Transcript Styles of American Furniture Copyright 2004, Learning Seed These carved side chairs were carefully crafted in Philadelphia between 1740 and 1755 in the popular.

Styles of American Furniture
Copyright 2004, Learning Seed
These carved side chairs were carefully crafted in
Philadelphia between 1740 and 1755 in the
popular Queen Anne style. These chairs were
built before the United States existed as a country
so followed English tastes in style. The chairs
reflect the “modern English style” of their time,
but they are American in style, not English.
The Colonists slowly developed an American
style of spoken English in much the same way
they developed styles of furniture with uniquely
American accents and “words.” Philadelphia,
New York, Connecticut, and the Southern states
each spoke a different accent of the Queen Anne
style. Experts identify the origins of a piece of
furniture by looking for these unique “accents.”
These chairs show key elements of the Queen
Anne style. The splat (center back support) takes
the shape of a vase. Its graceful curves rise to a
shaped crest (crowning the splat) carved in a shell
design. The shell motif is repeated atop the
cabriole legs. Carving is the most common form
of Queen Anne style decoration.
1. Pair of Queen Anne
Carved Side Chairs
Queen Anne furniture is light and
graceful, especially compared to the
William and Mary style it replaced.
The cabriole leg is a Queen Anne
hallmark. “Cabriole” comes from the
Italian word for a galloping animal. The
graceful curve gives movement and grace
to an otherwise static object. The legs on
this table are especially thin and graceful,
ending in delicate slipper feet.
This table was made in Rhode Island
between 1720 and 1740 of “curly maple,”
a variation of the more common straight
grain maple. You can see the distinct
pattern and color variations in the wood.
Notice the elegantly shaped skirt -sometimes called an apron or frieze—that
forms a horizontal support beneath the
table top. Skirts are also used beneath
chair rails or as the bottom framing for
case furniture.
2. Queen Anne Table
The table in the previous image had no
carved decoration. This leg illustrates
a fan carving and an ball-and-claw
foot. Only the highest quality Queen
Anne pieces featured the ball and claw.
Carvings of fans and shells were
common Queen Anne motifs.
The carving requires considerable time
and skill so was limited to what could
be called the “luxury editions” of
furniture, usually done by large city
cabinetmakers. Rural craftsmen made
less complex designs and that
distinctions explains today’s division
between “country style” and more
formal furniture styles.
3. Leg Close-up
The pad foot on the right is more
typical of Queen Anne furniture, while
the carved ball-and-claw on the left
indicates a high quality piece. Both are
still found in contemporary
reproductions. Both these illustrations
are from modern pieces, not antiques.
The ball-and-claw foot was fashionable
in the 18th century buts its exact origin
is unknown. Some historians believe it
was a European borrowing from a
Chinese image of a dragon’s claw
grasping a pearl.
4. Details of Two Feet
This room at New York's Metropolitan
Museum of Art illustrates the William
and Mary style that Queen Anne
replaced. The graceful curves and
lightness of the new style were quite
different from the blocks and angles of
the William and Mary period.
The walnut gate-leg table was made in
New England between 1700 and 1730.
The legs swing (hence the name
gate-leg) under the table and the top is
hinged.
The chairs feature rush seats and
combine William and Mary bases with
Queen Anne backs. The chairs illustrate
that transitions between styles are often
gradual with "transition pieces"
showing characteristics of both periods.
Traces of the William and Mary style
can be found today in more casual
"Colonial" furniture, but is less popular
than the later Queen Anne and
Chippendale styles.
5. William and Mary Style
These walnut armchairs were made in
New England around 1750. They are
Queen Anne in style as seen in the
elegant curves of the crested back, the
wings, the scrolled arms, and the front
cabriole legs ending in pad feet.
For added strength, the legs are joined
by stretchers. The stretcher used on
these chairs is called block and ring,
after the combination of blocks and
ring-shaped dowels visible in their
construction. Both chairs feature
typical Queen Anne pad feet.
6. Queen Anne Wing
Armchairs
This reproduction of an 18th Century
(1730-1760) Queen Anne style drop
leaf table features a tiger maple top.
