The Practical Book Of Period Furniture | by Harold Donaldson Eberlein And Abbot McClure

Treating of furniture of the English, American colonial and post-colonial and principal French periods

Title	The Practical Book Of Period Furniture
Author	Harold Donaldson Eberlein And Abbot McClure
Publisher	J. B. Lippincott Company
Year	1914
Copyright	1914, J. B. Lippincott Company
Amazon	The Practical Book Of Period Furniture

With 250 Illustrations

The Colour Plate And Text Illustrations From Drawings By Abbot McClure

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. PHILADELPHIA & LONDON.

Foreword: Every book ought to have a definite reason for its being. In the present instance that reason is that hitherto there has never been a book of brief compass and succinct arrangement for ready reference...

Illustrated Chronological Key: JACOBEAN PERIOD Plate I. Fig. 1. Wainscot chair. Fig. 2. Cromwellian chair, upholstered. Fig. 3. Carolean chair, caned. Fig. 4. Jacobean court cupboard. Fig. 5. Late Jacobean marquet...

Illustrated Chronological Key For The Identification Of Period Furniture: This Key gives the characteristic articles of furniture in the distinctive style of each successive period, thereby aiding the reader in identifying the period of any particular piece of furniture he ...

Chapter I. Introductory: IF there be sermons in stones, there are surely volumes of romances in old furniture. And they are the best kind of romances, too, because they are all true and not the laboured efforts of fictionarie...

Introductory. Part 2: But excellent reproductions of the old pieces are, nevertheless, made to-day, retaining the charm of their prototypes, so that those who are unable to purchase antique specimens may still furnish thei...

Introductory. Part 3: By comparing these sections in one chapter after another it may be seen when, approximately, our different household articles came into use and under what forms they first appeared. We shall learn, fo...

Chapter II. Jacobean Period. 1603-1688: Reigns of James I and Charles I; The Commonwealth; Reigns of Charles II and James II Jacobean Period (proper) 1603-1649 Cromwellian Period 1649-...

Jacobean Period. 1603-1688. Part 2: Articles During the Jacobean, Cromwellian and Carolean portions of the Stuart period, that is to say, between 1603 and 1688, the articles of furniture in common use were chairs, stools, forms, sett...

Jacobean Period. 1603-1688. Part 3: Stools And Forms Stools were used in great numbers, especially before the democratic spirit of Commonwealth days completely broke down the rigid etiquette that had previously obtained governing the...

Jacobean Period. 1603-1688. Part 4: Settees The settee or sofa seems to have developed from the love-seat (see following paragraph) and was frequently-found in the houses of the well-to-do from Carolean times onward. They were first ...

Jacobean Period. 1603-1688. Part 5: Tables During the Stuart period tables steadily became articles of more serious import than in preceding epochs. The change from movable boards set upon trestles to tables of permanent structure ha...

Jacobean Period. 1603-1688. Part 6: Cupboards The cupboard was a very favourite piece of furniture during the Stuart period and much care and expense were lavished upon its decoration that it might worthily express the state and rank...

Jacobean Period. 1603-1688. Part 7: Mirrors In the early Jacobean days, though men and women were not a whit less vain of their personal appearance than are their descendants, mirrors were not common. They were small, for large pi...

Jacobean Period. 1603-1688. Part 8: Decorative Processes Jacobean furniture, of the Jacobean period properly so called, was replete with ornament. It was frequently weighted to excess with a riotous profusion of decoration that echoe...

Jacobean Period. 1603-1688. Part 9: Types Of Decorative Design Great importance attaches to the types of decorative design as well as to the sundry sorts of decorative processes employed. It is by carefully heeding just such small de...

Jacobean Period. 1603-1688. Part 10: Human Figures, masques, fruit and grotesque animals, though used in redundant and heterogeneous profusion in Elizabethan work, became less prevalent in Jacobean furniture carving and the human figure ...

Jacobean Period. 1603-1688. Part 11: Structure In structure Jacobean furniture, even to the end of the Carolean epoch, was extremely simple and straightforward. However much the types and processes of decoration may have been affected...

