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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43805 ***
+
+[Illustration: FRONT COVER]
+
+                    LITTLE BOOKS ABOUT OLD FURNITURE
+
+                             II. QUEEN ANNE
+
+
+
+
+                    LITTLE BOOKS ABOUT OLD FURNITURE
+
+                       Uniformly bound, Crown 8vo
+                          Price 2s 6d net each
+
+
+                       I. TUDOR TO STUART
+
+                      II. QUEEN ANNE
+
+                     III. CHIPPENDALE AND HIS SCHOOL
+
+                      IV. THE SHERATON PERIOD
+
+
+                       LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
+                        21 Bedford Street, W.C.
+
+
+[Illustration: QUEEN ANNE WALNUT TALLBOY AND STOOL (EARLY EIGHTEENTH
+CENTURY.)]
+
+
+
+
+                    LITTLE BOOKS ABOUT OLD FURNITURE
+                   ENGLISH FURNITURE: BY J. P. BLAKE
+                   & A. E. REVEIRS-HOPKINS. VOLUME II
+
+
+                        THE PERIOD OF QUEEN ANNE
+
+
+                 [Illustration: WILLIAM HEINEMANN LOGO]
+
+                              NEW EDITION
+
+
+                              ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+                            LONDON MCMXIV
+
+                           WILLIAM HEINEMANN
+
+
+
+
+                  _First published October 1911_
+                  _New Edition January 1913_
+                  _Second Impression June 1914_
+
+              _Copyright London 1911 by William Heinemann_
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+The sovereigns of England, unlike those of France, have seldom taken to
+themselves the task of acting as patrons of the fine arts. Therefore
+when we write of the "Queen Anne period" we do not refer to the
+influence of the undistinguished lady who for twelve years occupied the
+throne of England. The term is merely convenient for the purpose of
+classification, embracing, as it does, the period from William and Mary
+to George I. during which the furniture had a strong family likeness and
+shows a development very much on the same line. The change, at the last
+quarter of the seventeenth century, from the Jacobean models to the
+Dutch, was probably the most important change that has come over English
+furniture. It was a change which strongly influenced Chippendale and his
+school, and remains with us to this day.
+
+The period from William and Mary to George I. covered nearly forty
+years, during which the fashionable furniture was generally made from
+walnut-wood. No doubt walnut was used before the time of William and
+Mary, notably in the making of the well-known Stuart chairs with their
+caned backs and seats, but it did not come into general use until the
+time of William. It continued in fashion until the discovery of its
+liability to the attacks of the worm, combined with the advent of
+mahogany, removed it from public favour. Walnut nevertheless remains a
+beautiful and interesting wood, and in the old examples the colour
+effects are probably unsurpassed in English furniture. Its liability to
+"worming" is probably exaggerated, and in the event of an attack
+generally yields to a treatment with paraffin. Certainly the furniture
+of what is termed the "Queen Anne period" is in great request at the
+present day, and as the period was so short during which it was made,
+the supply is necessarily limited.
+
+We referred in the introduction to the first volume to the fact that the
+present series does not in any sense pretend to exhaust what is
+practically an inexhaustible subject. The series is merely intended to
+act as an introduction to the study of old English furniture, and to
+provide handbooks for collectors of moderate means. The many admirable
+books which have been already written on this subject seem to appeal
+mostly to persons who start collecting with that useful but not
+indispensable asset--a large income. In the present volume, although
+rare and expensive pieces are shown for historical reasons and to
+suggest standards of taste, a large number of interesting examples are
+also shown and described which are within the reach of persons of
+moderate incomes, and frequently an approximate price at which they
+should be acquired is indicated.
+
+In collecting the photographs necessary for this volume we are indebted
+to the Director and Secretary of the Victoria and Albert Museum, South
+Kensington, London, for placing the various exhibits at our disposal and
+particularly for causing a number of new exhibits to be specially
+photographed. However good a photograph may be, it can only be a ghost
+of the original, which should always, if possible, be examined. We would
+therefore strongly recommend readers when possible to examine the museum
+objects for themselves. The South Kensington collection, admirable as it
+is, is still far from complete, and increased public interest should
+contribute to its improvement. For the further loan of photographs we
+are also indebted to Mr. F. W. Phillips, of the Manor House, Hitchin,
+Herts; to Mr. J. H. Springett, High Street, Rochester, and others to
+whom we acknowledge our indebtedness in the text.
+
+                                                   J. P. Blake
+
+                                                   A. E. Reveirs-Hopkins
+
+  21 Bedford Street, W.C.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTERS
+
+                                            PAGE
+
+     I. THE QUEEN ANNE PERIOD                  1
+
+    II. SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN AND GRINLING
+          GIBBON                              18
+
+   III. MIRRORS, STOOLS, AND SOME NOTES
+          ON A QUEEN ANNE BEDROOM             34
+
+    IV. CHAIRS AND TABLES                     47
+
+     V. CHESTS OF DRAWERS, TALLBOYS,
+          CABINETS AND CHINA CABINETS         65
+
+    VI. SECRETAIRES, BUREAUX, AND
+          WRITING-TABLES                      76
+
+   VII. CLOCKS AND CLOCK-CASES                82
+
+  VIII. LACQUERED FURNITURE                   95
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+  It is with pleasure we acknowledge our obligations to the following
+  authorities:
+
+  Percy Macquoid: "The Age of Walnut."
+    (The standard work on the furniture of this period.)
+
+  J. H. Pollen: "Ancient and Modern Furniture and Woodwork."
+    An admirable little handbook and guide to the furniture
+    and woodwork collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum,
+    South Kensington.
+
+  F. J. Britten: "Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers."
+    (Exhaustive in its treatment, and fully illustrated. The
+    standard book. A new edition has recently been published.)
+
+  John Stalker: "Japanning and Varnishing."
+    (The earliest English book on this subject. Published in
+    1688 during the craze for japanned furniture.)
+
+  Law: "History of Hampton Court," vol. iii.
+
+  Ashton: "Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne."
+
+  Evelyn: "Diary."
+
+  Macaulay: "History of England."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I: THE QUEEN ANNE PERIOD
+
+    WILLIAM AND MARY, 1689-1702
+
+    ANNE, 1702-1714
+
+    GEORGE I., 1714-1727
+
+
+William the Third was a Dutchman and, although he was for thirteen years
+King of England, he remained a Dutchman until his death. His English was
+bad, his accent was rough, and his vocabulary limited. He had a Dutch
+guard, the friends whom he trusted were Dutch, and they were always
+about him, filling many of the offices of the Royal Household. He came
+to England as a foreigner and it remained to him a foreign country. His
+advent to the throne brought about certain changes in the style of
+furniture which are generally described as "the Dutch influence," which,
+however, had its origin at least as far back as the reign of Charles II.
+
+Both William and Mary were greatly interested in furnishing and
+furniture. They took up their residence at Hampton Court Palace soon
+after their coronation, and the place suited William so well and pleased
+him so much that it was very difficult to get him away from it. William
+was a great soldier and a great statesman, but he was more at his
+pleasure in the business of a country house than in the festivities and
+scandals of a court life, both of which he perhaps equally disliked. The
+Queen also cordially liked country life, and no less cordially disliked
+scandal. Mr. Law, in his interesting book on Hampton Court, mentions the
+story that Mary would check any person attempting to retail scandal by
+asking whether they had read her favourite sermon--Archbishop Tillotson
+on Evil Speaking.
+
+With the assistance of Sir Christopher Wren as Architect and Grinling
+Gibbon as Master Sculptor, great changes were made in the Palace at
+Hampton Court. The fogs and street smells of Whitehall drove William to
+the pure air of the country, and there was the additional attraction
+that the country around the palace reminded him in its flatness of his
+beloved Holland. When one of his Ministers ventured to remonstrate with
+him on his prolonged absences from London, he answered: "Do you wish to
+see me dead?" William, perhaps naturally, cared nothing for English
+tradition: he destroyed the state rooms of Henry VIII. and entrusted to
+Wren the task of rebuilding the Palace. The architect appears to have
+had a difficult task, as the King constantly altered the plans as they
+proceeded, and, it is said, did a good deal towards spoiling the great
+architect's scheme. In William's favour it must be admitted that he took
+the blame for the deficiencies and gave Wren the credit for the
+successes of the building. The result--the attachment of a Renaissance
+building to a Tudor palace--is more successful than might have been
+expected. The King's relations with Wren seem to have been of a very
+friendly sort. Mr. Law mentions the fact that Wren was at this time
+Grand Master of Freemasons; that he initiated the King into the
+mysteries of the craft; and that William himself reached the chair and
+presided over a lodge at Hampton Court Palace whilst it was being
+completed, which is, in the circumstances, an interesting example of the
+working rather than the speculative masonry.