Tiger maple refers to the striped grain
pattern in the wood. Other grain
patterns such as bird's-eye, and curly
gave variety to eighteenth century
maple furniture. Many contemporary
reproductions of "Colonial styles"
leave the maple a reddish-brown that is
neither authentic nor especially
beautiful.
This table also features a gate-leg to
save space. When closed the table is
only ten inches wide, when open it
easily accommodates breakfast for two.
7. Queen Anne
Breakfast Table
8. Breakfast Table Closed
Here is the same table with leaves
dropped. In what way is this piece
Queen Anne? Slender cabriole legs end
in pad feet that were common
especially in New England. The
graceful curves so often seen in Queen
Anne appear in the small shaped skirt,
in the oval top, and the cabriole legs.
This tall chest of drawers is made in two
sections. The upper chest rests on a table, or
lowboy, with fairly long legs. This English
creation was very popular in eighteenth century
America. The British call this a "tallboy." The
word "highboy" appeared first in the late
nineteenth century. In its own time these were
known as high chests or as a chest-on-frame.
The top is flat (compare to the next slide with a
more elaborate pediment) but has a molded
cornice. The cornice serves as a frame, much
as a cornice frames a building.
Here the skirt is shaped with a carved shell
pattern in the center. The legs are removable,
angular cabriole, and end in pad feet.
Note how balance and proportion are carefully
maintained. The height of each of the four
drawer sections in the top unit varies with the
deepest on the bottom and the most shallow on
top. The piece would lose some of its beauty if
all drawers were the same height.
The brass keyholes and pulls (handles) are
original to this piece which was made in Rhode
Island about 1755. The wood is cherry.
9. Queen Anne
Flat-top Highboy
This Queen Anne style highboy can be found
in furniture showrooms today. Unlike the
antique in the previous slide, this piece
features a decorative bonnet top. This
particular piece is a copy of a New England
highboy made around 1765. Notice the
drawers are graduated in height. The center
drawer at the base features a scallop shell
carving, a shaped skirt, and cabriole legs
ending in pad feet.
The shell is a common motif in Queen Anne
furniture and was inspired by designs found
on Phoenician coins. Greek and Roman
architecture supplied many shapes and forms
for Queen Anne furniture.
Even the proportion is influenced by Greek
mathematics. The height of a chest might be
two times the width. Drawers might be five,
seven, nine and eleven inches deep, each two
inches deeper than the preceding. Such
attention to detail gives the furniture pleasing
proportions.
If you remember your vocabulary from the
previous slide you should recognize the skirt
as shaped and carved. The two decorative
pieces that hang down from the skirt are
pendants.
10. Contemporary Queen
Anne Highboy
Here is a close-up of the highboy's
bonnet top. The decorations here set
this apart as a finer piece than the flat
top highboy seen earlier.
The curve forming the top of this
highboy is a swan's neck crest. Such
ornamental constructions are called
pediments and were likely inspired by
gables on classical Greek or Roman
temples.
A design with a gap in the center (as in
this illustration) is called a broken
pediment. The center gap is often filled
with an elaborately carved finial, or in
the later Federal period, an eagle
carving. This pediment is topped by
three spiral carved finials. The "finials"
are so named because they mark the
final height, the finishing touch.
11. Bonnet Top
This chair illustrates the Queen Anne
vase-like splat typical of the period.
This picture clearly shows the
silhouette of the splat. You can see
why scholars believe the shape was
likely inspired by the graceful curves
of Greek vases.
This contemporary chair has no
carving. A fine Queen Anne chair
would often have a carved fan or shell
motif at the crest. The most finely
carved and shaped Queen Anne chairs
were constructed without a single right
angle.
12. Queen Anne Splat
This Queen Anne style desk is sold
today in furniture stores and features
many typical Queen Anne elements.
Although not hand carved and crafted,
this table illustrates that the elegance of
the mid-eighteenth century style is still
valued today.
You should recognize the cabriole legs,
the fan motif on the knees of the legs,
the shaped skirt, and ball-and-claw
feet.