Chapter III. William And Mary. 1688-1702: THIS is a concise and easily understood period - a welcome contrast to the Jacobean. It was of shorter duration and, consequently, styles had not the same opportunity to run through numerous changes. ...

William And Mary. 1688-1702. Part 2: Articles The articles of furniture most commonly in use during this period were chairs, stools of several sorts, forms and settles, settees or sofas, day-beds, bedsteads, various kinds of tables, c...

William And Mary. 1688-1702. Part 3: Stools Stools were still in considerable demand in lieu of chairs. What has been said of chairs regarding structure, form of legs, stretchers, upholstery and the like applies equally to stools. In ...

William And Mary. 1688-1702. Part 4: Chests Of Drawers And Chests Chests of drawers were of two kinds, having the carcase in one or two sections respectively. Those of one section had three to five drawers. They were usually four draw...

William And Mary. 1688-1702. Part 5: Cabinets Cabinets were nearly always in two parts, upper and lower. Closely related to the highboy was the cabinet set on a stand, and the fashion for cabinets of this sort seems to have been of It...

William And Mary. 1688-1702. Part 6: Bureau Cabinets And Secretaries Or Desks Writing furniture of this period was varied in character. It may be classified under five types. First, there was the writing cabinet with drawers below, st...

William And Mary. 1688-1702. Part 7: Buffets Or Dressers Sideboards were not, as yet, but their place was taken by the dressers, Welsh dressers as some call them, and by the buffets and court cupboards in use during the preceding peri...

William And Mary. 1688-1702. Part 8: Decorative Processes The usual decorative processes in the William and Mary period were turning, carving, painting, gilding, veneering, marqueterie and lacquering or Japanning, as it was frequently...

William And Mary. 1688-1702. Part 9: Structure Structure of cabinet work was straightforward and simple. There were no recessed or shaped fronts to complicate the joinery. Chair and table legs were firmly braced with stretchers. In so...

Chapter IV. Queen Anne And Early Georgian. 1702-1750: Anne 1702-1714 George I 1714-1727 George II 1727-1760 THE period now to be treated is a long one but definite in its characteristics and easily grasped. The reigns of Queen Anne's two immedia...

Queen Anne And Early Georgian. 1702-1750. Part 2: Articles A catalogue of the articles of usual occurrence embraces chairs, stools, settles, settees or sofas, day-beds, bedsteads, tables, chests and chests of drawers, highboys and lowboys, cabinet...

Queen Anne And Early Georgian. 1702-1750. Part 3: Chairs The typical Queen Anne chair is a distinct and strongly characteristic piece of furniture not to be confounded with anything else. It is also a singularly beautiful and graceful creation and...

Queen Anne And Early Georgian. 1702-1750. Part 4: Stools Stools continued in popular use during Queen Anne's reign. Indeed people were so accustomed to using them that they would have missed them sadly had they suddenly been obliged to do without....

Queen Anne And Early Georgian. 1702-1750. Part 5: Tables Queen Anne's day was a time of small tables or tables to be used at the side of a room. In the more pretentious houses we have the gorgeously carved and gilt structures with marble tops, but...

Queen Anne And Early Georgian. 1702-1750. Part 6: Chests Of Drawers And Chests Chests of drawers continued to be made in two sections but the most usual form had but one section and was low enough to use conveniently as a dressing stand. They had ...

Queen Anne And Early Georgian. 1702-1750. Part 7: Cabinets During much of the period elaborately carved and gilt stands (Fig. 3) continued to be made for lacquer cabinets. Also high stands of simple lines, not gilt, were considerably used for the ...

Queen Anne And Early Georgian. 1702-1750. Part 8: Buffets And Dressers Long buffets or dressers were made with the characteristic cabriole legs, club feet and shaped aprons. They were made both without and with an upper part containing open shallo...

