Furniture Glossary

A-B - C-Com - Con-Flu . . . . . (editing)

Connecticut chest. So named because chiefly made in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Connecticut. Decorative chest with or without a bottom drawer or two. Ornamented with applied bosses and split spindles which set off three front panels carved, low relief, in conventionalized flowers - centre panel, sunflowers; other panels, tulips.

Constitution mirror. A term of obscure origin, perhaps a misnomer, widely used in America when referring to a Chippendale-style wall mirror with strings of leaves or flowers at the sides, a scrolled-arch top, and a fanciful finial, generally a bird. The frame is usually in walnut or mahogany and partly gilded. [See also Martha Washington mirror].

Corner chair. A square or squarish seat supported by two side posts and a back post, the three extending above the seat to a low, strong, semicircular top rail. Made in America from about 1700 to 1775, it is found in three styles - Dutch-Queen Anne transitional, Queen Anne, and Chippendale. Also called roundabout and writing chair. Some authorities say the American Windsor chair [q.v.] may have been evolved from it.

Corner cupboard. This type of furniture consists of a triangular cupboard containing shelves and closed by a door, which is sometimes curved. It is made to fit into the rightangled corner of a room. Encoignures begin to appear in France during the Louis XV period, and are usually made in pairs, often ensuite with a secretaire or chest of drawers. They continued to be made right up to the Revolution.

Coromandel or zebra wood. A form of ebony with light-coloured striped markings found on the Coromandel coast [see also under Ebony].

Couch. A seventeenth- and eighteenth-century term for day bed; not used as synonym for sofa or settee until recent times.

Counter. Hutch-like structure, sometimes approximating to a table with an undercompartment. The name [surviving in shop counter, etc.] derives from the top being employed for reckoning accounts with counters or jettons disposed on a marked scale. When not so used the counter was available for a variety of other purposes.

Court cupboard. The earliest fine cupboard in America. A kind of Jacobean buffet [and called a buffet in England], with the upper portion enclosed, the lower open. Sometimes, however, the upper portion is partly open--that is, contains a closed central cupboard with splayed sides. When the bottom portion is also closed, whether with doors or as a chest of drawers, it is in America called a press cupboard [see under Cupboard]. Early ones are generally of oak., with much sturdy Jacobean ornament, and seldom, if ever, ornamented alike [c. 1650-70].

Courting mirror. Small mirror framed with mouldings and a cresting, the crested area often containing a painted picture or design. They were traditionally a [p. 216] courting gift in eighteenth-century New England. Lockwood says their source was a similar mirror made in China for the export trade.

Cradle. The cradle, which had hitherto been a fairly simple piece of furniture occasionally carved but otherwise of a type that might be found in any other European country, was developed into an object of extravagant fantasy in mid-eighteenth-century Venice. Here cradles were made with rippling rococo rims and lacquered with floral motifs or heavily carved with putti and gilded. The most fantastic of all is that formerly in the Donˆ dalle Rose Collection at Venice, in which the cradle itself is swung between two branches of a naturalistically carved tree, with a stork gazing at the occupant from the foot and a chinoiserie parasol suspended over its head.

Credence. Side table as used ecclesiastically for the Elements prior to Consecration, and for the Cruets, etc., therewith associated. Such tables were sometimes of hutch-like formation, and the term credence has been loosely extended to cover other furniture of more or less similar construction.

Credenza. An Italian sideboard or buffet used as a serving table on which silver might also be displayed. Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century credenze were either simple tables designed to stand by a wall or else long cupboards, sometimes with canted corners, the height of an ordinary dining table. As they were normally covered with linen, they were very simple in design and decoration. A recessed top storey containing a cupboard was added to many credenze in the sixteenth century, and this was usual in subsequent periods.

Cresting. Shaped and sometimes perforated ornament on the top of a structure, as in the cresting of a chair.

Croft. A small filing cabinet of the late eighteenth century [named after its inventor], specially designed to be moved about easily in the library; it had many small drawers and a writing top.

Cromwellian. Term of convenience applied to English furniture of austere character, actually or supposedly made about the time of the Commonwealth or Interregnum [1649-60], but also used loosely of related types.

