variety of forms than ever before, and decorative elements grew more refined. ROMAN FURNITURE The basic Roman table was circular, and was usually set on tripod legs for extra stability. The feet were regularly carved to mimic animals’ feet, such as lions, just as they had been in Egypt and, later, Greece. The monopodium – a table supported by a single central pillar – was a later innovation, inspired by Eastern furniture, while a half-moon table, known as the mensa lunata, was designed to be used alongside a crescent-shaped sofa. Hospitality was a salient feature of Roman life and, as a receptacle for food, the table was therefore an important possession. Maple and African citrus, and in particular the roots, were especially prized timbers that were used for the best tables. The Latin sella was a chair, of which there were many types. The sella curulis was a chair of state and was another descendant of the Egyptian X-chair, although it was not collapsible and had a thick, cushioned seat. The sella curulis, or curule chair, was an extremely potent symbol of power, and depictions of these chairs can be seen on Roman coins. Beds became grander than those used The Via Appia was built to join Rome with the 312BCE The construction of the Via 79CE The Roman town of Pompeii is for 100 days. The three-tier structure was southern provinces of the Italian peninsula. able to seat at least 50,000 spectators. Appia, the famous Roman road, begins destroyed following an eruption of Mount under Appius Claudius Caecus. Vesuvius. The rediscovery of Pompeii Colosseum The first stone and nearby Herculaneum in the amphitheatre built in Rome. c.50BCE The military campaigns of 18th century gave modern 70–82CE. scholars a great insight into Julius Caesar extend the Roman Roman society. Empire into France and Germany. He launches the 80CE Titus inaugurates the first Roman invasion of Britain. Colosseum in Rome with a 64CE Fire rages through Rome for calendar of games lasting a week, destroying much of the Statue of Julius Ceasar city. Nero oversees the reconstruction (100–44BCE). on a grander scale than ever before.

4000 BCE –1600 CE24 ANCIENT FURNITURE ANCIENT CHINA THE BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION in China are so celebrated in the Ming period never fell Horseshoe chair This chair is made from huanghuali wood in a simple unknown. What is certain is that by the 18th century from fashion, but was transformed into shape in which the back rail and arms form a continuous semicircle. The BCE most of modern China was ruled by a single, something far more expressive and used ever meticulous craftsmanship and construction makes use of mortise-and- militaristic dynasty known as the Shang, who had more liberally. Chair backs or legs were often tenon joints. c.1550–1650. H:97cm (381⁄4in); D:59cm (193⁄4in) (seat). already developed a complex system of writing and carved from top to bottom with detailed, a sophisticated agrarian economy. naturalistic designs. Linear styles gave way BEAUTIFUL, PRACTICAL CONSTRUCTION to a more fluid approach that incorporated Furniture components were joined by the mortise- A TRADITIONAL AESTHETIC graceful curves and shapes. and-tenon method – the dowels, nails, and, Wooden furniture was made in China from the eventually, glues that were employed so widely earliest times. Furniture, excavated from ancient Domestic furniture remained utilitarian and in the West rarely, if ever, found favour in China. Chu sites dating back to c.250BCE, shows that unassuming; beaded or bevelled edges and simple Wherever possible, curved components were cut wooden furniture and lacquer decoration have been inlays of light metal provided an aesthetic respite from a single piece of timber, so that they were in continuous use in China for many hundreds from the plain, flat surfaces. Pieces made for Court completely seamless. Craftsmen disguised joins and of years. However, it was not until the rise of use were more sumptuous: mother-of-pearl, placed them in less visible areas to avoid detracting international trade, great cities, and a wealthy porcelain, enamel, and even precious stones from the beauty of a piece. elite that cabinet-makers made the great aesthetic were often used as decoration on the most advances that would characterize their art. important palace furniture. Aside from the aesthetic considerations, mortise- and-tenon joints are particularly suited to Chinese The golden age of furniture production in China POPULAR WOODS furniture for a more practical reason. The changeable began during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when Expendable furniture was made from cheap bamboo, and humid climate prevalent in much of the country the ideal was simple furniture with clean lines and but Chinese cabinet-makers prized indigenous causes wood to shrink and expand regularly. The sparse decoration that was limited to latticework hardwoods such as rosewood above all others. These widespread use of lacquer as a decorative treatment and open or relief carving. were generally sourced from the warmer areas of on furniture also had a practical application; the southern China, although imports from Indonesia all-over covering helped to provide the piece with During the early years of the Qing dynasty and other southeast Asian nations supplemented resistance to insect infestation. (1644–1912) this ideal remained entrenched. home-grown stocks. Burr woods were also popular, However, as China grew wealthy in her stability but were usually used sparingly, due to cost and the decorative arts began to reflect a new attitude scarcity. The most coveted timber of all was zitan, of confidence and prosperity. Pieces of furniture an extremely dense and attractive variety of became larger and heavier, whilst always retaining sandalwood that was literally worth its weight in gold. a fundamental, simple purity. The rich carving Low table This rectangular table made from huanghuali wood has a carved apron and short cabriole legs, which have carved animal masks at the top and end in claw feet. c.1368–1644 TIMELINE 2800BCE –1516CE c.2800BCE The I Ching, or Book of Changes human sacrifice and The Great Wall of China begins in earnest, paving expanded the borders of winding across a the way for ever-greater reputedly dates from this period and is China to more or less hilly region of China. cultural and commercial their present extent. exchange between China traditionally accredited to Fu dynasty, consolidates and the rest of the world. Hsi, the mythical first c.470BCE The “Analects”, defensive walls into the beginnings of the Great 25CE Buddhism is Emperor of China. a posthumous collection of Wall. He is later buried Confucius’ teachings and with an army of 7,000 brought to China by c.1600–1040BCE The dialogues becomes the terracotta soldiers. immigrants from Persia most important Chinese and India. The religion Shang dynasty are the philosophical text. c.50BCE Trade along goes on to experience earliest Chinese people c.210BCE Qin Shi Huang, the Silk Road between Terracotta soldiers at the China and the West tomb of Quin Shi Huang to leave textual evidence ruler of the short-lived Qin of their existence, in the form of “oracle bones”. Genghis Khan Shang rulers practised

ANCIENT CHINA 25 4000 BCE –1600 CE THE CONVENTIONS OF USE Reverse painting on glass This The way the Chinese used their furniture was painting of a Chinese interior governed by long tradition. It was not the custom depicts a bamboo table decorated to set aside a single area of the home for dining – with fretwork, a bed, a ceramic as people did in the West – so dining tables rest, and a low table. were often portable, so that they could be moved to different parts of the house. Convention dictated The case contains that no more than eight to ten people should be two pannelled doors. seated around a dining table, so that everyone had access to the dishes of food placed in the centre. If The base of the this number was exceeded, diners were split into cupboard contains smaller groups. They usually sat at stools fitted with three narrow drawers. integral footrests to keep their feet off the floor. Ming Dynasty cupboard This Due to the Chinese custom of sitting or reclining simple, elegant cupboard is on the floor when reading or writing, lower tables made of huanghuali, a relative were preferred for these activities. Armchairs were of rosewood which was very not widely used. They were considered symbols of popular for high-quality Ming power, so each family had just one, reserved for use Dynasty furniture. Late 16th by the head of the household. century. H:142.3cm (56in) W:54.9cm (215⁄8in). The Chinese scholar, an esteemed member of society who devoted his time to the study of time- honoured texts, traditionally amassed various treasures that were significant to his calling. Among these numbered fine pieces of rosewood furniture, such as a desk and chair used for reading. Examples of scholars’ furniture from the Ming and Qing periods are museum pieces today. Furniture was generally arranged around the edge of a room, against the walls, in marked contrast to the Western penchant for informal clusters of furniture. times of State sponsorship Blue and white vase from 1279CE Kublai Khan, grandson of the great most prosperous in China’s history. and vicious repression. the Ming Dynasty. warrior Genghis, inaugurates the Mongol 1406CE Construction of the Forbidden 610CE Emperor Yang It is the oldest dated Yuan dynasty, the first non-indigenous printed material known dynasty to rule China. Mongol City begins in Beijing. This extensive orders a massive to exist. dominion over China continues complex of buildings and extension of the Grand until the Ming dynasty took courtyards houses emperors of Canal, begun during the Wu 1271CE Marco Polo sets power in 1368. the Ming and Qing dynasties. dynasty. As a result of these works, the canal stretches more out on his journey to the Court 1368–1644CE The Ming Marco Polo 1516CE The Portuguese than 1,000 miles across China. of Kublai Khan. On his return to Italy he maintains that he spent 17 years in dynasty rules China, reaching a begin to use the town of 868CE A Chinese translation of the Khan’s service and travelled extensively peak of power and influence at Macau in southern China as throughout China. the beginning of the 15th century. a staging port for trade, thus Sanskrit Diamond Sutra, found in a sealed The period as a whole is one of the establishing the first European cave in Dunhuang, dates from this period. settlement in the Orient.

