18th Century Furniture - Scandinavia - Part 2

Cabinet-Makers
Massive linen cupboards were modelled on northern German examples. These were made with heavy cornice mouldings and bun feet for some time, but gradually bracket feet - as shown in the engravings of Chippendale and others - replaced the bun feet and the cornices became lighter and less pronounced.
Chests of drawers were influenced by the commode - a typical version had four drawers on slightly curved legs terminating in animal feet. The facade was often blocked, making it similar to pieces from the Low Countries. A new form of handmade furniture, the glazed cabinet, mounted on a frame with slender turned legs, was popular for displaying collections of Chinese porcelain.
The cabinet-on-chest was an important piece in Scandinavia during this time. Massive in size, it incorporated a chest of drawers in the lower section with either one or two doors above. These doors opened to reveal various small pigeonholes or shelves. These non fitted furniture pediment was architectural in design, the later versions had pierced, carved, and gilt decorative features. The guilds that existed in Stockholm until the late 18th century required a master cabinet-maker to make a cabinet-on-chest before he could be admitted, thus perpetuating the form.
Tables ranged from carved pine and gilded pier and console tables with marble tops, to dressing tables with three drawers below a top on cabriole legs.
High-style pier and console tables followed elaborate French fashions and were heavily carved and gilded with expensive marble tops. Dressing tables tended to be based on English examples and some were decorated with japanning. The fashion for tea tables, card tables, and small portable tables also followed English and French trends.

Dutch Bureau
An 18th century Dutch marquetry bureau of bombe form with fall front and fitted interior over three graduated long drawers on splayed and moulded feet. Now antique furniture.

18th Century Furniture - Scandinavia

In the early 1700s, Sweden, previously the dominant Protestant power of continental Europe, had lost major lands and her position in the Holy Roman Empire.
However, by 1727, plans for a grand royal palace in Stockholm, that had first been drawn up in the 1600s, were re-instated. The design for the palace's facade remained Roman Baroque, but the interior followed the French Rococo style. During this project, French and Italian sculptors, painters, and craftsmen worked in Stockholm and many pieces of French furniture were imported. The French style also influenced the nobility's choice of handmade furniture although British and Low Country designs were also widely imitated by chair and cabinet makers.
The Scandinavian use of indigenous softwoods led to much of the furniture being painted, and this gave Scandinavian furniture a distinctive look of its own.

Swedish Console Table
A Swedish neoclassic gilt-lead-mounted giltwood and green-painted console table. The rectangular gray marble top above an anthemion-mounted frieze on scrolled leaf-carved legs ending in paw feet and on a plinth base.

Norway and Denmark

Norway remained part of Denmark during the 18th century, and was closely linked to northern Germany. Furniture makers were heavily influenced, therefore, by the German form of Rococo, and the guilds in both Denmark and Norway were based on the system in Germany.

Furniture, now reproduction furniture was also influenced by designs from Britain and the Low Countries, this was mainly because of the large amount of furniture that was being imported.

Swedish Cupboard

This cupboard shows how the standard Germanic form was adapted to suit changing fashions. Its upper case shows the influence of Low Country styles, and is far less heavy than earlier architectural models. Its curved cornice has less of an overhang. The drawers and doors are cross-binded with veneer and the grain of the veneer gives movement to the piece. Bracket feet, rather than turned balls, support a base with straight drawers, which shows the influence of British style.

Scandinavian Chairs

Chairs were often made in a variety of styles and were often painted. Side chairs had cabriole legs and a solid splat, often with a 'keyhole' pierced through the upper section, just under a central shell carving in the crest rail. Like British examples, the stiles were curved, becoming straight at the junction of the back legs. Designs tended to be conservative, and, in Denmark especially, high-backed chairs with stretchers remained popular well into the 18th century.

Between 1746 and 1748, the government banned the import of chairs that has been made abroad. This stifled innovation and meant that less fashionable styles of British chair, like those seen in the reign of George I, remained popular.