+
+Mary was herself a model housewife, and filled her Court with wonder
+that she should labour so many hours each day at her needlework as if
+for her living. She covered the backs of chairs and couches with her
+work, which was described as "extremely neat and very well shadowed,"
+although all trace of it has long since disappeared. It is appropriate
+to observe, as being related to decorative schemes and furnishing, that
+the taste for Chinese porcelain, which is so general at this day, was
+first introduced into England by Mary. Evelyn mentions in his diary
+(June 13, 1693) that he "saw the Queen's rare cabinets and collection of
+china which was wonderfully rich and plentiful." Macaulay expresses his
+opinion with his usual frankness. He writes: "Mary had acquired at The
+Hague a taste for the porcelain of China, and amused herself by forming
+at Hampton a vast collection of hideous images, and vases upon which
+houses, trees, bridges, and mandarins were depicted in outrageous
+defiance of all the laws of perspective. The fashion--a frivolous and
+inelegant fashion, it must be owned--which was thus set by the amiable
+Queen spread fast and wide. In a few years almost every great house in
+the kingdom contained a museum of these grotesque baubles. Even
+statesmen and generals were not ashamed to be renowned as judges of
+teapots and dragons; and satirists long continued to repeat that a fine
+lady valued her mottled green pottery quite as much as she valued her
+monkey and much more than she valued her husband." It is strange to
+consider in these days how greatly Macaulay, in this opinion, was out of
+his reckoning. There is, perhaps, no example of art or handicraft upon
+which the opinion of cultured taste in all countries is so unanimous as
+in its admiration for good Chinese porcelain, amongst which the Queen's
+collection (judging from the pieces still remaining at Hampton) must be
+classed. Mary was probably the first English queen to intimately concern
+herself with furniture. We have it on the authority of the Duchess of
+Marlborough that on the Queen's first visit to the palace she engaged
+herself "looking into every closet and conveniency, and turning up the
+quilts upon the beds, as people do when they come into an inn, and with
+no other concern in her appearance but such as they express."
+
+We find in this period lavishly painted ceilings, woodwork carved by
+Grinling Gibbon and his school, fine needlework, upholstered bedsteads,
+and marble mantelpieces with diminishing shelves for the display of
+Delft and Chinese ware. The standard of domestic convenience, in one
+respect, could not, however, have been very high, if one may judge from
+the Queen's bathing-closet of this period at Hampton Court Palace. The
+bath is of marble and recessed into the wall, but it is more like a
+fountain than a bath, and its use in the latter connection must have
+been attended by inconveniences which modern women of much humbler
+station would decline to face.[1]
+
+    [1] The bathroom is, however, not in itself so modern in England
+    as might be supposed. Wheatley mentions that as early as the
+    fourteenth century a bathroom was attached to the bedchamber in
+    the houses of the great nobles, but more often a big tub with a
+    covering like a tent was used.
+
+Good specimens of the wood-carving of Grinling Gibbon (born 1648, died
+1721) are to be seen at Hampton Court, to which Palace William III.
+appointed the artist Master Carver. He generally worked in soft woods,
+such as lime, pear and pine, but sometimes in oak. His subjects were
+very varied--fruit and foliage, wheat-ears and flowers, cupids and dead
+game, and even musical instruments--and were fashioned with amazing
+skill, resource, and ingenuity. He invented that school of English
+carving which is associated with his name. His fancy is lavish and his
+finish in this particular work has never been surpassed in this country;
+but it is doubtful whether his work is not overdone, and as such may not
+appeal to the purer taste. Often his masses of flowers and foliage too
+much suggest the unpleasant term which is usually applied to them, viz.
+"swags." Frequently nothing is left to the imagination in the boldness
+of his realism. Fig. 1 shows a very happy example of his work over a
+mantelpiece in one of the smaller rooms in Hampton Court Palace, which
+is reproduced by the courtesy of the Lord Chamberlain, the copyright
+being the property of H.M. the King. Upon the shelf are pieces of china
+belonging to Queen Mary, but the portrait inset is of Queen Caroline,
+consort of George IV. In the grate is an antique fire-back, and on
+either side of the fire is a chair of the period of William and Mary.
+
+The Court bedsteads (and probably on a smaller scale the bedsteads of
+the upper classes generally) continued to be at once elaborate and
+unhygienic, and were fitted with canopies and hangings of velvet and
+other rich stuffs. King William's bedstead was a great four-poster, hung
+with crimson velvet and surmounted at each corner with an enormous
+plume, which was much the same fashion of bedstead as at the beginning
+of the century. Fig. 2 is an interesting photograph (reproduced by
+permission of the Lord Chamberlain) of three Royal bedsteads at Hampton
+Court, viz. those of William, Mary, and George II. The chairs and stools
+in front are of the period of William and Mary. The table is of later
+date. Most of the old furniture at Hampton Court, however, has been
+dispersed amongst the other Royal palaces.
+
+An excellent idea of the appearance of a London dwelling-room of this
+period is shown in Fig. 3. It was removed from No. 3 Clifford's Inn, and
+is now to be seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The owner, John
+Penhallow, must have been well-to-do, as the fine carving about the
+mantelpiece and doors was expensive even in those days. The festoons of
+fruit and flowers of the school of Grinling Gibbon around the
+mantelpiece, in the centre of which are the arms of the owner, and the
+broken pediments over the doors surmounting the cherubs' heads, are
+characteristic of the time. The table with the marquetry top and "tied"
+stretcher is of the period. The chairs retained for a time that rigid
+resistance to the lines of the human form which marks the Stuart chairs;
+but very soon adapted themselves in a physiological sense.
+
+What is termed the Queen Anne period of furniture may be said to date
+from the reigns of William and Mary (1689-1702), and Queen Anne
+(1702-1714), to that of George I. (1714-1727). The Dutch influence of
+William and Mary became Anglicised during the reign of Anne and the
+first George, and the influence remains to this day. Mahogany was
+introduced about 1720, and thenceforward the influence of Chippendale
+and his school came into force.
+
+The Queen Anne style has probably been over-praised, a little
+misunderstood, and possibly a trifle harshly treated. Mr. Ernest Law,
+whose studies of this period we have already mentioned, describes it as
+"nothing better than an imitation of the bastard classic of Louis XIV.,
+as distinguished from the so-called 'Queen Anne style' which never had
+any existence at all except in the brains of modern æsthetes and china
+maniacs," and as a case in point refers to Queen Anne's drawing-room at
+Hampton Court Palace. This verdict is no doubt a true one as regards the
+schemes of interior decoration, with their sprawling deities and the
+gaudy and discordant groupings of classical figures of Verrio and his
+school, to be seen at Hampton Court and other great houses. Verrio, as
+Macaulay wrote, "covered ceilings and staircases with Gorgons and Muses,
+Nymphs and Satyrs, Virtues and Vices, Gods quaffing nectar, and
+laurelled princes riding in triumph"--a decorative scheme which
+certainly does not err on the side of parsimony. The taste of a Court,
+however, is by no means a criterion of taste in domestic furniture.
+There can be no doubt that to this period we are indebted for the
+introduction of various articles of furniture of great utility and
+unquestionable taste. The chairs and tables in particular, depending as
+they do for charm upon simple lines and the transverse grain of the
+wood, for neatness of design and good workmanship are unsurpassed.
+Amongst other pieces the bureaux and long-cased clocks made their
+appearance; also double chests of drawers or tallboys, mirrors for
+toilet-tables and wall decoration; and washstands came into general
+use, as well as articles like card-tables, powdering-tables, &c.
+
+The houses of the wealthy were furnished with great magnificence and
+luxuriousness in a gaudy and ultra-decorative fashion. Restraint is the
+last quality to be found. Judging however from the many simple and
+charming specimens of walnut furniture surviving, the standard of
+comfort and good taste amongst the middle classes was high. Table glass
+was now manufactured in England; carpets were made at Kidderminster;
+chairs grew to be comfortably shaped; domestic conveniences in the way
+of chests of drawers, writing bureaux, and mirrors were all in general
+use in many middle-class houses. Mr. Pollen, whose handbook on the
+Victoria and Albert collection is so much appreciated, writes of the
+Queen Anne furniture as being of a "genuine English style marked by
+great purity and beauty."
+
+Anne, the second daughter of James II., was the last of the Stuarts,
+with whom, however, she had little in common, and indeed it is with
+something of an effort that we think of her as a Stuart at all.
+Personally she had no more influence upon the period which bears her
+name than the Goths had upon Gothic architecture. The term "Queen Anne"
+has grown to be a conveniently descriptive term for anything quaint and
+pretty. We are all familiar with the Queen Anne house of the modern
+architect, with its gables and sharply pitched roof. This, however, is
+probably suggested by various rambles in picturesque country districts
+in England and Holland; but it has nothing in common with the actual
+houses of the period under review.
+
+The bulk of the genuine furniture which has come down to us was probably
+from the houses of the merchant classes, the period being one of great
+commercial activity. The condition of the poor, however, was such that
+they could not concern themselves with furniture. Mr. Justin McCarthy,
+in his book on these times, estimates that one-fifth of the population
+were paupers. A few rude tables and chairs, a chest, truckle-beds, and
+possibly a settle, would have made up the possessions of the
+working-class house; and it is probable that not until the nineteenth
+century was there any material improvement in their household
+surroundings.