4000 BCE –1600 CE26 ANCIENT FURNITURE THE MIDDLE AGES WHEN ODOACER, CHIEFTAIN OF THE HERULI, overthrew Although the Empire persisted in the East – centred the last of the Western Roman Emperors in 476CE, on Constantinople – its Greek Hellenistic tradition was it spelt the end of more than 600 years of Roman now tempered by the Christian ideals of the Roman dominion over Western Europe. The ensuing rulers. Christianity also informed the culture of the territorial disputes resulted in a violent dislocation West, influenced by an increasingly powerful papacy. of the region’s Classical inheritance, which naturally The perpetuation of the Roman Empire in Byzantium, influenced the arts and, therefore, furniture. which flourished from the end of the eighth century, created stability. The old Classical aesthetic was fused with Eastern influences, becoming more linear and taking on abstract, geometric decoration. In Byzantine interiors, mosaic was brighter and more colourful than its Roman precursor and was used as a wall decoration more often than on the floor. BYZANTINE FURNITURE Two panels from a triptych on wood These two panels painted by the The Byzantine furniture trade distinguished between Master of Flemalle (probably Robert Campin) depict John the Baptist the joiner, who made standard items for the general with Heinrich von Werl and Saint Barbarara in medieval interiors. consumer, and the cabinet-maker, whose more 1438. Each panel: H:101cm (393⁄4in); W:47cm (181⁄2in). architectural designs expressed the aspirations of a thriving and proud culture. The Egyptian X-frame nailed together, or even a hollowed log, it was chair abounded, complete with terminals depicting often the only piece of furniture owned by many the heads and feet of animals, although it was made people. The landed gentry, on the other hand, of heavier timber than ever before, and sometimes usually owned coffers by the dozen, filled with even fashioned from metal. clothes, coins, and other trappings. Chairs remained symbols of power and, as such, Many landlords had itinerant lifestyles because they were often monumental in both size and status – an often-scattered population forced them to spend more akin to grand thrones than modern chairs. a lot of their time travelling between different parts Sophisticated desks fitted with adjustable lectern tops of their estates. A great deal of furniture was for reading revealed a greater appreciation of function. therefore made to be portable. Tapestries, wall Dining tables were very low in deference to the hangings, and cushions were usually removed and Classical manner of eating while reclining, supporting taken from one house to another. Chests designed the diner on one elbow – a practice which is still for the safe transport of goods had curved lids to followed in much of Asia Minor. The most common drain away rain water, and were seldom decorated item of furniture was the chest. Lavish examples except, perhaps for a leather cover. Those that incorporated intarsia work or inlays of stones, ivory, doubled as home furnishings had more comfortable and precious metals. Their more humble cousins flat lids and some also had feet, or even legs. were coffers with simple, flat, hinged lids that also served as beds or benches. GROWING CONSTRUCTION SKILLS As joiners steadily developed more sophisticated FURNITURE IN THE WEST carpentry skills, chests were better made. The The coffer, or chest, was also the most common hutch chest, first recorded in the 13th century, item of furniture in Western Europe. A basic used a primitive kind of dovetail joint reinforced wooden box constructed from six timber boards with a dowel peg, making it much stronger and more durable than anything that had gone before. The Coronation chair This chair in Westminster Abbey was made This superior strength did away with the need for for Edward I to enclose the Stone of Scone, which was seized from iron banding, leaving the entire surface of the the Scots in 1297. c.1300. chest free for carved decoration. TIMELINE 476–1352 476 The fall of the Roman Empire themselves as dominant communities Illuminated Flemish manuscript that depicts of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. in Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex. St. Thomas. c.1276. in the West is precipitated by c.1100 The completion of the Basilica migrating hordes of Goths and 910 William the Pious establishes an abbey Vandals, fleeing from the Huns. of St. Mark’s in Venice marks one of the at Cluny, France, which becomes one of the defining achievements of the Byzantine c.850 Anglo-Saxons, invited largest, most influential monastic orders of architectural style. the Middle Ages. to Britain by the Celts to c.1200 The art of manuscript help fend off Viking 1066 The Norman Conquest of Britain marauders, establish illumination flourishes across is sealed when Duke William of Normandy Western Europe, with the production St. Mark’s, Venice The defeats King Harold’s forces at Hastings. of elaborate picture bibles containing building was completed vignettes framed with Gothic in 1096 but decorative 1095–1270 A series of Crusades are architectural devices. work continued until the 19th century. fought in retaliation against the persecution

The tracery decoration is A geometric frieze design THE MIDDLE AGES 27 similar to the design of runs along the top of Gothic church windows. the decorative panel. The hinged top is undecorated. 4000 BCE –1600 CE Carved coffer This French coffer is made of walnut and is richly carved with flamboyant tracery reminiscent of the reticulated tracery seen in the windows of Gothic cathedrals. Late 15th-century. A moulded base supports the coffer. THE GOTHIC STYLE elaborate tracery of cathedral and church windows, MEDIEVAL INTERIORS The Gothic style – the dominant aesthetic of and the trefoil and quatrefoil motifs used lent Contrary to the common perception of Gothic style the Middle Ages – was perceived as the antithesis themselves equally well to the decoration of benches as stuffy and dark, the interiors and furniture of the of the civilized Classical world. It was a Norman and tables. The upright press developed as a place to period were remarkably light and colourful. innovation, fusing Carolingian and Burgundian store priests’ robes, and began to replace the chest as Furniture-makers usually made do with native woods artistic traditions with Islamic elements from Saracen the preferred receptacle for clothing. – oak in England and northern Europe, pine and fir Sicily. The greatest achievements of Gothic art were in the Alps, and fruitwoods in the Mediterranean. the cathedrals of northern Europe, and elements Another innovation of the Gothic period was Surviving medieval furniture made from oak from this ecclesiastic architecture formed the basis the cupboard, its name derived from its original invariably looks very dark because of its acquired of Gothic furniture design. function, which was to display valuable silver-plate patina, but newly cut oak is much lighter. In (cups) in wealthy households. Regional variations addition, many items of furniture were painted in The Gothic style was based on the replacement of in the style included a predilection for linenfold bold hues, including primary colours and gold tones. the rounded Romanesque arch with the innovative panelling among English and Flemish craftsmen. Chests in particular were often painted. Although pointed arch, a feat of engineering that meant that relatively few examples survive today, it is still churches could be larger, as the weight of a church’s With the exception of Italy, where the prevailing possible to see traces of medieval painting on the roof could be supported on a framework of open- fashion remained Romanesque, the Gothic style ceilings and walls of many churches and cathedrals, work piers and ribs, instead of massively thick walls. dominated Europe until the 15th century, and which were originally decorated in the same way. This architectural structure was reflected in the lingered even after the Renaissance sought to reject it in favour of a return to the Classical tradition. 11th-century Byzantine-style fresco of Christ, 1248 King Ferdinand III of Chartres Cathedral, France. Church coffer made evangelists, and angels. The fresco is in the Building begins in 1194. in France. This Benedictine Basilica Sant’ Angelo in Formis, Italy. Castille, later canonized by moulded oak Pope Clement X, liberates virtually every coronation coffer has Seville from the Saracens, since 1066, and is also fretwork and converting the city’s great the resting place of panelling. mosques into cathedrals more than 12 English End of 15th dedicated to the Virgin. monarchs. century. c.1250 Henry III orders c.1260 The cathedral design that is much imitated all over Europe. the reconstruction of at Chartres in France Westminster Abbey in is completed and 1347–1352 The infamous “Black Death” the Gothic style. It ushers in a new has been the site of standard of Gothic plague ravages Europe, leaving 25 million dead in its wake.

4000 BCE –1600 CE28 ANCIENT FURNITURE RENAISSANCE ITALY THE INSTIGATORS OF THE ITALIAN Renaissance commissions from merchants eager to display their Maiolica Plate Maiolica is the term used to define the characteristic realized that they were entering a new, modern era success and good taste. The same spirit of scientific white-glazed pottery of Renaissance Italy. The milkiness came from even as they helped to lay its foundations. Leonardo inquiry that led to remarkable discoveries by a tin oxide that was added to the glaze. This plate depicts a Maiolica Bruni was the first to present a tripartite view of Copernicus, Vesalius, and Galileo also pervaded the painter at work. c.1510. history comprised of antiquity and the modern age, arts. Andrea Palladio recommended architectural separated by an intervening middle period, or “dark proportions that were based on models from the and the Farnese of Rome, engaged the finest age”, characterized by the neglect of Classical Classical world, and Filippo Brunelleschi clarified designers and craftsmen to produce monumental knowledge and accomplishments. the laws of linear perspective. Artists jettisoned the items of furniture in marble, inlaid with semi- elongated, stylized figures of medieval painting in precious stones and decorated with family crests A SPIRIT OF ENQUIRY favour of more accurate depictions of the human and emblems. In the 14th century, the affluent city of Florence in form, facilitated by advances in anatomy. A new Tuscany emerged from a period of civil strife and realism, fused with the humanist principles of the pestilence into an age of unprecedented prosperity. age, took root within the fine and decorative arts. The peculiarly Italian urban culture, and the republican attitudes of Florentines in particular, THE EXPLOSION OF PATRONAGE predisposed them to the emerging philosophy of All these developments influenced the furniture of civic humanism that informed Renaissance thinking. the period. The middle classes built sumptuous town The universities and merchant classes began to houses and palazzi, and began to fill these opulent reappraise the science, philosophy, art, and design living spaces with furniture and decorative artworks of ancient Greece and Rome, and Florence’s great that reflected their status. The greatest families, such wealth brought many artists to the city – all seeking as the Medici of Florence, the Montefeltro of Urbino, The table top is inlaid At the centre of the MARRIAGE CHESTS with marble and semi- table top are two large The cassone, or marriage chest, was one of the most precious stones. alabaster panels. prized objects in any home and, as such, no expense was spared in its beautification. The The lilies in the design side panels were often covered with coloured of the inlay are Farnese or gilded gesso, built up into relief patterns or family emblems. sculpted to depict Classical figures and scenes. The best painters and sculptors in Italy were The table top rests on commissioned to work on these chests, and those three massive, carved, that survive today exhibit a richness of decoration marble piers, which bear that is equalled only by the religious art of the day. the arms of Cardinal The increasing secularization of the arts now made it Alessandro Farnese. acceptable for people to display objects with lavish surface decoration in their homes. Marble and alabaster table This table was made for the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, after a design by architect DECORATIVE WORK Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1507–73). H:96cm Furniture, often made from walnut or willow, was (373⁄4in); W:381cm (150in); D:168cm (661⁄4in). decorated with marquetry and inlays of ivory, stone, or precious woods such as ebony, or ornate, grotesque carvings. Grotesque ornament – the word derives from the Italian grottesco – sought to provoke a sense of uneasy fun by blurring the boundaries between the natural and man-made worlds. A seat TIMELINE 1324–1570 influenced Renaissance returns to Rome, bringing Marble statue of David by cartographers and explorers. with it the power, influence, Michelangelo, which is View of the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, as seen from the and wealth needed to reverse more than twice life-size. bell tower of Santo Spirito. 1418 Filippo Brunelleschi the city’s long decline. c.1440 Work begins 1324 Marco Polo dies in Venice, with debate wins a competition to 1429 The “Gates of design the cupola for the on the Palazzo Pitti, still raging about the accuracy of his tales cathedral of Santa Maria Paradise”, the magnificent first commissioned about his Oriental journey. His writings later del Fiore in Florence. His doors created by Ghiberti for by Luca Pitti in an model was inspired by the Baptistry of San Giovanni attempt to outshine the Greek and Roman in Florence, are installed. residence of his arch construction techniques. rivals the Medici family. Gates of Paradise, Baptistry of San 1420 After a sojourn Giovanni The doors feature 28 1469 Lorenzo “The gilded bronze panels carved in Avignon, the papacy with scenes from the Bible. Magnificent” di Medici