Towards the middle of the century, chairs like the French fauteuil, but with low upholstered backs and turned legs, became popular. Sofas in the shape of two or three chairs placed together were fairly common, as were stools with legs and carving that matched that of the chairs. Sometimes these pieces of non fitted furniture were painted, but solid beech or walnut chairs were also made. Elongated, upholstered sofas appeared in the 1750s. These were often painted in light colours, with gilt details.

Swedish Armchair

A swedish Rococo cut and painted armchair.

18th Century Furniture - Spain and Portugal

Style developments in Spain and Portugal were influenced by royal marriages and also by the success of Louis XIV of France. Philip V of Spain's marriage to Italian-born Elizabeth Farnese, and his son's marriage to the daughter of Dom Joao V of Portugal both brought stylistic influences from abroad.

The Legacy Of Versailles
Philip V remained in awe of the achievements of his grandfather, Louis XIV, while Italian influence came from his wife's use of architects and painters from Italy, notably Filippo Juvarra and Giovanni Battista Sacchetti.
Dom Joao V's reign coincided with the discovery of gold and diamonds in colonial Brazil. He used his fabulous wealth to develop a national monarchy modelled on the absolute rule of Louis XIV, and, like Louis, wanted art and literature to glorify his rule as sovereign.
To this end, he spent vast sums on Parisian handmade furniture, and commissioned Charles Cressent and Juste-Aurele Meissonnier to design furniture. He ordered his marital bed from Holland, made to a design by Daniel Marot.

Spanish Giltwood Console Table
The shaped moulded onyx marble top above a serpentine frieze carved with pierced C-scrolls and rockwork, resting on carved acanthus legs terminating in scrolled feet, joined by X-stretchers.

A Style Of Its Own
Fitted and non fitted furniture from the Iberian Peninsula was unique, Although inspired by designs from France, Italy and through trade links - England, it also incorporated colonial references and materials, such as Brazilian hardwoods, jacaranda, pausanto, and rosewood.
Portuguese furniture was particularly heavy due to the density of the woods used. Japanning, which had gone out of favour in France and England, was still popular, and English cabinet makers capitalized on this, exporting cabinets japanned in vivid colours such as scarlet, yellow, and gold to their wealthy clientele.
Chairs were based on the French fauteuil, with high backs, leather upholstery, and carved upper rails with a central stylized shell. They often had gilt carving, ball-and-claw feet, and square stretchers.
The fashion for pannier dresses, with their wide skirts, led to a demand for chairs with broader seats, and arms that curved outwards. These chairs usually had an English-style splat, with gilt edges, which flowed into a carved upper rail and stiles. The legs were cabriole and had gilt leaves carved on the knees.
The 18th century folding chair was similar to earlier versions with straight legs, but its stretchers were either flat or turned. The chair back was now shaped, with a central carved shell or a vase-shaped back splat.

In Portugal, Brazilian rosewood was often used, and the upper panel and seat were upholstered in leather, stretchers across the top of the rear legs, to allow the chair to fold inwards. The settee, made up of a number of chair backs, was more common than the French canape.
Cupboards, commodes, and bureaux were large and relied on the grain of the wood for decorative effect. Scrolled feet, while in proportion, were wider and lower than on furniture made elsewhere in Europe.
Portuguese pier tables were usually made of carved and gilded pine or rosewood. Rococo motifs were applied around the rectangular frame of the matching mirror that was positioned above the table.
Portuguese tables were often larger than Italian versions. Multi-purpose tables, with tops that lifted to reveal various surfaces for writing and playing cards, were a speciality of Portuguese cabinet makers.
Ormolu mounts and veneering were not often used on Spanish furniture of this period, but elaborate, often engraved, brass and silver mounts were a common feature of Portuguese furniture.

Portuguese Rosewood Side Table

Serpentine top above a frieze drawer and a scrolling-foliate carved apron,

on cabriole legs with ball and claw feet.