+
+It was a time in which the coffee-and chocolate-houses flourished; when
+Covent Garden and Leicester Square were fashionable neighbourhoods; when
+the Sedan chair was the fashionable means of transit; when the police
+were old men with rattles who, sheltered in boxes guarded the City; and
+when duels were fought, in Lincoln's Inn Fields. The coffee-house was a
+lively factor in the life of the times: although wines were also sold,
+coffee was the popular drink. The price for a dish of coffee and a seat
+by a good fire was commonly one penny, or perhaps three-halfpence,
+although to these humble prices there were aristocratic exceptions.
+Anderton's Hotel in Fleet Street, "The Bay Tree" in St. Swithin's Lane,
+and the now famous "Lloyd's" are interesting developments of the Queen
+Anne coffee-houses. Coffee itself was retailed at about seven shillings
+per pound. Chocolate-houses were small in number, but included names so
+well known at the present time as "White's" and the "Cocoa Tree."
+Chocolate was commonly twopence the dish. "Fancy the beaux," Thackeray
+writes, "thronging the chocolate-houses, tapping their snuff-boxes as
+they issue thence, their periwigs appearing over the red curtains."
+
+Tea-drinking was a social function and mainly a domestic operation, and
+to its popularity we owe the number of small light tables of this
+period.
+
+    Snuff, or the fan supply each pause of chat,
+    With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that.
+
+The price of tea fluctuated very much--some years it was much cheaper
+than others, varying from 10s. to 30s. per lb., although it is said
+that in the cheaper sorts old infused leaves were dried and mixed with
+new ones.
+
+As regards pottery and porcelain, the Chinese was in great request,
+following, no doubt, on the fashion set by Queen Mary. The English
+factories--Worcester, Derby, Chelsea, Bow, Wedgwood, and Minton--only
+started in the last half of the eighteenth century. Mr. Ashton, in his
+interesting book on "Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne," quotes the
+following advertisement, which points to the continued popularity of
+decorative china:
+
+"Whereas the New East India Company did lately sell all their China
+Ware, These are to advertise that a very large parcel thereof (as Broken
+and Damaged) is now to be sold by wholesale and Retail, extremely cheap
+at a Warehouse in Dyer's Yard. Note.--It is very fit to furnish
+Escrutores, Cabinets, Corner Cupboards or Spriggs, where it usually
+stands for ornament only."
+
+This fashion first brought into use the various forms of cabinets used
+for the display of china. The earliest pieces would therefore date from
+the end of the seventeenth, or the beginning of the eighteenth century.
+
+In the first volume of this series we referred to a characteristic of
+Elizabethan woodwork, viz. inlaying--the laying-in of small pieces of
+one or several kinds of wood in places cut out of the surface of another
+kind. In the period under review two further practices are deserving of
+special notice. The first is veneering, which consists of wholly
+covering one sort of wood (frequently a common wood, such as deal or
+pine, but also oak) with a thin layer of choice wood--walnut, mahogany,
+&c. The object of veneering was not for purposes of deception, as it was
+not intended to produce the effect that the whole substance was of the
+finer sort of wood; but by means of applying these thin overlays a
+greater choice of wood was possible, and a more beautiful effect was
+produced by the juxtaposition of the various grains.
+
+Although at the present time the term veneer is frequently used as one
+of approbrium, the principle it stands for is a perfectly honest one. It
+is very much the same as the application of the thin strips of marble to
+the pillars and walls of St. Mark's at Venice, which is called
+incrustation, and of which Ruskin writes in the "Stones of Venice." The
+basis of St. Mark's is brick, which is covered by an incrustation or
+veneer of costly and beautiful marbles, by which rich and varied colour
+effects are produced which would have been impossible in solid marble.
+The same principle applies to veneers of wood, in which there is
+likewise no intention to deceive but rather a desire to make the most of
+the materials on hand. It would have been impossible to construct a
+great many cabinets of solid walnut-wood, nor would the effect have been
+so satisfactory, because, as already pointed out, the fact of veneers
+being laid in thin strips immensely increases the choice of woods and
+facilitates the composition of pleasing effects. There is, moreover,
+often a greater nicety of workmanship in the making of veneered
+furniture than in the solid article, and it is indeed often a complaint
+that the doing up of old veneered furniture is so expensive and
+troublesome. In old days veneers were cut by hand--sometimes one-eighth
+of an inch thick--but the modern veneer is, of course, cut by machinery,
+and is often a mere shaving.
+
+In the period under discussion walnut-veneering reached great
+perfection, beautiful effects being produced by cross-banding various
+strips and varying the course of the grains and the shades. Oak was
+first used as a base, but later commoner woods such as deal.
+
+It is a mistake to condemn an article because the basis is not of oak.
+As a matter of fact, after a time oak went out of use as a basis for the
+reason that it was unsatisfactory, the veneer having a tendency to come
+away from it. We frequently find the front of a drawer is built of pine,
+to take the veneer, whilst the sides and bottom of the drawer are of
+oak.
+
+Marquetry, which is also a feature in furniture of this period, is a
+combination of inlaying and veneering. A surface is covered with a
+veneer and the desired design is cut out and filled in with other wood.
+Its later developments are of French origin, and it was first introduced
+into England from Holland towards the end of the seventeenth century,
+after James II. (who had been a wanderer in Holland) came to the throne.
+
+Most arts date back to ancient times; and the arts of woodcraft are no
+exceptions. Inlaying, veneering, and wood-carving reach back to the
+temple of Solomon; and the Egyptians also practised them. Ancient inlay,
+moreover, was not confined to woods--ivory, pearls, marbles, metals,
+precious stones all being requisitioned.
+
+During the reigns of William and Mary, Anne, and George the First,
+events of great importance transpired. St. Paul's, that great monument
+to Wren and Renaissance architecture, was opened; the Marlborough wars
+were fought; the South Sea Bubble was blown and burst; Sir Christopher
+Wren and Grinling Gibbon completed their work; Marlborough House and
+Blenheim were built; Addison, Pope, and Daniel Defoe were at work;
+Gibraltar was taken; England and Scotland were united; the Bank of
+England was incorporated; and last, but not least, the National Debt
+started.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II: SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN AND GRINLING GIBBON
+
+
+The temper of a nation is reflected in its architecture and, in a lesser
+degree, in its furniture. When we look at the furniture of the last of
+the Stuarts, Mary II. and her sister Anne, we see written all over it in
+large letters one great virtue--sobriety.
+
+In the oak furniture of the last of the Tudors and the first of the
+Stuarts (Elizabeth and James I.) we find the same sober note; but in the
+main it is more essentially English. In the Augustan era of Elizabeth we
+certainly see in the more pretentious examples of Court-cupboards and
+cabinets the influence of the Renaissance; but the furniture made by the
+people for the people is simply English in form and decoration.
+
+During the troublous times of the two Charles and to the end of the
+revolution which placed William and Mary on the throne, the country was
+alternately in the throes of gaiety and Puritanism; and a dispassionate
+view leads one to suppose that "Merrie England" had the greater leaning
+towards merriment. The people of England knew well enough that sobriety
+was good for them, and Cromwell gave it in an unpalatable form. The
+remedy was less to the country's liking than the disease, and with the
+Restoration in 1660 the passions of the nation ran riot in the opposite
+extreme.
+
+The final lesson came with the twenty-nine years of misrule under
+Charles II. and James II. Having drained the cup of degradation to the
+dregs, the country set about her real reformation by the aid of Dutch
+William, himself the grandson of a Stuart, and his cousin-consort Anne,
+the daughter of the self-deposed James.
+
+James II. had learnt his lesson from the errors of his brother Charles,
+but was not wise enough to fully profit by it. He realised that misrule
+had stretched his subjects' patience to the breaking-point, and during
+his short reign there was a certain amount of surface calm. But beneath
+was the continual struggle for absolutism on the part of the monarch and
+emancipation on the part of the people. The subject is familiar to
+students of history.
+
+With the advent of the Orange _régime_ we find a distinct revolution in
+English furniture. There is no evidence of a sudden change. We find
+comparatively severe examples during James II.'s reign and flamboyant
+patterns dating from the days of William. The transitional period was
+shorter than usual, and once the tide had gathered strength in its flow
+there was very little ebb.
+
+The Civil troubles in the country had given a severe check to the arts:
+the influence of the Renaissance upon furniture was upon the wane, and
+the ground was lying fallow and hungry for the new styles which may be
+said to have landed with William of Orange in Torbay in 1688.
+
+The main influence in the furniture was Dutch, and the Dutch had been to
+a large extent influenced by a wave of Orientalism.