13. Queen Anne Writing
Table
14. Close-up of Table
In this close-up of a tea table you can
see the elegant curves of the cabriole
legs, the scalloped skirt and the
practical tray top. The tray is formed
by a raised edge of applied molding.
All these design elements are from the
Queen Anne period. This table also
features a candleslide, a rare part of
original tea tables. The tray could be
pulled out to hold a candle to provide
light.
15. Furniture Display
Here, almost 250 years later the shapes
and decorative elements of the Queen
Anne style still thrive. This display in a
furniture showroom clearly shows the
style remains popular.
But, like all styles, Queen Anne was
replaced in popularity by a new style,
today called Chippendale.
Chippendale was not as radical a
change from Queen Anne, as Queen
Anne was from William and Mary.
Compare this chair with the side chairs in
previous slides and you will understand both
the differences and similarities between
Queen Anne and Chippendale.
This chair looks thicker and heavier, features
more ornate carving, and sits upon
Chippendale’s “hairy paw” feet.
The carving atop the cabriole legs is called
acanthus and is quite common in Greek
architecture. Similar motifs can also be
found in earlier Queen Anne and later
Empire styles.
The splat is elaborately carved and features
an interlacing pattern and leaf motif. Even
the rails (sides of the chair beneath the
cushion) are carved and decorated. Not all
Chippendale furniture is this elaborate. This
chair is made of mahogany and was built in
Philadelphia around 1770.
16. Carved Chippendale
Side Chair
This close-up of molding on the edge
of a desk top illustrates simple
decorative carving. The design here is
probably of Chinese inspiration. Asian
artwork provided American furniture
with many designs and shapes from
Queen Anne, through Chippendale, the
designs of Frank Lloyd Wright, and
even contemporary furniture.
The shape of the hardware on the
drawer is quite traditional.
Chippendale's directory included
sketches of escutcheons -- the brass
plate behind the handle. Escutcheons
were both decorative and practical.
They served to prevent wear to wood
from frequent use. The user's hand
would touch only the escutcheon (a
replaceable part of the furniture) rather
than tarnish unprotected wood.
17. Desk Molding Close-up
The shape of this chair splat resembles
a Greek urn, and the rail is decorated
with acanthus carvings. The acanthus is
a plant that grows near the
Mediterranean. Its shape is often
reproduced on Greek and Roman
buildings and furniture. This chair back
is of contemporary manufacture.
Modern production methods can create
a carved look with machines or even
plastic disguised to look like wood. But
in Colonial times, the more carving and
decoration, the more expense.
18. Chair Back Close-up
The carving here is quite intricate and
resembles intertwined bamboo. This
general motif can be found in many of
the more decorative Chippendale
pieces.
Chippendale offered a series of chairs
and tables in what he called the
"Chinese" style.
19. Table Front Close-up
This Chippendale card table features
fine hand carving. It was made around
1770 from mahogany. Such a table is
museum quality and quite rare. Its
quality places it in the category of art
and would demand a museum level
price tag at auction.
The top is hinged to allow enough
space for a card game. The legs are
cabriole in shape and end in carved
"hairy-paw" feet.
(Return to slide 34)
20. Chippendale Mahogany
Card Table
People played cards before
Chippendale. Compare this Queen
Anne card table with the Chippendale
table in the previous slide to further
your understanding of how the two
styles differ. This photo illustrates the
hinged top complete with dished
money wells and carved candle
hollows for gaming well past the
midnight hours.
The transition from Queen Anne to
Chippendale was gradual, with much
sharing of design elements.
21. Queen Anne Card Table
How would you describe the differences
between these two chairs? The chair on the
left is Queen Anne, the side chair on the right
is Chippendale.
The Chippendale features more intricate
carving and is generally more decorative.
The Queen Anne features the traditional vase
shaped splat and crested back, while the
Chippendale splat is carved in an
intertwining design.
The Queen Anne chair has more elaborately
decorated legs than was typical for such a
chair, but the Chippendale has even more
decoration.