RENAISSANCE ITALY 29 4000 BCE –1600 CE The Duke of Urbino’s study at his palace at Gubbio. The walls of this The chair, traditionally a symbol of status and Sgabello chair This chair, from 15th- reconstructed study are decorated with wood inlays in walnut, beech, power, underwent a process of democratization century Florence, is made of carved rosewood, oak, and fruitwood on a walnut base. They depict open during the Renaissance that transformed it into and inlaid walnut. 1489–91. cupboards revealing the instruments of a scholar. an accessible staple of home life. The faldstool, or X-chair, made from two pairs of short beams carved in the form of an open clam shell is both intersecting at a central joint and linked by a whimsical and unsettling. Decorated furniture was stretcher, became common. The most luxurious placed in equally decorative interiors, where walls examples were covered with a thin layer of silver, also featured audacious trompe l’oeil designs that or upholstered with velvet, but most of them were looked like windows, doors, shelves, or vistas. more modest. The basic form of the faldstool originated in antiquity, and a leather seat slung ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCE between two X-frames was used in Renaissance Renaissance art, like the Gothic style of the Middle Italy just as it had been in ancient Greece. A side Ages, was primarily led by developments in chair called the sgabello chair was basically a stool architecture, and the use of columns – a staple of with an octagonal seat and a long decorated back Greek and Roman building – was now incorporated splat. Sometimes the back splat could be removed into furniture design. Caryatids – columnar supports to turn the chair into a stool. depicting female figures – were especially prevalent. ascends to power in Florence. His Greek sculpture, the work of 1506 The rediscovery of the 1543 Copernicus describes unprecedented patronage of the arts Rhodian sculptors. This marble contributes to the flowering of the piece features the Trojan priest Laocoon group, a lost Greek his heliocentric model city during subsequent years. sculpture, provokes jubilant of the heavens in De Laocoon. c.50BCE. scenes in Rome, and it is Revolutionibus Orbium 1498 Leonardo da Vinci H:184cm (721⁄2in). escorted to the Vatican Coelestium. amid the pealing of the completes The Last Supper, city’s church bells. Andrea Palladio 1570 Andrea Palladio considered by many to be his most perfect achievement. 1532 Niccolo Machiavelli’s publishes his seminal work I Quattro Libri dell’ 1504 Michelangelo completes David, political masterpiece, The Architettura, laying out Prince, written as a guide to in detail the architectural after three years work. The sculpture statecraft for aspiring rulers, principles that go on to make was hewn from a single block of is published posthumously. him a master of the art. marble called The Giant.

4000 BCE –1600 CE30 ANCIENT FURNITURE RENAISSANCE EUROPE A COMBINATION OF HUMANIST intellectualism Niccolò dell’Abbate to decorate the interiors of A Caquetoire or “gossip” chair This chair, and high-society patronage eventually brought his new château at Fontainebleau. made from carved walnut has a solid X- Renaissance ideals to France and northern Europe, frame with a rectangular back rail and just as it had done south of the Alps. The French A distinct school of art evolved around carved scrolling arms. The seat is made of claim on Naples, and its wider ambitions on the the prolonged activity at the château, and the leather. 16th century. H:85cm (331⁄2in); Italian states in general, led to a number of military Fontainebleau style was subsequently exported W:50cm (192⁄3in); D:60cm (232⁄3in) BEA campaigns and intermittent rule over portions of the throughout northern Europe. This was essentially a peninsula. This served to increase intellectual and French interpretation of Italian Mannerism: a high artistic commerce between France and the centres of style that looked to the work of earlier Renaissance Renaissance thought, such as Florence and Rome. artists rather than to nature for stylistic cues. RENAISSANCE SPREADS TO FRANCE The Château de Chambord, a castle built in Continued papal rule over the enclave of Avignon the Loire valley by Francis I, is perhaps the finest further promoted Italian influence within France. example of Renaissance architecture in France. Many of the artists commissioned to work on the French Renaissance furniture was shaped to a large great frescoes of the Palace of the Popes came from extent by architectural developments. Jacques Siena. This tradition was enthusiastically continued Androuet du Cerceau published works that included by François I when he invited Italian luminaries such furniture designs. Many of his engravings of as Benvenuto Cellini, Francesco Primaticcio, and architectural embellishments and details were modified for decorative use in furniture. He drew his Gallery of François I, Château de Fontainebleau The gallery has 12 inspiration from antiquity, and was particularly fond narrative frescoes, sculptural relief borders, and carved walnut of acanthus leaves, plumes, and armorial motifs. wainscotting. The greatest decorated gallery in a French château, it Exotic and fantastical beasts were favourite themes introduced the Italian Mannerist style to France. c.1533–40. for carved decoration. Walnut replaced oak as the favoured timber for furniture, the tight grain lending itself particularly well to relief carving. Human figures, often in the form of caryatids, are found more often on French furniture than on any produced elsewhere during the same period. GERMAN-SPEAKING COUNTRIES The ideals of the Italian Renaissance first reached the German-speaking countries through artists such as Albrect Dürer, who had visited Italy. However, a more direct influence on the design of furniture came from the Kleinmeister, the designers of ornament, based in Nuremberg, Westphalia, and the Low Countries, who produced engraved or woodcut patterns inspired by Classical antiquity and Italian examples. Their patterns composed of running floral motifs, birds, animals, naked figures, urns, and trophies, were adopted by a variety of craftsmen and cabinet-makers. However, the existence of powerful guilds in cities such as Berlin, meant that new types of furniture were much slower to develop as the approved TIMELINE 1455–1588 1494 Charles VIII sends an army to Martin Luther originally founded by Francis I to The Louvre palace in Paris In 1546, work began decorate his new Fontainebleau to transform the former fortress into a luxurious Engraving of Johannes Gutenberg in his workshop capture Naples. It succeeds but château, helps to spread royal residence. Today the building is known as showing his proofsheet. is later pushed back by an Renaissance ideals. a world-famous art gallery. alliance of Venetian, Milanese, c.1455 Johannes Gutenberg publishes his and papal forces. 1534 The “Day of the 42-line bible at Mainz, the first book to be 1525 Giovanni de Placards” occurs: towns in printed using movable type. northern France are deluged Verrazanno sails to the with leaflets condemning Americas. He claims the Roman Catholic mass, in Newfoundland for the sympathy with the Protestant French crown. theologies of Martin Luther and John Calvin. c.1530–1560 The Fontainebleau School,

RENAISSANCE EUROPE 31 designs that apprentices had to master rarely altered. The cities of Nuremberg and Augsburg, which did not have guilds, became famous for their furniture-makers, such as Peter Flötner and Lorenz Stöer, who published woodcut designs for intarsia panels popular in Augsburg furniture decoration. NEW STYLES The structural developments of Renaissance furniture included the evolution of the throne chair, which had usually had a chest base in the Middle Ages, into a lighter style that was supported by pillars around a bottom rail. Open chair arms became more popular, reflecting the trend towards lighter furniture. The French caquetoire (gossip) chair was created as a reaction to changing fashions, and had a wide, trapezoidal seat that was designed to accommodate flowing skirts. Upholstery became more common, although the majority of chairs and benches still had hard, wooden surfaces. New types of case furniture developed, such as the dresser that evolved from the medieval sideboard and was constructed from various combinations of pillars, shelving, and cabinets enclosed with doors. The cabinet, used in medieval Europe to store and display silver-plate, now became more opulent. The treasures of a Renaissance household usually included jewellery and various artistic trinkets, requiring numerous, small drawers for their safe storage. These drawers were often lined with fine cloth to protect the contents. Cupboards in southern Germany, which had originally been created by placing one chest on top of another, developed into a more useful storage space without a frieze dividing the top and bottom half, although the old form remained popular after 1600. Long dining tables were still made from a simple top on trestles, as in the Middle Ages. There were no fixed dining areas in noblemen’s houses so tables needed to remain portable. Cupboard after Peter Flötner This massive, elaborately carved, two- part, panelled cupboard from southern Germany is architectural in form. Decoration is in the Renaissance style and features allegorical figures on the upper doors, a central leaf-carved frieze, and lower doors with stylized urns and foliage. 1539 The Edict of Villers-Cotterêts makes Château de Chambord, built between 1519 and Vinci may have visited and been Nostradamus collections of 100 mystical 1547. This château is one of the finest examples involved in the design. quatrains, claiming they French, rather than Latin, the official of Renaissance architecture in France. prophesy future events. language of France. 1552 Ambroise Paré, a great 1547 The Château de Chambord in the Loire 1562 A massacre of 1543 The Flemish anatomist Andreas surgeon, publishes the valley, commissioned by Francis I in 1519, results of his investigations Huguenots at Vassy sparks Vesalius publishes De Humani Corporis is completed. It is thought that Leonardo da into vascular ligation, which religious civil war until the Fabrica, the first text to contradict theories reduced the need for the 1598 Edict of Nantes. presented by Galen in the second century. painful and dangerous cauterization of wounds. 1588 Michel de Montaigne 1546 Work begins on Pierre de Lescot’s 1555 Nostradamus, royal publishes the third edition new design for the Louvre. Francis I begins of his Essais, which go on to collect paintings – still housed there physician to Charles IX, to have a great impact on today – that include Leonardo da Vinci’s publishes the first of ten French and English literature. Mona Lisa.