Queen Anne And Early Georgian. 1702-1750. Part 9: Decorative Processes As in the preceding reign, the decorative processes embraced turning, carving, painting, gilding, veneering, marqueterie, inlay and lacquering. Turning. The turning of the Q...

Queen Anne And Early Georgian. 1702-1750. Part 10: 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; ke...

Chapter V. Louis Quatorze And Louis Quinze: Louis XIV 1643-1715 Louis XV 1715-1774 WHAT France thinks to-day the rest of Europe will think to-morrow. This dic-turn was uttered a good many years ago. It was largely true then and has been...

Louis Quatorze And Louis Quinze. Part 2: Articles Space forbids and there is no necessity that we should enter into a detailed catalogue of all the articles of furniture used in the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV. It will serve the pres...

Louis Quatorze And Louis Quinze. Part 3: Stools Or Tabourets These articles of small furniture followed the same general styles of contour and ornament as were exemplified in the chairs. Canapes Or Sofas The same may be said of cana...

Louis Quatorze And Louis Quinze. Part 4: Clocks The French clocks rarely reached the dimensions of the English tall-case clocks. In all representative cases under Louis XIV the dignified rectilinear or tapering lines appeared. Under Louis...

Louis Quatorze And Louis Quinze. Part 5: Types Of Decoration Of all the manifold types of decoration employed in these two periods, the one we most frequently hear of is Rococo ornament, though its excess of sinuosity was by no means of u...

Chapter VI. Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779: THOMAS CHIPPENDALE has been called The Most Famous of English Cabinet-Makers. This title to distinction few will dispute. There can be no doubt, at any rate, that, either by a favouring combination ...

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Continued: It is necessary to know this much of Chippendale and his environment that we may be able to understand his work. He excelled in the quality of discrimination and the ability to adapt successfully the ...

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Part 2: Articles As we pass from the end of the early Georgian epoch into the period when Chippendale's influence was the dominant power in English furniture designing and making we find a larger number of...

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Part 3: Chairs Of all pieces of furniture, chairs are the most sensitive to new influences, and the quickest to indicate a change of style. How this was true in a general way has been previously mentioned....

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Part 4: Uprights were flat, moulded, fluted, carved or embellished with applied frets according to style and degree of elaboration. A Fig. 3. A, Ladder Back with Hooped Top Rail; B, Cupid's-bow ...

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Part 5: Stools Stools were of infrequent occurrence, but when made corresponded with chairs. Sofas And Settees Chair back settees and sofas followed precisely same structural and decorative principle...

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Part 6: Chests Of Drawers And Chests Chests of drawers were of two varieties, low and high. The low chests of drawers were supported on short cabriole legs with claw and ball feet or upon shaped bracket (K...

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Part 7: Lowboys Lowboys corresponded exactly with highboys, except that the elaborate scallop-shell ornament, when used, was applied to the small middle drawer. The drawers were differently arranged from t...

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Part 8: Bookcases Bookcases were made in one or three sections (Key IX, 3) and were often ponderous and impressive affairs. The glass doors of the upper portion were often beautifully traceried with delica...

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Part 9: Small Furniture The small furniture of the Chippendale period consisted of candle stands (Plate XIX, p. 174), cellarettes, barometer cases, fire screens (Key IX, 5 and 7), bason stands (Plate XIV, ...

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Part 11. Materials: The chief material for Chippendale furniture, and one with which we always associate the Chippendale period, is, of course, Mahogany. Mahogany of practically every variety was used by the school of Ch...

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Part 11: Decorative Processes Carving was the chief decorative process applied to the furniture produced by Chippendale and the men of his school. Chippendale's father, it must be remembered, was a carver a...

Chippendale. C. 1705 - 1779. Part 12: Types Of Decoration The types of decoration employed by Chippendale and his school must be divided into four classes: English, French, Chinese, and Gothic. English Lions, so freely employed in t...

Chapter VII. The Brothers Adam. C. 1762-C. 1792: WE cannot overestimate the vast import of the influence exerted by the Brothers Adam upon English furniture. They introduced marked differences of form and structure. The changes due to their inspirat...