The Queen Anne is a side chair while the
Chippendale is an arm chair.
The Chippendale chair back has
characteristic Chippendale "ears" while the
Queen Anne back is rounded.
Both chairs are of contemporary.
22. Queen Anne Chair (left)
Chippendale Chair (right)
This dressing table clearly shows that
decorative carving ruled the
Chippendale period. The table bears
many similarities to earlier Queen
Anne tables, but its overall look is
heavier and more ornate.
This table illustrates what the
soon-to-be-popular Federal style
rejected -- carved ornamentation.
Although quite skillful and difficult to
produce, carving as a decoration was
later rejected in favor of other forms.
(Return to slide 25)
23. Chippendale Dressing
Table
Sofa's did exist in the 18th century, but
they were rare and mostly for the upper
classes. The shape of the back of this
sofa is usually called camel back even
though it bears little resemblance to the
shape of an actual camel's back. The
upholstered arms are scrolled, the
square mahogany legs are joined by
stretchers.
This sofa was made around 1770 and is
signed "John Harris, Newburyport,
Massachusetts." The sofa is original
but the upholstery is not.
24. Chippendale Sofa
Compare this fine Chippendale high chest to
a Queen Anne version in the next slide.
Switch between the two slides now and note
both differences and similarities.
Both have similar proportions and shapes,
but the Queen Anne piece has longer legs.
The carving on the Chippendale is very
elaborate. The bonnet top has carvings of
shell and floral designs and impressive
finials. The Queen Anne has no decorative
pediment.
The edges of the Chippendale are fluted
columns, not plain ninety degree corners.
The handles (called “pulls”) are brass. The
decorative brass plates behind the handles
and around the keyholes on the drawers are
called escutcheons. Again, the Chippendale
chest showcases more elaborate shapes.
Compare this high chest to the dressing table
in slide 23 and you see that the piece is
really a chest-on-chest. The bottom is a
lowboy or dressing table with the chest atop.
25. Chippendale High Chest
Use the arrow buttons to return to #25
26. Queen Anne Highboy
So far, much of the furniture illustrated,
although made in America, was very similar
to pieces found in England. A unique
American contribution was the hand carved
block front made in Boston and Newport,
Rhode Island. A block front means a hand
carved front (from a block of wood)
featuring both concave and convex carving.
The style is best represented by the
Goddard-Townsend furniture makers of
Newport. This dressing table was made by
Goddard-Townsend around 1765 and is more
a functional sculpture than mere furniture.
The table features three carved shell designs,
the center one concave, the others convex.
The interior (not seen here) has a writing
compartment and a cupboard door opening to
a shelved interior.
The table is widely accepted as a masterpiece
because each line and curve fits so perfectly
in its overall effect. No line could be omitted
without harming its beauty, and none could
be added that would enhance its beauty.
27. Kneehole Dressing Table
– Block Front
This block front chest is far from the
masterpiece of the previous image, but it is a
skillfully manufactured contemporary
reproduction. Back in the eighteenth century
this style could be built only by the finest
furniture craftsmen working for many
months. Owning a block front chest was
within reach only of the richest families.
Today, machines replace the hand
carving, but the process is still expensive.
The block front gives the chest a depth and
sculptured effect. On less expensive pieces,
molded plastic is used to imitate the block
front idea.
28. Block Front Chest
This chest of drawers is from Connecticut
and was crafted around 1785. One of its
unique features is the gentle curves on the
drawers, called an “oxbow front.”
The top features a molded edge. The
drawers are graduated in height. The side
edges feature fluted columns. The carvings
at the bottom edge of the chest is a
“gadrooned skirt,” and the legs end in balland-claw feet.
29. Chippendale Chest of
Drawers
Yet another way to give the front of a chest
visual interest other than decoration or block
carving is to shape the front in curves called
“bombe′”—from the French word meaning
simply “to bulge.” This shape is more
common in French and English pieces, but
was popular among Boston furniture makers.
In fact, the this elegant shape was made in
America almost exclusively in Boston.
Cabinetmakers fashioned the curves from
solid mahogany boards in a kind of “creative
warping.”
