Antique Collecting: Dictionary of English pieces

Antique Collecting: Dictionary of English pieces

Page 5 of 6

Gilding continued in fashion, and mirrors appeared in frames of pinewood brightly gilt and carved flatly in gesso—a type of plaster composition which could be carved and smoothed and took the gold-leaf in a satisfactory manner. By 1735-40 taste had changed once more, and large mirrors of severe design with tall rectangular glasses were appearing on fashionable walls.

Mirror frames were the object of great attention from carvers and gilders throughout the eighteenth century; the most elaborate examples of their work came in the middle years. Then, fashion allowed them to incorporate what they pleased on the frame: shepherds and shepherdesses, Chinese gods, waterfalls, sea-shells, ruined temples and bouquets of flowers vie for attention on some of the extreme examples, which are masterpieces of the carver's art. Following these exuberances, came the more restrained style set by the Adam brothers. Frames were then often oval in shape, and embellished with honeysuckle, husks and winged seated griffins. At the end of the eighteenth century, the frame was even more plain, and the most popular ones had the glass flanked by a column at either side, and sometimes with a painting on glass at the top.

Although it had been known for many hundreds of years, the circular convex mirror was not widely popular until early in the nineteenth century, when many examples were made. Most of them had a moulding of ebony surrounding the glass, a deeply moulded gilt frame decorated with gilt balls, and an eagle with outstretched wings at the top. The eagle often holds a chain with a gilt ball at the end of it, and many of the mirrors have arms for holding candles, the best examples fitted with hanging cut-glass drops.

Small mirrors on stands for use on the dressing table—toilet mirrors—were framed in silver, and often with needlework. Those supported on uprights and a base fitted with drawers were introduced about 1700. Many were veneered with walnut, or lacquered. Mahogany examples, of late eighteenth-century date, are often inlaid and fitted with oval or shield-shaped mirrors. In about 1800, the mirror became oblong in shape, horizontal instead of upright, due 10 changing fashions in hairdressing, and the uprights supporting it were turned instead of square or moulded.
About 1790, cheval mirrors, large dressing mirrors on movable stands with casters, came into use. Most of them have frames of mahogany, but sometimes they are of rosewood or satinwood.

Pembroke Tables. These have folding flaps, which can be supported on hinged concealed brackets at each of the longer sides of the rectangular top. The legs of the earlier ones are square and tapered, but by about 1790 they change to round ones with turned ornament. They came into use about 1750, and are said to owe their name io a Countess of Pembroke who first ordered one. The Pembroke table was made in mahogany, satinwood, and sometimes harewood, and decorated with inlay and painting; frequently they show workmanship of the highest quality.
Pier Tables. Tables made for placing against the piers of a room: the areas of wall between windows. Originally they had mirrors above them. They are sometimes called side tables.

Screens. These have two purposes; to keep away draughts from doors and windows, and io ward off the heat of a fire. Draught screens were first imported at the end of the seventeenth century from China, and they are made of lacquered wood with designs in gold and colours, or with the designs incised (Bantam or Coromandel Lacquer). Many are of eight or ten folding panels, and they stand up to eight or more feet in height. Screens of similar folding type, but not quite so large, were made with panels of painted or embossed leather.

Fire screens are small and portable, and date also from the late seventeenth century. The stands were of all styles, following the fashion of the time when they were made, and the screen itself often held a panel of tapestry or needlework.

Settees and Sofas. A settee is understood to mean a chair with space for more than one person to sit, and a sofa is a larger piece of furniture with room on it to recline. Neither of the terms seems to have come into general use until the early eighteenth century, but some settees with tall backs in the form of two chair-backs joined together date from about 1680. Shortly, they became very fashionable, and elaborately carved and heavily upholstered examples were made. Most of them reveal considerably more fabric and trimming than they do woodwork. In about 1730 there came a reversion to the first style, and the settee appeared again like an armchair but having the back in duplicate or triplicate, side by side. This type continued to be made throughout the eighteenth century, but the upholstered variety was made as well; each conforming in outline and detail to the fashion of the time when it was produced.

The love seat is a very narrow settee or sofa with only just sufficient space for two persons to sit on it; hence its name. Many early eighteenth-century armchairs were widened ruthlessly into love seats about thirty-five years ago, when the demand for them greatly exceeded the supply.

Settles. A settle is a bench with arms and a back. Many of them had seats that were hinged to reveal lockers. They date back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but most surviving examples are of seventeenth-century make and are usually of oak. By about 1700 they were being made on legs and without lockers beneath the seats, and cannot be distinguished from settees.

Sideboards and Sidetables. The dresser, mentioned earlier, before it was fitted with shelves, was a sidetable. Early in the eighteeenth century these were highly carved and often gilt, had no drawers, and were topped with a slab of coloured or white marble. By 1760, they were of mahogany with a top of the same timber, and Chippendale prints designs for several of this type. It was Robert Adam who added a pair of pedestals, one at either end of the table, but it was nearly 1780 before the sideboard was given drawers and became the article recognized today. One of the drawers was usually fitted with divisions lined with lead or zinc to hold wine-bottles. Until about 1800 they were supported on square tapered legs, but later these were turned. Great tare was lavished by their makers on sideboards, and the choicest figured woods were chosen for veneering and inlay.

Page 4 <<< Page 5 >>> Page 6

English Antique News

Bing: english antique site:msnbc.msn.com
Search results

Antique shoppers: Beware mercury hazards - Health - Health care ...
Antique shoppers: Beware mercury hazards Toxic liquid can be found in ... A circa 1835 English made barometer hangs on a wall in an office in Albany, N.Y.
A glimpse of historic New England - Travel - Cultural Travel ...
Pendleton willed his collection of English and American antiques to RISD in 1904, but he required that the institution build a fireproof exhibit space for them.
Coastal New England flings this fall - Travel - Deals - msnbc.com
Rooms are airy and bright, with high ceilings, lots of windows, eclectic American and English antiques, Oriental rugs, and rich fabrics and wallpapers.?
Coastal New England flings this fall - travel - TODAY.com
Rooms are airy and bright, with high ceilings, lots of windows, eclectic American and English antiques, Oriental rugs, and rich fabrics and wallpapers.?
Best English country retreats - Travel - Luxury Travel - msnbc.com
They sprang out of the English soil as soon as it was safe for the ruling class ... Old School ambiance with its Gothic architectural elements and tasteful antiques.
Best English country retreats - travel - TODAY.com
They sprang out of the English soil as soon as it was safe for the ruling class to ... Old School ambiance with its Gothic architectural elements and tasteful antiques.
Cosmic Log - Jewels from space
An antique "Jewel Box" in the night sky takes on a new shine in imagery from ... Its name was inspired back in the 1830s by English astronomer John Herschel ...
?Telenovelas? make the leap into English - Entertainment ...
?Telenovelas? make the leap into English New shows from MyNetwork follow ... By 10 p.m., even assorted ?antiques? and a couple of paintings have succumbed to ...
How time flies! Where to see the world's clocks - Travel - Travel ...
The antique, four-sided clock at New York City's Grand Central Terminal is very ... ?The English were upset that we put a French statue on an English clock and ...
Inside Bloomberg's Swank NYC Digs | Story | POWERWALL
... Side pad include a "brown commode with a pink orchid nearby," a spare Dutch master painting, a $90,000 English Regency table, an Egyptian marble foyer, a $50,000 antique ...

Newsfeed display by CaRP