How To Collect Old Furniture | by Frederick Litchfield
IN another work on the subject of Furniture I have endeavoured to trace the changes in style and fashion from Antique to Mediaeval, from Mediaeval to Renaissance, and from Renaissance to Modern, but in the following notes I have attempted to give the reader some descriptions of the various kinds of furniture, made in different countries, from the sixteenth to the middle of the nineteenth century, omitting the earlier periods. As examples of the latter are seldom seen except in museums, they are, for all practical purposes, unobtainable by the collector of ordinary means.
| Title | How To Collect Old Furniture |
| Author | Frederick Litchfield |
| Publisher | G. Bell And Sons. Ltd |
| Year | 1920 |
| Copyright | 1920, G. Bell And Sons. Ltd |
| Amazon | How To Collect Old Furniture |
By Frederick Litchfield, Author Of "Illustrated History Of Furniture, "Pottery And Porcelain," A Guide To Collectors, Editor Of "Chaffers' Marks And Monograms On Pottery And Porcelain," Etc
Preface- IN another work on the subject of Furniture I have endeavoured to trace the changes in style and fashion from Antique to Mediaeval, from Mediaeval to Renaissance, and from Renaissance to Modern, but i...
- Chapter I. Furniture Of The Renaissance
- End of the fifteenth century and beginning of the Renaissance - Andrea Palladio and his work - Inigo Jones - The introduction of the cabinet, development of the table and the chair - Alteration of the...
- Furniture Of The Renaissance. Continued
- To the sixteenth century also belongs the cas-sone or marriage chest, of which there are some good examples in the South Kensington Museum, and just as the cabinet had its prototype in the classic tem...
- Chapter II. Jacobean Furniture
- Period of Jacobean design, the Dutch influence - Table in the Carpenter's Hall - Framed and joyned tables - Work of Inigo Jones - Chairs of James I's time - Knole House and its furniture, chairs a...
- Jacobean Furniture. Part 2
- There is also another room, the furniture of which is said to have been presented by James I to the first Earl of Middlesex, who had married a relation of the Earl of Dorset, to whom Knole at that tim...
- Jacobean Furniture. Part 3
- Another ornament characteristic of this period is that which for want of a better description has been called the split balustrade ornament, on chests, presses, and tables. These turned and split ba...
- Chapter III. French Furniture
- Change from Gothic to Renaissance - Furniture of LouisXIII period. Louis Quatorze - Public collections of French furniture of this period - Berain and Lebrun - Andre Charles Boulle, his work and meth...
- Louis Quatorze
- After Louis XIV came to the throne a new era may be said to have begun for French decorative art, and in the palaces of Versailles, the Louvre, the Musee du Garde Meuble, and in such collections as th...
- The Regency Period
- After the death of the Grand Monarque, as Louis XIV was called, a style for decoration and furniture came into vogue termed lepoque de la Ri' gence. It marks a change which took place during the infan...
- Louis Quinze
- About this period, and during the reign of Louis XV the manners and customs of the French aristocracy underwent a change; it was the age of the Boudoir rather than of the Salon de Reception, with smal...
- Louis Seize And Marie Antoinette
- It is not until the beautiful bride of the Dauphin, Marie Antoinette, had made her influence a power over fashion, that the taste for the frivolity and excess of ornamentation was checked. A severer t...
- The Directory
- A great deal might be written about the beautiful furniture of Marie Antoinette's time, and in my Illustrated History of Furniture I have devoted more space to this important period of French indust...
- The First Empire
- Then followed the Napoleonic period. As first Consul and afterwards as Emperor, Napoleon I loved to pose as Caesar; his portraits by Canova in marble represent him as a Roman Emperor crowned with a ga...
- Reproductions Of French Furniture
- The almost fabulous prices which within the last quarter of a century have been given for genuine examples of the best kinds of French furniture of the different styles reviewed in this chapter, have ...
- Chapter IV. Italian Furniture
- The Renaissance influence - Rome and Naples - Roman mosaic - Florentine work - Marble mosaic, pietra dura, marble in set patterns - Venetian influence and work - Venetian glass, carving and gilding,...
