Vauxhall

In regard to furniture, Vauxhall is noted for the glass work established there in 1670 by the Duke of Buckingham. See Mirror.

Velvet

A rich silk fabric with a short dense pile. It was made in Europe in the Renaissance, and some of the towns in Italy became noted for it. The designation "Genoa velvet" still connotes velvet of the most gorgeous kinds. The art of weaving velvet spread into Flanders and France, and thence into England, especially when the Huguenot refugee weavers settled in Spitalfields after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685.

Veneer

A slice of choice wood, marquetry, or other material, cut with knife or saw, sometimes as thin as paper and at others about one-eighth of an inch thick, glued to a base of wood of less value, and fixed on it by heat and pressure, so that the whole appears to be of the surface material. In most cases, but by no means in all, the process is adopted for economical reasons. The art was known to the Romans, and was first practised in England in the time of William and Mary.

Vernis-Martin

See Martin.

Virginal

An alternative name to the spinet, so called because it was a musical instrument favoured by girls of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. See Spinet and Harpsichord.

Vitruvian Scroll

The name given to a series of convolved, undulating, wave-like scrolls - a series of repeated horizontal S-scrolls - in honour of Vitruvius, a Roman architect and writer on architecture. It was, however, in use many centuries before his time in Etruscan and Egyptian work. The architect-designers of the eighteenth century frequently used this motive in their furniture designs.

Voider

A name given in the eighteenth century to the tray used for conveying dishes, utensils and the like to and from the table.

Volute

In architecture the spiral scroll used in the capitals of the Ionic, Corinthian and Composite orders. In furniture the word is used to describe almost any kind of flat or rising spiral.

Wainscot

A superior kind of oak employed for panelling; the panelling itself is also called wain-scotting. It was used in domestic work as a covering to walls long before Tudor times.

Wainscot Or Panel-Back Chair

The heavy oak arm-chair of the Tudor and Jacobean period, which was still made for a time after the Restoration. The panel in the back, often carved and inlaid, was enclosed by the stiles or uprights and the seat and top rails. The seat was high, and the footstool was sometimes used with it. It partook of the nature of a chair of state, used by the head of the family only, others being seated on stools or benches.

Wall Furniture

A term applied to architect's furniture fixed to the premises, to distinguish it from mobile furniture.

See Sconce. Wall Minor

See Pier Glasses.

Wall-Papers

Wall-papers in imitation of Italian brocades were occasionally made in England from Tudor times, but no considerable use of this kind of mural decoration was made until after the Restoration, when Chinese papers were sent to England. Towards the end of the seventeenth century they began to be made in England, printed from square blocks, and this method was in vogue until towards the end of the eighteenth century, when wall-papers began to be printed in long strips as at present. See Paper-Hangings.