30. Bombe Chest
You could say there are only two styles of
furniture -- plain and fancy. The two "design
philosophies" wax and wane in popularity
over decades. The move to Federal Style
from Chippendale was only one of many
movements from "fancy" to "plain."
This slide illustrates a style you are not likely
to find in homes today. Today, we prefer
simpler designs, clean lines, beauty in
function rather than decoration. Today,
“plain" rules. But in ten or twenty years…?
Elaborate furniture such as this presents a
cross between sculpture and architecture.
One can easily see this etagere built in New
York around 1875 as a miniature temple or
church. Even in 1875, this piece was valued
for its decorative or aesthetic qualities, not as
a practical household storage piece. Its
designs can be traced to 16th century
Renaissance Europe. Recently such pieces
were seen as "Victorian excess" or "clumsy
and overdone." But the craftsmanship in the
construction of the painted and gilded walnut
"shrine" has to be respected and admired.
If this slide illustrates furniture design at the
heights of decoration, the next shows a prime
example of simplicity.
31. Etagere, 1875
Here is a grouping of 19th century New
England Shaker style furniture. The
"Shakers" were a religious group whose
design of physical objects grew out of their
religious beliefs. They lived an ethic of
simplicity exemplified even in their
furnishings. The chair is maple and ash and
was made perhaps a few years before the
etagere in the previous slide. The simple
lines and practical function of these pieces
could hardly be more different than the
Victorian etagere.
These pieces (quite valued today by
collectors and museums) illustrate beauty
through simplicity. In fact, they could be
seen as similar in concept to some sleek,
contemporary designs.
Neither the style of the etagere in the
previous slide nor the Shaker style became
popular nationwide; extremes rarely rule
taste. But the simpler Federal style did
become popular as it replaced Chippendale.
The Federal style favored simplicity over the
more decorative styles it replaced.
32. Shaker Furniture
This chest, of contemporary manufacture,
shows the key elements of the Federal style.
Decoration here is by an inlaid band of
lighter wood around each drawer. There is no
decorative carving, no elaborate legs or feet,
and no shaped skirts or cabriole legs.
Federal designs favor geometric shapes such
as ovals, circles and rectangles. Notice the
oval hardware on this piece as compared to
the elaborate curves in similar hardware in
pieces illustrated earlier.
Like both Queen Anne and Chippendale, this
style is still popular. Chests like this can be
found in most quality furniture stores and in
millions of homes in America and
worldwide.
33. Federal Style Chest
These card tables (the tops are hinged and
open to a larger surface) clearly show the
differences introduced in the Federal period.
Compare their overall shapes to the card
tables in slides 20 and 21. (Go to slide 20)
There are still graceful curves in these tables,
but subdued when compared to earlier styles.
The tops and sides are serpentine in shape.
Instead of carving, these tables are
"decorated" with inlays of satinwood that
contrasts with the darker mahogany used as
the basic wood.
The horizontal board beneath the top is
called a frieze. It is gracefully curved and
highlighted by gold colored band and
contrasting wood tones, but it is not shaped
or carved.
The tapered and fluted legs end in vase form
feet. The overall effect of the style is beauty
achieved by form and simplicity rather than
applied ornamentation.
34. Pair of Federal Inlaid
Card Tables
Both the card tables in the previous slide and
this sideboard were made in approximately
1800.
This dinning room piece features a
serpentine front and convex cupboard doors.
Doors and drawers are banded but the wood
grain is the main "decoration."
The legs are square and tapered, an important
design feature of the Federal period.
Notice the oval shaped brasses and key holes
and the contrasting wood tones.
The brass metalwork around the top of the
sideboard is called a gallery
35. Federal Side-board
36. Federal Chest
This chest of drawers achieves beauty
through classic proportions, a slightly bowed
front, and extensive use of inlay. Each
drawer features a fan design inlay, an
element characteristic of furniture makers in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire around 1800.
The chest is made of mahogany with
contrasting bird's eye maple. The legs are in
the French style
Note the use of geometric shapes in the
keyholes and pulls. Compare them to the far
more elaborate items in either Queen Anne
or Chippendale styles.
