Kate Warren Clouston

Author of "The Chippendale Period in English Furniture" (1897).

R. S Clouston

Author of " English Furniture and Furniture Makers of the Eighteenth Century " (1906), and many magazine articles on furniture subjects.

Cloven Foot

See Pied de Biche.

Club-Foot

A thickening and expansion forward of the lower part of a chair or table-leg forming a foot which was often provided with a disc underneath resting on the floor. It was sometimes called the Dutch foot and was in vogue early in the eighteenth century, but is of very ancient origin.

Cluster-Column Leg

The leg of a table, chair, bedstead, or other piece of furniture, formed actually or apparently by several clustered columns. This type of leg is characteristic of the work of William Ince, a contemporary of Chippendale.

Coal-Scuttle

A box, bucket, or similar receptacle for coal; one of the Cinderellas of furniture. In consequence of hard wear and rapid destruction examples of any considerable age are rare. In recent years there have been attempts to make them ornamental by constructing them in a form which simulates a small cabinet. A closed coal-scuttle is sometimes called a "Purdonium," from the name of its inventor, Mr. Purdon.

Cockbeading Or Moulding

A small convex or half-round projecting moulding used round the edges of drawers.

Cockle-Shell

This design, both in its convex and concave form was freely used as a carved decorative feature on the knees, cresting, and pendants of chairs, and also on other furniture from about 1710 and throughout the Queen Anne decorated period. The feature is more often referred to as the Escallop, or simply the shell ornament.

Coffer (0. French, Cofre-Fort)

A chest or strong box for holding money, jewels and other valuables. Church coffers of Norman times are still in existence.

Coffered

Panelling deeply sunk.

Coffin-Stool

A small oaken four-legged stool with stretchers. The legs and friezes were almost invariably plain. How they came to be called coffin-stools is not clear, but it may well be that, owing to their comparative lowness, and general uniformity of height, they were used as supports for coffins pending internment.

Jean Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683)

Minister of Finance to Louis XIV. He founded in 1664 the French Academy of Painting, Sculpture, etc., and quartered some of the best artists and craftsmen in the Louvre, where among other artistic productions they designed and made furniture of the finest description for the Royal palaces.

Collar Or Necking

An astragal or moulding forming a ring or band round a feature, such as a table-leg.

Colonial Furniture

The term used in America to denote all furniture of old times and old shapes. Strictly speaking, it should apply only to furniture made in, or imported into, America previous to the Declaration of Independence (1776).

Column

An architectural feature consisting of a base, round shaft and capital, generally used to support an entablature. A rectangular form of the column slightly projecting from the wall is called a pilaster. These features are frequently used as a decoration on Renaissance furniture. When a column is used singly to support a bust, candles, or other small articles it is more properly called a pillar.