The Baroque Era - England - 2

Furniture followed a clear evolutionary pattern during the century. Under James I, style and simplicity followed the late Elizabethan indulgence in grotesque ornamentation. The oak chest experienced a decline in favour of more sophisticated handmade furniture. The lathe was an important factor in this evolution and the craft of the chair-maker began to separate itself from that of the cabinet-maker.
Turning gradually replaced carving and the lathe's use spread into rural areas, raising the quality and widening the range of country furniture. The century was also to see the birth of the Windsor chair, with its seat of elm, legs and uprights of beech and hoops of ash, beech, yew or fruitwood.
Restrained use of inlay became popular, but in the early years of the century, marquetry had not yet reached any degree of perfection. The time was approaching when furniture was to be designed primarily for its utility. Ostentation was frowned upon if it interfered with functionalism.

 

During the reign of Charles I, who was a great patron of the arts, a tapestry factory flourished at Mortlake on the Thames (it had been set up by James in 1619) and Vandyck was installed in London under royal patronage. Refined lines and well balanced proportions were a keynote of the best fitted and non fitted furniture.
The commonwealth of Oliver Cromwell cannot claim to have produced its own furniture styles, one type of chair on severe lines and with a leather back and seat is sometimes dubbed Cromwellian, but really it owed its origins to the Dutch. In Puritan England, styles merely continued the pattern established under Charles.

 

After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, furniture styles were guided by the court of Charles II, whose exile overseas had imbued him with exotic tastes. French, Dutch and Italian furniture, which we now try to replicate with current reproduction furniture techniques, mingled with that introduced by his Portuguese queen, Catherine of Braganza.
With the marriage had come the dowry of Bombay and Eastern influences began to show in English furniture in the form of carved ebony chairs, inlaid with ivory. Exquisite leather work became a feature of English chairs, similar in design to those high-backed favourites in Catherine's homeland.