Flemish or Dutch influence prevailed during the period known as Queen Anne.
The typical Queen Anne chair in common with all the furniture of the period was made of walnut. The seat was wide, the front legs cabriole shaped, ending, as a rule, in club or claw-and-ball feet. The back was high and curved at the top, and this was connected centrally with the seat by a long vase or fiddle-shaped splat. Carving was not much used, but the splat was sometimes ornamented with floral and other designs in marqueterie after the Dutch fashion.
During this period an appreciation for Oriental china and lacquer work had an important effect on furniture and decoration.
The later fashion of inlay and marquetry work of Sheraton was perhaps as much the outcome of the Dutch practice of this form of decoration, as it was due to the discovery of the possibilities of mahogany as a suitable wood for furniture.
Early Georgian
The eighteenth century in England was the age of the connoisseur and dilettante, and the struggling professional, literary or artistic, had little opportunity except by the favour of a patron. As for instance, Lord Burlington, who is reported to have practised architecture in conjunction with his protégé Kent.
William Kent, born in 1685, died 1748, a painter as well as an architect, was responsible for many designs, among which may be mentioned the Horse Guards in Whitehall, and Holkham in Norfolk for the Earl of Leicester.
Georgian work shows more evidence of French influence, but is invariably stiff and heavy in feeling.
In panelling rooms a surbase or dado was employed. The bolection moulding was universally used round panels.
Doorways and chimneypieces were made up of architraves, surmounted by pediments, and were formal in design and detail. The Greek key was often most unsatisfactorily used in their decoration.