18th Century Furniture - The Low Countries (pt 2)

Unique Elements
The commode did not become popular until the middle of the century. It was similar to British examples until around 1765, tending to have four drawers or doors covering shelves. The choice of wood for these handmade furniture items, the use of imported mounts, and the heavier shape of commodes from the Low Countries help to differentiate them from British versions.
Burr walnut was the veneer of choice in the Low Countries. It was not until the 1730s that mahogany, a wood commonly used in British furniture, was used in Rotterdam, a city in which British influence was very strong. From the mid 18th century, the Low Countries exported ornamental mounts to Britain.
As there was no reigning monarch, the highly ornate styles of the French Court were not as influential in the Low Countries as elsewhere in Europe, and British design was the style of choice.

Giltwood Mirror
A great mid 18th century Chippendale period carved giltwood mirror, fitted furniture, having ho-ho bird pediment above the frame ornamented with 'C' scrolls, flowers, fruit, and foliage.

 

Walnut and Marquetry Bureau Bookcase

Fine quality, original and not reproduction furniture,18th century, Dutch walnut & marquetry Bureau Bookcase C.1770.
The top with 2 shelves & floral marquetry inside the doors. The bureau opening to reveal an arrangement of 11 drawers, the lower half being blocked serpentine with canted corners.
The whole being liberally inlaid with Greek urns, birds, flowers and mythological creatures.

18th Century Furniture - The Low Countries

When William, Prince of Orange and King of England, died in 1702, he left no adult heir. For the following 45 years the Low Countries were ruled by councillor pensionaries and regents. The first half of the 18th century was a period of stability. Dutch trade and shipping maintained the levels reached during the 17th century and money was ample.

Sombre Design
Furniture design, fitted and non fitted furniture, reflected the prevailing attitude of conservatism and there will very little innovation. Many forms imitated British examples, the major differences being not in design, but in the choice of woods and the use of marquetry. While marquetry was no longer fashionable in Britain, it continued to flourish in the Low Countries.
Chairs were similar to British designs, although the seat rails tended to be more serpentine in shape, and some chairs had a serpentine blocked seat rail with a shaped lower central section. Settees were also similar to British models, with high backs and wings and curved armrests, but stretchers remained fashionable well into the 1740s, unlike in Britain.

Signature Piece
The bureau-cabinet, which developed in Britain around 1700, was common throughout much of the 18th century. Versions with two doors often were fitted with mirrors, a feature that was used throughout the century.
The china cabinet was also popular. Similar in shape to the bureau-cabinet, the upper section had glazed doors in front of display shelves. There were several different designs for the lower section of this handmade furniture, each distinctive of furniture from the Low Countries. If the piece had straight sides, the corners were chamfered and extended outwards in heavy, overgrown scrolls. Otherwise the lower section was designed in a bombe' shape. Drawers were rounded, blocked, or serpentine.
Both the bureau-bookcase and the china cabinet illustrated the desire in the Low Countries for versatile, dual-purpose furniture, now reproduction furniture. Generally, the upper case was used to display books or ceramics, while the drawers in the lower section provided storage for household linens, or even clothes.

Dutch Armchair
Made in a typical George II style, decorated with floral marquetry. The cabriole legs terminate in claw-and-ball feet, but with as many mid century pieces, the chair lacks stretchers.

Dutch Commode

This mahogany, serpentine-shaped commode is influenced by English style, having two doors that open to reveal an interior fitted with shelves. This piece has little decoration, although originally the case may have been embellished with ormolu mounts and escutcheons. The pierced gilt-brass gallery at the back is a later addition. The piece stands on outswept bracket feet.

Dutch Chest Of Drawers

A walnut chest of drawers, feather-banded overall, the canted moulded bow-fronted top above four graduated drawers, above a moulded border and on later shaped bracket feet.

18th Century Furniture - Rococo Interior

The elaborate design of this sumptuous hunting pavilion displays the splendour of German Rococo interior style at its very best.
By the second quarter of the 18th century, modern French manners, and with them the delicate, playful design of the Rococo, were the height of fashion. The aristocracy and the upper middle classes, aspired to status and a refined lifestyle, inspired by the Court of Louis XIV.

