Ancient Furniture (part 12 of 12)

New Styles
The structural developments of Renaissance fitted and non fitted 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 the 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 handmade furniture - 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 goods 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 small drawers were were quite 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 until around 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.

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next week we will be delving into the 17th century where furniture is getting much more grand.

Ancient Furniture (part 11 of 12)

Renaissance Europe
With the combination of Humanist intellectualism and of high society patronage - this eventually brought Renaissance ideals to France and northern Europe, just as it had done south of the Alps.
The French claim on Naples, and its wider ambitions on the Italian states in general, led to a number of military campaigns and intermittent rule over portions of the peninsula.
This served to increase intellectual and artistic commerce between France and the centres of Renaissance thought, such as Florence and Rome.

Renaissance Spreads To France
Continued papal rule over the enclave of Avignon further promoted Italian influence with France. Many of the artists commissioned to work on the great frescoes of the 'Palace of the Popes' came from Siena.
This tradition was enthusiastically continued by Francois 1, when he invited Italian luminaries such as Francesco Primaticcio, Niccolo dell'Abbate and Benvenuto Cellini to decorate fitted furniture for the interiors of his new chateau at Fontainebleau.
A distinct school of art evolved around the prolonged activity at the chateau, and the Fontainebleau style was subsequently exported throughout northern Europe. This was essentially a French interpretation of Italian Mannerism - a high style that looked to the work of earlier Renaissance artists rather than to nature for stylistic cues.
The Chateau de Chambord, a castle built in the Loire valley by Francis 1, is perhaps the finest example of Renaissance architecture in France. French Renaissance handmade furniture was often shaped to a large extent by architectural developments.

Jacques Androuet du cerceau published works that included furniture designs. Many of his engravings of architectural embellishments and details were modified for decorative uses in furniture. He drew his inspiration from antiquity, and was particularly fond of acanthus leaves, plumes and armorial motifs.
Exotic and fantastical beasts were also favourite themes for carved decoration. Oak was replaced by Walnut as the favoured timber for furniture, the tight grain lending itself well to relief carving. Human figures, which were often in the form of caryatids, are found more often on French furniture and reproduction furniture than on any produced elsewhere during the same period.

German Speaking Countries
The ideals of the Italian Renaissance first reached the German speaking countires through artists such as Albrect Durer - who had visited Italy. A more direct influence on the designs 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 designs that apprentices had to master rarely altered.
The cities of Nuremberg and Augsburg, which didn't have guilds, became famous for their furniture makers, such as Lorenz Stoer and Peter Flotner, who published woodcut designs for intarsia panels popular an Augsburg furniture decoration. 

Ancient Furniture (part 10 of 12)

Marriage Chests
The cassone, or marriage chest, was one of the most prized objects in any home and therefore no expense was spared in its beautification. The side panels were often covered with coloured or gilded gesso, built up into relief patterns or sculpted to depict Classical figures and scenes.
The best painters are sculpters in Italy were commissioned to work on these chests, and those that survive today exhibit a richness of decoration that is equalled only by the religious art of the day.
The increasing secularization of the arts now made it acceptable for people to display object with lavish surface decoration in their homes.

Decorative Work
Fitted furniture, often made from Walnut or Willow, was 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 boundries between the natural and man made worlds.
A seat carved in the form of an open clam shell is both whimsical and unsettling. Decorated furniture was placed in equally decorative interiors, where walls also featured audacious trompe l'oeil designs that looked like windows, doors, shelves or vistas.

Architectural Influence
Renaissance art, like the Gothic style of the Middle Ages, was primarily led by developments in architecture, and the use of columns, a staple of Greek and Roman building, was now incorporated in antique furniture design.
Caryatids - columnar supports depicting female figures - were especially prevalent.
The chair, traditionally a symbol of status and power, underwent a process of democratization during the Renaissance that transformed it into an accessible staple of home life.
The faldstool, or X-chair, made from two pairs of short beams intersecting as a central joint and linked by a stretcher, became common.
The most luxurious examples of handmade furniture were covered with a thin layer of silver, or upholstered with velvet, but most of them were more modest. The basic form of the faldstool originated in antiquity, and a leather seat slung between two X-frames was used in Renaissance Italy just as it had been in ancient Greece.
A side chair called the sgabello chair was basically a stool with an octagonal seat and a long decorated back splat. Sometimes the back splat could be removed to turn the chair into a stool.