Cromwellian chair. Spanish-type chair with strips of leather for the seat and back; turned legs and stretchers, occasionally spiral-turned. Generally ornamented with brass-headed tacks. A mid seventeenth-century 'Puritan' chair. Very few have been found.

Cross stretcher. X-shaped stretcher in straight or curved lines. Sometimes found on occasional tables, a few chairs, and in America on highboys and lowboys.

Cupboard. Originally cup-board, a species of sideboard for the display and service of plate, etc., and having no essential connection with enclosed and doored structures. When equipped with such features, these might be noted [see Ambry]. The modern sense of cupboard, as an enclosed structure, is a long-standing ussurpation, such items being mostly descended from the press, press cupboard, etc. Livery cupboard [a much-abused term from Fr. livrer, to deliver] was a doorless structure, as is clearly stated in the Hengrave Hall contracts, 1537-8. That it was distinguished from the court cupboard is shown by such an entry as 'ij court cubbordes, and one liverye cubboarde', in Unton Inventory, 1596 ['Liverie table' is also listed]. Court cupboard was likewise an open structure, or with a small enclosed compartment in the upper part [see R. W. Seymonds, 'The Evolution of the Cupboard', in The Connoisseur, December 1943, and 'The Dynyng Parlor and its Furniture', op. cit., January 1944]. The tendency to compartment such furniture eventually resulted in enclosed pieces of similar outline being called court cupboard, though press cupboard is preferable. Welsh varieties of the press cupboard are the cwpwrdd deuddarn [two tiered] and the cwpwrdd tridarn [three-tiered, the top stage often more or less open]. Dole cupboard strictly applies to hanging or other structures open-shelved, or doored and railed, used in the charitable dispensation of bread, etc., in churches and other institutions. The term is often wrongly applied to food cupboard, or, better, food hutch. Spice cupboard is a hanging 'cupboard', usually of small dimensions, internally fitted with shelves or compartments and drawers, and fronted with a door. Doubtless many were used to hold spices, herbs, and medicaments, though they could have served various purposes. Corner cupboard is a triangular structure, doored or open, independent or fitted, and normally furnished with shelving.

Cupid's bow. A term used to describe the typical top rail of a Chippendale chair back which curves up at [p. 217] the ends and dips slightly in the centre.

Curly. The grainings of some woods--maple, walnut, birch, etc.--sometimes show feather-like, curly or tiger-stripe markings, which are much prized. Not to be confused with other markings, such as birdÍs eye, wavy, blister, and quilted.

Cutlery stand. See Canterbury [2].

Cylinder-top desk. A writing table, incorporating drawers and writing accessories, the functional part of which is closed by means of a curved panel fastened with a lock. It is usually suported on tall legs and differs from a roll-top desk [q.v.] in that the curved panel is in one piece and not slatted.

Cypress. Fine furniture was sometimes made of the pale to dark brown [swamp] cypress, especially in South Carolina, Georgia, and other southern American states. More often used for drawers and linings, and for utility-type furniture. It is noted for its resistance to decay.

Daventry. A small chest of drawers with a sloping top for writing; said to be named after a client of the firm of Gillow who claimed to have invented it.

Day bed. Known in England from the sixteenth century, though authentic examples are mostly of much later date. The original form approximated to a stump bed with a sloped back at one end. In the period of Charles II, and later, day beds were caned, their frames often being elaborately carved, quite likely en suite with cane chairs.

Decanter stand. See Coaster.

Desk. A term of varied meaning, but taken here to refer to two portable pieces. [1] The commonest meaning was that of a box [oriiginating in medieval times] with a sloping top for reading and writing. Early examples in oak in the Tudor and Stuart periods had carving and inlay, and sometimes the owner's initials and date. When bureaux came into use at the end of the seventeenth century these small desks were too useful to discard, and were fitted with drawers and pigeonholes; many were veneered with walnut, or japonned, and some were mounted on stands. In the Georgian period they became less decorative, and were usually of plain mahogany; few were made after 1800. [2] In the later eighteenth century 'desk' was the current term for what would now be called a music stand [which was also used for reading]; it generally took the form of a tripod base supporting a short and a sloping, adjustable top.

Desk box. A recatngular box with sloping lid for the storage of books and writing materials; more popularly known in America as Bible box.

Deuddarn See Cupboard.