In the examples of Federal style furniture so
far, the classical influence has been muted.
Europeans borrowed from classical shapes
and motifs much more than Americans. This
room in Derbyshire, England illustrates the
English origins of the Federal style on a
grand scale.
The door, its pediment, pillars, the urns on
either side of the door (they are actually
heating units), the art, and the furniture are
all inspired by Classical designs. You can
easily see that Greek temples and Roman
arches inspired this scheme.
Robert Adam was the most influential
Englishman behind what was sometimes
called the "style antique." He wrote that "we
have been able to seize, with some degree of
success, the beautiful spirit of antiquity, and
to transfer it, with novelty and variety,
through all our numerous works." Although
muted, American furniture also reflected
classical designs.
37. Neo-Classic Interior
This is a close up of a decorative top on a
cabinet of contemporary manufacture. This
Federal style pediment (another example of a
broken pediment) clearly shows that
architecture and furniture are related in style
and often design. It also illustrates classical
influence on American furniture. This
decorative device is inspired by classical
architecture and is seen in many public
buildings. Furniture designs borrow from the
architecture of the past as well as its
furniture.
The decorative series of "cubes" on this
pediment is called dentil molding. The
molding adds visual rhythm to the lines with
its repeated forms, much as a drum adds an
audio "beat" to music.
38. Classical Influence
Furniture
39. Classical Architecture
This slides illustrates similar design ideas
applied to a building instead of furniture. The
two arts often use similar motifs, patterns,
and designs. Notice the classic pillars topped
by a pediment and the same dentil molding
seen in the previous slide atop a china case.
The main difference is that the broken
pediment topping the china cabinet was in
proportion to the size of the piece. Here, the
pillars and pediment overwhelm the rest of
the building.
40. Federal Style Breakfront
This example of Federal style furniture is
called a "gentleman's secretary" and was
made around 1800, probably in Salem,
Massachusetts. Compare it to previous slides
to understand that American Federal was
usually a simpler, more geometrical style
than in Europe.
The eagle finial is typically American, but
the flanking urn finials again reveal classic
influences.
Notice that beauty is achieved through a light
colored wood inlays that contrast with the
darker basic wood. The oval shapes on the
front are repeated in the brass hardware.
There are no carvings or flower designs in
this furniture; a piece that would still fit
comfortably in a traditional house. The
secretary has the appeal of a well-designed
structure and it relates favorably to
architecture.
This highly decorative Empire style secretary clearly
shows its inspiration in Roman antiquities. This
piece was most likely made by Joseph Meeks and
Sons in New York around 1825. It is of mahogany
and brass and stands over one hundred inches tall.
Notice how the pillars with brass trim and the
elaborate roof-like top give an architectural quality.
The ionic pillars are as much inspired by classical
forms as the pillars and pediments seen in previous
slides.
The feet are carved paws. The abundant decorations
include carving, stenciling, gilding, brass trim, and
pleated silk behind the glass doors. Look at slide #31
for another example of this "New York school" of
Empire design.
The Empire style became popular around 1815. It
was imported from Paris (whose designs have
always fascinated Americans) as the official style of
the Napoleonic Empire. We've seen other borrowing
of shapes and designs from Roman antiquity, but the
Empire style didn't merely borrow, it copied.
Common design elements include the extensive use
of veneer. Veneer is a thin sheet of wood glued to the
surface of a thicker board. Carving was revived, as
were stencil designs, gilding, and brass plaques.
Empire furniture tends to be massive and heavy.
Legs are often lyre or scroll shaped or carved to
resemble animal paws.
41. Empire Style Secretary
This room from the Metropolitan Museum of
Art is called the "Richmond Room" and re
creates a luxurious room in Richmond,
Virginia around 1810. Consider this room a
high point of early 19th century elegance.
The chairs in this room were ordered from
famed furniture maker Duncan Phyfe. Their
legs are "Grecian cross" in style. The chairs
are matched by the sofa also from the
Duncan Phyfe workshop.
