The Baroque Era - Germany, Austria, Scandinavia and Switzerland - 3

For grand handmade furniture, the workshops of Geneva and Berne adopted the Louis XIV style, but some interesting middle-class pieces were made in walnut, particularly a composite buffet (Aufsatzbufett) of asymmetrical form. The design varied. but in principle it consisted of a low cupboard of sideboard height with two doors. Above this was another cupboard, raised at the front on turned columns with the panelled back behind the open space between  the upper and lower stages. To one side only of this main structure was attached a narrower unit of similar construction which was often fitted with a pewter bowl and water cistern in the open space, for washing utensils.
Fine examples carved in Renaissance style were still being made in the mid 17th century, and versions in painted pine continued to be produced until the early 19th century, still retaining the asymmetrical shape.

 

In Scandinavia, German princes had come to rule over Norway, Denmark and, from 1654, Sweden, Inevitably, a strong German influence was exercised over much, though not all, of the furniture. In the main, it follows North German and Netherlands styles, until around 1675 when Sweden began to adopt the Louis XIV manner. Again, it is to the folk culture of the peasantry that one must look for native inventiveness. 

Cupboards, chairs ans simple trestle tables with X-shaped supports, mainly in pine and sometimes painted, sometimes scrubbed to a brilliant cleanliness, often display a love of intricate shapes both in outline and fretted designs. Chip-carving of roundels sometimes occurs on primitive chests.

 

The traditional painting on Norwegian fitted and non fitted furniture is known as 'rosemaling. Flowers, animals and birds were tha main ingredients, but a fresh approach taken by succeeding generations kept this form of folk culture alive and well.

It was once a Norwegian custom for the house and principal items of furniture to be built at the same time. The process began with the careful selection of pine trees in the spring, then in late summer or autumn they were felled and allowed to season for four years before construction began. Characteristic Norwegian pieces included the 'klappbord', an ingeniously contrived table, folding flat against the wall when not in use, and the 'bandestol'. a three legged chair with a semicircular seat, its arms often terminating in dragons heads - not unlike the prows of Viking ships.

 

A popular type of cupboard in Denmark, known as a 'pillar cupboard', had an upper stage supported by columns and stood on a platform in the corner of the room with a bench or form at its side. These pieces are often dated, but it was the custom to repaint the article and alter the date when it was handed on to another generation.