A Home Fit For A King
It was against this backdrop that Max Emanuel, the Elector of Bavaria, redesigned his Munich Residenz and extended his summer palace at Nymphenburg. He employed Joseph Effner, who became the chief Court architect and handmade furniture designer, and the French-educated architect Francois Cuvillies. Both were influential in introducing the light, intimate Rococo style to the Elector's estates. Their designs cast aside the formality of Baroque architecture in favour of  a freer, more intimate feel.
In 1735, Cuvillies started work on the Amalienburg pavilion in the palace gardens at Nymphenburg.
Built as a hunting lodge for Electoress Amelia, the interior became the epitome of Bavarian Rococo.
The magnificent centrepiece of the Amalienburg , the mirror room, is ringed by ornately framed silver-gilt mirrors and lit by elaborate chandeliers. The pale bluish-green walls enhance the feeling of delicacy and light and provide a perfect backdrop to extensive silver stucco decoration. A closer look at the applied design work reveals an array of Rococo motifs and scenes - naturalistic birds fly above asymmetrical floral swags hanging from borders of cherubs, lyres, and scrolling leaves. Expansive panelled mirrors, framed by shells and S-curved, reflect and multiply the overall effect of movement and vivacity. This room would have been used for entertaining, including banqueting and lavish celebrations.

Regional Variations

Interpretations of Rococo varied greatly from one region of Germany to another. The furniture, including fitted furniture, produced to compliment fashionable interiors was particularly diverse. Although many pieces were fairly conservative in form, as a result of the influence of the guilds, decoration was elaborate, and typically included naturalistic motifs and scrolling lines.

Furniture from Munich, now reproduction furniture, was often heavily carved and gilded. Although inspired by a French movement and diverse in style, Rococo furniture at the highest end of the market, and the interiors of the Amalienburg, Wurzburg and other fine palaces, are distinctly German in their elaborate nature and grand scale.

Giltwood Louis XV Fauteuil

A very exhuberant 18th century giltwood Louis XV fauteuil with exaggerated curved seat rails, cabriole legs with scrolled feet, channel molded framework, all in what appears to be the original gilded surface. South German, or Italian 18th century, circa 1760. Now covered in Scalamandre fabric.

18th Century Furniture - Germany

Germany at this time was made up of over 300 principalities, loosely bound into the Holy Roman Empire. Only three of the German states were large enough to compete as powers on a European scale - Bavaria, Saxony, and Brandenburg-Prussia. The princely rulers vied with each other for power and prestige, building magnificent Baroque palaces and Rococo pavilions at enormous cost.

French Influence
The most clearly defined German styles of the time were Bavarian and Frederician Rococo. Under the patronage of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, and King Frederick the Great of Prussia, architects and cabinet makers were encouraged to take inspiration from France.
A French designer of particular significance was Francois Cuvillies, who was employed by the Elector of Bavaria. Cuvillies' spectacular interiors at the Residenz and the Amalienburg Pavilion in Munich represent the height of German Rococo. Swirling, gilded, carved wooden decorations covered the walls and handmade furniture of Cuvillies' interiors, with motifs ranging from pure rocaille to sculptural figures, masks, and animals.

German Rococo
Early 18th century German furniture and fitted furniture was heavier in style than French or Italian pieces. Commodes and cabinets, in particular, were massive and were decorated with typical Rococo motifs, such as scrolls, shells, cartouches, and fantastic foliage.
Enormous bureau-bookcases were serpentine in shape and had scrolled legs and tiny scrolled feet. Glass-fronted display cabinets were painted in pale Rococo colours and gilt, and decorated with shells, foliage, and scrolls - commodes had exaggerated curves.
As in France, furniture, usually carved and gilded or painted, was designed for an integrated interior. Special rooms or themes, such as the garden, often influenced the decoration. The desire for informality inspired new types of furniture. Fire screens, couches and settees, writing tables, and carved and gilded console tables were made for the wealthy.
Typical 17th century furniture, now reproduction furniture, such as the two-part cupboard and the wardrobe, was still made well into the 18th century. Carving tended to emulate French boiserie panelling, and great emphasis was placed on the woods chosen for veneers.
Walnut, engraved ivory, fruitwood, sycamore, and green-stained softwoods were used for both marquetry and veneers. Lacquerwork was still popular, and exquisite cabinets and tables, often made in Berlin, were decorated with fashionable Chinoiserie patterns and fetes galantes.
Unlike French furniture, which is usually stamped with the makers name, German furniture of this period is rarely attributed to specific makers. This is because in Germany at this time, the best cabinet makers were employed by the Courts and worked directly for their employers. They lived in the grounds of palaces, had their workshops there, and were often salaried.

