The Renaissance - England - Part 1

The story of English furniture in the 16th century is the story of oak, that sturdy, durable, most English of woods, with which the country was richly stocked throughout medieval times thanks to the extensive mature forests which covered the land. The forests served England well, to well, in fact; generations plundered this natural resource with such abandon that consumption outstripped planting.

Oak was used for many purposes, not least handmade furniture. Domestic walnut and elm partially augmented oak, and inlay of holly and bog oak - black-hued wood from ancient trees preserved in peat bogs - was used when the growth of affluence bred the desire for more ornamentation. But it was oak, employed in the solid, that saw the 16th century in, and as the principal material for furniture, it was oak that was still dominant when the Tudors handed over their reign to the Stuarts at the beginning of the 17th century.
There are more than 300 varieties of oak, the English species being 'Quercus robur', the common oak, and 'Quercus sessiliflora', fruited oak. The timber is hard and lasting, its colour varying from brown to white and, as the 17th century diarist and sylviculturist, John Evelyn, observed, it 'will not easily glew to other wood, and not very well to its own kind'. There can be no greater tribute to its durability than the quantity of pieces of oak furniture which have survived, rich with the patina of age, to the present day.

Because mature oaks were felled in huge numbers, Henry VIII was moved to pass a law enforcing the preservation of oak woods. By the middle of Elizabeth's reign England was sufficiently alerted to the drain of its natural heritage that oak planting was widespread. Ironically, by the time these woods reached maturity on hundred years later in the reign of Charles II, the age of walnut was in full flower and oak was soon to be relegated to carcase construction and drawer linings - except in country areas, where it never lost its popularity for any and every type of furniture.

The importance of oak in the history of fitted and non fitted furniture has never been doubted, even by those who have contributed to its denigration as a furnishing material throughout most of the present century. Today, however, oak has regained its esteem among collectors, interior designers and all those who appreciate soundly made, practical and attractive furniture. Oak furniture is also a remarkably strong hedge against inflation; in the 1970s it increased in value at almost twice the average rate of all antique furniture, a rate which showed no sign of slackening in the 1980s.

.......to be continued