- Rome And Naples
- There is little to help us to determine what was the style of domestic furniture in Rome, but it would appear that both in the Empire City and in Naples, the designs of everything of an ornamental cha...
- Florence
- As the seventeenth century advanced, we find a school of decoration in vogue that is termed Florentine, and in all probability the kind of marble mosaic work which is so well known as Florentine, orig...
- Venue
- Venice, too, may be said to have had a particular school of its own. The merchants of this important commercial city were in the sixteenth century trading extensively with the East, and the rich texti...
- Milan
- It is somewhat difficult to know to which particular city one should attribute the decorative cabinet work in which carved and inlaid ivory, with ebony or black or brown wood as a background, forms th...
- Marqueterie
- Although in drawing attention to some of the salient features of Italian furniture of a decorative character made in the seventeenth century and later, the special work of Florence, Venice, and Milan ...
- General Remarks
- Speaking generally of the furniture of Italy, there are one or two points to be noticed in conclusion. The palace of the Italian nobleman was large and commodious, as distinct from cosy, comfortable a...
- Modern Reproductions
- Within the past twenty years or so the modern reproductions of Italian furniture have shown a great deterioration from those made in Venice, Milan and Florence previously. Every critical visitor to an...
- Chapter V. Dutch Furniture
- Old Flemish Gothic carving - Flemish Renaissance - Dutch influence on English furniture - The settlement of Huguenot refugee artisans in Holland, and also in England - Seventeenth century English furn...
- Dutch Furniture. Continued
- The sea weed pattern marqueterie, which has been so called on account of the holly-tree pattern resembling a marine plant, was a favourite kind of inlay in Holland, and is still found in tall clocks...
- Chapter VI. English Furniture Of The Eighteenth Century
- The term Georgian - Dutch influence on English furniture, the use of mahogany - Gillow established. Thomas Chippendale - Early work - The CabinetMaker and Director - Influence of Sir W. Chambers - C...
- Thomas Chippendale
- It is difficult to assign any precise date to the first work of Thomas Chippendale. There is a chair in the Soane Museum, said to be the work of his own hand, and the original receipt for payment is s...
- Haig And Chippendale
- By the kindness of Captain Herbert Terry of Ripley, an enthusiastic collector of old English furniture, I am able to give an illustration from a photograph of the first and last pages of an original b...
- Ince And May Hew
- Another firm that carried on an extensive business about the same period as Thomas Chippendale was Ince and Mayhew, in Broad Street, Golden Square, who also published a book of designs, entitled The ...
- Contemporary Manufacturers
- Some of the other manufacturers of this time, whose names are scarcely known now, but who nevertheless produced good work, were the following : France, a neighbour of Chippendale's in St. Martin's Lan...
- Brackets Hanging Shelves Fire Screens Beds
- Field Beds Sweeptops for ditto Tea Caddies Tea Trays Card tables Pier tables Pembroke tables Tambour tables Dressing glasses Dressing tables and drawers Candle stands Lamp stands Pier glasses Terms fo...
- Gillows
- It should be remembered that at this period Gillows were carrying on a large business, and no doubt altered their designs to the new fashion. As a proof of this I may give an instance. Messrs. Warin...
- Thomas Sheraton
- Next to Chippendale the name most familiar to the ordinary buyer or collector of old English furniture, is that of Thomas Sheraton. He was apparently a well-educated man, but from the rather didactic ...
- Painted And Enamelled Furniture
- The decoration of furniture by painting and enamelling, came into fashion in England during the latter part of the eighteenth century. Suites of chairs and sofas to match, made of beech or birch wood,...
- Chapter VII. The Nineteenth Century
- French influence on English design about 1800 - Sheraton's drawings compared with his previous work - George Smith's book - The dining-table - Gillow's patent - Brass inlay - Firms of the period - Sed...
- Early Victorian
- Of this period of our furniture, as of everything else in which good taste is a factor, perhaps the least that is said the better. It is a style, or the absence of one, which has no admirers, and of w...