17th century 1600-1700

1600–170034 17TH CENTURY power and grandeur The 17th century was an age of great wealth and empire building, epitomized by a struggle for power through trade, warfare, and the creation of political alliances. Bronze statuette of Louis XIV, the Sun King, on his horse. DURING THE 17TH CENTURY, successive Popes new, anti-Classical style. Spain, Portugal, and of the Thirty Years’ War. The Dutch Republic commissioned architects and artists to build Germany were strongly influenced by the was officially recognized, as was the Swiss magnificent new buildings and monuments Baroque style, but in northern countries, such Confederation, and 350 or so German princes in Rome, to complete the redevelopment of as the Low Countries and England, the style were granted sovereignty. The Holy Roman the city. New churches were erected, palazzos was quieter and more restrained. Emperor was left with diminished power. rebuilt, and fountains and statues constructed, This recognition of absolute sovereignty for creating a dramatic symbol of the power and EXPANSION OF TRADE territories changed the balance of power in wealth of the Catholic Church. At the beginning of the 17th century, profitable Europe. As countries gained independence, trading companies were established by the rulers and artists worked to forge their own This theatrical, sculptural expression of Dutch and the British, opening up new markets national identities. grandeur and luxury was expressed in in the Far East and creating colonies. European architecture, painting, the decorative arts, rulers sought exotic foreign treasures to display ABSOLUTE POWER and even in music, and became known as the in their palaces, and the resulting increase in Louis XIV personified the concept of absolute Baroque style. Rulers and artists came from all trade led to the establishment of a wealthy and power. When he became the King of France over Europe to admire the city and its works of powerful merchant class, which lavished vast in 1661, he moved his court to the Palace of art, then returned to their own countries where sums of money on substantial residences to Versailles and embarked on an ambitious plan they created their own interpretations of the ensure that they were in keeping with the to glorify France and his monarchy through art latest fashions. Inspired by the influx of exotic and design. He ruled as an absolute monarch, materials, craftsmen created flamboyant new and the grandeur of his monarchy inspired designs, primarily for the courts of Europe. other European rulers. Versailles came to symbolize Louis XIV’s authority in matters of THE SOVEREIGN STATE art, and France became the principal producer During the first part of the 17th century, of luxury furniture and other objects. Europe was divided by bloodshed. By the middle of the century, many countries had In 1685, however, Louis XIV revoked the gained independence from their former rulers. Edict of Nantes, which had granted tolerance to The Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 brought an Protestants in France. As a result, many skilled end to the long war between Spain and the artists and craftsmen fled the country for the Low Countries and ended the German phase protection of the Low Countries, Germany, England, and eventually North America. Castle Howard, England Begun in 1699, Castle Howard is considered French-trained artisans thus worked for one of England’s finest Baroque mansions. It was the creation of the monarchs in other countries, ensuring the patron, Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, and two architects, Sir dissemination of elaborate French design John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. throughout Europe by the end of the century. TIMELINE 1600–1700 1601 Gobelin family of dyers sell their factory 1609 Tin-enamelled ware made at Delft. 1640 Secession of Portugal, amalgamated 1643 Louis XIII of France dies. France is 1618 Beginning of Thirty Years’ War. in Paris to Henri IV, who sets up 200 with Spain for 60 years since 1580. ruled under the Regency of Cardinal Mazarin workmen from Flanders to make tapestries. Dutch West African Company founded. until Louis XIV comes of age in 1661. 1642 English Civil War begins. 1602 Dutch East India Company, 1620 Pilgrim Fathers land at Plymouth, 1648 Thirty Years’ War ends with the Bureau Mazarin (see p.36). GK the first modern public company, Massachusetts. Treaty of Westphalia, and Holland gains founded in Java. independence from Spain, becoming a 1621 Dutch West India Company founded. Dutch Republic. 1607 Jamestown, the first English The company later acquires the North 1649 Charles I beheaded and England settlement in North America, American coast from Chesapeake Bay established in Virginia. to Newfoundland. declared a Commonwealth under the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. Statue of Samuel 1608 Samuel de Champlain founds 1630 Paul Vredeman de Vries issues two de Champlain 1651 Dutch settle at Cape of Good Hope. a French settlement at Quebec. volumes of furniture designs.

Carved giltwood fauteuil This elegant armchair Galerie des Glaces, Versailles The Palace of is the epitome of Louis XIV style. The frame is Versailles is dominated by the Galerie des made of elaborately carved giltwood, with carved Glaces (Hall of Mirrors), created to reflect Classical motifs, including satyrs, shells, and the magnificence of Louis XIV’s monarchy. rosettes. The seat and chair back would originally The sumptuousness was originally heightened have been covered in silk or tapestry. c.1710. by fabulous silver furniture, 41 sparkling chandeliers, and gilded candlestands. 1660 Charles II returns from exile as King 1663 The Great Fire of London destroys 1670 English settle in Charles Town 1688 William III of Holland of England. The new court encourages a most of the medieval buildings in London, (Charleston) South Carolina. and his wife Mary accede to revolution in English taste. leading to a vast rebuilding programme. the English throne. Plate Furniture manufactory to supply the French 1682 The Palace of Versailles becomes the glass is cast for the first 1661 Louis XIV becomes royal palaces started at the Gobelins time at Colbert’s mirror workshops in Paris. royal residence of France. The first weaving glass factory in Paris. King of France. mill is established in Amsterdam. Stalker & Parker publish The Palace of Versailles A Treatise of Japanning 1662 Charles II’s marriage 1683 The first German immigrants settle in and Varnishing. Plate featuring William III to Catherine of Braganza North America. 1697 Peter the Great of Russia sets out opens up trade with Goa, the principal source of 1685 Edict of Nantes revoked by Louis XIV. on a year-and-a-half journey to study mother-of-pearl. Louis XIV European ways of life. begins to build the Palace French Protestants flee to the Low Countries of Versailles. and England. All Chinese ports opened to foreign trade. King Charles II