German Commode
The commode presented here has two drawers and a rare décor featuring a Chinese-style European lacquer. The façade and sides have panels with a so-called “vermillion” background highlighted with gilt motifs of landscapes filled with figures, pagodas, and birds, contrasting with the black lacquer frame that sets them off. It has an brèche d’Alep marble top. Very few examples are known of furniture featuring these two tones, red and black. Among those that have been identified: a commode stamped “BVRB” with a black background panel set within a red frame, in the Hôtel de Boisgelin, the current Italian Embassy in Paris and a second one, with red background panels in a black frame, stamped by Jean Desforges, is reproduced in Wolvesperges. And finally, special mention for a commode can be seen in the famous gouache by Louis-Nicolas Van Blarenberghe, depicting the view from the bedroom of the Duc de Choiseul à Paris.

Cabinet On Stand

This cabinet is japanned in an oak carcase, with softwood dustboards and oak drawer linings - the stand and cresting of carved and silvered softwood and lime.

After 1660, cabinets on stands were considered particularly prestigious pieces of furniture. They were highly decorated and contained many drawers for valuable and unusual objects. They were also objects of display in their own right. This cabinet has been 'japanned'. Japanning was a decoration that imitated lacquer made in East Asia. Professional craftsmen carried it out, and it also became a popular pastime for wealthy women. The taste for silvered, wooden furniture in England derived from furniture actually made in silver for the French court of Louis XIV (ruled 1643-1715). Very little of this survives, because Louis had it melted down to pay for his military campaigns. It is rare for such ornate crestings to remain complete. This cabinet belonged to Sir Richard Hill (1655-1727), who became Deputy Paymaster to William III's forces in Flanders.

18th Century Furniture - Venice (part 2)

Lacca Povera
This innovative decorative technique, which is now often referred to as 'Decoupage', originated in Venice in the mid 18th century.

Lacca povera (poor man's lacquer) is also known as arte povera (poor man's art), or lacca contrafatta (fake lacquer). In mid 18th century Venice, the taste for lacquerwork was so great that artists developed lacca povera as an alternative in order to meet the mass demand. This new, and relatively inexpensive, technique evolved alongside traditional lacquerwork in the production of handmade furniture.

The Technique
Craftsmen used engravings to decorate fitted furniture and non fitted furniture and other objects. These images were often obtained from specialist firms who produced sheets of engravings especially for lacca povera decoration. These were then coloured, cut, and pasted onto a prepared surface.
Several layers of varnish were applied to create a surface that resembled the high gloss effect of traditional lacquerwork, and the best examples resembled imports from the Orient. Initially, craftsmen favoured Chinoiserie designs, but European motifs also became popular.
The influence of the painter Jean Watteau and the designer Jean Berain could often be seen. The printed scenes varied from extravagant rocailles to maritime and pastoral themes. On the finest lacca povera, details were picked out in gilt or engraved once the varnish had dried. The most common colour for the background was red. Rare white lacca povera is now highly prized. Desks, chairs, tables, cabinets, and screens were all decorated using this technique.

Decoupage
The centre of professional production was Venice, but the technique became popular throughout Europe. In France the technique was renamed decoupage, from the French word couper, meaning to cut.
This skill was taught to ladies in the 18th century, and was mainly used on smaller, decorative objects, as it is today.


A LOUIS XV GILTWOOD PIER TABLE MID-1 8TH CENTURY
With later breche de violette serpentine marble top above a frieze with pierced floral foliate garlands, on pierced cabriole legs with trailing floral garlands joined by a rocky stretcher with boar and hounds.

A VENETIAN LACCA POVERA, POLYCHROME AND GILT DECORATED BUREAU 
 Decorated throughout with figures among classical buildings and bucolic scenes and flowers, the fall front enclosing a drawer, and with further cushioned and serpentine drawers below.

