Chats on Old Furniture Part 7

[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Waring._

CHEST OF DRAWERS. PANELLED FRONT; LATE JACOBEAN.

(Height, 3 ft. 4 in.; width, 3 ft. 10 in.; depth, 1 ft. 10 in.)]

The Italian Renaissance furniture probably received an oil varnish, the composition of which, like the varnish employed for old violins, has been lost, but after centuries of careful usage and polishing, the result, as seen in the fine specimens in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is to give to them the appearance of bronze.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Hampton & Sons._

CHARLES II. OAK CHAIR.

Open back carved with sh.e.l.l and scrolled foliage. Stuffed seat covered with old damask.]

There is little doubt that the Great Fire, which did such immense destruction in London in 1666, in which some eighty-nine churches and thirteen thousand houses were demolished, gave a considerable impetus to the manufacture of furniture in the new style. It is not a pleasing reflection to think how many fine pieces of Elizabethan and early Jacobean furniture were consumed in the flames, including much of Inigo Jones's work.

Under the genius of Sir Christopher Wren many of the city churches were rebuilt, including St. Paul's Cathedral; and Greenwich Hospital and Hampton Court were enlarged according to Wren's designs, with the co-operation of the master woodcarver, Grinling Gibbons. In later Jacobean days a splendour of style and an excellence of workmanship were the outcome of the fine achievements in interior woodwork by Grinling Gibbons and the school he founded.

The work of Grinling Gibbons consisted of most natural chains of flowers and foliage, fruit, or birds or cherubs' heads, all faithfully reproduced untrammelled by convention. St. Paul's Cathedral, Hampton Court, Chatsworth, and Petworth House all contain work by him of singular beauty. He trained many a.s.sistants to help him to carry on his work, and one of them, Selden, lost his life in endeavouring to save the carved room at Petworth from a destructive fire. The soft wood of the lime was his favourite for detailed carving; for church panelling or choir stalls, such as at St. Pauls, he employed oak; in his medallion portraits or figure work he preferred pear or close-grained boxwood.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Hampton & Sons._

CHARLES II. OPEN HIGH-BACK OAK CHAIR.

Finely carved legs and stretcher. Stuffed seat covered in old Spanish silk damask.]

The gradual development of the chair in the later Stuart days in the direction of upholstered seat will be noticed in the specimens which are given as ill.u.s.trations. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV. drove some thousands of French workmen--weavers, gla.s.s-workers, and cabinetmakers--to this country. The silk-weaving industry established by them at Spitalfields was one of the results, and silk stuffs and brocades were used for covering the seats and backs of furniture. At Hampton Court the crystal gla.s.s chandeliers were made by French workmen, whom Wren was glad to employ to a.s.sist him to make that palace a worthy rival to Versailles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Harold G. Lancaster & Co._

CHARLES II. CHAIR.

Cane back and seat, finely carved legs and stretcher.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Fenton & Sons._

JAMES II. CHAIR.

With cane back and seat, and finely turned legs and stretcher.]

The chair here ill.u.s.trated shows the commencement of the use of cane work in place of wood for the panel in back and for the seat. The James II. chair ill.u.s.trated shows the later development of the cane-back. The William and Mary chair (ill.u.s.trated p. 125) shows how the cane-back was retained later than the cane-seat, and how rich damask was employed for the upholstered seat. It is interesting to see how the stretcher, which in earlier days was of use to keep the feet raised from a wet or draughty floor, has now become capable of elaborate ornamentation.

Genuine examples of chairs of Elizabethan and Early Stuart days show the wear of the feet of the sitters. The same wear is observable in the lower rail of old tables. In later Stuart days the stretcher has left its place at the bottom, between the two front legs. Since its use as a foot-rest, owing to carpeted floors, is gone, it is found either joining the legs diagonally, or higher up as an ornament with carved front. In the eighteenth century it has almost disappeared altogether.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Harold G. Lancaster & Co._

WILLIAM AND MARY CHAIR.

Cane back. Seat upholstered in damask. Finely carved legs and stretcher.]

Mirrors began to take a prominent place in interior decoration. The house of Nell Gwynne in St. James's Square had one room entirely lined with gla.s.s mirrors. Hampton Court is full of mirrors, and they are arranged with considerable skill. By an artful arrangement the mirror in the King's Writing Closet is placed at such an angle that the reflection of the whole suite of rooms may be seen in it. The looking gla.s.ses made in this country in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were the work of Venetian and French workmen. The plates had a bevel of an inch in width, and these bevels followed the shape of the frame, whether square or oval. A factory was established near Battersea which produced some fine work of this nature. It will be noticed by the collector who is observant that the bevels differ considerably from modern bevels. The angle is not such an acute one, and sometimes the edges are double bevelled. Many of the mirrors of the time of William and Mary had an ornamented border of blue gla.s.s. Sometimes the mirror was painted with festoons of flowers and with birds in French manner. In imitation of Italian style the back of the mirror, in examples a little later, was worked upon in the style of intaglio, or gem cutting, this presenting a dull silver surface when seen from the front.

In picture frames, in chimneypieces, or in mirror frames the school of Grinling Gibbons was still pre-eminent in carving. Now and again are found traces of Italian or Louis XIV. influence, but as a whole the English carver held his own, and the traditions of Grinling Gibbons were maintained, and he did not easily allow himself to be carried away by foreign elaborations.