36 17TH CENTURY BAROQUE FURNITURE 1600–1700 TWO QUITE DIFFERENT types of furniture were lacquerware from the Far East and caned furniture made during the 17th century: formal furniture from India, and European craftsmen created their German “silver” table Made by Albrecht Biller in Augsburg for the for staterooms and palaces, and simpler pieces own versions. Dresden Court, this table is made of walnut covered with chased intended for domestic use. and gilt silver. It is one of the few surviving examples of the hugely KEY PIECES expensive silver furniture of the period. c.1715. H:80cm (311⁄2in); Traditionally the aristocracy had moved from one Most grand, formal rooms had a console or side W:120cm (47in); D:81cm (32in). home to another, according to the seasons, but now table intended almost purely for display. The finest residences became more permanent. Furniture no examples had pietra dura tops (see p.39) and carved repository for special collections, however, the longer had to be portable, and substantial pieces and gilded sculptural bases. Advances in glass-making cabinet itself became the showpiece, as skilled were designed for specific rooms, and even for meant that larger mirrors could be made, and it was craftsmen created large-scale versions that were particular positions within rooms. Interiors were fashionable to place a matching mirror above each works of art in their own right, using precious very formal and people began to consider rooms as console table in a room. The design elements of the materials. Rare panels of pietra dura, lacquer panels integrated interiors when commissioning furniture. mirrors and tables were repeated in the architectural from the Orient, and veneers of ebony and ivory As well as grand salons, wealthy homes had more features of the room, such as door architraves, were all incorporated into architecturally inspired intimate, private rooms that required smaller windows, and fireplace surrounds, creating an cabinets. It was the ultimate expression of wealth. pieces of furniture. integrated sense of design. Pairs of girandoles or candlestands were placed in front of mirrors, so that DECORATIVE ELEMENTS LAVISH STYLE their light was reflected in them, illuminating rooms The wealthiest patrons commissioned pietra dura At the beginning of the century, the Italian Baroque that would otherwise have been dark. tabletops or panels for their cabinets. It was also style was dominant in much of Europe. Baroque fashionable to insert exotic, patterned, lacquer panels furniture was designed on a grand scale and The largest chairs were still reserved for the most from Japanese and Chinese cabinets into European intended to impress. Pieces were architectural in important people. Chairs with high backs, sometimes furniture. This was, however, prohibitively expensive, form, with dramatically carved sculptural elements upholstered for greater comfort, were highly desirable. so innovative craftsmen developed their own methods and lavish decoration, which drew on Classical or Wing chairs were first used in France in the middle of imitating lacquerwork, such as japanning (see p.39). of the century, a precursor to the bergère (see p.77). As well as actual lacquered objects, a fashion Renaissance-style motifs. The armchair shape was extended to create the developed for Oriental scenes, known as Chinoiserie. As the century progressed, sofa or settee. In 1620, an upholstered settee was commissioned for the great house of Knole, in Kent. Cabinet-makers became skilled at veneering, using trade, especially with the Far East, This settee had a padded seat and back, held in exotic hardwoods and inlays. The Low Countries, provided furniture-makers with a position by ties on the posts. The design is still in particular, produced exquisite floral marquetry. wealth of exotic new materials, known as a Knole settee. French boullework (see p.54) created a sumptuous including tortoiseshell, mother- decorative veneer for tables and cabinets using of-pearl, ebony, and rosewood. Silks and velvets, usually made in Italy, were detailed brass and tortoiseshell marquetry. phenomenally expensive, and only royalty and the Furniture was imported from wealthiest aristocracy were able to afford upholstered By the end of the century, French furniture design other countries, including furniture. Cane, imported from India by Dutch was highly influential. Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles traders, became popular as it provided a less set the style for the fashionable world. Changes in Late 17th-century Dutch expensive method of covering chair backs and seats. furniture style were keenly watched and interpreted walnut armchair The by craftsmen in Britain and the rest of Europe. The chair seat and carved THE AGE OF THE CABINET finest French pieces, such as tapestries from the oval back are made Replacing the carved buffet popular in the previous Gobelins workshops or cabinets by Boulle, were of cane, which was century, the cabinet, or cabinet-on-stand, became highly sought after in the homes of the wealthy. a fashionable and an object of desire in wealthy households. Cabinets affordable import were primarily intended for display – a response to from India. the new passion for collecting among the wealthy, and the need to house all of the rare and wonderful objects they had acquired. Rather than just a BUREAU MAZARIN Cardinal Mazarin (1602–61) The earliest known example of the bureau Mazarin French bureau This piece is made of native was made in 1669 by Pierre Gole, who became fruitwoods inlaid with floral marquetry and cabinet-maker to Louis XIV. Sometimes referred to engraved brass. c.1700. H:79cm (31in); as a writing table, contemporary engravings also W:113cm (441⁄2in); D:65cm (25 1⁄2in). GK show similar pieces being used as dressing tables. The term “bureau Mazarin” was coined in the 19th century to reflect the importance of Cardinal Mazarin, who ruled France during Louis XIV’s Regency. Cardinal Mazarin’s employment of foreign craftsmen had a significant influence on the design of French furniture in the 17th century.

CABINET-ON-STAND BAROQUE FURNITURE 37 1600–1700 Made for the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, this piece Mythological figures were often depicted exemplifies Italian Baroque. The myriad drawers in Baroque furniture. Here, Atlas and compartments satisfied the growing interest supports the Earth on his shoulders. in collecting. The fashion for architectural detail is shown in the columns and the balustrade, and The pierced balustrade The miniature sculptures the miniature sculptures reflect the prevailing terminates in volutes, typical add a Classical, interest in Classical forms. The naturalistic of those seen in church architectural feel. figures and paintings show a move away from architecture of the period. the Mannerist style of the Renaissance. Pairs of columns are Italian cabinet This massive piece is made of ebony, and is reminiscent of decorated with pietra dura panels and gilded bronze. The stand Classical architecture. consists of four elaborately carved gilt figural supports, known as caryatids. c.1677. H:352cm (1403⁄4in); W:254cm (1011⁄2in); Pietra dura panels depict a D:74cm (291⁄2in). Classical or biblical story. The central section of the cabinet is recessed. The central gilded figure fronts more drawers. Birds, flowers, and foliate motifs decorate the central drawers. The shaped apron is decorated with gilded Baroque motifs. The figural supports are sculptural, realistic renditions of the human form.

38 17TH CENTURY ELEMENTS OF STYLE 1600–1700 The Baroque style used elaborate decoration and precious materials to Turned oak baluster Floral marquetry panel create spectacular displays of wealth. Chairs, tables, and cabinets were Turned wood Marquetry embellished with ornate carving, gilding, and Created by applying cutting tools to a The practice of arranging small pieces finely detailed marquetry. rotating wooden surface, turned wood of veneer into an intricate design Rich colours, fine tapestry, was a popular feature of the vernacular became a speciality of the century, marble, and semi-precious furniture of the period, such as the particularly in the Low Countries, and stones, set in scrolling designs, heavy oak baluster of this colonial was much sought after. Veneers were or arabesques, contributed to the court cupboard. Turned wood was also made of exotic woods such as mahogany, sense of status and drama. seen on legs, posts, and rungs. As the as well as native fruitwoods, including century progressed, these turnings cherry and plum. The veneers were 17th-century carved chair became less heavy in appearance used in their natural colours or stained and more columnar. in bright shades. Carved chair The elaborately pierced splat of this English side chair shows the influence of the engraved designs of Daniel Marot (see p.45). This piece exemplifies the exquisite wood-carving skills demanded of the carvers of the era. The florid pattern and tall, formal shape are typical of the grandiose Baroque style. Gilt gesso detail on table top Detail of gilded mirror Detail of a silver table Gilt gesso Verre églomisé Silver furniture Originating in Italy, gilt gesso This technique imitated the sumptuous Owning silver furniture epitomized the became fashionable in France and effect of gilded glass, and was often phenomenal wealth of the privileged England. A design was carved in used to decorate mirrors. The design few. The exuberant Louis XIV of wood, then coated with layers was actually painted on the underside France ordered suites of solid-silver of gesso (a mixture of glue and of the glass, rather than on the front. furniture to furnish his palace at powdered chalk). Once the gesso The glass was prepared using a base Versailles. Other rulers, such as had hardened, the design was of egg white and water and then Charles II of England, imitated this re-carved and gilded. This gilded. Once dry, the design was lavish display of wealth with wooden technique was used to decorate engraved into the gilding before furniture pieces covered with thin mirrors, chests, and tables. the surface was painted. sheets of silver.

ELEMENTS OF STYLE 39 1600–1700 Detail of pietra dura table top Sun King emblem in gilded, carved wood Bronze desk mount Boullework in tortoiseshell and brass Pietra dura Emblem of Louis XIV Ormolu mounts Boullework Pietra dura literally means “hard Louis XIV of France (r.1661–1715) This term, from the French or moulu, This form of marquetry is named stone”. Pieces of highly polished was renowned for the brilliance and meaning “ground gold”, describes the after the French cabinet-maker André- coloured stones, such as marble or theatricality of his Court at Versailles. technique of gilding with bronze using Charles Boulle (see p.54), who was lapis lazuli, were arranged in a mosaic Known as the Sun King, his personal mercury. Decorative details were cast arguably its finest exponent. Boullework pattern. This technique originated emblem was a sun with rays of in bronze then gilded with mercury combines materials like an intricate in Florence and was mainly used to streaming light, echoing Apollo, before being mounted onto furniture. jigsaw, using materials such as brass, decorate table tops and cabinet panels. the Greek god of light. This motif Ormolu mounts were often used to ivory, ebonized wood, and tortoiseshell The designs could be formal or was used to decorate many pieces protect the edges of veneered pieces. to create the effect of a painting in naturalistic, and commonly featured of furniture and architectural features In cheaper imitations the bronze was marquetry. Brass on a tortoiseshell animals, birds, flowers, or landscapes. used at the Court. cast, finished, and then lacquered. ground is a popular combination. Brass drop-ring handle Gold and black japanning on cabinet Detail of tapestry wall hanging Carved detail of oak trestle table Drop-ring handles Japanning Tapestry Carved wood This brass drawer pull is typical of The process of japanning uses layers Country houses and palaces across Wood carving became a specialized the type found on 17th-century of varnish or shellac to imitate the Europe used tapestries for decoration, skill during the 17th century. Elaborate furniture. Although the level of Oriental lacquerwork that was coveted both to cover walls and to upholster designs decorated chests, chairs, and carving varied from simple circles to during the 17th century. True Japanese chairs. Woven with wool and silk or tables. Low-relief carving, such as florid swags, the basic design of the and Chinese lacquerwork was difficult linen, they were usually pictorial in the stylized flower motif shown above, drop-ring was found on both simple and expensive to obtain, so japanning design. Many tapestries originated was used to decorate hardwoods, such cabinet drawers and ornate pieces was developed by European artisans, from the Low Countries – in particular as oak. Softer woods allowed carvers designed for the finest residences. who used the technique to decorate Brussels – England, and also from to create more detailed patterns, Brass was popular for all furniture the wood and metal of cabinets, mirrors, Paris, where the Gobelins workshops such as those seen on French and detailing at this time. and screens in the fashionable style. produced designs for Versailles. Italian furniture.