- Reproductions of English Furniture
- As regards the reproductions of the earlier periods of English furniture, one or two firms may be mentioned whose work was so well carried out in the assimilation of the traditions of our late eightee...
- Remarks On New Work
- This book being written with the intention of helping the reader to select old furniture of the kinds for which he has any predilection, I do not propose to go further than the time of these reproduct...
- Chapter VIII. Faked Furniture
- Definition of the word fake - The different kinds of reproductions - Jacobean chairs - Old and new processes of polishing - Signs of age and comparison between old and new work - Glorification of pl...
- Faked Furniture. Part 2
- I think it was Ruskin who used an expression which seems to me so full of the meaning that I am trying to explain, endeavour in every line. There will also be little irregularities and even eccentri...
- Faked Furniture. Part 3
- When this is understood and realized, it induces a wholesome suspicion of the richly-mounted and decorated furniture, which seems to spring into abundance as the fashion of the day creates the demand....
- Faked Furniture. Part 4
- Now a really old piece of furniture will probably show no ornamentation but the oval panel of a richly-figured piece of satinwood, in a surround of figured Spanish mahogany, perhaps a little patera...
- Chapter IX. Hints And Cautions
- Buying and collecting - Seventeenth-century Oak - Suggestions for a dining room - A composite sideboard - A Jacobean side table, chairs and accessories - Eighteenth-century English - Bookcases - Point...
- Seventeenth-Century Oak
- Now with the dining-room we have a difficulty to begin with, in the piece de resistance, the sideboard. This article, as such, did not exist in Jacobean times, and therefore we must do without it. I a...
- Eighteenth-Century English Furniture
- Ow with regard to the purchase of old English eighteenth-century furniture - Chippendale, Sher Heppelwhite and their contemporaries, od bookcases of the period are still to be 11; an illustration is g...
- French Reproductions
- In the chapter on French furniture something has been said about reproductions and imitations. The very high prices which are realized by genuine pieces naturally give a great incentive to manufacture...
- Buying Old Furniture On A Warranty
- Those who read the newspaper reports of actions at law which arise from disputes as to the genuineness of old furniture, will have observed that there are considerable differences and even direct cont...
- The Bargain Hunter
- Only too frequently the keen desire for a bargain has really been the cause of the disappointment. People who would in the ordinary affairs of life scorn to take advantage of an ignorant man, seem ...
- The Dealers
- It would of course be invidious and impossible to mention any dealers by name, but there are many in London and in the provinces who are as upright and honourable in their dealings as men can be found...
- Buying At Auction
- There are bargain hunters other than the kind of one I have already referred to, and some of them delight to attend auction sales, and buy under the hammer. This is a very dangerous pastime, and, unle...
- Chapter X. Notes And Explanations on Furniture
- A GREAT many foreign and unusual terms frequently occur in catalogues, and also in other printed and written descriptions of Art furniture. Some of these are Anglicized words; others are those which, ...
- Notes And Explanations on Furniture. Part 2
- Chaise-Longue (Fr.) Literally a long chair; but the term is used to describe a sofa made up of two or three separate pieces of furniture, two of which are chairs with the backs carried round the en...
- Notes And Explanations on Furniture. Part 3
- Marqueterie (Fr.) Or Marquetry (Eng. From Fr.) A mosaic pattern or design of inlaid wood of different coloured pieces of thin material, such as veneer, tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, ivory. See al...
- Vernis Martin (Fr.).Literally Martin's Varnish
- In the year 1744 a special monopoly for twenty years was granted to Sieur Simon Etienne Martin for to manufacture all sorts of work in relief and in the style of China and Japan. This was the French...
- The Knock Out
- This is the slang term for an arrangement between certain dealers for purchasing goods at public auction upon terms advantageous to themselves. Instances every now and then are made public in which ar...
- Mobilier National
- In France the furniture belonging to the State Palaces is national property, and there is near the Champs Elysees in Paris a museum especially devoted to this, which every collector should visit. When...
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