In some houses, the ceiling is carved in elaborate fretwork, ornamented with bosses and pendants,—a practice afterwards imitated in plaster.
The windows are furnished with small diamond, or square, panes, and frequently in the centre of each window the armorial bearings of the family are displayed, as shown in Plate [V.] Sometimes these are encircled with floral, or other devices. The arms are also placed upon the chimney-piece. In the bay windows we always find a low-cushioned seat bountifully supplied with soft, movable cushions and pillows, covered with rich silks of bright hues, and often beautifully embroidered. Indeed the cushion[[5]] is one of the features of every room, being a necessity as well as a decorative accessory to the heavy chairs of the day.
The floor, of polished oak or inlaid wood, is occasionally enriched with a “foot carpet.” In many of the older houses, the floors are paved with tiles of various colours, or laid with chequer-work.
The most important architectural feature of the room, however, is the chimney-piece. The favourite Tudor chimney-piece and overmantel was a mass of rich carving, consisting of arch panels, mouldings, scrolls, coats-of-arms, flowers, vines, columns, and interlaced strapwork, supported by beautiful, or grotesque, terminal figures. Simpler styles are now being introduced in sympathy with the growing taste for Classic severity. The fire-place still remains large enough to admit of big logs, and the hearth is equipped with andirons, tongs, bellows, and sometimes a fender,—all of great artistic beauty. Behind the flames, there is usually an iron “chimney-back,” stamped with a decorative device, or, occasionally, the arms of the owner.
PLATE IX
The illumination is obtained by means of lamps, lanterns and candlesticks. The latter are very ornate. Some of them are branched and hang from the ceiling. Others have sconce-arms and are placed on the walls. Tall standing candlesticks of metal are also used, and are moved about the room at pleasure. The illumination is also helped by means of small mirrors, with frames carved and gilt, or else made of ebony or olive-wood.
The furniture consists of one large table, several small round or oval tables, side tables, chairs, settee, couch, stools, a “court,” or “livery cupboard” (and sometimes both), a screen, cabinets, chests, and coffers; while the decorations are pictures, antlers, armour, vases and other ornaments of porcelain, gold, silver, or pewter, and table-clocks.
There has been much discussion regarding the “court cupboard” and the “livery cupboard,” mentioned above, but it is now generally accepted that the “court cupboard,” which may have derived its name from the French word court (short), to distinguish it from the high standing cupboards, corresponded to the French dressoir, and was used for the display and keeping of plate, glass, etc., etc. The “livery cupboard,” on the other hand, still found in the farmers’ and labourers’ cottages in England, where it is sometimes called the “bread-and-cheese cupboard,” received its name from the French livrer (to deliver) and was used both for service and as a receptacle for broken victuals. The difference between them is well defined in Janua Linguarum (London, 1673), as follows: “Golden and gilded beakers, cruzes, great cups, chrystal glasses, cans, tankards and two ear’d pots are brought forth out of the cupboard and glass case; and being rins’d and rubb’d with a pot-brush are set on the livery cupboard.”
The “court cupboard” corresponded, in a measure, to the modern sideboard. It was a great feature at festivals and it rose in several receding stages or shelves, upon which the plate was displayed. The number of stages varied according to the rank of the master or mistress of the house. In Les Honneurs de la Cour, we learn that two steps were allowed to the wife of a baronet, three to a countess, four to a princess, and five to a queen.