  

Ancient Furniture (part 9 of 12)

Renaissance Italy
The instigators of the Italian renaissance realized that they were entering a new and modern era, even as they helped to lay its foundations.
Leonardo Bruni was the first to present a tripartite view of history comprised of antiquity and the modern age, separated by an intervening middle period, or 'dark age', characterized by the neglect of Classical knowledge and accomplishments.

A Spirit Of Enquiry
In the 14th century, the affluent city of Florence in Tuscany emerged from a period of civil strife and pestilence into an age of unprecedented prosperity. The peculiarly Italian urban culture, and the republican attitudes of Florentines in particular, predisposed them to the emerging philosophy of civic humanism that informed Renaissance thinking.
The universities and merchant classes began to reappraise the science, philosophy, art and design of ancient Greece and Rome, and Florence's great wealth brought many artists to the city who were all seeking commissions from merchants eager to display their success and good taste to produce now antique furniture.
The same spirit of scientific inquiry that led to remarkable discoveries by Copernicus, Vesalius and Galileo also pervaded the arts. Andrea Palladio recommended architectural proportions that were based on models from the Classical world, and Filippo Brunelleschi clarified the laws of linear perspective.
Artists jettisoned the elongated, stylized figures of medieval painting in favour of more accurate depictions of the human form, facilitated by advances in anatomy. A new realism, fused with the humanist principles of the age, took root within the fine and decorative arts.

The Explosion Of Patronage
All these developments influenced the fitted furniture and non fitted furniture of the period. The middle classes built sumptuous town houses and palazzi, and began to fill these opulent living spaces with furniture and decorative artworks that reflected their status.
The greatest families, such as the Medici of Florence, the Montefeltro of Urbino and the Farnese of Rome, engaged the finest designers and craftsmen to produce monumental items of handmade furniture in marble, inlaid with semi-precious stones and decorated with family crests and emblems.

Ancient Furniture (part 8 of 12)

The Gothic Style
The Gothic Style - the dominant aesthetic of the Middle Ages was perceived as the antithesis of the civilized Classical world. It was a Norman innovation, fusing Carolingian and Burgundian artistic traditions with Islamic elements from Saracen Sicily.
The greatest achievements of Gothic art were the cathedrals of northern Europe, the elements from the ecclesiastic architecture formed the basis of Gothic furniture design.
The Gothic style was based on the replacement of the rounded Romanesque arch with the innovative pointed arch, a feat of engineering that meant churches could be larger - because the weight of the church's roof could be supported on a framework of open-work piers and ribs, instead of massively thick walls.
The architectural structure was reflected in the elaborate tracery of cathedral and church windows, and the trefoil and quatrefoil motifs used lent themselves equally well to the decoration of benches and tables.
The upright press developed as a place to store priest's robes - and began to replace the chest as the preferred receptacle for clothing.
Another innovation of the Gothic period was a type of fitted furniture, the cupboard, its name derived from its original function, which was to display valuable silver-plate (cups) in wealthy households. Regional variations in the style included a predilection for linenfold panelling among English and Flemish craftsmen.
With the exception of Italy, where the prevailing fashion remained Romanesque, the Gothic style dominated Europe until the 15th century, and lingered even after the renaissance sought to reject it in favour of a return to the Classical tradition.

Medieval Interiors
Contrary to the common perception of Gothic style as dark and stuffy, the interiors and furniture, now antique furniture, of the period were remarkably light and colourful.
Furniture makers usually had to make do with native woods, in England and northern Europe - Oak, Pine and Fir in the Alps and Fruitwoods in the Mediterranean. Surviving medieval furniture made from Oak invariably looks very dark because of its acquired patina, but newly cut Oak is much lighter. In addition, many items of handmade furniture were painted in bold hues, including primary colours and gold tones.
Chests in particular were often painted - although relatively few examples survive today, it is still possible to see traces of medieval painting on the ceilings and walls of many churches and cathedrals, which were originally decorated in the same way.
  