Document drawer. A thin narrow drawer in a desk for important papers.

Doreeurs, Corrrporation des. The craft guild responsible for gilding in all its forms in France. The organization was similar to that of the menuisiers-ébénistes, except that the apprenticeship lasted five instead of six years. There were 370 maîtres-doreeurs at the end of the eighteenth century [see also Ormolu].

Dowel. Headless pin used in construction. Though, architecturally, dowels may be of other materials, wood is understood when speaking of furniture. Trenail [i.e. tree-nail] is another term for a wooden dowel [see Nails].

Dower chest or dowwry chest. . . . . made to store the trousseau of a prospective bride. Outstanding among American examples are the Hadley chest [q.v.], the Connecticut chest, and the painted Pennsylvania-German chest.

Drake foot. See Duck foot.

Drawer. Box in a framework from which it can be drawn. In some simple or traditional constructions drawers merely rest on the fraamework, but a typical feature of the late sixteenth to seventeenth century was a groove on each side of a drawer, accommodating projecting runners on the framework. This gave way, in later furniture, to runner strips at the base of the drawer itself, and the encasing of the interior framing with dustboards.

Dresser. On which food was dressed; a species of sideboard with or without a superimposesd 'back'; also for service of food, and/or storage of plates, dishes, etc. Some backless dressers are closely allied to the side table. Dressers are wontedly furnished with storage accommodation [such as ambries, shelving, drawers, etc., or combinations of such]. Welsh dresser is used of local varieties of the tall-back dresser found virtually everywhere. North Wales and South Wales types are differentiated.

Drop or tear-drop handle. The charactaeristic pull used on furniture with drawers, 1690-1720. Of brass, solid or hollow, this pendant hangs from a brass plate and is attached to the drawer by wire pins. Also called tear drop and pear drop, which picturesquely suggest its shape.

Drop leaf. A table with or two hinged leaves which can be raised or dropped by bringing swinging legs or supports into use. Many kinds of drop-leaf tables have special names--butterfly, corner, gate leg, library, Pembroke, sofa, etc.

Drum table. A circular top table on a tripod base with a deep skirt that may contain drawers. The type exists only in the classical style, and American examples appear late.

Duck foot. Colloquial American term for the three-toed club or Dutch foot, mostly found in Delaware River Valley furniture. Also called drake foot and web foot. For some reason the pad foot is often mistakenly called a duck foot.

Dumb waiter. A dining-room stand, an English invention of the early eighteenth century, with normally three circular trays, increasing in size towards the bottom, on a shaft with tripod base. This established design gave way to more elaborate versions at the end of the century; four-legged supports and [p. 218] rectangular trays were found; and quite different kinds were square or circular tables with special compartments for bottles, plates, etc.

Eagle, American. The Seal of the United States, adopted 1786, emblematizes the American bald eagle with wings outspread. This emblem promptly became popular as furniture ornament in America--carved [free or engaged], inlaid or painted--replacing the fanciful phoenix which had been used since the mid-eighteenth century.

Ébéiste. The ordinary French term for a cabinet maker concerned in making veneered furniture as distinct from a menuissier [q.v.]. The word derived from the ebony [ébéne] to be found on the earliest veneered furniture in France. It is not found, nor are &eactue;bénists associated by name with the menuisiers guild, until 1743, by which time the use of ebony was more or less confined to pieces in the Boulle technique. Although permitted by guild regulations to work in plain wood like the menuisiers, an ébénist usually confined his activities to techniques requiring veneer or inlay [see also under Menuisisers-Ébénists].

Ebonize. To stain wood to look like ebony. This was often done in the seventeenth century for the applied ornaments on oak furniture. Also used in WIlliam and Mary period when contrasting colours in wood were sought.

Ebony. A hard wood, black and finely grained, sometimes found with brown or purple streaks. Found commonly in tropical climates in Asia, Africa, and America. Extensively used in France for veneering furniture, particularlyl in combination with Boulle marquetry [see also under Coromandel or zebra wood and Boulle marquetry]. Grandfather and other clock cases were veneered with ebony in England in the seventeenth century.

Egg-and-tongue [egg -and-dart]. Repeat ornament of alternated ovolo and dart-like motifs; as much other ornament of classical origin, transmitted through Renaissance channels.