18th Century Furniture - Italy (Venice)

During the 18th century, Venice faded as a trading republic and was politically isolated from the other regions. However, the cosmopolitan Venetian Republic excelled as the capital of taste, fashion, and luxury, rivalling the reputation of Paris.

A Grand Palazzo
The grand palazzi faced directly onto the larger canals, and it was here that the finest furnishings, including fitted furniture, were enjoyed by Venice's wealthiest citizens. Huge anti-chambers measured around 36m (120ft), and special furniture was created for these rooms. A long bergere with an upholstered back, the pozzetto, was designed to be placed against the walls, as was the exaggerated divani da portego, a long settee.
The family bedchambers and associated rooms were furnished in luxurious velvet and damask, often fringed or laced with gold. The floors were laid with marble or scagliola, and the frescoes on the skirting boards and ceilings added more colour.
At times, the overall effect could be overpowering, and the furniture and decoration competed for prominence.

Bedchamber from the Sagredo Palace, Venice. c.1718
The furnishings relate to the overall architectural theme. The sculptural quality of the ceiling is reflected in the ornately carved headboard.

Furniture Styles

Much Venetian handmade furniture was brightly painted or decorated with lacquer, silver, or gilt, and ornately carved. Venetian design was the embodiment of the effusive Rococo style, which remained fashionable in Venice after its popularity had waned elsewhere.

Although the furniture retained the sculptural qualities of the Baroque, the carving was lighter and more delicate. Scrolls, serpentine outlines, and bombe shapes were common. Cabriole legs were often decorated with Rococo carving. 

New types of furniture, now reproduction furniture, included girandole mirrors, and gueridon tables that had a candlestand base supporting a marble top. Even large pier tables had carved and pierced frames that were gilded or painted in the Rococo style. In addition to pier mirrors or glasses placed over pier tables, other mirrors were introduced that often contained coloured panels of glass interspersed with the mirror glass.

Chests of drawers ranging from the French commode to smaller pieces such as the cassettoncino, typically with three serpentine-shaped drawers with square ends. These were often veneered in walnut, and supported on ball or bracket feet.

Pairs of small chests, comodini, painted or veneered in walnut, had a single door, sometimes with a drawer above, and were raised on short, curved or scrolled feet.

Another popular form was a small, bombe-shaped, two-door chest.

Lacquer

Lacquerwork was very popular in Venice, and was used to adorn everything from commodes to armchairs. Chinoiserie designs imitated imported Far Eastern lacquer, but Venetian craftsmen incorporated whimsical floral motifs, often with foliage.

It often took 20 layers of varnish to fully complete the lacquer process. Although the outsides of pieces were effusively decorated, the interiors were often relatively plain. Light colours were popular for lacquer, especially yellow, gold, and blue.

18th Century Venetian Commode

A Pristine 18th Century Venetian Polychrome Concave Block Front Commode Credenza with three long drawers and two secret and canted side doors opening to reveal ten polychromed cubby drawers, embellished with mascaron, strings of pearls and foliate motifs 

18th Century Furniture - Italy (part 2)

New Forms
Italian chairs were often inspired by the French fauteuil, but had higher, fan-shaped backs, which were ornately carved and often gilded. Unpainted handmade furniture was usually made of walnut, but fruitwoods were also common.
Side chairs, in the English style, had pierced splats with a central carved and pierced cartouche, and restrained cabriole legs. Some had flat stretchers . These chairs were often upholstered over the seat rail, rather than having slip-in seats. Caned examples also existed and more vernacular versions had rush seats.
Sofas, stools, and daybeds followed French fashion, although long settee's with joined chair backs looked more like English examples. These settee's were designed for specific reception rooms, such as the ballroom or the long rooms that run from the front to the back of a palazzo.

A mid 18th century George III walnut veneered bureau

The bureau has four pine lined drawers that have their original brass handles. The bureau drawer, of this non fitted furniture piece, fronts and flap are cross banded and have a herring bone inlay, the bracket feet have a good thumb mould were they meet the bureau.