Ancient Furniture (part 7 of 12)

The Middle Ages
When Odoacer, Chieftain of the Heruli, overthrew the last of the Western Roman Emperors in 476CE, it spelt the end of more than 600 years of Roman dominion over Western Europe. The ensuing territorial disputes resulted in a violent dislocation of the region's Classical inheritance, which naturally influenced the arts and, therefore, furniture. Antique furniture.
Although the Empire persisted in the East - centred on Constantinople  - its Greek Hellenistic tradition was now tempered by the Christian ideals of the Roman rulers.
Christianity also informed the culture of the West, influenced by an increasingly powerful papacy. The perpetuation of the Roman Empire in Byzantium, 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
The Byzantine furniture trade distinguished between the joiner, who made standard items for the general consumer, and the cabinet maker, whose more architectural designs express the aspirations of a thriving and proud culture.
The Egyptian X-frame chair abounded, complete with terminals depicting the heads and feet of animals, although it was made of heavier timber than ever before, and sometimes even fashioned from metal.
Chairs remained symbols of power and as such they were often monumental in both size and status - more akin to grand thrones than modern chairs. Sophisticated desks fitted with adjustable lectern tops for reading revealed a greater appreciation of function. Dining tables were very low in deference to the classical manner of eating while reclining, supporting the diner on one elbow - a practice which is still followed in much of Asia Minor.
The most common item of furniture was the chest. Lavish examples incorporated intarsia work or inlays of stones, ivory and precious metals. Their more humble cousins were coffers with simple, flat, hinged lids that also served as beds or benches.

Furniture In The West
The coffer, or chest, was also the most common item of furniture in Western Europe. A basic wooden box constructed from six timber boards nailed together, or even a hollowed log, it was often the only piece of furniture owned by many people. The landed gentry, on the other hand, usually owned coffers by the dozen, filled with clothes, coins and other trappings.
Many landlords had itinerant lifestyles because an often scattered population forced them to spend a lot of their time travelling between different parts of their estates. A great deal of non fitted furniture was therefore made to be portable. Tapestries, wall hangings and cushions were usually removed and taken from one house to another.
Chests designed for the safe transport of goods had curved lids to drain away rain water, and were seldom decorated except, perhaps for a leather cover. Those that doubled as home furnishings had more comfortable flat lids and some also had feet, or even legs.

Growing Construction Skills
As joiners steadily developed more sophisticated carpentry skills, chests were better made. The hutch chest, first recorded in the 13th century, used a primitive kind of dovetail joint reinforced with a dowel peg, making it much stronger and more durable than anything that had gone before.
The superior strength did away with the need for iron banding, leaving the entire surface of the chest free for carved decoration.

Ancient Furniture (part 5 of 12)

The beginnings of civilization in China are unknown. What is certain is that by the 18th century BCE most of modern China was ruled by a single, militaristic dynasty known as the Shang, who had already developed a complex system of writing and a sophisticated agrarian economy.

A Traditional Aesthetic
Wooden furniture, antique furniture, was made in China from the earliest times. Furniture, excavated from ancient Chu sites dating back to c.250BCE, shows that wooden furniture and lacquer decoration have been in continuous use in China for many hundreds of years.
It was not until the rise of International trade, great cities, and a wealthy elite that cabinet makers made the great aesthetic advances that would characterize their art.
The golden age of furniture production and handmade furniture in China began during the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644), when the ideal was simple furniture with clean lines and sparse decoration that was limited to latticework and open or relief carving.
During the early years of the Qing dynasty (1644 - 1912), this ideal remained entrenched. As China grew wealthy in her stability the decorative arts began to reflect a new attitude of confidence and prosperity.
Pieces of furniture, and fitted furniture, became larger and heavier, whilst always retaining a fundamental, simple purity. The rich carving so celebrated in the Ming period never fell from fashion, but was transformed into something far more expressive and used ever more liberally. Chair backs or legs were often carved from top to bottom with detailed, naturalistic designs. Linear styles gave way to a more fluid approach that incorporated graceful curves and shapes.
Domestic furniture remained utilitarian and unassuming - beaded or bevelled edges and simple inlays of light metal provided an aesthetic respite from the plain, flat surfaces. Pieces made for court use were more sumptuous - mother of pearl, porcelain, enamel and even precious stones were often used as decoration on the most important palace furniture.

Popular Woods
Expendable furniture was made from cheap bamboo, but Chinese cabinet makers prized indigenous hardwoods such as as Rosewood above all others. These were generally sourced from the warmer areas of southern China, although imports from Indonesia and other south east Asian nations supplemented home grown stocks.
Burr woods were also popular but were usually used sparingly, due to cost and scarcity. The most coveted timber of all was Zitan, an extremely dense and attractive variety of sandalwood that was literally worth its weight in gold.

