Damascening

The inlaying of one metal upon another in patterns or arabesques in imitation of the ancient Damascus work. The process, sometimes applied to furniture, reached England from Italy by way of France.

Damask

A rich material so-called in Europe from about the twelfth century for chair-coverings, curtains, etc., made principally of silk, ornamented with designs of flowers, fruit, etc., in conventional form.

Darby And Joan Chair

A seat of sufficient width to hold two, three, or even four persons. Darby and Joan were the characters in a poem, "The Joys of Love Never Forgot," published in the Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1735.

Mathias Darly (D. About 1780)

A designer, engraver, caricaturist, print-seller and publisher, who began life as an architect. He engraved plates for Chippendale's "Director," and for other furniture makers, and perhaps otherwise assisted the first great English cabinet-maker. He published "A Compleat Body of Architecture, embellished with a great variety of Ornaments" (1770). He styled himself a "Professor of Ornament." From about 1741 to 1763 he was in partnership with Edwards (Edwards and Darly), and in 1754 the firm published "A New Book of Chinese Designs," which was of some importance in connection with furniture.

Davenport

A small knee-hole desk with a lift-up writing-slope and a range of drawers at the side, popular in the first half of the nineteenth century, named after Captain Davenport.

Day-Bed

This precursor of the sofa was introduced from the East early in the seventeenth century. It was of sufficient dimensions to allow a person to recline at full length and had an adjustable headpiece. In the Restoration period day-beds, elaborately carved, sometimes caned and provided with richly covered cushions, were much in vogue.

Deal

The wood of many coniferous trees employed principally by carpenters. The Scotch fir (Pinus Sylvestris) yielding the yellow deal was sometimes used by cabinet-makers of the eighteenth century and was of better quality than that now obtainable. Deal was, and still is, often used for making the carcases of cabinets, drawers, etc.

Decorated Queen Anne Period

Owing to the fact that George L, whose sympathies were entirely German, gave little patronage to artists in this country, the furniture made during his reign is often described by modern writers as Decorated Queen Anne rather than Early Georgian.

Decoration

Some of the more important methods used to decorate the carcase or foundation work of pieces of furniture are carving, gilding, japanning, inlaying, lacquering, painting, turning, and the application of marquetry, metal mounts, mouldings, plaques, upholstery and veneer.

Dentil

An architectural feature used by cabinetmakers in the form of cubes or square blocks set at equal distances on a cornice similar to those found in the bed-mouldings of Ionic and Corinthian cornices. It was much favoured in the Adam and Hepplewhite periods.

Derbyshire Chair

A chair in vogue about the middle of the seventeenth century, in Jacobean style with straight uprights, finishing at the top with inward scrolls. The back was in the shape of an open arcade supported by cross-rails, the arches being formed in the top rail.