The interior has six pigeon holes and a centre door, the door and side panels all pull forward as one piece and have two secret panels that pull out from the back.

Most tables had attenuated, curved legs, Console and side tables were still heavily carved and gilded. The marble tops were inserted or framed rather than resting on top of the table. Tables were now made for specific rooms - the trespoli, for example, was for use in a bedroom where it would support a dressing mirror. Gueridons, small tables often made in pairs, were popular and tendedto have a single, rounded, carved support above a tripod base. Larger tables had carved stretchers, often with a cartouche or decoration at the junction in the middle.

Writing tables had been used since the 16th century, but new forms now appeared. The bureau, or bureau-cabinet, became fairly common. The sides of a bureau were often squared and the central section serpentine in shape.

Bureaux were veneered in complex geometric shapes, generally of walnut, or tulipwood in Genoa, or decorated with lacquer or paint.

The credenza, or cupboard, was made of fruitwood and had elongated bracket feet that extended from the front of the piece around to the side.

The bureau-bookcase, now common in reproduction furniture, inspired by English versions, often had an exaggerated crest on top. The lower case had serpentine drawers, squared at the ends, and short bracket feet. Bureau-bookcases were usually made of walnut veneers, or were lacquered , gilded, and painted.

The French style commode was also popular, though Italian versions often had shorter legs. While they rarely had gilt-bronze mounts, they were generally lacquered, and adorned with intricate veneer and paint.

18th Century Furniture - Italy

During the first half of the 18th century, most of the Italian states came under the control of Spain and Austria. Only Venice, Genoa, and Lucca remained independent, although the republics of Venice and Genoa declined in power and population.

Italian Rococo
Italy was no longer a cultural leader in Europe. The noble landowners who built large palazzos were conservative on the whole and the Baroque style was favoured for longer than elsewhere. The only concession to changing fashions, however, was that handmade furniture for the main deception rooms was now conceived as an integral part of the interior.
Gradually, during the second quarter of the 18th century, as interiors became less formal, the lighter and more graceful Rococo style became more prevalent, reaching the height of its popularity from 1730 to 1750.
Italian Rococo furniture was mainly influenced by French Regence and Louis XV styles, but it was embellished with decorative lacquerwork, colourful paintwork, and extravagant carved details. Styles of furniture varied considerably from one region to another. Craftsmen in Piedmont were strongly influenced by neighbouring France, and Genoese furniture was renowned for its skillful construction.
Furniture from Lombardy was more sober and severe, whereas Venetian fitted and non fitted furniture was theatrical and colourful.

Sicilian Commode

The rectangular moulded top above a fall front opening to reveal two long internal drawers, raised on square tapering legs, the top, front and sides all decorated with stylised birds and flowering branches within a stylised dentillated rope-twist and entwined floral vine border within a pale blue faux-marble surround.

The overall form of this commode, with its pure, uninterrupted rectilinear silhouette and square tapering legs with block feet, is entirely typical of chests of drawers produced throughout Italy in the 1780s. However, the idiosyncratic use of a vibrantly coloured turquoise marbling around the borders of this piece of antique furniture would seem to directly echo the characteristically late 18th-century Sicilian practice of mounting furniture with painted glass panels simulating marble and semiprecious stone.

The bright colours and bold, simplified two-dimensional outlines of the birds and flowers are inspired by imported Chinese silks and wallpapers and probably would have formed part of a Chinese room, the taste for which remained unabated throughout 18th and 19th-century Sicily. The most celebrated Chinoiserie interiors on the island are those of the Palazzino Cinese in the Parco della Favorita in Palermo, built for the exiled court of King Ferdinand IV of Naples between 1798 and 1806, and recently re-opened after a twenty-year restoration programme. The internal decoration represents a highly particular fusion of oriental and then-fashionable neoclassical motifs, a trait also seen in the commode’s integration of a dentillated border with interlaced flowers.

Carved Console

A Very Fine and Large Early 18th Century Italian Rococo Giltwood Carved Console Table with a Castracane marble top of serpentine outline, all 24kt gilding original. Circa: Venice, 1720.