The Age Of Rococo - Spain, Portugal and Latin America - 2

As in Spain, a more truly English flavour is found in many Portuguese chairs on cabriole legs with shaped and sometimes fretted splats in the backs. The legs are usually united by turned stretchers - a feature eliminated on fashionable English cabriole-legged chairs quite early in the 18th century. The old preference for high-backed chairs in Portugal also asserts itself, the back legs as well as the front are often of cabriole shape, and the continental Rococo love of asymmetrical motifs in carved decoration is inclined to be marked on pieces that might otherwise pass as English. In some armchairs with padded backs, both English Chippendale, Louis XV Rococo and traditional Portuguese proportions combine to produce dignity, luxury and the perfection of Portuguese carving at its best.

The Portuguese commode is usually four drawers in depth, making it rather high, and is serpentine-fronted with a distinct central bulge. Corners are canted and carved with foliage. The top is normally of the same wood as the carcase and seldom made of marble. A distinctive type of gaming table was made in the 1750s with a basically circular top but with a wavy edge, and was fitted with reversible panels inlaid for chess and other games. The frieze is fitted with drawers and has four cabriole legs.

The Portuguese were among the most adventurous designers of beds in the mid 18th century, discarding the tester and posts entirely and creating a panelled headboard in a carved Rococo frame. In place of the traditional posts, the foot has cabriole legs with reverse cabrioles pointing upwards.

In Brazil, many of the characteristics of Portuguese handmade furniture in the mid 18th century were taken up by local craftsmen to create - often a generation later - an authentic colonial style with occasional flourishes of exaggerated Rococo. The style was introduced to Peru by the Spanish viceroy, Don Manuel Afat, and was given an extra sparkle by the use of silver for decorative purposes, instead of the bronze or gilded carving that would have sufficed in Europe.
Silver was employed in this was in Mexico, too, but the most interesting pieces of Mexican fitted and non fitted furniture are a curious combination of Renaissance shapes with a blend of Baroque and Rococo ornament. Into this remarkable mixture, a distinct element of native culture was often added, with masks carved on the knees of cabriole legs as they often were in Europe, but here they are more reminiscent of the old Indian gods than of Mannerist satyrs.