+
+Twenty-five years before this, England's most renowned, if not greatest,
+architect had designed his first ecclesiastical building--the Chapel of
+Pembroke Hall, Cambridge--in the classical style which he made famous in
+England.
+
+Christopher Wren was born in 1631 or 1632. He was son of Dr. Christopher
+Wren, Dean of Windsor, and nephew of Matthew Wren, Bishop of Ely, who,
+to celebrate his release from the Tower, built Pembroke Hall Chapel in
+1663, employing his nephew as architect.
+
+In 1664, when Christopher Wren was about thirty-two years of age, he
+came in contact with John Evelyn, the diarist, who in his journal, under
+date July 13, writes of him as that "miracle of a youth." The
+acquaintanceship ripened into a friendship, only broken by Evelyn's
+death in 1706. From Evelyn's diary we are able to glean many things
+concerning the then rising young architect. The idea of the Royal
+Society was the outcome of a meeting in 1660 of several scientists in
+Wren's room after one of the lectures at Gresham College. On being
+approached on the desirability of forming the Society, Charles II. gave
+his assent and encouragement to the project, and we learn that one of
+the first transactions of the Society was an account of Wren's pendulum
+experiment. The Society was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1663.
+
+It would appear that Wren had no world-wide reputation as an architect
+at the time, but, probably through the instrumentality of his friend
+Evelyn, he was appointed by the King as assistant to Sir John Denham,
+the Surveyor-General of Works, and in the opinion of one of his
+biographers, Lucy Phillimore, "the practical experience learned in the
+details of the assistant-surveyor's work was afterwards very serviceable
+to him."
+
+We find him occupied in 1664 in plans for repairing old St. Paul's and
+in building the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, which was finished in
+1669. During the plague of 1665 Wren made a tour of the Continent, and
+there absorbed ideas which fructified in the new style of classical
+architecture which has made his name famous. During further discussions
+concerning the much-needed repairs to St. Paul's came the fire of London
+in 1666. This solved the difficulty, for St. Paul's was left a gaunt
+skeleton in the City of Desolation. Wren's plans for the rebuilding of
+the City were accepted by the King, but were never carried out in
+anything like their entirety. All attempts to patch up the cathedral
+were abandoned in 1673, and the ground was cleared for the new
+foundations. The architect and his master mason laid the first stone on
+June 21, 1675. The cathedral and the story of its building is familiar
+to us all. The great architect, having drawn the circle for the dome,
+called to a workman to bring him a piece of stone to mark the centre.
+The man brought a fragment of an old tombstone on which was the single
+word "Resurgam." All present took it as a good omen. We all know how the
+last stone of the lantern was laid thirty-five years afterwards by the
+architect's own son in the presence of his father. During those
+thirty-five years the great freemason's hands had been full, and in the
+City which rose from the ashes of the fire of 1666 no less than
+fifty-four churches were either built or restored by him. In addition,
+we find that the rebuilding or restoration of thirty-six halls of the
+City guilds, as well as upwards of fifty notable buildings--hospitals,
+colleges, palaces, cathedrals and churches--in London and the provinces,
+is laid to his credit.
+
+St. Paul's Cathedral, Wren's City churches, and the Monument, would in
+themselves make London famous amongst the cities of the world. The
+Monument was erected to commemorate the rebuilding of the City. The
+inscription thereon absurdly attributes the origin of the fire to the
+Papists. Pope satirises it in his "Moral Essays":
+
+    London's Column pointing to the skies
+    Like a tall bully lifts the head and lies.
+
+Chief, for beauty, amongst the churches is St. Stephen's, Walbrook.
+Canova, the great sculptor, after paying a visit to England for the
+purpose of seeing the Elgin marbles, was asked if he would like to
+return to the country. "Yes," he replied, "that I might again see St.
+Paul's Cathedral, Somerset House, and St. Stephen's, Walbrook."
+
+A dozen or more of Wren's churches have been swept off the map of
+London, in many cases with a wantonness amounting to sacrilege; but we
+can still rejoice in the possession of such gems as St. Stephen's,
+Walbrook; St. Nicholas, Cole Abbey; and St. Mary Abchurch, with its
+flat roof and cupola supported on eight arches. St. Dunstan's in the
+East, near the Custom House, still stands testifying to the fact that
+Wren could restore a church without spoiling it. St. Dunstan's, built in
+the latest style of perpendicular Gothic, was left a mere shell after
+the fire. Wren added the fine tower, and capped it with the curious and
+graceful spire supported on flying buttresses. It is said that the
+architect stood on London Bridge with a telescope anxiously watching the
+removal of the scaffolding from the spire. It is scarcely credible,
+however, that such a man should doubt his own powers of building. This
+legend recalls the story of the building of the Town Hall at Windsor in
+1686. The spacious chamber on the street level is used as a corn
+exchange and above is the great hall. The anxious town councillors
+declared that the great room above would collapse. Wren knew exactly how
+much his four walls and great beams could bear, but, to appease the
+burghers, he promised to place four columns at the intersections of the
+beams. He purposely built them about two inches short, and, to this day,
+after the lapse of two hundred and twenty-five years, there is still a
+two-inch space between the top of each column and the ceiling it is
+supposed to support. On the exterior of the building are two statues
+given by Wren in 1707: one of Queen Anne and the other of her Danish
+consort, Prince George. Our good Christopher could flatter on occasion.
+The inscription to Prince George in his Roman costume reads, _inter
+alia_:
+
+    Heroi omni saeculo venerando.
+
+Underneath the figure of Queen Anne is the legend:
+
+    Arte tua sculptor non est imitabilis Anna
+    Annae vis similem sculpere sculpe Deam.
+
+The local rhyming and free translation runs:
+
+    Artist, thy skill is vain! Thou can'st not trace
+    The semblance of the matchless Anna's face!
+    Thou might'st as well to high Olympus fly
+    And carve the model of some Deity!
+
+We admit this is a very free and extended translation, but it passes
+current locally. To say the least, it is high praise; but Wren had a
+staunch friend in Queen Anne, and every eye makes its own beauty.
+
+The exigencies of the time called for a great architect, and he appeared
+in the person of Christopher Wren: they called for a great artist to
+adorn the master's buildings, and he appeared in the guise of Grinling
+Gibbon.
+
+The discovery of Gibbon in an obscure house at Deptford goes to the
+credit of gossipy John Evelyn, who on January 18, 1671, writes: "This
+day, I first acquainted his Majesty (Charles II.) with that incomparable
+young man Gibbon, whom I had lately met with in an obscure place by mere
+accident, in a field in our parish, near Sayes Court. I found him shut
+in; but looking in at the window, I perceived him carving that large
+cartoon or crucifix of Tintoretto, a copy of which I had brought myself
+from Venice, where the original painting remains. I asked if I might
+enter; he opened the door civilly to me, and I saw him about such a work
+as for the curiosity of handling, drawing and studious exactness, I
+never had before seen in all my travels. I questioned why he worked in
+such an obscure and lonesome place; it was that he might apply himself
+to his profession without interruption, and wondered not a little how I
+found him out. I asked him if he were unwilling to be known to some
+great man, for that I believed it might turn to his profit, he answered,
+he was yet but a beginner, but would not be sorry to sell off that
+piece; on demanding the price he said £100. In good earnest, the very
+frame was worth the money, there being nothing in nature so tender and
+delicate as the flowers and festoons about it, and yet the work was very
+strong; in the piece was more than one hundred figures of men, &c....
+Of this young artist, together with my manner of finding him out, I
+acquainted the King, and begged that he would give me leave to bring him
+and his work to Whitehall, for that I would venture my reputation with
+his Majesty that he had never seen anything approach it, and that he
+would be exceedingly pleased, and employ him. The King said he would
+himself go see him. This was the first notice his Majesty ever had of
+Mr. Gibbon."
+
+The King evidently did not "go see him," for under date March 1 we read:
+"I caused Mr. Gibbon to bring to Whitehall his excellent piece of
+carving, where being come, I advertised his Majesty.... No sooner was he
+entered and cast his eye on the work, but he was astonished at the
+curiosity of it, and having considered it a long time and discoursed
+with Mr. Gibbon whom I brought to kiss his hand, he commanded it should
+be immediately carried to the Queen's side to show her. It was carried
+up into her bedchamber, where she and the King looked on and admired it
+again; the King being called away, left us with the Queen, believing she
+would have bought it, it being a crucifix; but when his Majesty was
+gone, a French peddling woman, one Madame de Boord, who used to bring
+petticoats and fans and baubles, out of France to the ladies, began to
+find fault with several things in the work, which she understood no more
+than an ass, or a monkey, so as in a kind of indignation, I caused the
+person who brought it to carry it back to the Chamber, finding the Queen
+so much governed by an ignorant French woman, and this incomparable
+artist had his labour only for his pains, which not a little displeased
+me; he not long after sold it for £80, though well worth £100, without
+the frame, to Sir George Viner. His Majesty's Surveyor, Mr. Wren,
+faithfully promised to employ him. I having also bespoke his Majesty for
+his work at Windsor, which my friend Mr. May, the architect there, was
+going to alter and repair universally."
