Wave Scroll

See Vitruvian Scroll.

Wax Polishing

See Polishing and Varnish.

Web Foot

A rather clumsy foot reminiscent of both the cloven hoof and the club foot, sometimes used on the cabriole leg in the Queen Anne period, and until Chippendale's time.

Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795)

One of the most distinguished and original English potters, who after careful study and long business experience established his celebrated "Etruria" works at Stoke-on-Trent in 1769. His connection with furniture is due to the classical feeling which ruled him at a time when the brothers Adam had made classical ideals popular in architecture and decoration, and to the plaques, medallions and roundels which he produced to embellish the panels and tablets of cabinets, etc., of the Adelphi and other designers of the last third of the eighteenth century. His plaques were sometimes imitated in painting.

Welsh Dresser

This piece of furniture, consisting of a side-table, with cupboards or drawers and " pot-board" below, and a range of shelves above, was made in various parts of the kingdom in the seventeenth century, but is best known as a Welsh dresser. It was probably suggested by the French dressoir de salle-a-manger of the sixteenth century, which sometimes had a dresser-top. See Tri-darn.

Whatnot

A small piece of furniture, often corner-shaped, having a series of shelves for holding papers, books, china and "what not." Although generally associated with the Victorian period, Chippendale certainly made some. See Encoigneure.

Wheat-Ear

Ears of wheat as a design for carving on furniture were distinctive features of Hepplewhite's work.

Wheel-Back Chair

This chair, characteristic of the Adam school, was so named because the back was designed in imitation of a wheel with ornamental spokes radiating from a central boss, patera, or plaque. Backs were also made in the same style in oval instead of circular form. Hepplewhite introduced a wheel-like feature into the middle of the back of his "Windsor" chairs, and such chairs are called "wheel-backs."

Whorl

A word sometimes used to describe a scroll or spiral scroll on the feet or top rails of chairs.

Wig Stand

A slight tripod stand, fitted with a small basin and drawers for holding wig-powder, etc. They were sometimes made without legs to stand on a table.

William And Mary (William III., 1689-1702; Mary, 1689-1694)

The period covered by this reign is sometimes considered of so little importance to furniture that it is tacked on to the next period, and called the "Early Queen Anne" period, but nevertheless, William and Mary had a considerable part in the formation of the English school of furniture of the eighteenth century. They brought with them to England designers and craftsmen who introduced Dutch, Spanish and Oriental ideas, and they encouraged the thousands of French refugees who had lately settled in England. Their stable government caused wealth to increase, and the enthusiasm of the Queen over needlework and collecting, and a variety of other reasons, gave cabinet-makers, among others, a prosperous time. English workmen imbibed the foreign influences around them, and after adapting them to national requirements, founded the English school referred to.