Chats on Old Furniture: A Practical Guide for Collectors

by Arthur Hayden

By permission of Messrs. Harold G. Lancaster & Co.
CHARLES II. CHAIR.
Cane back and seat, finely carved legs and stretcher.

By permission of Messrs. Fenton & Sons.
JAMES II. CHAIR.
With cane back and seat, and finely turned legs and stretcher.

The chair here illustrated shows the commencement of the use of cane work in place of wood for the panel in back and for the seat. The James II. chair illustrated shows the later development of the cane-back. The William and Mary chair (illustrated p. [125]) shows how the cane-back was retained later than the cane-seat, and how rich damask was employed for the upholstered seat. It is interesting to see how the stretcher, which in earlier days was of use to keep the feet raised from a wet or draughty floor, has now become capable of elaborate ornamentation. Genuine examples of chairs of Elizabethan and Early Stuart days show the wear of the feet of the sitters. The same wear is observable in the lower rail of old tables. In later Stuart days the stretcher has left its place at the bottom, between the two front legs. Since its use as a foot-rest, owing to carpeted floors, is gone, it is found either joining the legs diagonally, or higher up as an ornament with carved front. In the eighteenth century it has almost disappeared altogether.

By permission of Messrs. Harold G. Lancaster & Co.
WILLIAM AND MARY CHAIR.
Cane back. Seat upholstered in damask. Finely carved legs and stretcher.

Mirrors began to take a prominent place in interior decoration. The house of Nell Gwynne in St. James's Square had one room entirely lined with glass mirrors. Hampton Court is full of mirrors, and they are arranged with considerable skill. By an artful arrangement the mirror in the King's Writing Closet is placed at such an angle that the reflection of the whole suite of rooms may be seen in it. The looking glasses made in this country in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were the work of Venetian and French workmen. The plates had a bevel of an inch in width, and these bevels followed the shape of the frame, whether square or oval. A factory was established near Battersea which produced some fine work of this nature. It will be noticed by the collector who is observant that the bevels differ considerably from modern bevels. The angle is not such an acute one, and sometimes the edges are double bevelled. Many of the mirrors of the time of William and Mary had an ornamented border of blue glass. Sometimes the mirror was painted with festoons of flowers and with birds in French manner. In imitation of Italian style the back of the mirror, in examples a little later, was worked upon in the style of intaglio, or gem cutting, this presenting a dull silver surface when seen from the front.

In picture frames, in chimneypieces, or in mirror frames the school of Grinling Gibbons was still pre-eminent in carving. Now and again are found traces of Italian or Louis XIV. influence, but as a whole the English carver held his own, and the traditions of Grinling Gibbons were maintained, and he did not easily allow himself to be carried away by foreign elaborations.

When William of Orange came over in 1688 he brought with him many of his own countrymen as military and civil advisers, and in their train came artists and craftsmen, who introduced Dutch art into England, and prepared the way for the more homely style of Queen Anne. Walnut cabinets inlaid with various woods, and with ivory squares representing miniature Dutch courtyards in the recesses of cabinets, had found their way into England. With the period of William and Mary the cabriole leg in chairs and in tables became popular—at first an English adaptation of Dutch models—but later to develop into the glorious creations of the age of walnut.

Blue delft jars and bowls, some especially made for William and Mary and bearing the Royal arms and the cypher "W. M. R." and the Nassau motto, "Je main tien-dray," still to be seen in the Queen's Gallery at Hampton Court, were introduced, and it became fashionable to collect china. Consequently the furniture in rooms had to be adapted for the arrangement of this new class of ornament, and cabinets were largely made with accommodation to receive vases and beakers and blue bowls on their shelves. The earlier form have straight sides; but later, especially in the next reign, they follow French designs, and are swollen or bombé at the sides.