+
+Grinling Gibbon was born in 1648, and so the "incomparable young man"
+would have been about twenty-three years of age when he sailed into
+Royal favour. We do not know the whereabouts of the carved cartoon after
+Tintoretto; but we shall find at the Victoria and Albert Museum a
+carving by Gibbon, measuring 6 ft. in height by 4 ft. 4 in. in width, of
+the "Stoning of St. Stephen." It is executed in limewood and lance-wood.
+Walpole, in his "Catalogue of Painters," writes of the "Stoning of St.
+Stephen," which was purchased and placed by the Duke of Chandos at
+Canons,[2] as the carving which had "struck so good a judge" as Evelyn.
+It is palpably not identical with the Tintoret subject which Evelyn
+describes as "being a crucifix." Fig. 10 in Chapter III. is a remarkable
+example of Gibbon's carving of fruits, flowers, and foliage.
+
+    [2] James Brydges, Duke of Chandos, who as Paymaster of the Forces
+    during the wars in the reign of Queen Anne amassed a large
+    fortune, built Canons, near Edgware, in 1715. The building and
+    furnishing is said to have cost between £200,000 and £250,000. It
+    was in the classical or Palladian style of architecture, and was
+    adorned with costly pillars and statuary. The great _salon_ was
+    painted by the Paolucci and the ceiling of the staircase by
+    Thornhill. Although the building was designed to stand for ages,
+    under the second Duke the estate became so encumbered that it was
+    put up to auction, and as no buyer could be found the house was
+    pulled down in 1747. The materials of "Princely Canons" realised
+    only £11,000. The marble staircase and pillars were bought by Lord
+    Chesterfield for his house in Mayfair. The witty Earl used to
+    speak of the columns as "the Canonical pillars of his house." The
+    Grinling Gibbon carving of the "Stoning of St. Stephen" was
+    transferred to Bush Hill Park, near Enfield, and finally acquired
+    in 1898 by the Victoria and Albert Museum at a cost of £300.
+
+Readers who are familiar with the Belgian churches will remember the
+wonderful carvings at Brussels and Mecklin by Drevot and Laurens, who
+were pupils of Gibbon. They out-Gibbon Gibbon in their realism.
+
+In Fig. 4, photographed for this book by the South Kensington
+authorities, we give an illustration of a carving in pinewood of a
+pendant of flowers attributed to Gibbon. It originally decorated the
+Church of St. Mary Somerset, Thames Street, E.C., built 1695--one of
+Wren's City churches so wantonly destroyed. To see Gibbon's wood carving
+at its best we must go to St. Paul's Cathedral, Windsor Castle, and
+Hampton Court Palace. At Windsor we shall also see carved marble panels
+of trophies, emblems and realistic fruits, flowers and shell-fish on the
+pedestal of the statue of Charles II. At Charing Cross we have another
+example of his stone carving on the pedestal of the statue of Charles
+the Martyr.
+
+We have already referred to the Church of St. Mary Abchurch in Abchurch
+Lane, between King William Street and Cannon Street, City. It was built
+in 1686, eleven years after the first stone of St. Paul's was laid. It
+also serves for the parish of St. Laurence Pountney. It lies in a quiet
+backwater off the busy stream, and the flagged courtyard is still
+surrounded by a few contemporary houses. Externally it is not beautiful,
+but Wren and Gibbon expended loving care on the really beautiful
+interior. The soft light from the quaint circular and round-headed
+windows casts a gentle radiance over the carved festoons of fruit,
+palm-leaves and the "pelican in her piety."
+
+Just across, on the other side of Cannon Street, is another backwater,
+Laurence Pountney Hill. Two of the old Queen Anne houses remain, No. 1
+and No. 2, with beautiful old hooded doorways dated 1703. The circular
+hoods are supported by carved lion-headed brackets. The jambs are
+ornamented with delicate interlaced carving. No. 2 has been mutilated as
+to its windows, and a modern excrescence has been built on to the ground
+floor; but No. 1 appears to be much as it left the builders' hands in
+1703, and still possesses the old wide staircase with twisted
+"barley-sugar" balusters and carved rose newel pendants. These houses
+may or may not have been designed by Wren. They seem to bear the impress
+of his genius, and in any case they give us a glimpse--and such glimpses
+are all too rare--of the homes of the City fathers, just as the little
+church across Cannon Street brings us in touch with their religious life
+in the early days of Queen Anne.
+
+Fig. 5 represents an interesting series of turned balusters taken from
+old houses of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. They
+are executed in oak, lime, ash and pinewood--mostly the latter; and
+many of the details will be found repeated in the furniture legs of the
+Queen Anne period. The photograph was specially taken for this volume
+by the courtesy of the Director and Secretary of the Victoria and Albert
+Museum.
+
+Fig. 6 represents a contemporary doorway of a room formerly at No. 3
+Clifford's Inn. It is of oak, with applied carvings in cedar of
+acanthus-leaf work, enclosing a cherub's head and a broken pediment
+terminating in volutes. We shall find members of the same cherub family
+on the exterior of St. Mary Abchurch. Fig. 7 is the overmantel of the
+same room with a marble mantelpiece of somewhat later date. This room,
+now at the Victoria and Albert Museum, was erected in 1686 by John
+Penhallow, who resided there till 1716.
+
+Fig. 8 is a beautiful doorway carved in yellow pine, with Corinthian
+columns and pediment. We shall find similar pediments in the tower of
+Wren's church, St. Andrew's, Holborn. This doorway with the carved
+mantelpiece (Fig. 9) came from an old house in Carey Street, Lincoln's
+Inn Fields. These belong to the early part of the eighteenth century.
+
+These are but a few isolated examples of beautiful settings to the
+furniture of the period of the revival of classical architecture in
+England. Such things are not for the modest collector, who will content
+himself with the chairs, tables, and bureaux of the period--articles,
+in the main, of severe outline devoid of carving, and relying for effect
+much upon the rich tones of the wood employed, but withal eminently
+beautiful, inasmuch as they were and are eminently useful.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III: MIRRORS, STOOLS, AND SOME NOTES ON A QUEEN ANNE BEDROOM
+
+
+The mirror, at the present time, is so generally an accepted necessary
+of life, and so indispensable in many of its situations, that it may
+seem remarkable that not until the sixteenth century was it in anything
+like general use in England. The pleasure and interest of reflection
+must have been felt from the time when "the reindeer roared where Paris
+roars to-night." Still water must have been the first mirror of the
+first man and woman in which they discovered their astonished faces, and
+where it is possible that, like Narcissus, they fell in love with their
+own reflections. Thus we find Eve saying in "Paradise Lost":
+
+                I thither went
+    And with unexperienced thought, and laid me down
+    On the green bank; to look into the clear
+    Smooth lake, that to me seem'd a second sky.
+    As I bent down to look, just opposite,
+    A shape within the wat'ry gleam appear'd,
+    Bending to look on me.
+
+No doubt a reflecting surface was one of the first things that human
+ingenuity concerned itself about. Brass mirrors were used by the
+Hebrews, and mirrors of bronze by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans;
+surviving specimens may be seen in the museums. Silver mirrors were also
+used in very early times. Glass mirrors are also of ancient origin.
+Sauzay, in his work on "Glass-making," quotes from Aristotle as follows:
+"If metals and stones are to be polished to serve as mirrors, glass and
+crystal have to be lined with a sheet of metal to give back the image
+presented to them." And here we have the foreshadowing of the
+mercury-backed sheet of glass of modern times.
+
+In England mirrors of polished metal were well known in Anglo-Saxon
+times, and from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries the ladies
+carried mirrors at their girdles or in their pockets. Venice has always
+been the home of glass-work, and it was there, in the early fourteenth
+century, that the immediate prototypes of our modern glass mirrors were
+made. For something like a century and a half the Venetians had the
+monopoly of the making of the best mirrors. Their secrets were carefully
+guarded, and any workman emigrating had his nearest relative imprisoned.
+It is interesting to note in passing that in Jan van Eyck's picture in
+the National Gallery, London, painted in 1434, there is a framed convex
+wall mirror which has an astonishingly modern look. It is difficult to
+say whether or not this is made of glass, but it shows, of course, that
+mirrors were used for wall decoration at that time. This picture, by the
+way, is very interesting, as providing undeniable evidence as to the
+nature of the Dutch furniture of the early fifteenth century.
