The Baroque Era - England - 4

Tables became progressively smaller as the century progressed. it was the day of the gate-leg table, a type ideally suited to the custom of dining at a series of individual tables, rather than at one long refectory table. An innovation was the fitting of small drawers to the ends of such tables. Small rectangular tables on turned legs, with flat curved stretchers, were dotted around the room. After the Restoration, these were designed to go 'on suite' with mirrors and wall sconces (the latter to hold candles, which were increasingly effective in good decoration thanks to the reflecting qualities of mirrors).
Spirally turned, early Stuart legs were gradually replaced by tapering baluster legs and, by the end of the century corporate design - involving architecture, interior decoration and furnishing - had led to the introduction of gilded tables with tops of marble or scagliola, a composition used to imitate marble. These were known as pier tables, standing as they did against the pier or wall section between two windows, and often surmounted by elaborately framed pier glasses or mirrors.

Chests, which had begun to accommodate drawers in a modest way, during the 16th century, developed quickly in early Stuart days. By the Restoration, chests of drawers were in everyday use throughout England. The fashion for dainty clothing necessitated a profusion of small drawers and such chests frequently stood on stands with spirally turned legs. Later, these legs assumed the cabriole form which was affecting the design of chairs and tables. Inlays of ivory, mother-of-pearl and increasing use of marquetry and the geometrical parquetry added to the decorative qualities of this type of handmade furniture.

In the dining room, the buffet and court cupboard were coming into widespread use as utilitarian pieces of furniture and not merely for the ostentatious display of plate. The sideboard, as it became known, had its main working surface at a convenient height for carving. Of similar derivation was the Stuart dresser, the lower part with a cupboard and row of drawers beneath ranks of narrow shelves on which plates and other vessels could be arranged ready for use. The so-called Welsh dresser was not a native of that area but Wales took eagerly to the developing style and distinctive variations emerged.
North Wales dressers had a base completely enclosed with cupboards and drawers, while those from west Wales had three drawers and two cupboards with a 'dog kennel' space between; south Wales favoured a type with drawers below and an open pot board above.
By the end of the 17th century, the country yeomanry was becoming increasingly prosperous and a rich tradition of finely carved oak dressers was growing up in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Sussex and Suffolk, as well as Wales. These pieces non fitted furniture are in high demand today.

Desks, which had previously been little more than portable boxes, began to evolve in the form in which we know them today. When Charles II revived the monarchy in 1660, they were beginning to assume a more sophisticated form, consisting of two parts. the upper secretaire may have a sloping, hinged lid opening downwards, or be in the shape of a cabinet with a fall front. This upper section stood on a separate stand with spirally turned or baluster legs. Such pieces of furniture were among the earliest to be made in walnut, often in the form of fine veneers. Later the traditional English bureau was to evolve, with a chest of drawers surmounted by a slope-top writing compartment containing nests of small drawers. In a time of plotting and counter-plotting, secret drawers with hidden locks and catches became a feature of these bureaux and secretaires.