40 17TH CENTURY 1600–1700 italy BY THE EARLY 17TH CENTURY, Rome was GRAND FURNITURE were displayed alongside ancient Countries, became the director of once again the seat of a powerful The new architectural grandeur sculptures, and were regarded in much cabinet-makers at the Grand Ducal Papacy and entered a period of demanded impressive furnishings. the same light – as works of art to be Workshops and may have introduced unprecedented prosperity. Architects, Formal 17th-century Italian furniture looked at rather than used. floral marquetry techniques. sculptors, and artists all strove to was sculptural and architectural. It create a city that reflected the glory was grand in scale and featured three- The stippone, or great cabinet, was Stateroom furniture also included of the Catholic Church, creating new dimensional carvings of foliage and mainly produced in the Grand Ducal console tables with massive marble buildings, monuments, and paintings human figures that were heavily Workshops in Florence (see p.42). tops and pietra dura inlays, and heavily on a grand, theatrical scale. The influenced by sculpture. The makers Thought to have been derived from carved gilt bases, often featuring aristocracy instigated vast building of opulent palace furniture were often the Augsburg cabinet (see p.46), human figures or foliage. Chairs had schemes, creating palazzos that sculptors by training rather than it was architectural in appearance high backs and were frequently became renowned throughout Europe cabinet-makers, and this had a and scale, and had numerous small upholstered with rich materials, such for their ornate displays of wealth and profound effect on the development drawers for housing collections. as the fine silks and velvets made in pomp. The influence of Rome spread of the Baroque style. In the state Cabinets were embellished with costly the city of Genoa. throughout the cities of Italy, turning apartments and galleries of palazzos, materials, such as ebony, pietra dura the country into the fountainhead of sumptuous sculptural furniture, such (see p.42), and gilt bronze. Around AGE OF LEARNING the Baroque movement. as grand console tables and cabinets, 1667, Leonardo van der Vinne, With the new buildings and the interest a cabinet-maker from the Low in humanist learning, many wealthy ANDREA Brustolon GILDED FRAME Design for a carved mirror frame THIS VENETIAN CARVER WAS RENOWNED Brustolon annotated this drawing FOR FANTASTIC CARVED FURNITURE. This gilded, carved picture to explain the symbolism in the frame depicts the legend carvings: valour, virtue, and the Andrea Brustolon (1662–1732) was a pupil of the of Paris. It was made by triumph of love. c.1695. Genoese sculptor Filippo Parodi. Originally trained as Filippo Parodi, perhaps the a stone carver, Brustolon took up wood carving and best-known Genoese carver created many types of furniture, ranging from frames of the late 17th century, to tables and stands. He is best known for his who worked in Bernini’s extravagantly carved chairs, which were designed more studio. As well as the as works of art than as comfortable seating. Few pieces sculptural-style figures, the have survived, but several of his drawings have. frame includes foliage and shell motifs, which were It is likely that Brustolon travelled to Rome during very popular throughout the his apprenticeship. In keeping with the Roman style 17th century. The portrait of the time, Brustolon’s furniture is naturalistic and is by Pierre Mignard and often allegorical, with figural supports, exuberant shows Maria Mancini. foliage, and animals. Parodi’s influence is evident. Late 17th century. Brustolon’s drawing for a mirror is very similar to Parodi’s gilded picture frame (shown left). The high back is typical of the Baroque style. WALNUT ARMORIAL CASSONE period – strapwork decoration and segmented Detail of carving panels. The cassone stands on paw feet and The raised lid is carved with a design of beads, bears the coat of arms of the the Guicciardini The legs, arms, and leaves, and a fish-scale pattern, while the family from Florence. These chests were often stretchers are ornately front and ends of the cassone (chest) retain given as wedding presents. Late 16th century. carved with foliage Mannerist features typical of the Renaissance H:61cm (24in); W:174cm (681⁄2in). and animals. Armchair This armchair is made of boxwood, which has no pores, so is easy to carve. The decorative woodwork simulates tree branches combined with foliage and naturalistic renderings of animals. The upholstery is not original. Late 17th century.

ITALY 41 patrons now had important libraries, supported from above the head, and was not available locally, which may 1600–1700 thus requiring a new form of furniture: upholstered panels surrounded the explain the popularity of techniques built-in bookcases. Influenced by mattress. This type of bed remained such as lacquering, which covers the architecture, these bookcases often had popular until the end of the 18th surface of the wood completely, pilasters or columns, and sometimes century so it is difficult to date them allowing the craftsmen to make the featured statues or carved urns on with any certainty. most of the materials available to them. the cornice. EASTERN INFLUENCES VERNACULAR STYLES St. Peter’s, Vatican, Rome The Baldacchino (canopy), GRAND BEDS Meanwhile, the Venetians were In Italy there was a huge difference the high altar, and the chair of St Peter by Giovanni Late 17th-century Italian beds were producing lacquered furniture, a skill between the furniture made for daily Lorenzo Bernini epitomize the Baroque taste for an expression of the upholsterer’s art, that local craftsmen learned through use in the ordinary rooms of a palazzo grandeur in design, scale, and materials. making use of the fine textiles that the city’s trading links with the East. or villa and that on display in the state were produced locally: usually no Green and gold lacquer became a apartments. Utilitarian furniture, such wood at all was visible. A tester, often speciality of Venice until the 18th as stools, x-framed chairs, cassone draped in silk or damask, would be century. Good-quality wood (chests), and tables, were made by carpenters or joiners, using local walnut or fruitwood. FLORENTINE CONSOLE TABLE bold, masculine Baroque style. The theme is WALNUT TABLE borrowed from contemporary Roman designs, This table is made of carved and gilded although these harpies are more restrained The octagonal table top rests wood, and the top is supported by kneeling than examples from Rome. c.1700. H:115cm on triform supports, which mythological figures known as harpies. The (45in); W:180cm (71in); D:82cm (32in). terminate in male terms figures are muscular, in keeping with the (stylized human figures) carved with scrolling foliage, on paw feet. The top of the supports have a square panel centred by a wine glass and an illegible inscription. Late 16th century. H:81cm (313⁄4in); W:120cm (471⁄2in). FLORENTINE CABINET furniture design can be seen in the use of LION COMMODE cartouches, and volutes. The sides are sloped pilasters, arched panels, and pediments, and and decorated with inlay and gilding. The front This cabinet, produced at the Grand Ducal in the structural form of the piece. Mythology The commode is made of walnut with exquisite of the commode is bow-shaped and has three Workshops in Florence, is decorated with pietra was a common theme for decoration, and the inlays of ivory and mother-of-pearl, depicting drawers and iron fittings. The front feet are dura panels depicting mythological scenes. meanings would have been widely understood. images of Vanity, Justice, and other allegorical shaped like crouching lions. c.1680. H:94cm The architectural influence on Italian Baroque 1670. H:108cm (421⁄2in); W:90cm (351⁄2in). figures, surrounded by putti, flowers, leaves, (37in); W:145cm (57in); D:72cm (283⁄4in). GK

42 17TH CENTURY 1600–1700 PIETRA DURA MATERIALS AND SCAGLIOLA PIETRA DURA USED A VARIETY OF HARD AND Florentine table tops and cabinet panels inlaid with SEMI-PRECIOUS STONES, CHOSEN FOR THEIR richly coloured, semi-precious stones were highly coveted by wealthy patrons during the 17th century. COLOUR OR INTEGRAL PATTERN. PIETRA DURA (hard stone) involves making a mosaic PIETRA DURA DETAIL Jasper is an opaque variety of of hard or semi-precious stones. The manufacture of This detail of a pietra dura parrot eating fruit demonstrates chalcedony, occurring in a variety pietra dura was just one of the trades that supplied the variety of colour and texture in the semi-precious stones of colours. furniture-makers from the Renaissance. Scagliola used. The panel is one of six from a cabinet purchased for created a similar effect at considerably less cost. Charlecote Park in England. Lapis lazuli is a blue opaque stone, sometimes flecked with white, which has Originating in Italy, the full name, Commesso di Floral motif Foliage detail been used since Ancient Egyptian times. pietre dure, describes stones that are fitted together so closely that the joins are invisible. This mosaic is Malachite is a semi-precious stone. It glued to a slate base for stability. The elaborate has light and dark green bands, which process of creating pictures from stone has remained give it a unique ornamental quality. the same for centuries. Pietra dura was used for table tops and provided a good contrast with the gilt Marble is highly valued for its colours console bases typical of the time. The rich colours and textures. The most famous marble and floral or naturalistic pictures not only displayed comes from Carrara, near Florence. the expensive materials; the dedicated craftsmanship required to complete such work was admired and Chalcedony is translucent grey in its coveted by royal and aristocratic patrons. pure form, but also comes in colours ranging from apple green to orange-red. TEAMWORK The finest workshops produced pietra dura in teams. Porphyry is an igneous rock composed An artist or sculptor prepared the design, then other of large crystals. There are many types craftsmen chose the stones, polished them, and cut found within rocks such as granite. them into fine slices. Tracings of the design were used to cut the stones into the right shapes and these Agate is a banded form of chalcedony, were then carefully glued and pieced together in prized for the beautiful patterns and position on a base. If the design was particularly bands visible when the stone is sliced. delicate, it would be lined with slate. Finally the stones would be polished with abrasive powders. Bird motif THE GRAND DUCAL WORKSHOPS These Florentine workshops, situated in the galleries of the Uffizi Palace, were pre-eminent in developing pietra dura furnishings. Other workshops sometimes poached Florentine artisans so that they could teach their skills elsewhere. In 1588, Ferdinand I de’Medici made them the Court workshop, making furniture as well as mosaics. The works were commissioned for the Grand Duke’s residences as well as for important European families. Products ranged from cabinets and table tops to boxes and architectural features. Henri IV and Louis XIII of France established their own royal workshops under the Louvre Palace in Paris (see p.50). PIETRA DURA TABLE, CHARLECOTE PARK, ENGLAND Onyx cabouchon shape Lapis lazuli detail Jasper strapwork Curved ribbon detail The centre of the table is made of an oval of onyx surrounded by floral patterns of rare and beautiful jaspers. The rest of the slab is inlaid with arabesque patterns of marble and semi-precious stones. The piece is said to have been taken from the Palazzo Borghese in Rome by Napoleon’s army. 16th century.

