The beds, which were used only by the great, were the most important article of furniture. They were of great size with a high headboard supporting a very heavy cornice, the other end of which was borne by posts set at the lower corners and often detached from the bottom of the bed.

The Jacobean Style (1625-1685).

This style evolved directly from the Elizabethan, with the development of new forms of furniture and increased use of upholstery. When, at the Restoration in 1660, Charles II returned from France, he brought back something of the French taste and the French desire for luxury.

Figure 11.—English styles (1560-1690).

Oak remained the principal furniture wood, with walnut fashionable after 1660. Furniture design, strongly influenced by Flemish practice, tended to increasing slenderness and grace. The melon and acorn bulb legs remained in favor for several decades; were superseded during the Commonwealth by spiral turning; and in turn gave way to the scroll, or Flemish legs characteristic of Charles II furniture. Chair backs became high and narrow, and were of the ladder type or caned, carved, or upholstered. Chair backs were raked, and later in the period the back legs of chairs—at first perpendicular to the floor as in Elizabethan practice, were bent outward to counterbalance the rake of the back. Stretchers continued to follow frame line, but were gradually made lighter, set a little higher, and turned. Toward the end of the century the front stretching was raised, widened, and carved with a cresting and C-scrolls, as were many of the chair backs.

Gate-leg tables and day beds appeared early in the period—the latter usually caned, and with a sloping head and without footboard or back. The couch took the place of the settee, and was made first with the squab seat, and after the Restoration with the same construction and ornament as the arm chair. Sofas were made like the high-back upholstered chairs, with arms solidly upholstered. Tall clocks and wall clocks appeared, and many small stands.