Ancient Furniture (part 4 of 12)

The confluence of two cultures
Hellenistic influence spread east into Asia Minor and west in Magna Grecia, the Italian peninsula. This expansion led to a clash between Greece and Rome in southern Italy around 280BCE.
The decisive battle of actium in 31BCE ushered in the period of Pax Romana, and spelt the end of Greek independence from Rome.
Integration was swift and fruitful on both sides, and Roman influence on the Greek world eventually 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 using fitted and non fitted furniture, 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 usually carved to reference animals feet, such as lions, just as they had been in Egypt, and later, in 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, now produced as reproduction furniture, 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, handmade furniture, became grander than those used in ancient Greece, both in size of opulence and steps were needed to climb onto the highest bedsteads. Gold and silver feet, and veneers of precious woods and even tortoiseshell, displayed the wealth of the owner.
One furniture innovation that the Romans never quite developed to fruition was the glass mirror. The glass manufacturers of Siddon, a port city in present day lebanon, failed to become as popular as the polished silver mirrors that were in widespread use.

Ancient Furniture (part 3 of 12)

The City States of ancient Greece fostered a golden age of culture that was far more sophisticated than that of Egypt. A more personal spirit of inquiry and curiosity prospered, and mankind began to seek scientific and philosophical solutions to the fundamental conundrums of life.
The minoans of ancient Crete were great record keepers, although more substantial evidence of their culture has proved elusive, limited to excavations of palaces. The palace of minos, when excavated, revealed a mighty stone throne, proving that Europeans have been using chairs for 4,000 years.

The Greek House
The average Athenian male spent very little time at home, but devoted his attentions to civic activities at the Agora, religious commitments, and the Gymnasium. As a result, there was not a great need for general furniture or fitted furniture.
A typical house consisted of two pillared courts - the andronitis, or men's apartment, and the gynaeconitis, or women's apartment, which was used as a general living room.
Surrounding these courts were small cells used as sleeping quarters. The most important furnishings were the hearth, at which offerings were made to the goddess Hestia, and an altar to Zeus.
Seating antique furniture, tables, and beds were predominantly from wood - our knowledge of them is limited to depictions on vases, carvings and paintings.

Ancient and enduring models
The diphros okladias was a direct appropriation  of the Egyptian X-frame stool, and was certainly in use as long ago as the Aegean period.
A more original Greek stool design was the bathros, consisting of a flat, square top supported on four legs. Similarly the Greeks made use of Egyptian style chairs for many years until they developed the klismos, a design of extraordinary longevity that is still encountered to this day.
Regarded by the Greeks as a feminine piece of furniture, the klismos has four curved legs that bend under the seat of the chair before sweeping back outwards as they reach the floor.

The shaped back, called a stile, displays an awareness of ergonomics. There is evidence that the ancient Greeks also used stools that were specifically designed to support infants.
Tables were usually constructed with three legs to aid balance on the uneven earth or plaster floors of the Greek home. The Greek word kline, root of the English "recline", was used to describe both beds and couches, which were used while eating.
The poor made their beds on the ground, while wealthier Greeks had wooden, bronze or ivory bedsteads on which they arranged animal skins, woollen cloths and linen.
Kline were raised on legs at a height that allowed the occupant to reach the dining table. A number of these couches would be present in the andron, or dining room, of the richest Greeks. Some were constructed from valuable imported wood, or decorated with marquetry designs or precious metal inlays.
The furniture, now original antiques or reproduction furniture, of Etruria is known only through 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.





     

Ancient Furniture (part 2 of 12)

Domestic Furniture (Continued..)
Low, straight legged tables were used to display water vessels or the faience vases so treasured by Egyptians. Stands designed specifically for vases were constructed from timber poles terminating in a collar that supported the vessel.
Beds were usually made of timber, although metal and ivory were also used. Woven cord was suspended between the two sides of the frame to support a mattress of folded linen.
There was no uniform height, many beds were low and some were heigh enough to require a low step or mounting board.

Woods
Timbers available to ancient Egyptians included native sycamore fig, acacia and sidder, a hardwood also known as 'Christ's Thorn'. These were supplemented by woods imported from Middle Eastern trading partners, such as cypress and Lebanese cedar, which were also used for boat construction for what we now call antique furniture.

