Structure

By the beginning of the Queen Anne period the curvilinear element had become firmly established in English furniture making. Chair seats displayed simple and compound curving outlines; kettle or swell front china cupboards or curio cases and chests of drawers testified to the skill of the cabinet maker; segmental and swan-neck pediments soared towards the ceiling; the graceful cyma curves, single or in combination, lent a fascinating charm to panels, doorheads and mirrors. With the increasing height of the ceilings, cabinet work assumed taller proportions. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, chair and cabinet makers had learned to work more skilfully in walnut, and the furniture they shaped was lighter and more graceful than the product of the preceding period. Furniture was made of walnut throughout and the practise was gradually abandoned of veneering walnut on oak, although it was still done where an especially fine burred effect was desired in panels, doors or drawers. Stretchers also went out of common use early in the period.

Mounts

The elaborate pierced and chased mounts of the lacquer cabinets of the William and Mary period and the other varied and somewhat ornate key-plates, scutcheons and knobs went out of style in Queen Anne's time and were replaced by plainer brass work. Handles were usually of the bail pattern and scutcheons were sometimes plain, sometimes pierced and sometimes slightly chased. Oval key-plates were also found.

Finish

What was said under the head of Finish in the William and Mary chapter applies with equal force to the furniture made during the Queen Anne-Early Georgian period.

The oak furniture that continued to be made for cottages and farmhouses was usually given the traditional finish of oil and wax, although, no doubt, occasionally oak pieces received a dressing of the varnish made with gum shellac and alcohol that became popular at the end of the seventeenth century.

Walnut furniture, though sometimes oiled and waxed, was ordinarily finished with the shellac and al-9 cohol varnish, brushed on, without previous oiling, and polished with wax, or else was treated with one of the other varnishes that seem to have come into vogue under the influence of the great popularity enjoyed by the various kinds of lacquered and Japanned ware. For full particulars concerning the making and use of these varnishes the reader may consult the "Treatise of Japaning and Varnishing" by John Stalker and George Parker, published at Oxford in 1688.

Mahogany, during this period, was given the same finish as that just described for walnut furniture.