The card table features an elaborate winged
woman carving and hairy paw legs. This
particular table was owned by Philip Hone,
mayor of New York in the first quarter of the
19th century.
42. Complete Room -Empire Style
The Empire style did not leave a lasting
impression on contemporary American
furniture styles, nor did its later phase,
sometimes called Greek Revival.
The two decades preceding the Civil War
marked a period of fascination with the
styles and designs of ancient Greece. You
can still see the influence in city mansions
and banks, state capitals, schools and even
stores and main street facades dating from
the nineteenth century. If you see the
similarity between Greek temples and older
public buildings, you see Greek Revival at
work.
This side chair illustrates how the fascination
with all things Greek was translated into
furniture. The painted designs are copied
from earlier Greek examples.
43. Empire Chair Showing
Greek Revival
This catalog page from the Joseph Meeks &
Sons furniture manufacturing company
illustrates the basic scroll and pillar shapes of
the Greek revival period. Meeks was a
competitor of Duncan Phyfe who produced
this plain, heavy, style of furniture that fit the
high ceiling rooms of the then popular Greek
Revival houses.
Furniture styles from before the Civil War
until as recently as 1900 were dominated by
a series of revivals varying from gothic, to
Egyptian, to rococo.
44. Joseph Meeks Catalog
Page
A renewed interest in fifteenth century gothic
styles was one of many revivals during the
nineteenth century. The gothic style suggests
Medieval cathedrals and ecclesiastical
motifs. Its popularity was very likely related
to a religious awakening which swept many
parts of the country after the Civil War.
Another possibility is that the revival was
fueled by the popularity of romantic "gothic"
novels by writers such as Sir Walter Scott.
Dark rosewood or oak were the woods of
choice and decorative shapes included the
Gothic arch, trefoils, and spool and ball
turnings.
45. Gothic Revival Items
This spindle backed chair exists in a variety
of forms, yet its beginnings are lost in
history. We know the term “Windsor" was
applied to this kind of chair in England as
early as 1720 and that they were made in
America ever since 1740. But no one knows
for sure why they are called “Windsor" or
where the style began.
In America the style caught on and shared
floor space with Queen Anne, Chippendale,
and many later styles. Windsor chairs are
popular today and exist in countless
American homes.
Windsor chairs are characterized by stick
legs and spindles driven into a plank seat.
Tough, springy woods such as hickory and
ash were ideal for such construction which
required no screws or nails.
Windsors were the all American chair of the
eighteenth century. The Continental
Congress sat on Windsor chairs while voting
for independence.
46. Windsor Chair
This Windsor is called a "sack back" or
"hoop back" chair. It is of contemporary
manufacture. Although the methods of
manufacture have changed in the past two
hundred fifty years, the basic style is still
popular.
47. Contemporary Windsor
Chair
Since the Civil War furniture style is often a revival
or a combination of older styles. Styles are
influenced by popular books, the lines of leading
furniture manufacturers, or fads and fancies from
entertainment to the arts. There were Colonial
revivals, Italian Renaissance, Louis XV, Rococo,
Gothic and even Byzantine and Aztec styles.
These eclectic decades were supported by large
scale furniture production centers in towns such as
Grand Rapids, Michigan. Furniture from this period
is often grouped under the term "Victorian", even
though Queen Victoria herself had no special interest
in the arts or influence on design.
The cabinet in this slide was made in New York
around 1866 by Alexander Roux, a French émigré
and a leading cabinetmaker of his day. The
ornamentation is Louis XVI in style. A work such as
this could be shown at a World Fair or perhaps
purchased by a wealthy patron, but was never
intended for the mass market.
The decorations on this cabinet include ormolu
moldings. Ormolu (from the French "ground gold")
is a cast bronze with a finish of gold applied by
mercury gilding. Powdered gold in mercury was
spread on the piece to be gilded, and the piece was
then heated. The mercury vaporized, leaving a thin
film of gold on the bronze. The process was repeated
so the gold was just thick enough to polish. The
process was abandoned because of the danger of
mercury poisoning and replaced with one using an
alloy of metals to resemble gold.