Construction and Decoration
The arid climate curtailed the growth of trees, so large pieces of timber were hard to come by. This let to a certain amount of ingenuity on the part of Egyptian carpenters who developed many of the sophisticated panelling and joining methods that have been used ever since.

Dovetails, mortice and tenon joints, and even tongue and groove were very well known, alongside more primitive techniques involving pegging and lashing.
Some workshops specialized in complex intarsia designs, often painstakingly constructed from tiny slivers of the most valuable timbers.
Untidy joins or poor quality wood were frequently masked with veneer, gesso and paint.

Surface decoration was an important consideration and the finest furniture was covered with silver and gold leaf. Carved and applied decoration could be just as elaborate. The legs of a folding stool often terminated in ducks heads or, for higher ranking members of society, lions paws.

Among the finest examples known to have existed are stools with goose head terminals, inlaid with ivory eyes and neck feathers.
Upholstery was usually limited to rolls of linen or other fabrics. Furniture, including fitted furniture  was also painted and the ancient Egyptians sowed the embryonic seeds of Western art that continue to flourish and develop today.
The 'frontalist' style, in which figures are depicted with the head in profile and the torso facing outwards, was a defining characteristic of ancient Egyptian culture.

Ancient Furniture (part 1 of 12)

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptian Furniture is better documented than that of other ancient civilizations, and it was obviously very well regarded in its day. Indeed, excavations at sites in Mesopotamia and further afield have shown that furniture of Egyptian origin was also exported and given in tribute to foreign dignitaries.

The ancient Egyptian world view included a complex set of beliefs regarding the afterlife. The Egyptians believed that one aspect of the eternal soul, 'Ka', was the double of the physical body, freed at the moment of death but able to return to the corpse at will.

This aspect of the soul required sustenance in order to continue to exist and this is why the burial chambers of Egyptian dignitaries were filled not only with food, but also with ceremonial and household handmade furniture that represented the highest achievements of Egyptian craftsmen.

Being perishable, wooden frames did not always survive interment. However, gold casings and ivory inlays, found on tomb floors, have enabled Egyptologists to recreate the furniture.

Secrets From The Tombs

Reconstructions of artefacts found in the tomb of Queen Hetepheres have revealed an elaborate canopy bed, a carrying chair, and other items including numerous boxes.

The tomb of Tutankhamen, who was born c.1340bce and died more than 1,000 years after Hetepheres, contained artefacts designed specifically for the burial site: his funerary couch, for example, is carved in the form of Ammit, the eater of the dead, a god with the head of a crocodile, the body of a leopard and the hindquarters of a hippopotamous.

Tutankhamen ruled for less than ten years, and much speculation surrounds the circumstances of his death. When Howard Carter discovered Tutenkhamen's tomb in 1922, there were immediate consequences for the decorative arts. Art Deco furniture, in particular, reflected the influence of ancient Egyptian forms and decorative motifs, just as furniture of the French Empire period had done following Napoleon's triumphant entry into Egypt in 1798.

Domestic Furniture

Depictions of items in everyday use by the more affluent members of society have been preserved in paintings and carvings. The most common item of furniture documented was the stool, both three and four legged types, with varying degrees of decoration.

The folding stool, constructed from a pair of wooden frames and a slung leather seat, originated in the Middle Kingdom and became a staple of ancient interior 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. 

Period Styles (part 6 of 6)

Historicism

The second half of the 19th century was a time of historical revivals. Epitomized by the Victorian interior in Britain, reproductions and reproduction furniture of earlier pieces in the Gothic, Renaissance and Rococo styles were mass produced - in line with industrialization.

There was a greater emphasis on comfort, reflected in curvaceous forms and deep buttoned upholstery.

Aesthetic Movement

Evident in Britain and the United States towards the end of the 19th century, this was a short lived movement advocating 'art for art's sake'.

Designers were influenced by the decorative arts of Japan, but also by Gothic, Moorish and Jacobean styles. Pieces borrowed elements from all these styles of antique furniture and were often ebonized to create a lacquered effect.

Arts and Crafts Movements

A forceful rejection of the mass produced and shoddy furniture produced as a result of the Industrial Revolution, the Arts and Crafts Movement championed good design, skilled craftsmanship and the finest traditional building materials, as part of an ideal of the good life.