PIETRA DURA AND SCAGLIOLA 43 FLORENTINE CABINET SCAGLIOLA 1600–1700 This wooden cabinet, produced Scagliola is false marble. The first documented at the Grand Ducal Workshops examples of it appeared at the end of the 17th in Florence, has pietra dura century in Germany and in Italy. Pietra dura panels panels depicting mythological and table tops, especially from the Grand Ducal scenes. The architectural Workshops in Florence, were prohibitively influence on Italian Baroque expensive, so less wealthy patrons were keen to furniture design can be seen in find an alternative and commissioned craftsmen the structural form of the piece. to create an imitation: scagliola. 1670. H:108cm (42 1⁄2in); Black and white perspective designs were popular at the time, and scagliola proved the perfect medium W:90cm (35 1⁄2in). for realizing these. The illusion of marble pictures, engravings, trompe l’oeil, ebony and ivory inlay, and paint effects were all possible. Scagliola reached the height of perfection in the 18th century, both in furniture and architectural use, in such vast spaces as the interior of the Great Hall at Stowe, in Buckinghamshire. SCAGLIOLA TABLE TOP THE TECHNIQUE Designed by Pietro Antonio Scagliola is produced by grinding the mineral Paolini in Florence, this selenite into a powder and mixing it with coloured exquisite table top demonstrates pigments and animal glue to produce a plaster-like how scagliola could be used to substance. As with pietra dura, a drawing is create realistic effects, with its transferred to a stone slab upon which it is engraved. trompe l’oeil-style rendition of Unlike marquetry or pietra dura, which are both a violin, a Renaissance inlaid, the liquid scagliola is poured into the drawing, a map and book, engraved hollows in the stone, then left to set. flowers, and birds. 1732. Additional effects, such as veining or different W:142cm (56in); D:68cm (263⁄4in). colour variations, are achieved by adding chips of marble, granite, alabaster, porphyry, or other stones to the mixture, or by engraving and filling the hardened plaster a second time. Once the plaster has finally hardened, it is polished with linseed oil to create the desired finish.

44 17TH CENTURY 1600–1700 low countries DURING THE FIRST HALF of the 17th POPULAR STYLES LUXURIOUS CABINETS century, the northern provinces Early 17th-century furniture from the As in Italy, the Augsburg cabinet was became a major maritime power. The Low Countries was generally simple, influential. Early in the century, Flemish city of Amsterdam grew prosperous, although more elaborate pieces were craftsmen in Antwerp made small table and the influx of exotic goods and made for wealthy patrons. For much cabinets veneered in imported ebony, materials brought from the Far East of the century, the four-door court and they began to use new and exotic by the Dutch East India Company cupboard was the most important imports as veneers, perhaps influenced made this city a haven for artists piece of furniture in wealthy homes. by the Northern Provinces’ trade with and craftsmen. Usually made of oak, it was often the East. Table cabinets gave way decorated with intricately carved to cabinets-on-stands, decorated Traditional manufacturers flourished figures, or intarsia panels depicting with ebony, mother-of-pearl, and in the southern Netherlands, which architectural scenes. Walnut became tortoiseshell veneers. Later cabinets was still under Spanish Hapsburg rule the timber of choice after 1660 and had carved stands with legs made from at this time. Flemish craftsmen were was often embellished with inlays or known in particular for their luxurious exotic veneered panels. In Holland, The Linen Cupboard, Pieter de Hooch, 1663. This tapestries, weavings, and stamped or the “arched” cupboard with two, long interior shows a typical wealthy merchant home gilt leather, used both for upholstery panelled doors remained fashionable. of the age, with its large two-door oak cupboard, and wall hangings. housing the highly prized household linen. The interlacing “seaweed” marquetry is more frequently seen on English furniture. Gold lacquer is used against a black lacquer background for greater impact. The polished skin of a ray fish reflects the trend for seeking unusual inlays to embellish furniture. The flat cross stretchers linking the turned, squared baluster legs are typical of 17th-century furniture. CABINET-ON-STAND made using lacquer panels and polished ray-skin cut from GILTWOOD PIER TABLE AND MIRROR an earlier Japanese coffer. The original piece is likely to The cabinet is made of oak, and then veneered with a have been imported to the Netherlands by the Dutch East This is one of a pair of tables, each with a matching large mirror variety of woods: walnut, palm, and purple wood, with India Company, but was probably no longer fashionable. above. This heavily carved gilt table has a serpentine marble top and lacquer and ray-skin panels forming part of the inlay. The The desirable exotic materials from the East would then scrolled serpentine-panelled legs joined by a cross stretcher. In the cabinet stands on six turned, squared baluster legs joined have been removed and used to decorate a new, more centre is a carved urn. The coat of arms of the original owner is carved by flat stretchers. A wealthy status symbol for its time, this fashionable, piece of furniture. 1690–1710. H:202cm into the top of the mirror frame. Late 17th century. H:81.5cm (32in); cabinet is the earliest known example of Dutch furniture (791⁄2in); W:158.5cm (621⁄2in); D:54cm (211⁄4in). W:122cm (48in); D:69cm (27in).

LOW COUNTRIES 45 gilded caryatids or ebonized wood. and then England, these cabinets Chests of drawers were often made straight backs, double stretchers, and 1600–1700 Later in the century, craftsmen such provided inspiration for cabinet- of oak, stained or polished to resemble carved arms terminating in dolphins. makers there, who developed their ebony. Ebony or stained pearwood as Jan van Mekeren, a cabinet-maker in own styles of veneering. was used for mouldings. FRENCH INFLUENCE Amsterdam, decorated large cabinets- Towards the end of the century, the on-stands and tables with intricate EVERYDAY PIECES Chairs tended to be rectangular with dazzling furniture of the Court at floral marquetry, inspired by the Floral marquetry was not just used low or high backs. They were usually Versailles became a new source of still-life floral paintings popular at the to embellish cabinets; side tables made of walnut and upholstered in inspiration, compounded by an influx time. The contrasting colours of ebony were occasionally decorated in the leather, velvet, or cloth, with brass of Huguenot designers and craftsmen, from Madagascar, purple amaranth same way. More typical of the Low studs. As the century advanced, such as Daniel Marot (see below) from Guyana, rosewood from Brazil, Countries, however, were tables and inspired by imports from India, chair fleeing religious persecution in France. and sandalwood from India were cupboards decorated with a wealth seats and backs were made of cane. The French influence soon became combined to create marquetry of of naturalistic carving. The legs were linked by stretchers. evident as Dutch furniture became consummate skill. Exported to France The artist Crispin van den Passe’s more sculptural and less rectangular. Boutique Menuiserie, published in Based on Marot’s designs, chairs now Amsterdam in 1642, showed elements had tall, richly carved backs with of Mannerism in chair design, but it crested back rails. also included simpler chairs, with Daniel Marot (1661–1752) MAROT FLED TO THE LOW COUNTRIES TO ESCAPE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. HIS DESIGNS WERE INFLUENTIAL IN BRINGING FRENCH STYLE TO THE REGION. A Parisian-born Protestant, Marot became furniture, which had a great influence on architect and designer to the Stadtholder, cabinet-makers of the period. His most later William of Orange. He decorated lavish designs are for great four-poster the apartments at the new Het Loo State beds (see below), but he designed palace, and followed William to England all types of furniture. His best-known in 1694. Marot is best known for his designs for elaborately carved chairs engraved designs for interiors and with high backs were widely copied. 17TH-CENTURY DOLL’S HOUSE artists decorate the interior. Costing as much as a townhouse along the canal, this was not a toy This doll’s house was commissioned by for children. Its importance for the historian is Petronella Oortman, a wealthy woman from in the design and placement of the furniture. Amsterdam. She ordered porcelain objects from 1686–1705. H:255cm (102in); W:189.5cm China and had the city’s furniture-makers and (753⁄4in); D:78cm (311⁄4in). Design for a Bedchamber with a State Bed, The high back with from Marot’s New Book of Apartments, a pierced and heavily 1703. Note the high-backed chairs carved splat is typical against the walls and the four-poster State bed. of Marot’s designs. DUTCH OAK AND The seat is wider at the MARQUETRY TABLE front than the back, but the upholstery is not original. This table is typical of Low Countries’ design, with square The legs are carved with baluster legs and flat stretchers. bell-flowers and rosettes. Designed to stand against a wall, only the visible surfaces One of a set of 12 salon chairs from a design by Marot are decorated with marquetry. The carved top rail is decorated with double scrolls 1690–1710. H:77cm and sprays of acanthus leaves. The seats have a (303⁄4in); W:100cm (39in); carved apron of pierced foliage and rosettes, and D:69.5cm (27 3⁄4in). the design is echoed in the stretchers. 1686–1705. H:123cm (491⁄4in); W:52cm (203⁄4in); D:51cm (201⁄2in). PAR