When William of Orange came over in 1688 he brought with him many of his own countrymen as military and civil advisers, and in their train came artists and craftsmen, who introduced Dutch art into England, and prepared the way for the more homely style of Queen Anne. Walnut cabinets inlaid with various woods, and with ivory squares representing miniature Dutch courtyards in the recesses of cabinets, had found their way into England. With the period of William and Mary the cabriole leg in chairs and in tables became popular--at first an English adaptation of Dutch models--but later to develop into the glorious creations of the age of walnut.

Blue delft jars and bowls, some especially made for William and Mary and bearing the Royal arms and the cypher "W. M. R." and the Na.s.sau motto, "_Je main tien-dray_," still to be seen in the Queen's Gallery at Hampton Court, were introduced, and it became fashionable to collect china. Consequently the furniture in rooms had to be adapted for the arrangement of this new cla.s.s of ornament, and cabinets were largely made with accommodation to receive vases and beakers and blue bowls on their shelves. The earlier form have straight sides; but later, especially in the next reign, they follow French designs, and are swollen or _bombe_ at the sides.

[Ill.u.s.tration: UPPER PORTION OF CHAIR BACK OF CUT LEATHER.

PORTUGUESE. LATTER PART OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

(_Victoria and Albert Museum._)]

With William, too, came over the plain walnut card-table. Clock cases of the style termed "Grandfather" were of Dutch origin. The seats of chairs were shaped and removable. The Dutch trade with the East Indies had brought Oriental china and lac cabinets into Holland, and these, with the coming of William, found their way into this country. Bureaux with a number of secret recesses were introduced, and another Dutch importation from the East was the now celebrated chair or table leg with claw and ball foot. This came directly from China, and as in the case of delft, which is the earthenware replica by the Dutch potter of fine blue porcelain vases, from Nankin and Canton, where the Oriental perspective and design have been slavishly copied, so with the furniture, the old Chinese symbol of a dragon's foot holding a pearl, was repeated in the furniture by Dutch cabinetmakers. Dutch marquetry made an early appearance with simple ornamentation, sometimes enriched by ivory or mother-of-pearl inlay, but later it developed into flowing floral designs with figures, vases, fruit, b.u.t.terflies, and elaborate scrolls in various coloured woods, of which yellow was the predominant colour.

RECENT SALE PRICES.[1]

s. d.

Armchair, Charles II., oak, carved with cherubs supporting crowns, and with turned column supports. Christie, November 20, 1903 15 4 6

Chairs, pair, Charles II., oak, with cane seats and oval cane panels in the backs, spirally turned legs, stretchers and rails at the back. Christie, March 4, 1904 63 0 0

Armchair, Charles II., oak, with high back carved with arabesque foliage, with lions' masks and claw legs.

Christie, March 29, 1904 63 0 0

Chairs, pair, nearly similar, carved with foliage. Christie, March 29, 1904 39 18 0

Armchair, Charles II., walnut-wood, of Italian design, carved with masks, cane seat and panel in back; and cushion, covered with old Flemish tapestry. Christie, March 4, 1904 77 14 0

Chairs, three, Charles II., oak, with oval panels of canework in the backs, the borders carved with foliage, flowers, and Amorini, and surmounted by busts. Christie, April 12, 1904 42 0 0

Chairs, set of twelve, Charles II., of chestnut-wood, with high backs carved with rosette ornaments, scroll foliage, and formal blossoms, on cabriole legs carved with flowers and shaped stretchers. Christie, July 1, 1904 462 0 0

Chairs, pair of chestnut-wood, with high backs slightly curved, pierced and carved at the top, and each inlaid with two cane panels, on carved cabriole legs and shaped stretchers, _temp._ James II. Christie, June 2, 1904 36 15 0

Cabinet, English marquetry, with folding doors, enclosing twelve drawers and small cupboard, and with four drawers below, the whole elaborately inlaid with vases of tulips, roses, and other flowers, small figures, birds, and insects, on a walnut-wood ground, 69 in. high, 47 in. wide, _temp._ William III. Christie, February 12, 1904 105 0 0

Mirror, in case of old English marquetry, inlaid with large flowers and foliage in coloured woods and ivory on walnut-wood ground, 32 in. by 28 in., _temp._ William III. Christie, February 19, 1904 43 3 0

Chairs, set of six, walnut-wood, with high, open backs, carved with foliage, the centre inlaid in marquetry, on carved cabriole legs and eagles' claw-and-ball feet, _temp._ William and Mary. Christie, June 2, 1904 315 0 0

Chairs, set of four, of similar form, open backs, carved with sh.e.l.l, and gadroon ornament, and on carved cabriole legs with hoof feet, the stretcher carved with a sh.e.l.l, _temp._ William and Mary. Christie, June 2, 1904 105 0 0

Cabinet, William and Mary, marquetry, veneered with walnut-wood, decorated with oval and shaped panels, inlaid, upon ebony field, 42 in. wide. Christie, March 18, 1904 65 2 0

Cabinet on stand, ebony, Dutch, seventeenth century, supported by six beaded columns with stage under and mirror panels at back, the upper part composed of doors carved in medallions; the centre doors enclose an architectural hall, inlaid in ivory, &c., with gilt columns and mirror panels, and fitted with secret drawers, 5 ft. 3 in. wide, 6 ft. 6 in. high and 22 in.

deep. Jenner & Dell, Brighton, May 3, 1904 100 0 0