The Brothers Adam. C. 1762-C. 1792. Part 2: Articles Although the articles for which the Brothers Adam furnished designs at one time or another included practically every piece of furniture known to the domestic economy of the day, we are co...

The Brothers Adam. C. 1762-C. 1792. Part 3: Chairs For the sake of convenience and clearness we shall consider first arm-chairs and then side chairs. What is said of the legs will apply to both sorts. They were square and tapered (Key X, 1 a...

The Brothers Adam. C. 1762-C. 1792. Part 4: Tables The typical Adam table was rectangular, semi-circular or semi-oval. Wall tables were also made with serpentine fronts. The legs were straight and either square or round and almost invariably...

The Brothers Adam. C. 1762-C. 1792. Part 5: Mirrors The Brothers Adam would always be gratefully remembered for the mirror frames they designed, even though all their other work were forgotten. In shape the mirrors were vertically or horizon...

The Brothers Adam. C. 1762-C. 1792. Part 6: Types Of Decorative Design The types of decorative design used by the Brothers Adam were exceedingly rich in variety, and might be classified as architectural, floral and animal. Under the Archi...

Chapter VIII. George Hepplewhite. 1786: WE shall not speak of a Hepplewhite period of furniture, but of a Hepplewhite style. There was no Hepplewhite period, for the date of Hepplewhite's prosperity and influence was synchronous with the pr...

George Hepplewhite. 1786. Continued: PLATE XXV. HEPPLEWHITE PAINTED SATINWOOD WRITING TABLE. By Courtesy of Messrs. Hale and Kilburn, Philadelphia. During the period of Hepplewhite's greatest activity, the architectural influen...

George Hepplewhite. 1786. Part 2: Articles There is always, necessarily,much similarity between the list of articles in each chapter, because no sudden revolutionary changes took place in the habits of our forefathers to bring the ...

George Hepplewhite. 1786. Part 3: Chairs However much Hepplewhite may have been indebted to Adam in his other designs, he is decidedly original in his chair patterns and distinctly practical as well. The legs of Hepplewhite chairs ...

George Hepplewhite. 1786. Part 4: Stools By the time of Hepplewhite's prosperity stools had ceased to be fashionable and were not in demand. Sofas And Settees In Hepplewhite's sofas and settees we meet with two distinct varie...

George Hepplewhite. 1786. Part 5: Chests Of Drawers Chests of drawers were of two types, the high or two-sectional kinds and the low (Key XI, 4) or one-section variety, which, with a mirror hung back of it, or placed on a small sta...

George Hepplewhite. 1786. Part 6: Wardrobes And Clothes Presses Wardrobes were made in one or three sections, though rarely with single doors extending the full height. The more usual form was the clothes-press type with either dra...

George Hepplewhite. 1786. Part 7: Types Of Decorative Design The types of decorative design to be found in Hepplewhite furniture include all the classic motifs introduced by the Brothers Adam. Among these we find floral swags, acan...

Chapter IX. Louis Seize. 1774-1793: BEFORE the youthful Louis XVI and his still more youthful spouse ascended the throne of France, the mobiliary style that we know as Louis Seize had already, ripened into a type sufficiently characte...

Louis Seize. 1774-1793. Part 2: Articles The articles of furniture in use during the Louis Seize period are practically the same as those listed in the chapter devoted to Louis Quatorze and Louis Quinze. The catalogue includes ch...

Louis Seize. 1774-1793. Part 3: Stools And Tabourets Stools and tabourets were made on principles analogous to those of the chairs, with which they were made to correspond. Canapes Or Sofas Sofas or canapes were executed in...

Louis Seize. 1774-1793. Part 4: Clocks Clocks continued to be adorned with exquisite and intricate work, applied with the sundry decorative processes in vogue at the time. They were almost universally of the mantel variety and we...

Chapter X. Thomas Sheraton. 1750-1806: WE have said in the chapter on Hepplewhite that it would not be right to speak of an Hepplewhite Period. It would be quite as incorrect to speak of a Sheraton Period and for precisely the same rea...

