Jacobean
1603 - 1625, 1688
English
Jacobean is used to describe England during the time when
James
I was king, which was from 1603 to 1625, to King James II (1688).
Jacobean comes from the name Jacobus, which is Latin for James.
Oak
and pine
were the most popular woods of choice. The English furniture retained
many Elizabethan characteristics but the ornament gradually
became simpler
and undecorated.
Jacobean English furniture was very sturdy, massive in size,
notoriously
uncomfortable, and made to last. Armchairs and chairs without arms,
were richly upholstered with copper nails.
Carolean (from the Latin Carolus, Charles)
style or Restoration style
1630 - 1685
refers to the decorative arts popular in England from the restoration
of the monarchy in 1660 to the late 1680s after Charles II (reigned
1660 ˇ¦ 1685)
New types of English furniture introduced in this period include
cabinets on
stands, armchairs, wing chairs, chests of drawers and day beds.
These are evident in English furniture in the use of floral marquetry,
instead
of oak, twisted turned supports and legs, exotic veneers, cane seats
and backs on chairs, velvet upholstery and ornate carved and
gilded
scrolling bases for cabinets.
William
and Mary
1689 - 1702
William and Mary has Dutch and Chinese influences. Huguenot refugees
from France worked in the cabinetmakersˇ¦. It is characterized
by trumpet turned legs terminating in a ball or Spanish foot, padded or
caned chair seats, and Oriental lacquer-work. The chair backs were
shaped slightly to fit, double-arched on cabinets and settees.
and the back legs were splayed out at the bottom to prevent the chair
from tipping backward.
Some of the English furniture was made of oak, but the Colonial workmen
were
finding walnut, maple, pine, apple-wood, sycamore, and other native
woods much easier to use. Marquetry became an important feature of
decoration often the form of
elaborate floral patterns, cockle shell and acanthus leaf, or the very
popular seaweed.
The banisterback chair, with and without arms, replaced the caneback
chair.
Some of the English furniture was painted and gilded.
And there were many more settees, upholstered or with loose cushions.
The
Queen Anne style English furniture
1702 - 1714
Queen Anne was the last monarch of the English House of Stuarts. The
Queen Anne
style is a refinement of the William and Mary style with
lighter, graceful, more comfortable English furniture.
The single most important decoration of Queen Anne English furniture
was the
carved cockle or scallop shell. Cabinetmakers replaced the straight,
turned legs with more graceful cabriole legs. The leg had an out-curved
knee and an in curved ankle.
Walnut
became the preferred wood along with cherry
and maple.
Imported mahogany
began to be favoured. Regardless of the wood, a small amount of Queen
Anne English furniture was painted white.
The feet in which the legs of English furniture terminate underwent
alteration
and improvement. Ultimately claw and ball feet make their reappearance,
and makes an attractive finish to the heavier type of cabriole leg that
evolved after the disuse of the stretcher. Scroll feet are generally
associated with the earlier Queen Anne English furniture, but there
were also
club feet, spade feet, the drake foot which was carved with three toes
and a square moulded type of foot.
Card and the collapsible bridge table or gaming tables were another
Queen Anne innovation.
Still popular are lacquer work, the rich oriental wares and china, the
use of gesso design, and the Dutch marquetry cabinets, with their bombe
sides and fronts and profuse decoration.
George
I, born in 1660,
Walnut
and also veneered with walnut (veneering: covering with thin layers)
The serpentine curves, the cabriole leg of rounded section and the
claw-and-ball-foot were all features of George I period chairs in
England.
Walnut chest-on-chests became more architectural and decorative, often
with pediments and bracket feet.
There is an increased use of carved ornamentation
George I and early years of George II until about 1730; mainly a
continuation of the Queen Anne style, but rather heavier.
George
II style English furniture
1727 - 1760
George II, born in 1683, was king in Great Britain from 1727 until his
death in 1760.
Mahogany
replaced walnut as the fashionable wood.
British designerˇ¦s, along with the rest of Europe, were being
influenced by Rococo style. They were decorating English furniture with
C-scrolls and foliage, scrolled feet and asymmetrical curves. You will
notice a lot of claw-and-ball feet, scroll feet and cabriole legs.
Chest-on-chests shown molded cornice, crossbanded or featherbanded
walnut veneer, brass lion masks, bracket feet.
George
III style English furniture
1760 - 1820
George III was the grandson of George II. He was born in 1738 and
reigned from 1760 until 1811 over the United Kingdom. The Prince of
Wales, George IV, acted as Regent for the next 9 years until the death
of George III in 1820.
Mahogany was the preferred wood. Painted satinwood and giltwood
expressed the English interpretation of Rococo.
First came the neo-classical style led by Adam - vertical lines, ovals,
circles, columns, urns, disciplined carving, gilding and painting
related to the Louis XVI style.
LATE GEORGIAN
The George III period lasted from 1765 to I 1800, but the term is
sometimes extended back to 1730.
Georgian cabinet makers
Thomas
Chippendale(1718 - 1779) was a cabinet maker and interior
designer.
Chippendale published his English furniture designs in The
Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director.
George
Hepplewhite(1727- 1786) was a cabinet and chair maker. His
wife published his original designs in The Cabinet Maker and
Upholsterers Guide in 1788.
The neoclassical Hepplewhite style is most recognised by his shield
back chair.
Sheraton
1751-1806, providing a domestic, middle-class version of
neo-classicism.
Robert Adam
(3 July 1728 . 3 March 1792) was a Scottish neoclassical architect,
interior designer and English furniture designer.
Edwardian English furniture
1901 ˇ¦ 1910
Now mass produced as machinery was used in full force.
The art nouveau and neoclassical influence is evident.
Satinwood
was the favoured wood type for inlays, usually in combination with ebony.
Bamboo or wicker was introduced during the Edwardian period often seen
in couches and wing-back chairs.