Silver Furniture

Silver furniture, or furniture covered with thin sheets of silver such as tables, chairs, brackets, frames, etc., was intended for State apartments, and the vogue, which was derived from the luxurious Court of Louis XIV., lasted in England from the Restoration until Queen Anne. Furniture mounts during this period were sometimes silvered instead of gilded.

Silvering Glass

The silvering of mirrors (q.v.) was a flourishing industry towards the end of the seventeenth century, and the process was to lay down a sheet of tin upon a suitable backing, float over the tin a layer of quicksilver, apply the sheet of glass, and then apply pressure to the glass in order to fix the quicksilver. The silvering was easily injured, and for some time afterwards it was not possible to make mirrors longer than about forty to fifty inches.

Constance Simon

Author of that interesting and instructive work, "English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century," first published in 1904 (but dated on the title page 1905) by Mr. A. H. Bullen, and subsequently in 1907 by Mr. B. T. Batsford.

Simple Chimney Piece

See Chimney Piece.

Singerie (Fr. Singe, A Monkey)

The name given in the Louis XV. period to mural decorations in which monkeys, squirrels and other animals and birds are depicted, often with extraordinary lightness and delicacy. A singerie is, literally, a "monkey-trick," and the description is justified by the antics of the monkeys. They most frequently appear on dados and cornices, the large panels being filled with graceful figures and pictures of fetes champetres and the like, in the style of Watteau.

Single Chair

See Side or Small Chairs.

Skirting Piece

An ornamental feature, usually shaped, pierced, or carved, depending from the base of a cabinet, chest of drawers, etc., and fixed at either end to the legs or feet. It is also called an apron, valance, or front.

Slat

A thin, narrow piece of wood like a lath, or the woodwork of a Venetian blind. In furniture the horizontal bars which connect and support the uprights of a chair-back are called slats, but some writers call them horizontal splats.

Slat-Back Or Ladder-Back Chairs

Chairs of the farmhouse type, sometimes with five or six horizontal bars or slats, came into general use in the country districts early in the eighteenth century. The design was used by Chippendale and others for chairs of the best material and workmanship.

Slides

Sliding shelves for various purposes were very usual additions to pieces of furniture in the eighteenth century. They are found, for example, on bureaux to hold candles, as supports for writing surfaces, brushing-slides on chests of drawers, and on many small tables for various purposes.

Slipper Foot

A "club" foot with the toe more pointed and protruding than usual is sometimes so called. See Club Foot.

Small Chair

A name used to distinguish a chair without arms from one with them. See Side Chairs.

Small Furniture

A general term used to include small pieces, such as candle-stands, caskets, hanging shelves, knife-boxes, tea caddies, work-boxes and the like.