+
+As regards the early history of the mirror in Britain, there is a glass
+mirror in Holyrood Palace in the apartments used by Queen Mary the First
+and said to have belonged to her. At Hampton Court there are mirrors
+belonging to the period of William III. and later, some of which have
+bevelled edges and borders of blue glass in the form of rosettes. Glass
+mirrors were made in England by Italian workmen early in the seventeenth
+century, but not extensively until about 1670, when the Duke of
+Buckingham established works in Lambeth, where mirrors were made. The
+edges were bevelled in Venetian fashion. We find Evelyn writing in his
+diary under date of September 19, 1676:
+
+"To Lambeth to that rare magazine of marble, to take order for chimney
+pieces, &c, for Mr. Godolphin's house. The owner of the workes had built
+for himselfe a pretty dwelling house; this Dutchman had contracted with
+the Genoese for all their marble. We also saw the Duke of Buckingham's
+Glass Worke, where they made high vases of metal as cleare, ponderous
+and thick as chrystal; also looking-glasses far larger and better than
+any that come from Venice."
+
+As will be seen at Hampton Court, the glass in each of the large mirrors
+of this time is in two pieces, for the reason that, by the methods then
+in use, it was not possible to make larger sheets. This method of making
+mirrors in two pieces is followed even in the present day in modern
+copies of old mirrors. It was, no doubt, a cause of regret to the old
+makers that they could not turn out a large glass in one sheet, and they
+would no doubt have been astonished to think that succeeding ages would
+deliberately copy their defect. A collector will not, probably, come
+across a mirror earlier than William and Mary, and he should have little
+difficulty in finding genuine mirrors of the next reign--Queen
+Anne--which are at once interesting and inexpensive. Mr. Clouston thinks
+that "the wall mirrors of the Queen Anne period may very well rank with
+the best furniture of their time. They are simple yet satisfying, and
+rich without extravagance."
+
+A mirror is not a mere looking-glass, although in this connection it has
+always been greatly appreciated. Mirrors bring a sense of space to a
+small room, and make a larger room appear more spacious. In the King's
+writing-closet at Hampton Court there is a mirror over the chimney-piece
+which provides a vista of all the rooms on the south side of the state
+apartments. Great furniture-designers from the time of Grinling Gibbon
+to that of Chippendale have appreciated the opportunities offered by
+mirrors for the purposes of decoration.
+
+Fig. 10 is a mirror-frame of carved limewood by Grinling Gibbon to be
+seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is a rich and wonderful
+example of chisel play, but, like his work in general, does not satisfy
+a taste which inclines to less resplendent decoration. Such a mirror is
+probably not within the reach of any collector, great or small; and it
+is even probable--at least as regards the small collector--that, if by a
+stroke of fortune such a piece descended to him, he would find that it
+would scarcely harmonise with any ordinary scheme of decoration. Its
+presence would be as embarrassing as the entertainment of Royalty in a
+suburban home.
+
+The ordinary types--and they are many--of Queen Anne mirrors can with
+perfect propriety find places in almost any room in any house of taste,
+and on the walls of hall or staircase they are at once interesting and
+decorative. Particularly are they in harmony with the surroundings of a
+"Queen Anne" bedroom. In this connection, however, a word of warning is
+in place regarding the old glass. This is very well on the wall mirrors,
+but in the mirror for the toilet-table it should be replaced by new
+glass. Nothing lasts for ever, and it is rare that the old glasses fully
+retain their reflecting powers. Old mirrors are bad to shave by, and
+are, moreover, extremely unpopular with ladies. The art of furnishing
+consists of a tactful combination of whatever is best in the old and the
+new.
+
+Figs. 11 and 12 are simple mirrors of the Queen Anne period. Fig. 11 is
+a wall glass with a pleasing scroll outline, and Fig. 12 is a
+toilet-table glass characteristic of the period, the gilt inner moulding
+or "embroidery" being an interesting feature. We find similar decorative
+devices to the above on many of the mirrors of this time, and such
+examples should be purchasable at about two guineas each.
+
+Figs. 13 and 14 are more elaborate and expensive mirrors, the broken
+pediments in each case suggesting the influence of Sir Christopher Wren.
+Although the architectural inspiration, which was absolute in the Gothic
+periods and strong in the Elizabethan, was very much less marked in the
+time of Queen Anne, still the classical influence of Wren's Renaissance
+style is shown in many ways, and particularly in the many varieties of
+the broken pediment which are favourite forms of decoration for the tops
+of mirror frames. Fig. 13, in addition to the broken pediment, is
+decorated on the frame with egg-and-tongue mouldings, and on the base
+with a bust of a cherub in high relief. Fig. 14 is surmounted by a
+boldly carved figure of an eagle enclosed by the broken pediment. On
+either side are carved festoons of fruit and flowers, possibly suggested
+by the work of Grinling Gibbon. These important mirrors, interesting and
+effective as they are, require large rooms to set them off.
+
+Simple mirrors, as in Figs. 11 and 12, present no difficulties regarding
+their disposal. The more elaborate ones, however, apart from their
+expensiveness, should not be purchased unless there is a suitable place
+in which to hang them. This suggests a maxim which applies to the
+collection of any sort of furniture, viz. not to purchase any piece
+until you have decided what to do with it. Adherence to this rule may
+involve the occasional loss of a bargain, but it avoids confusion and
+possible domestic complications. We knew an enthusiastic collector who
+resisted the purchase of old examples with the greatest difficulty. His
+wife, on the other hand, whilst appreciating possibly as keenly as her
+husband the attractions of the antique, was also fastidious regarding
+the prompt settlement of tradesmen's bills. The climax was reached one
+day when the husband, instead of settling certain pressing accounts,
+attended a sale and purchased an enormous Dutch wardrobe which was found
+to be at least eighteen inches too tall for any room in the house.
+
+Another form of decoration applied to mirror-frames of the Queen Anne
+period was that known as "Gesso" work, whereby a design was built into
+relief with layers of size and plaster applied with a brush. It gives
+scope for delicate line work, and is often softer than carving. Figs. 15
+and 16 are mirrors decorated with Gesso ornament, to which, however,
+little justice can be done in a photograph.
+
+Fig. 17 is a fine mirror of pinewood with Gesso ornamentation, in which
+the broken pediment form has taken a somewhat fanciful shape.
+
+In Fig. 18 the broken pediment appears in a more strictly architectural
+form. This mirror, which is of painted pine, was formerly in the "Flask"
+Tavern, Ebury Square, Pimlico. Although its date would be about 1700, it
+is clearly in its mouldings reminiscent of the Jacobean period, which
+style no doubt continued in popularity amongst the poorer classes. This
+mirror is an interesting instance of the merging of the two styles.
+
+Marquetry was also used on the mirror-frames of this period, an example
+in a broad frame inlaid with a floral pattern being shown in Fig. 19.
+This mirror was sold for seventeen guineas.
+
+Fig. 20 is an example of a toilet mirror of the Queen Anne period, the
+front of which lets down with a flap, after the manner of a bureau,
+revealing a nest of drawers. This form of mirror is not often met with,
+and an opportunity of acquiring one at a reasonable price should not be
+neglected. Fig. 21 is of similar construction mounted on a stand, an
+architectural touch being given by the pilasters on either side of the
+mirror. This pattern is singularly simple and charming.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Stools of the period under review are generally difficult and somewhat
+expensive to acquire, but these are not reasons for giving up hope. A
+type of the William and Mary stool is shown in Fig. 22. The scrolled
+feet and X-shaped stretcher are characteristic. Stools were very popular
+articles of furniture at this time. We find them in numbers in
+contemporary prints, and they continued to be used as seats at
+meal-times, as no doubt (providing the table were low enough) they were
+more comfortable than the stiff-backed chairs of the time. In the face
+of decided evidence of their prevalence in the Queen Anne period, their
+scarcity to-day is somewhat remarkable.
+
+In the coloured frontispiece is shown a simple stool of the time of the
+early Queen Anne period covered with Petit-point needlework, with which
+the ladies of that period delighted to occupy themselves. This
+needlework--which, in addition to being used as a covering for
+furniture, was also framed to hang on the walls--is often patterned with
+quaint trees, people, goats, dogs, and a sprinkling of lovers and birds.
+A stool such as is shown in the frontispiece makes an admirable seat for
+a knee-hole writing-table.
+
+Fig. 23 is a large stool of the Queen Anne period with escallop-shell
+decoration, cabriole legs and an early form of the claw-and-ball feet.
+It is covered with contemporary needlework.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A Queen Anne bedroom conjures up the possibility of composing a charming
+scheme of interior decoration. First it is necessary to face the
+inevitable and accept the position that a modern bedstead is essential.
+This should be made of walnut-wood, and the ends shaped after the
+manner of the solid splats in the simple chairs of the period. Such
+bedsteads are made by several of the good modern furniture firms. They
+are not, of course, literal reproductions of the bedsteads of the
+period, which were of the four-poster order, but they will be found to
+be in good taste. Upon this bed should lie a reproduction of the
+bed-covers of the period in a pattern boldly coloured and Oriental in
+design. The floor should be covered by antique Persian rugs (or modern
+reproductions). A walnut toilet-table should stand in the window (_see_
+Fig. 64). Upon it should rest a toilet-glass (_see_ Fig. 12), and in
+front of it, if possible, a stool covered with the needlework of the
+period (_see_ Frontispiece). This stool will, however, be difficult to
+obtain, and its place could be taken by a simple chair of the period
+(_see_ Figs. 32 and 34). Two other simple chairs should find places
+around the room, upon one side of which should be placed a walnut
+tallboy (_see_ Fig. 56) surmounted by a piece of Chinese blue-and-white.