Thomas Sheraton. 1750-1806. Continued: In his ideals and consistent fidelity to the sources of his best inspirations, Sheraton was far more of a classicist than Hepplewhite, while in his admiration for geometrical forms and principles he a...

Thomas Sheraton. 1750-1806. Part 2: Articles Besides the usual tale of household articles that we expect to find enumerated - a list which it is scarcely necessary to rehearse in detail - Sheraton designed, as previously stated, many...

Thomas Sheraton. 1750-1806. Part 3: Sofas Or Settees Sheraton sofas, or, more properly, settees, were particularly graceful and satisfactory pieces of furniture. Fig. 3. Sheraton Sofa. They followed the same structural and ...

Thomas Sheraton. 1750-1806. Part 4: Chests Of Drawers Chests of drawers were of two types, those made in one section with four or five drawers and used as dressing stands (Key XIV, 2) and those made in two sections which took the pla...

Thomas Sheraton. 1750-1806. Part 5: Sideboards Sheraton is properly credited with perfecting the sideboard. The typical Sheraton sideboard (Key XIV, 3; Plates XXXI and XXXV, p. 236, p. 254), which one may always be safe in ascribing ...

Thomas Sheraton. 1750-1806. Part 6: Console Cabinets Console cabinets, like those of Hepplewhite, were also designed by Sheraton. It is often impossible to distinguish the designs of the one from those of the other, except in cases w...

Thomas Sheraton. 1750-1806. Part 7: Types Of Design Sheraton employed most of the classic types of design which had been introduced into English furniture by the Brothers Adam. We find swags (Fig. 3, and Plate XXXII, p. 240), spandre...

Chapter XI. The Other Georgian Makers And Designers: WE have never given the other Georgian designers and makers of furniture enough credit or enough blame. The very fact of their being classed together anonymously as the others is proof in itself t...

The Other Georgian Makers And Designers. Part 2: Ince And Mayhew Ince and Mayhew, cabinet-makers and upholders, whose shop was in London, in Broad Street, Golden Square, are among the others whose names have come down to us chiefly, no doubt,...

The Other Georgian Makers And Designers. Part 3: R. Manwaring Manwaring's genteel furniture is just what we should expect furniture to be to which that objectionable adjective was applied by its designer and maker. It was without grace, inspira...

The Other Georgian Makers And Designers. Part 4: Thomas Shearer Of all the lesser lights in the furniture world of the eighteenth century Thomas Shearer seems the most entitled to our respect and admiration. He was the contemporary of Hepplewhite...

Chapter XII. The Empire Period. French And English. 1793-1830: THE Empire style was a style created by fiat. When Napoleon saw the political necessity of creating a new style of national art and, incidentally thereto, a new style of furniture, he turned the matte...

The Empire Period. French And English. 1793-1830. Part 2: Articles The articles of furniture in ordinary use during the Empire period were chairs, stools, sofas and settees, couches, bedsteads, tables, chests of drawers, bureaux, cabinets, secretaries, bo...

The Empire Period. French And English. 1793-1830. Part 3: Stools Stools had declined in popularity but, when made, were made on the principle of ottomans, with a solid mahogany base and a superstructure of upholstery. Sofas And Settees The sofas and...

The Empire Period. French And English. 1793-1830. Part 4: Chests Of Drawers Chests of drawers of ample proportions were made in large numbers. They were of the three or four drawer description, in one piece, and were perfectly rectilinear in structure. Se...

The Empire Period. French And English. 1793-1830. Part 5: Decorative Processes The decorative processes in principal vogue were carving, turning, veneering, painting and gilding. Carving was relied upon along with the brass mountings to supply most of the...

Chapter XIII. American Empire. C. 1795-1830: THE spirit of ardent admiration for all things French and of equally cordial dislike for all things British that possessed a large part of the American public at the beginning of the nineteenth centur...