Elizabethan. Term of convenience, strictly applicable to furniture, etc., made in the reign of Elizabeth I [1558-1603], though loosely used of pieces of later date displaying Elizabethan characteristics. The reign was long; just as early Elizabethan furniture shows influences from previous regins, so late Elizabethan merges easily into Jacobean.

En arbelette. An expression used for shapes and forms which have a double curve similar to that of a crossbow.

Encoiggnures. See under Corner cupboard.

Espagnolette. A decorative motif popularized by the engravings of Gillot and Watteau and consisting of a female head surrounded by a large stiff colloar of a type worn in Spain inthe seventeenth century. It was used frequently in the early eighteenth century as a mounted decoratin for furniture.

Étagère. A small worktable cnsistng usually of shelves or trays set one above the other. The word is of nineteenth-century origin, the ordinary term used earlier being table ˆ ouvrage.

Fake or forgery. Furniture [or other objects] made or assembled in simulation of authentic antiquities, with deceptive intent, Fakes are of several kinds, of which a few may be listed: [a] the wholly modern fake, though quite possibly made of old wood; [b] the fake incorporating old and in themselves authentic parts; [c] the 'carved-up' fake, as, for instance, a plain chest [itself antique] with modern carving added; [d] the 'married' piece, of which all, or considerable portions, may be authentic, but which has been 'made up from more than one source'. Difficult of classification are certain items which have been liberally restored [see Restoration], each case demanding judgment on its own merits. Though over restoration is reprehensible, cases occur of pieces reconditioned with innocent intent. An ordinary repair to a genuine antique need not disqualify it. At the same time a watchful eye should be kept for an old faking trick of inserting an obvious 'repair' for the sole purpose of making the rest of a spurious piece look older by contrast.

Fan back. See Windsor chair.

Fancy chair. Almost any variety of decorative occasional chair, generally light in weight, painted, and with a cane seat. The souce was probably the late Sheraton occasional chair. Popular in all styles from 1800 to 1850.

Fan pattern. Description of the back of a chair when filled with ribs somewhat ressembling the stalks of a half-open fan. Also said of any fan-shaped carving, inlay, or painted deccoration. [See Rising sun].

Federal style. A term often used in America to describe furniture made in the United States between 1785 and 1830, the early days of the Republic. It includes works showing Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Directory, and early Empire influence. An inexact, therefore unsatisfactory, term - though at times highly convenient.

Firedogs. An appliance, popular in France for use in a fireplace to support the logs of a fire. These were usually made in pairs of iron with brnze ends or finials, sometimes patinated and sometimes gilt. They took various forms during the Louis XV and XVI periods, when the ornamenetal parts are usually made of ormolu and are often of the finest quality.

Fire screen. An adjustable screen made from the end of the seventeenth century to give protection from the intense heat of large open fires. Two main kinds were used. [1] Pole screen: with the screen on an upright supported on a tripod base; known as a 'screen stick' in the late seventeenth century; and in very general use in the eighteenth. The screen, often of needlework, was at first rectangular, but oval and shield shapes were fashionable lin the late eighteenth century. In the Regency period the tripod was replaced by a solid base, and the screen was a banner hung from a bar on the upright. [2] Horse or cheval screen - two uprights, each on two legs, enclosing a panel. Elaborate carving and gilding of the crests was often found until the end of the eighteenth century, when lighter and simpler screens were in vogue. Needlework was the popular material for the panel.

Fish tail. The carving, somewhat resembling a fish tail, on the top rail of a banister-back chair.

Flag seat. Colloquial term sometimes used for a seat woven of rush-like material.

Flambeaux. See under Candlesticks.

Flame carving. A cone-like finial carved to represent flames, either straight or spiralling. Used on highboys, secretaries, grandfather clocks, etc.

Flemish scroll. A curving double scroll used on WIlliam and Mary style legs; also on the wide stretcher connecting the front legs.

Flower stand See China stand.

Fluting. Narrow vertical groovings used in cllassical architecture on columns and pilasters. In furniture fluting is employed where pilasters or columns are . . . [continues . . . . editing the transciption] [p. 219]

NOTE: References to MARKS may refer to illustrations of these marks which are not included in this document.
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