48. 1860-1900 Revivals
Roux Cabinet
This page from a 1902 Sears, Roebuck and
Company catalog illustrates so called
"Victorian” furniture often found today at
flea markets, country auctions, re-sale stores,
and "antique" stores. The catalog clearly
shows a taste for the "fancy," as mass
producers attempted to capture some of the
elegance of revival styles.
These combination sideboards and dressing
tables were made of light colored oak called
"golden oak." Wood cutting and carving
machinery made the elaborate shapes and
carvings that were once the mark of hand
craftsmanship available to the masses. These
sideboards sold for eleven to twenty five
dollars.
49. 1902 Sears Catalog
This page from the same catalog shows the
"Victorian" love for decoration and elaborate
shapes.
Notice the "Roman Divan Couch" advertised
as "The latest invention in upholstered
furniture." The early machine age era was
definitely one of a taste for the "fancy." In a
sense, it was democracy in action. What had
previously been limited only to the rich was
now available by mail order for $12.95
furniture became a commodity for the
masses.
50. 1902 Sears Catalog
(Upholstered Pieces)
William Morris and John Ruskin were
Englishmen who served as intellectual
leaders in what became known as the "arts
and crafts movement." The movement spread
to America around 1900 where it condemned
the "black walnut parlour suits" mass
produced by furniture factories. It favored
sturdiness, unpainted wood, and furniture
that was "the expression of an individuality
the craftsman." Their idea was to reunite art
and craftsmanship.
The Craftsman magazine published by
Gustav Stickley was the oracle of the
movement. In a 1907 advertisement for his
furniture Stickley explained his philosophy
of a chair:
“The piece ... is first, last and all the time a
chair, and not an imitation of a throne, nor an
exhibit of snakes and dragons in a wild riot
of misapplied wood carving.”
Later, Arts and Crafts furniture became
known as the "mission style" and still attracts
a dedicated following.
51. Arts and Crafts
Movement
Frank Lloyd is one of the most influential
American architects of the 20th century. His
furniture designs bear some resemblance to
the "Mission" style, but they also show
Japanese influence. Wright considered
furniture an integral part of the house, not
something to be added after the owners
moved in. His houses featured built in
furniture that was more architecture than
decoration.
Wright's style of furniture never became
universally popular, but his concept of
furniture as an integral part of the living
environment influenced later designers.
52. Frank Lloyd Wright
Twentieth century technology presented new
materials that could be shaped for chairs.
Marcel Breuer constructed this chair in 1928
from stainless steel tubes, cane, and
celluloid. Although not the first piece of
"modern" furniture, the design shows that
new technology can create elegant designs.
You might not think of this design as
revolutionary since you've seen so many
variations on it. But remember the heavy
wood and elaborate furniture found in many
houses at the time, and you can see a new
vision of simplicity replacing "fancy."
53. Breuer Tabular Chair,
1926
This chair was designed by architect Charles
Eames in 1956 and has been manufactured
continuously since then by Herman Miller,
Inc. The chair shows some relation to an
English club chair.
It is tufted and leather covered over molded
rosewood plywood. Many imitations of this
chair exist today. Its combination of
sculpture, comfort, and organic materials
have made it a contemporary classic.
54. Eames Chair
Today's preferences run toward simple
designs. Elegance is shown in the lines of the
piece itself, in its material and colors rather
than by applied decorations. This pedestal
chair is designed by Italian designer and
architect Eliel Saarinen and represents what
is sometimes called the "International"
school of design. Its shape is made possible
by the use of plastic, a material that will
profoundly influence furniture design in the
future.
Will more elaborate and decorative designs
again rule our tastes? Will future generations
look at pieces such as this and rebel against
its stark simplicity, labelling it "sterile"? We
don't know, but history suggests that tastes
will change.
Yet modern furniture is still a minority taste.
Most modern houses are furnished in styles
our great grandparents would recognize.
Styles such as Queen Anne and Federal have
survived the test of time.
55. International School
Pedestal Chair