The style associated with the movement developed in Britain and the United States during the second half of the 19th century and lasted well into the 20th century. 

Designers worked with native woods - predominantly Oak - and produced simple, geometric pieces based on traditional vernacular forms, such as the settle. Additional forms of decoration were sparingly used, the idea being that the grain of the wood, often quartersawn, was sufficiently decorative in itself.

Mid-Century Modern

Mostly associated with designers working in the United States and Scandinavia after the end of World War Two. Mid-Century Modern furniture, and fitted furniture, was a natural extension of Modernism, but designers had a looser, altogether more sculptural approach to furniture.

They continued to make use of the latest technological advances, which now included the production of moulded plastics, from padding, and lightweight aluminium frames.

Characteristic of the period was the experimentation with innovative, often organic, shapes and a bolder use of colour.

Pop

Pop is a term used for design of the late 1950's and 1960's that exploited popular culture. Furniture could be made very cheaply and took the form of gimmicky, 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

Peaking in the 1980's, Postmodernism was a style that rejected the ideals of Modernism and promoted the creation of eclectic, distinctive furniture.

First expressed in architecture, the Postmodern style was interpreted in a variety of ways by furniture makers. Some borrowed motifs from different historic styles and incorporated them into a single piece, often made from a mixture of expensive and inexpensive materials.

Others produced 'high tech' pieces, or minimalist, unadorned designs using rudimentary materials such as clear acrylic and wicker. 

Period Styles (part 5 of 6)

Empire

A form of late Neoclassicism, the Empire style dominated European furniture design in the first half of the 19th century, originating in France under Napoleon.

The style was inspired not only by ancient Greece and Rome, but also by ancient Egypt. 

Rectilinear forms took on grand proportions and were often embellished with brass and gilt mounts, or with sumptous fabrics.

Designers used architectural elements such as pediments and columns, on case pieces and sabre or splayed legs on seating.

Popular motifs included swags, laurels, and medallions, as well as sphinxes and Napoleon's personal emblems: the crown and the bee.

The furniture, now antique furniture, style directly influenced the Regency style in Britain, the Empire style in the United States, and the Biedermeier style in Germany.

Biedermeier

Biedermeier was a more restrained version of the Empire style of antique furniture and was 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.

Art Nouveau

This decorative style of fitted and non fitted furniture flourished in Europe, 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 Deco

Coined in the 1960's, 'Art Deco' is a term used to describe a decorative style that blossomed at the end of World War One.

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.

Modernism

Pioneered by the Bauhaus School in Germany in the wake of World War One, Modernism was a rejection of all historical styles.

Expressed initially through architecture, the movement spread , and furniture designers embraced manufacturing processes with renewed verve. 

Forms became predominantly stark, geometrical, and stripped of all ornament - being functional was all-important. Preferred materials included glass, laminated wood and tubular steel with new designs included the cantilever chair. 

Period Styles (part 4 of 6)

Neoclassical

Very popular during the second half of the 18th century, Neoclassicism was a real reaction against the Rococo style and seemed to be 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 it's decorative details, such as the Greek key and Vitruvian scrolls.

Applied ornament, often gilded, took the form of Laurel swags, urns and medallions.

Gustavian

The Gustavian style of furniture was a restrained version of French Neoclassicism which was unique to Sweden during the reign of Gustav III (1746-1792).

Characterized by light colours and rich silk damasks, it was based on Neoclassical elements, such as friezes, fluting, and laurel festoons, but the furniture was painted rather than being gilded.

Klismos-style chairs unholstered in silk and oval-backed chairs with straight, fluted legs were typical. 

Entire rooms were decorated in the Gustavian style and often had panelled walls embellished with tall giltwood-framed mirrors.

Federal Style

Taking it's name from the creation of the Federal constitution in 1787, the Federal style was as American form of Neoclassicism, based primarily on British forms. Furniture and fitted furniture was predominantly made of Mahogany and was light in style, with a sparing use of ornament.

Typical motifs included 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.

Tomorrow is part 5 - we look at Empire, Biedermeier, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Modernism.

Period Styles (part 3 of 6)

Rococo

By the beginning of the 18th century, furniture designers began to reject the heavy formality of the Baroque style and sought to create a lighter, more feminine look.

Emerging in France, the Rococo style dominated European design for the first half of the 18th century and made a lot of use of curvaceous bombe forms, asymmetrical ornament, and the cabriole leg.

