Antique Collecting: Dictionary of English pieces

Antique Collecting: Dictionary of English pieces

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The early chests are seldom seen outside churches and museums, but later ones, dating from 1650 or thereabouts, are much less rare. Usually they are made of oak, the front and lid divided into recessed panels, and decorated with carving or inlay or both. By the end of the seventeenth century few were being made, and their place was taken by more complicated and useful pieces such as chests of drawers and cabinets. Occasionally, in the eighteenth century, chests of mahogany and of giltwood were made, but not in large numbers. Today chests are much less popular than they once were; partly because of the inconvenience of a piece of furniture with a lifting top.

Chests of Drawers. The chest of drawers was evolved from the simple chest, noted above. Drawers were added underneath the chest, and before very long the entire piece of furniture became the casing fitted with drawers as we know it today. The earliest were made about 1650, of oak, inlaid, and later with the fashion for walnut they became very popular in that wood. Many were decorated with marquetry and with lacquer, and plain walnut examples were veneered to show the grain of the wood at its best. About 1720, small chests of drawers, called for no recorded reason 'bachelor's chests', were made, these have tops that fold over and rest on bearers that pull out from the body of the piece. Being no more than about thirty inches high, two feet in width and a foot from back to front, it is no wonder they are much in demand and very expensive. When old walnut furniture was enjoying a vogue in the 1920's examples of it were dear and labour cheap; many fakes were made. Now, forty years later, some of these have had a lot of wear and tear, and careful examination is needed to distinguish between old and new.

Chests of drawers continued in popularity throughout the eighteenth century, and very fine examples were made in mahogany. Some were of serpentine shape, the top drawer fitted as a dressing table with divisions for combs, brushes and toilet accessories, and with the front corners heavily carved. Simpler ones were of straight outline, and relied on gilt metal handles for their ornament.

Inlaid mahogany chests of drawers came into fashion about 1780, and were made with straight or bowed fronts. They continued to be made with slight variations in design for many years more.

Chiffonier. A small bookcase or cupboard with an upper part of open shelves. A decorative piece of furniture that was first made about 1800, and continued to be popular throughout the nineteenth century.

Coasters. Wine-coasters are stands for bottles or decanters for use at the dining-table. Some took the form of wooden trays with rims, others were of japanned papier-mache, silver or plate. Cheese coasters were usually made of mahogany and date from about 1790. They are boat-shaped with a square base raised on small casters. Today, they are rarely used to hold the large round cheeses for which they were designed, but have a fresh lease of life as fruit containers.

Coffee Tables. While any small and low table can be, and is, called a coffee table, the term is applied particularly to the sets of three or four tables made from about 1790; of which the latter were called 'quartetto tables'. As their name implies, they were made in sets of four, and were so designed that each slid into the other. When so placed they took up no more room than the largest. Made in mahogany and in rosewood, they have been in production almost continuously and old sets are scarce.
Commode. This is a French word describing a type of chest of drawers made in that country. In England, it was applied in the eighteenth century to pieces of furniture designed in the style of Louis XV or Louis XVI, and fitted with drawers or with doors to form a cupboard. Such pieces were highly decorated with carving, marquetry, lacquer or inlay, and would have had pride of place in the most important room of a house.

Console Tables. Tables made for fixing against a wall and having no legs at the back. They came into fashion early in the eighteenth century, and were made often in pairs.

Cradles. These small beds for children were usually made to swing; achieved either by mounting them on rockers, or suspending them in a framework. Early ones of oak are rare, but eigh-teenth-century specimens made of mahogany are sometimes to be seen.

Cupboards and Wardrobes. Cupboards for the storage of clothes and linen were made from the fifteenth century onwards; until the late seventeenth century they were usually of oak and with the doors divided into panels. They are rare, as are the walnut ones made about 1700. Mahogany cupboards and wardrobes are more plentiful, but being large in size they are not greatly in demand for use in the smaller rooms of present-day homes. The eighteenth-century wardrobe often had the upper part with sliding shelves enclosed within doors, and the lower part with drawers. In this form it is called today a Gentleman's Wardrobe, and in many instances the insides of the drawers and the upper shelves have been removed to make hanging-space for clothes. In the later years of the century, the mahogany cupboards were inlaid, and others were veneered with satinwood or made of pine and painted.

Court cupboards of oak were made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They consist of open shelves with supports at the corners; the front ones carved. Hall or livery cupboards were made during the same years, and have doors to the upper and lower parts. For many years there has been confusion between court and livery cupboards, but at the moment of writing the above descriptions are the accepted ones.

Corner cupboards of three-cornered shape and with flat or bowed fronts, were made in the eighteenth century. They exist in oak, walnut, mahogany and pine; the latter painted or lacquered. Many are decorated with inlay, but rare specimens have carved and gilt ornament.

Davenports. First made at the end of the eighteenth century, the davenport is a small desk. It has a sloping-top which is hinged, and a series of drawers down one side. They were made in both rosewood and mahogany; early examples have short square legs, later ones are turned.

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