+We cannot too strongly emphasise the desirability of associating old
+Chinese blue-and-white pottery with eighteenth-century furniture. The
+washstand of the period (too small to be efficient) should be replaced
+by an unobtrusive wooden table painted white, the top of which should be
+covered with tiles in a shade which does not disagree with a
+reproduction of an old "Spode" or "Mason's Ironstone" toilet set.
+
+Toilet sets, as we understand the term to-day, were unknown in the days
+of Queen Anne. Common earthenware pitchers and basins, or at best
+English and Dutch Delft, did duty until the rise of the great
+Staffordshire factories late in the eighteenth century. Orignal "Spode"
+or "Mason" ware would not be of earlier dates than 1770 and 1804
+respectively, and so quite out of the Queen Anne period. We merely
+mention these two styles of so-called "Indian" decorations as being most
+suitable for the purpose in hand. We might, indeed, happen upon an
+eighteenth-century blue-and-white service; but all these early ewers and
+basins, like the early washstands, are altogether too diminutive for
+modern requirements. The reproductions, whilst retaining the old
+decoration, are built in more generous proportions.
+
+For wall covering a plain white-or champagne-coloured paper might be
+adopted, and for wall decoration one or two old mirrors (_see_ Figs. 11
+and 15) and some reproductions of Dutch interiors by the old masters,
+framed in broad black frames, would be in harmony with the surroundings.
+A difficulty in composing a Queen Anne bedroom is to find a suitable
+hanging wardrobe. The marquetry hanging-press or wardrobe of the
+period, with its bombé-shaped lower section, is somewhat heavy in
+appearance, except in a large room, and is, moreover, expensive to
+acquire. Failing a hanging cupboard in the wall, a simple plain cupboard
+should be built and painted white. Such a cupboard at least strikes no
+false note, and is greatly to be preferred to a modern wardrobe or one
+of another period.
+
+In this connection a schedule of the cost to the authors of furnishing a
+similar bedroom may be of interest.
+
+                                           £   s.  d.
+    Walnut tallboy                         10  10  0
+    3 simple Queen Anne chairs              9   0  0
+    1   " "  toilet-table                   5   0  0
+    1   " "  toilet mirror                  2   2  0
+    1   " "  wall mirror                    2   2  0
+                                         -------------
+                                          £28  14  0
+
+The cost of such details as carpets, curtains, bed-covering, china, &c,
+is not included.
+
+To this, therefore, must be added the various modern reproductions,
+including the bedstead: the total cost of the room would be about fifty
+pounds. The result is, of course, a combination of the old and the
+new--the best points of each being preserved--and the effect will be
+found harmonious.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV: CHAIRS AND TABLES
+
+
+In volume one we left the chair at the time of King James II. when it
+was composed of tall and straight lines, generally cane-backed and
+cane-seated, with a carved stretcher fixed rather higher than midway
+between the two front legs. Such pieces would not, of course, have been
+found in the homes of the poor. Historical books, for the most part,
+concern themselves very much with the affairs of courts and the practice
+of battles, but very little with the habits and surroundings of the bulk
+of the people. We know that the amount of poverty and crime at the
+beginning of the eighteenth century was enormous, and the social
+condition of the people being such, it is unlikely that their homes
+could have been either comfortable or decently furnished. Very little of
+the wealth of the country percolated through the middle class to the
+poor; but there is no doubt that as regards the middle-class homes, they
+had by the beginning of the eighteenth century reached a very tolerable
+standard of social comfort and convenience.
+
+It is probable that a good deal of this standard of comfort was
+attributable to Dutch influence. The sense of home comfort seems to
+have been developed in Holland in early times. In the picture of John
+Arnolfini and his wife in the National Gallery, London, painted by Jan
+van Eyck, who lived between 1390 and 1440, there is a vivid and
+interesting glimpse of the furniture of this period. This picture should
+be studied by all interested in furniture. In the bedroom shown in the
+picture we find, in addition to the bed with its heavy red stuff
+hangings, a coffer, probably for clothes; a tall chair with a Gothic
+traceried top and a red cushion; a smaller chair with a red cushion; a
+carpet of Persian pattern; a brass chandelier; and a mirror reflecting
+the room and its two occupants. The mirror is in a round wooden frame
+decorated with small medallion panels, with paintings illustrative of
+the Passion of our Lord. The room is lighted by casement windows, and
+the whole effect suggests a degree of comfort creditable to the taste of
+the fifteenth century.
+
+A very notable feature in the male costume of the time of William and
+Mary was the enormous periwig, which was considered a sign of social
+importance. A man would not wear his hat (a _chapeau-bras_), but in
+order that his wig might not be disarranged would carry his hat under
+his arm. It is rather strange that a hard-headed business man like
+William should have countenanced such a fashion by wearing a great
+periwig himself. It appears to have been a custom to comb these wigs in
+the coffee-houses, for which purpose each gallant carried an elegant
+comb. The men's hats were adorned with feathers, and they also wore
+full-skirted coats decorated with lace and embroidery, stockings,
+breeches, buckled shoes, and huge cuffs garnished with lace.
+
+The ladies also wore a heavy head-gear, the hair being brushed away from
+the forehead and surmounted by ribbons and rows of lace, over which was
+thrown a lace scarf which hung nearly to the waist, giving the general
+impression of a great mob-cap. "Stiff stays," writes Mr. Dillon,
+"tightly laced over the stomacher and very long in the waist, became
+fashionable; and to so great an extent was this pernicious fashion
+carried that a lady's body from the shoulders to the hip looked like the
+letter V." There was another fashion among the ladies of building
+several tiers of lace to a great height upon the hair. These structures,
+in the prints of the period, have the appearance of enormous combs. As
+regards the dress of this period, "the general tendency," Mr. Calthrop
+writes, "was to look Dutch, stiff, prim, but very prosperous."
+
+Costume and furniture have always had a close relationship, and we find
+Mr. Percy Macquoid writing in his "Age of Walnut": "The settles and
+chairs of the latter part of the seventeenth century were evidently
+constructed with a view of forming backgrounds to the prevailing
+fashions in costume; the strongest characteristic at this time being an
+extremely high-backed seat to suit the voluminous periwigs and tall
+head-dresses of the women."
+
+It will also be noticed that the arms of the chairs were set back from
+the front of the seat to allow room for the ample skirts of the women.
+
+Figs. 24, 25, and 26 are three chairs of carved walnut with seats
+covered with figured red velvet. These chairs, from the Old Palace,
+Richmond, at first glance appear to be of the same pattern, but a closer
+examination will show that no two are quite alike. Two of them certainly
+have similar backs, but a difference appears in the legs. In shape there
+is little difference between these chairs and those of the preceding
+reign except that the stretcher is lower. The backs, however, differ
+considerably from the Stuart chairs, the cane having disappeared and its
+place being taken by pierced and elaborate carvings. Fig. 27 is another
+and probably a later specimen of a fine William and Mary chair. Although
+the back is less elaborate, the legs have now assumed the cabriole form
+and the feet are extremely realistic. The stretcher in the front has, it
+will be noted, disappeared. These chairs were, of course, made for the
+wealthy classes, and were comparatively few in number as the fashion was
+a brief one; but they show the prevailing ideas which in turn expressed
+themselves on the simpler chairs. An example of the latter is shown in
+Fig. 28, which, purely as a matter of taste, is possibly as pleasing as
+some of the more elaborate chairs of this period. This example cost five
+pounds.
+
+Figs. 29 and 31 are rush-seated chairs of the Queen Anne period and are
+made of oak, probably in a country place where the prevailing walnut
+fashion had not reached. They are exceedingly simple and pleasing in
+shape and were sold at one pound each. The centre chair (Fig. 30) is a
+child's chair of the same period--a type which, in our experience, is
+not often met with. There is no example in the Victoria and Albert
+Museum, a fact we mention in case any reader would like to offer such a
+specimen. Here the splat is slightly different from those of its
+companions. The present piece lacks a front rail to prevent the child
+from falling.