Popular motifs included C- and S- scrolls, naturalistic foliage and rocaille, which often took the form of elaborate gilded mounts.

Louis XV

The French interpretation of the Rococo style was named after the early 18th century monarch, Louis XV.

This 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 for fitted and non fitted furniture were either rich and vibrant or pale and gilded, and new forms, such as the duchesse (chaise longue), the bergere (armchair) and delicate bonheurs-du-jour (lady's desk) reflected the increasing influence of women in society.

Gilt-bronze mounts and japanned surfaces imitating Oriental lacquerwork were also popular decorative features.

Queen Anne

A more understated form of Rococo design emerged in Britain, influenced, in part, by prevailing trends in the Low Countries.

Furniture forms during this period (1700-1715) were more restrained than elsewhere in Europe and elegant proportions were considered more important than decoration.

Pieces tended to be made of lightly carved wood - usually walnut - and had very little additional ornamentation. Characteristic features included the cabriole leg, claw-and-ball feet and the vase-shaped back splats on chairs.

The style was adopted with considerable success in the United States from around 1725.

Period Styles (part 2 of 6)

Chinoiserie

Chinoiserie was a style that really 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 the 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 around 200 years, combining ornament from China and Japan, sometimes with both styles evident in one single piece.

Handmade furniture 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

Influenced by medieveal ecclesiastical architecture, Gothic-style furniture has enjoyed a number of revivals over the years. Current reproduction furniture companies are making some great examples.
The first revival emerged in Britain from the mid 18th century, when furniture makers such as Chippendale applied Gothic architectural elements, such as cusped arches, ogee curves, and quatrefoils, to their designs.
This style was revived during the 19th century and had a considerable influence on the Arts and Crafts movement.

Georgian

Georgian is a term used to describe furniture made in Britain from 1715 to 1811, during the reigns of Georges I, II and III.
Early Georgian furniture, fitted furniture, was primarily made from walnut, and incorporated a number of the Rococo features prevalent at the time, such as serpentine curves, C-and S-scrolls, and claw-and-ball feet.
Late Georgian pieces were mostly made from mahogany, and displayed the rectilinear shapes and Neoclassical ornament that became popular towards the end of the 18th century.

Tomorrow - Period Styles part 3

Period Styles (part 1 of 6)

Developments in furniture design have always been subject to various factors - economic and political change, technological advances, status, necessity and fashion. Not all Countries have experienced exactly the same influences, nor are the features of any one style seen in all the antique furniture, or 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

Originating in Italy in the 14th Century and then finding expression throughout Europe over the next 200 years, Renaissance means 'rebirth'. The style was inspired by a renewed interest in ancient Greece and Rome. Taking their lead from architects, fitted furniture-makers applied classical features, such as columns, cornices, and pediments to their work. This produced symmetrical - architectural pieces. popular motifs included vases, putti, and caryatids.

Baroque

An expression of wealth and power, the Baroque style was sculptural and theatrical. Drawing on classical and renaissance motifs, designers produced elaborately carved non reproduction furniture on a grand, architectural scale, using exotic materials and techniques, such as marquetry, pietra dura, and velvet upholstery.
Evident in it's purest form in Rome around 1600, the style was adopted by other European Countries as the century progressed - with varying degrees of exuberance.

Tomorrow we take a look at the second part of Period Styles.

Introduction to Furniture

The story of furniture is really linked to the story of our civilization. All the way from Roman day beds to Louis XV armchairs, and from neoclassical desks to the post modern storage units, the furniture people have used in their homes has all the time reflected the fashion, aspirations and the current technology of the time.

Thomas Chippendale was a great furniture maker in the 18th century.

Being able to identify a piece of furniture requires an understanding of how it was made, from what it was made and for whom it was made. Most of the grand furniture we see today was made for the aristocrasy who really wanted to be a show off of their wealth.

By the mid 19th century furniture was much more affordable and people who were middle class could for the first time furnish their homes with the latest styles.

While furniture design has revolved a lot over time, certain forms, such as the klismos chair, have often been revived. Some styles also spread across continents: The excavasions  in Pompeii and Hurculaneum as an example, inspired French Empire furniture, the designs of Hepplewhite and Sheraton, and American Federal furniture.

The next blog coming tomorrow is about period styles.