46 17TH CENTURY 1600–1700 germany and scandinavia The end of the Thirty Years War in Bavarian Electors built the Residenz Baroque style was making way for the stronghold of furniture design, and 1648 marked the beginning of German in Munich with a style and luxury that curvaceous Rococo forms that reached such a high number of intarsia federalism. From then on, Germany made King Gustav Adolf of Sweden their creative high point in church and cabinets were imported to Spain that in was made up of small sovereign states jealous. Following an exile in Brussels, castle interiors. Partly due to the guild 1603 King Philip III introduced a ban ruled by wealthy princes. The most Elector Max II Emanuel (1680–1724) system, the German cities were a little on the importation of Augsburg powerful nation in the Baltic area was returned to Bavaria with expensive behind in development, generally taking goods. Curiosity cabinets, embellished Sweden. By 1660, under Charles XI, it Antwerp furniture. During his second the lead from the masterpieces. with fine inlays of silver, ivory, amber, had reached the height of its power. exile, in France, he became familiar and precious stones, or with coloured with the French Baroque and sent PRINCELY CABINETS engravings and porcelain plaques were INFLUENCES Bavarian craftsmen to France to study, In 1631, the city of Augsburg sent an sought by noblemen and emulated Styles of furniture varied from one part who brought the style back home. ebony cabinet decorated with precious throughout Europe. Augsburg also of Germany to another, because each materials to the King of Sweden as produced opulent embossed and principality had its own court. The In Germany, by the beginning of a peace offering. Augsburg was the engraved silver furniture for export. the 18th century the heavy, opulent KARL VI WRITING DESK smaller drawers. The top section of the desk TYROLEAN CABINET-ON-STAND painter, Hans Vredeman de Vries. The consists of an arrangement of six drawers. The perspective view of a portal with a well This writing desk from Austria is made of ash piece stands on six, square tapered legs, which These cabinets were intended to house or fountain in the foreground and the veneered with maple, and decorated with are carved and partly gilded. The legs are collections of rare objects. The intarsia architectural view in the background were marquetry in plum and myrtle woods. The joined by curved and interwoven stretchers. decoration (pictorial inlay using different all taken from Various Architectural Forms desk has a long central drawer and a pull-out c.1700. H:104cm (411⁄2in); W:144cm (571⁄2in); woods) was influenced by engravings from (1560). c.1700. H:154cm (60 1⁄2in); writing slide flanked on either side by two D:71cm (281⁄2in). pattern books by the Netherlandish ornamental W:129cm (50 3⁄4in); D:56cm (22in). TRAVEL CABINET This ebony cabinet from Southern Germany is decorated with ivory inlay. The fall front opens to reveal 10 small drawers flanking a central section with a lockable door. All of the surfaces are decorated with ivory foliate inlay, and the case stands on flat ball feet. 17th century. H:46.75cm (183⁄4in); W:54cm (211⁄4in). LPZ Detail of carving TABLE CABINET drawers of various sizes surrounding a vaulted central compartment with columns This Kunstkabinett, or table cabinet, originates and a detachable cover. These relief-carved from Eger, in Bohemia, which was renowned for marquetry panels, showing various the use of sculptural relief marquetry or intarsia mythological scenes, are typical of the panels. The cabinet has a stepped top with work of Adam Eck. c.1640. H:51cm a sliding lid. The two doors conceal small (20in); W:58.5cm (23in); D:28cm (11in).

GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA 47 VERNACULAR STYLES Upholstered armchairs with carved Furniture decorated with 1600–1700 In Germany and Scandinavia massive, top rails were made for the heads of boullework (see p.54). became popular architectural wardrobes with heavy households. These had turned arms in southern Germany at the end of the cornices, known as Schränke, remained and curled, almost scrolled feet. century. Augsburg craftsmen mastered popular in wealthy middle-class houses the technique, and produced fine throughout the century. These had two In Sweden and Germany suites of examples of the style. doors over two drawers. In the north stools, chairs, and armchairs were they were usually made of oak and upholstered in leather, or occasionally Berlin became renowned for were often heavily carved; in the south in imported silk. In less grand homes japanned furniture, especially for the they were more likely to be made from it was common to find stools and cabinets, tables, guéridons, and cases local fruitwood or walnut. The chest benches set around long, plank tables. for musical instruments with japanned was an important household item well decorations on a white ground into the 18th century. DECORATIVE EFFECTS designed by Gerhard Dagly. In Paris German craftsmen were renowned for his pieces were described as “Berlin” their use of walnut veneer and, later, cabinets. Cabinets decorated with The Baroque Schloss Biebrich (palace), south of for ebony. Eger in Bohemia was well- red and blue lacquer from Dresden Wiesbaden This three-winged palace on the banks known for cabinets using sculptural and Brandenburg were also highly of the Rhine is a magnificent example of the relief or intarsia panels. coveted abroad. Baroque style, with its bold colour scheme and carved statues looking down from the roof. SWEDISH GILDED MIRROR FRAME The oval-shaped mask is a Baroque decorative motif. This gilt-bronze beaded frame, attributed to Burchard Precht, is decorated with verre Intarsia was a églomisé (an ancient glass-gilding technique). speciality of southern The pattern depicts gold foliage on a red ground. c.1700. H:140cm (55in); W:79cm (31in). Gerrman craftsmen. Curved, spiral columns were popular 17th-century decorations. Carved fruit and swags are also Renaissance-style motifs. Grotesque masks support the columns. The brass handles are of a later style, and are not contemporary to the piece. Bun feet suport the armoire. TILED TABLE ARMOIRE carvings, surrounded by a moulded fruit and mask pattern. The doors are flanked with This small table from Friesland is similar to This exceptional 17th century armoire, a three ball-pattern carved columns. The Scandinavian furniture and has a top made Fassadenschrank from southern Germany, lower section of the armoire has two drawers from blue and white Delft tiles. It has flat is made of walnut, maple, oak, and ash. The and the whole stands on flattened bun stretchers, turned, spiralled legs and bun moulded cornice is positioned above an inlaid feet. H:240.5cm (94 1⁄2in) W:112cm (44in) feet. Early 18th century. H:92cm (361⁄2in). frieze and a pair of doors with architectural D:60cm (231⁄2in).

48 17TH CENTURY 1600–1700 england DURING THE REIGN of James I, most REBUILDING LONDON furniture was made of oak and was A massive building boom after the limited to joint stools, chests, chairs Great Fire of London in 1666 led to with plain or spiral turned legs, and specialization within the woodworking long trestle tables. Decoration was trades. Cabinet-makers made case confined to elaborate carving on furniture, tables, and stands, while chairs, chests, and settles. The joiners – and the wood carvers and aristocracy of Wales and Scotland gilders who worked with them – tended to follow the lead of the concentrated on architectural features, dominant English court style. bedsteads, and mirror frames. Chair- making also became a specialist craft. FOREIGN INFLUENCES During Charles I’s reign, craftsmen Trade between the Low Countries from France, Italy, and the Low and England increased after the Countries came to work on state accession of William III and Mary in apartments and grand houses. 1689. The European influence on Influenced by designs from the Low furniture was compounded by the Countries, English furniture was more arrival in England of French Huguenot restrained than Italian Baroque pieces. craftsmen, some of whom became cabinet-makers to the royal household. Upholstered furniture was made for grand residences. Chairs generally SKILLED CRAFTSMANSHIP HIGH-BACKED SIDE CHAIR HALL CHAIR had low, square backs, upholstered Cabinets were now veneered with with tapestry or leather, and armchairs walnut, yew, maple, holly, olive, beech, Made of imported walnut, this chair, with its This chair is based on the Italian sgabello had seat cushions and padded arms and fruitwoods. Burr woods were carved and pierced back splat, is similar to design. The oak is carved and painted, with covered with upholstery. Settees were especially desirable. Some woods were engravings published by Marot. It has cabriole a shell-shaped back and pendant mask occasionally made as part of a suite cut across the grain to create an legs terminating in “horse-bone” feet, but has with swags on the front. c.1635. H:110.5cm with matching chairs. “oyster” veneer. The most elaborate stretchers. c.1710. H:121cm (471⁄2in). PAR (431⁄2in); W:69cm (27in); D:66cm (26in). forms of veneering used floral, THE RESTORATION seaweed, or arabesque marquetry. The fall front Furniture was mostly made of plain conceals drawers woods such as oak, ash, elm, or beech Other cabinets were japanned, to and pigeonholes. under Oliver Cromwell, whose imitate lacquer, or were covered in government did not condone lavish patterned gesso to create a raised, The drawers are displays of ornament, but the situation gilded appearance. Chests-on-stands decorated with changed after the restoration of the were replaced by bureau-cabinets, crossbanded veneer. monarchy in 1660. Charles II had often topped with domes or pediments spent his exile in Europe and brought intended for the display of expensive Locks on the drawers back the latest fashions to England. porcelain. Clothes presses and livery indicate that the cupboards were commonplace, as were bureau would have Court life under Charles II was less chests of drawers and kneehole desks. held valuable items. formal, creating a demand for small folding tables, card tables, and gateleg Tables ranged from oak trestles to dining tables. Walnut became the grand console tables. These were often most popular wood, and techniques designed to stand beneath large, ornate such as veneering and caning were mirrors. High-backed chairs with fashionable. Caned furniture with caned seats and backs were popular, twist-turned frames was considered as were chairs in the style of Daniel quintessentially English. Marot (see p.45), which had long, carved or pierced back splats. The shaped back Ball-and-bracket feet As the century drew to a close, fine plate and bale handles were used at the furniture was no longer made solely are engraved. beginning of the 18th century. for grand palaces. Simpler, well- crafted pieces were also being MARQUETRY BUREAU has rosewood and kingwood crossbanding and made for wealthy city merchants metal stringing. The fall front encloses an array and the landed gentry, paving This bureau is veneered in burr maple, but is of drawers and pigeonholes. The lower section the way for the elegant styles stained to look like tortoiseshell. Burr woods has two short and two long drawers supported prevalent in the 18th century. such as elm and maple were often stained to on ball feet. c.1710. H:95cm (38in); W:71cm resemble more expensive materials. The bureau (281⁄2in); D:52cm (203⁄4in). PAR Needlework casket Embroidered in coloured silks on a satin ground, the casket depicts romantic courtly scenes. Typical of similar caskets of the age, this one has many compartments, some secret. Mid 17th century. W:29.5cm (111⁄2in). BonK