American Empire. C. 1795-1830. Part 2: Articles In the American Empire period the articles of furniture that chiefly concern us are chairs, stools, couches, sofas, bedsteads, tables, chests of drawers, bureaux (in the American sense of ...

American Empire. C. 1795-1830. Part 3: Stools What was said of the English Empire stools may be repeated of those made in America. They were not popular pieces of furniture. Sofas The sofas of the Empire period for the most part a...

American Empire. C. 1795-1830. Part 4: Chests Of Drawers Chests of drawers were no longer made in two sections but were slightly higher than those of the preceding period, usually being four drawers instead of three drawers in depth. In...

American Empire. C. 1795-1830. Part 5: Sideboards The American Empire sideboards are among the best pieces of furniture that the period produced, both in point of structure and design. The carcase work is rectilinear for the most part a...

American Empire. C. 1795-1830. Part 6: Materials The almost universal material for Empire furniture was mahogany, and only the best wood was used. In some few instances furniture of the Empire period is found executed in walnut, but wal...

Chapter XIV. Other American Furniture: UNDER the general heading Other American Furniture are included all the sorts other than the local phase of the Empire style considered in the preceding chapter. Most of the other American furnitur...

Other American Furniture. Part 2: New York And Long Island In New York and Long Island we find mixed Dutch and English influences. The earliest furniture was purely Dutch in type and much of it was actually brought from Holland, as...

Other American Furniture. Part 3: Virginia, Maryland And The Carolinas If one were to search the Southern States over, it is more than probable that he would be rewarded by finding scarcely one piece of furniture of Jacobean date. ...

Chapter XV. Painted Furniture: WE are deplorably timid, in our day, about the use of vigorous colour. So timid are we, indeed, and to such length do we carry our dread of committing some chromatic solecism that few of us attribute ...

Painted Furniture. Part 2: Furniture, in the early days, took its tone entirely from contemporary architecture. Until the time of the Renaissance there was very little furniture of importance that was not distinctly architectur...

Painted Furniture. Part 3: Both Hepplewhite (Key XI, 5; XII, 2) and Sheraton followed the lead of the Adams in designing and advocating painted furniture at the same time they were putting forth their best productions in mahoga...

Painted Furniture. Part 4: Jacobean The painting of this period was almost invariably employed on carved surfaces. Where such features as overmantels were coloured the figures, human, animal or mythological, were painted wit...

Painted Furniture. Part 5: The Empire Period In the Empire period we frequently find, in France, England and America that paint was used as an auxiliary to the cabinet-maker's art. Chairs and tables were painted and then gil...

Chapter XVI. Advice To Buyers And Collectors: THE advice given in the following paragraphs falls naturally into two divisions - advice to buyers and collectors of antiques, and advice to the purchasers of reproductions. In either case, however, t...

Advice To Buyers And Collectors. Part 2: In judging the genuineness of old furniture, patina or surface is one of the most reliable guides, since age alone can impart the true colour and mellowness of surface. It is exactly comparable to t...

Advice To Buyers And Collectors. Part 3: We next come to the consideration of reproductions. Now there is no fundamentally valid objection to reproductions merely on the ground that they are reproductions. The cause for objection, and very s...

Chapter XVII. Furnishing And Arrangement: The art of furnishing is a very large part of the art of home-making. It is, therefore, of the first importance and of well-nigh universal application. After analysing the characteristics of the sever...

Furnishing And Arrangement. Continued: Indeed there is an opportunity to display much decorative originality in devising colour treatments that were not customary at the time but are yet quite within the bounds of artistic and decorative p...

Glossary: Almery V. p. 47. Apron A narrow strip of wood, adjoining the base of cabinet carcases and extending between the tops of the legs or feet brackets. The lower edge may be either straight or sha...

Bibliography: Ancient Coffers and Cupboards: Frederick Roe. Chats on Old Furniture: Arthur Hayden. Chats on Farm and Cottage Furniture: Arthur Hayden. Colonial Furniture in America: Luke Vincent Lockwood. ...

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