The Baroque Era - England - Part 8

The reigns of Queen Anne, George I (1714 - 1727) and the early years of George II saw the introduction of small tables for taking tea or the display of porcelain, but their development owes more to the period after 1730. Similarly, heavy console tables fixed to the wall by a bracket, were soon to appear, but their greatest popularity was achieved a little later under the direction of architect and designer William Kent, who was responsible for an extravagant Baroque style in the second quarter of the century.

The double chest, or tallboy, which had appeared at the end of the 17th century, rose to a height of about two metres (six feet) and in Anne's time it was often embellished with burr walnut veneers. This fine finish was sometimes complemented by fluted pilasters at the front. A version of the tallboy entered the territory of the secretaire and bureau when it was provided with a middle section complete with fall front and compartmented area for writing materials.
In this field, however, perhaps the most characteristic product of Queen Anne handmade furniture styling was the essentially English bureau, which consisted of a sloping front upper section, mounted on a chest of drawers. It took little for this construction to be surmounted by a cabinet to form the traditional English bureau cabinet, and subsequently the bureau bookcase. Simultaneously the bookcase developed in more sophisticated directions; in early Georgian times, it was frequently topped by the type of architectural, triangular pediment found on classical temples.

The fashion for collecting porcelain had become very widespread, thanks to the new trading links with the East, and display cabinets with glazed doors were found in the homes of the wealthy, placed in the dining room now rather than the drawing room. As a furniture accessory to the service of meals, the sideboard table was replacing the shelved sideboard of the 17th century. It tended to be a fairly simple object consisting of a marble top placed on a cabriole-legged structure.
Refinement of storage facilities and function were to come in the later days of mahogany in the second half of the century.

Across the Atlantic, the colonial version of the Queen Anne style enjoyed a lease of life that far outlasted its parent style in the home country. Indeed, the graceful curved line that epitomized the movement lingered on American furniture until the end of the century, spanning the Revolution and overlapping into what is now known as the Federal period in American furniture. This tame-lag, experienced with every style of European furniture, is a fascinating aspect of American furniture history and has resulted in a rich field of study for collectors. For example, the claw and ball foot was not popular in the American colonies until around 1750, and even then it was very much the adopted style of the New York area only. By that time, Europe had moved on to fresh fields. In England, from about 1730, walnut was bowing out to the newly fashionable mahogany. The transition once again opened the door to the wood-carver and signalled the beginning of one of the most glorious phases of English furniture history.