“A sofa-bed,” which is really the lit anglais that was so fashionable in France, appears on Plate [LXIII.], No. 1. Both of its ends are alike, and, of course, it is supplied with two bolsters. Sheraton’s general directions regarding the “sofa-bed” are as follows:
“The frames of these beds are sometimes painted in ornaments to suit the furniture. But when the furniture is of very rich silk, they are done in white and gold, and the ornaments carved. The tablets may each have a festoon of flowers or foliage, and the cornice cut out in leaves and gilt has a good effect. The drapery under the cornice is of the French kind; it is fringed all round, and laps on to each other like unto waves. The valance serves as a ground, and is also fringed. The roses which tuck up the curtains are formed by silk cord, etc., on the wall, to suit the hangings; and observe that the centre rose contains a brass hook and socket, which will unhook so that the curtains will come forward and entirely enclose the whole bed. The sofa part is sometimes made without any back, in the manner of a couch. It must also be observed that the best kind of these beds have what the upholsterers call a fluting, which is done by a slight frame of wood, fastened to the wall, on which is strained in straight puckers, some of the same stuff of which the curtains are made.”
On Plate [LXIII.] No. 2 appears what Sheraton calls a “Grecian squab.” The frame is of white and gold or mahogany. The end not visible in the sketch turns up with a scroll. The back extends no further than shown. It is a kind of chaise longue, which Sheraton calls “a long chair, couch or squab.” The “chaise longue,” according to him, “has a stuffed back and arm on each side with a bolster and its use pretty much the same as the Grecian squabs or couches.” In another place he says “their use is to rest or loll upon after dinner.”
A novelty is the “Turkey sofa,” which has been “introduced into the most fashionable homes.” They are “an imitation of the Turkish mode of sitting,” and are, therefore, “made very low, scarcely exceeding a foot to the upper side of the cushion. The frame may be made of beech and must be webbed and strained with canvas to support the cushions.”
Sheraton seems to have taken a particular pleasure in all the convenient articles for the use of ladies, and these comprehend everything from dressing and work tables to tiny comb and pin trays. The work-table was generally a writing-desk as well, with compartments of all kinds arranged with the greatest economy of space. No. 2 on Plate [LX.] is a good specimen of a work-table dated 1793. The legs are lyre-shaped and the top rises for writing. When let down it locks into the frame and secures the bag where the work is kept. The work-bag is hidden by a drapery that is tacked to a rabbet at the under edge of the frame all around. The legs are lyre-shaped. No. 4 on the same Plate is a “Pouch-table” dated 1803. The work-bag is attached to a frame which pulls forward. In this bag ladies “deposit their fancy needlework.” “When required to be elegant,” Sheraton remarks, “black rosewood is used; otherwise they may be made very near of mahogany.” The example on Plate [LX.] has a brass rail around each end. Sometimes the top is finished as a chess-board. The “French work-table” was generally made of satin-wood with a brass moulding round the edge of the rim. The tambour shutter is often introduced into the work-table.
The Lady’s Cabinet dressing-table on Plate [LIX.] is composed of an ordinary commode, upon the top of which is a case or nest of drawers “when the washing drawers is in, a slider which is above it may be drawn out to write on occasionally. The ink and stand are in the right-hand drawer under the centre dressing-glass. Behind the drapery, which is tacked to a rabbet and fringed or gimped to cover the nails, is a shelf on which may stand any vessel to receive the dirty water. Above the drapery are tambour cupboards, one at each end, and one in the centre under the drawer. Above the tambour at each end are real drawers, which are fitted up to hold every article necessary in dressing. The drawers in the cabinet part are intended to hold all the ornaments of dress, as rings, drops, etc. Behind the centre glass is drapery; it may be real to suit that below, or it may only be painted in imitation of it. This swings to any position, on centre pins fixed on the shelf above the candle branches. The side glasses fold in behind the doors, and the doors themselves, when shut, appear solid, with ovals in the panels and ornamented to suit the other parts.”
Sheraton devotes many plates to articles that appeal to gentlemen. His shaving-stands and dressing-glasses are marvels of convenience. The tambour shutter appears in many of the night-tables, bason-stands, etc., etc., and when it is not employed, little silk curtains hang down across the shelves or doors. No. 5 on Plate [LX.] is a “corner bason stand.” The bowl or bason fits into the hollow and the water-jug stands in the centre of the straining-rails.
The Pembroke Table differed little from Heppelwhite’s. It is “used for a gentleman or lady to breakfast on. The style of finishing these tables is very neat, sometimes bordering upon elegance, being at times made of satin wood, and having richly japanned borders round their tops with ornamental drawer fronts.”
The Harlequin Pembroke Table “serves not only as a breakfast table, but also as a writing table, very suitable for a lady.” This was equipped with “ingenious machinery,” and contained a “nest of drawers” that could be “raised to any height.”
A design particularly associated with Sheraton is the “kidney library table.” Of the one appearing as No. 3 on Plate [LIX.], Sheraton writes: “This piece is termed a kidney-table on account of its resemblance to that intestine part of animals so called. The drawers are strung and cross-banded with mahogany laid up and down. The pilasters are panelled or cross-banded, and the feet are turned.” This is intended for a writing-table. The French call this shape haricot. The secretary and book-case was popular throughout the whole Sheraton period. Two examples are shown on Plate [LXI.] One is a full drawing, which needs no description, except to say that silk, preferably green, is fluted behind the glass doors. The other, appearing as Nos. 1 and 2, Sheraton thus describes.