+
+Queen Anne chairs of simple character should not be very difficult to
+obtain, nor should they make extravagant incursions upon the purse. To
+purchase a number of chairs of identical form sufficient to compose a
+set is a far more expensive method than to collect more or less odd
+chairs, singly or in pairs, and to make up a set for oneself. Each may
+not be exactly similar to the other, but the family likeness is amply
+sufficient to satisfy any reasonable taste. Indeed such little
+differences as are expressed, say, in the splats and the legs may be
+said to break the line of uniformity and to produce an effect which is
+permanently pleasing and interesting. Such a set of chairs would be
+admirable in a dining-room; and single chairs of this period and type
+would be scarcely out of place in any room in the house. Elaborately
+carved and marquetried chairs of this time are expensive, but it is a
+question whether the plain chairs are not as pleasing. At present the
+taste for old furniture runs to pieces which are highly carved and
+decorated, but this is often for the simple reason that such pieces are
+more uncommon, and therefore more expensive, than the plain ones. It is
+possible, however, that in a succeeding age, when all old furniture,
+both carved and plain, will be rare, that the latter may be as highly
+favoured as the former. In many of the plain old chairs the lines are
+charming and the woods rich and interesting, and possessing these, we
+need scarcely envy those whose means enable them to prefer the richer
+sorts.
+
+We now approach a departure in the designs of furniture which had a
+far-reaching and lasting effect upon style in England. We refer to the
+cabriole leg and the shaped foot, which ultimately developed into the
+claw-and-ball. The first movement appears to have occurred when the
+straight lines of the Stuart furniture were superseded by the curved
+lines of the Dutch style; and occasionally we find the cabriole leg on a
+William and Mary chair, as in Fig. 27.
+
+The cabriole leg has been traced back to China and Egypt, but was
+introduced into England through Holland and France. It may be called the
+leading characteristic of the domestic woodwork of the Queen Anne
+period. It made its appearance on chairs, tables, sofas, and chests--in
+fact, upon every form of furniture which is lifted from the ground. The
+word is adopted from the French _cabriole_, a goat-leap, although it
+must be admitted that this is scarcely a literal description of the form
+the carving takes. At first the shaping was of the simplest description
+and showed but the faintest resemblance to the leaping leg of an animal,
+but later forms took a more realistic turn. The term cabriole has
+become generic, and is now applied to almost any furniture leg built
+with a knee.
+
+Fig. 32 is a simple type of Queen Anne chair with cabriole legs, carved
+with an escallop-shell, a form of decoration which finds its way upon
+very many forms of furniture of this time, and is as popular as the
+crown and cherub decoration of the departed Stuarts.
+
+The claw-and-ball foot, which, like the cabriole leg, is traceable to
+the East, we find on the more elaborate chairs of the Queen Anne period,
+and is generally accepted to represent the three-toed claw of the
+Chinese dragon holding the mystic Buddhistic jewel. The development of
+the claw-and-ball is traceable through the feet of the furniture of this
+period, and commenced by the base of the chair legs being slightly
+shaped into a foot, which will be remarked in Figs. 29 and 31. Such form
+is generally known as the club foot.
+
+Then the toe assumed the shape of an animal's foot, out of which a claw
+was evolved, and, having to clutch something to make a base, a ball was
+added, and we have the familiar claw-and-ball foot which has remained a
+favourite decoration to the present time. The good examples are full of
+spirit and significance, entirely different from the machine-made
+inanimate examples on modern furniture.
+
+Figs. 33, 34, 35 are simple examples of Queen Anne chairs. Those with
+arms should be purchasable for about five guineas and the single chairs
+for about three guineas. Fig. 36 is an example of an inlaid chair[3] of
+this period, the tall graceful back being particularly pleasing. The
+earlier chairs of this period (Figs. 33 and 35) were provided with
+strengthening rails between the legs, but later the knee was made
+stronger and the cross rails dispensed with (Fig. 34), which had the
+effect of lightening the appearance of the chair but not of increasing
+its durability. The disappearance of these leg rails marks the later
+Queen Anne chairs, so that it is a fair guide as to date of production.
+Thus disappears the last link with the good old times, when the floors
+were so dirty that rests were provided for the feet.
+
+Fig. 37, in addition to its cabriole legs and embryo claw-and-ball feet,
+is especially interesting as foreshadowing the familiar ladder-backed
+chairs of the Chippendale school. In this chair the rail connecting the
+back legs has been retained.
+
+    [3] The splat of the original is nicely inlaid, but it is
+    impossible to adequately reproduce this in a photograph.
+
+In this period the "knee" was either plain or ornamented with an
+escallop-shell; it rarely had any other form of decoration: but it
+developed many forms under the influence of Chippendale and his school.
+It is well to remember, however, that in England the cabriole leg in its
+original and simpler form belongs to the reign of Queen Anne.
+
+An essential and highly important development is at this period
+particularly noticeable in the chair, which is now adapted to the human
+frame instead of, as heretofore, the human frame having to adapt itself
+to the chair. It is probable that the greater pliability of walnut over
+oak made this departure feasible, but one has only to sit in the tall
+straight-backed Stuart chair and the shaped chairs of the Queen Anne
+reign to see in which direction the advantage in comfort lies. It will
+be found that in the latter the top of the back is curved so as to fit
+the nape of the sitter's neck, and that the splat is shaped to suit
+itself to the back and shoulders. Examples of this shaping are shewn in
+the chairs, Figs. 32 and 36, which also have the simple cabriole legs.
+
+Figs. 38 and 39 are arm-chairs of this period. Fig. 38 has a central
+vase-shaped panel with a volute and leaves on either side. The arms have
+flattened elbow-rests. Fig. 39 has curiously twisted arms. It has
+suffered in the splat very much from the worms. In this chair it will
+be noticed the side rail connecting the legs is missing. The seat is
+stuffed and covered with canvas, which is decorated with needlework
+("petit-point") in coloured wools and silks.
+
+These are arm-chairs for respectable people, but there were also
+broad-seated arm-chairs at this time known as "drunkards' chairs." The
+width of the seat in front was nearly three feet, which gave ample room
+for a man to comfortably collapse.
+
+Figs. 40 and 41 are two fine chairs of the late Queen Anne period,
+showing finely developed cabriole legs and claw-and-ball feet. In both
+specimens the connecting leg-rails have disappeared and the back feet
+are shaped. Fig. 40 is covered with gilt and embossed leather over a
+stuffed back and seat. In Fig. 41 the back has almost lost its Queen
+Anne character and is merging into what we know as the Chippendale
+style. The seat of this chair is covered with silk. The Huguenot refugee
+silk-workers had settled in Spitalfields, and in the reigns of William
+and Mary and Anne large quantities of silks and velvets were produced,
+which were frequently used to cover the chairs of the bedroom furniture
+of the time. Stuffed and upholstered arm-chairs were also favoured at
+this period, which was distinctly one for the appreciation of comfort.
+Fig. 42 is a partly veneered corner or round-about chair of this time; a
+type of chair largely made in mahogany during the Chippendale period.
+
+The double chair, or settee, remains to be noticed. This, by a process
+of refinement and elimination, had no doubt been evolved from the
+old-time settle. It was also called a love-seat, and was constructed in
+such form as to allow for the pose of social gallantry, simpering, and
+the plying of the snuff-box and fan, inseparable from the manners of the
+period. These double seats were usually found in the drawing-rooms of
+the rich, and simple ones are not as a rule met with. Fig. 43 is a
+settee of the type of William and Mary; the tied stretchers beneath and
+the inverted bowl turnery on the legs are characteristic features. Fig.
+44 is a fine late Queen Anne specimen with a marquetried back,
+claw-and-ball feet, and an insistent decoration of the escallop-shell.
+Fig. 45 is another fine settee of the same period with a full back and
+claw-and-ball feet. Both these specimens have beautifully shaped arms
+and feet, and the back feet being also slightly shaped at the base,
+suggest the latter part of the period.
+
+In the beginning of the eighteenth century, tapestries, as forms of wall
+decoration, had been replaced either by wainscoting or, more generally,
+by wall-papers. Needlework was a popular occupation amongst the women,
+who made hangings for their bedsteads and windows and covers for their
+chairs, stools and couches. Mary, the Queen of William III., set an
+example as an industrious needlewoman. It was at this time that the gay
+chintzes and printed cottons, of which so many admirable and inexpensive
+reproductions can be purchased at the present day, came into vogue. Like
+so many of the decorative ideas of the time, they were introduced into
+England by the Dutch, who in their turn borrowed them from the East.
+They were extremely Oriental in design, depicting trees, birds and
+flowers, all more or less related to nature. This was, of course, the
+period when everything Oriental was the fashion,[4] when Chinese
+porcelain and red and black lacquer were desired by many and acquired by
+some; and the gay Oriental chintzes contributed fittingly to the scheme
+of decoration, as well as affording a protection for the cherished
+needlework coverings of the furniture. The modern reproductions are no
+less indispensable in any house in which the old furniture of this
+period has a place. Some firms print them by hand from the old blocks,
+and from such firms they should be purchased. Chintzes appear to have
+been first produced in England by a foreign settlement in Richmond,
+Surrey, early in the eighteenth century. The English workmen afterwards
+greatly simplified the designs, and in Queen Anne's time they were
+largely the fashion.
+
+    [4] Addison wrote that "an old lady of fourscore shall be so busy
+    in cleaning an Indian mandarin as her great-granddaughter is in
+    dressing her baby."
+
+The Queen Anne home of the middle class would not have startled a
+visitor from the present century who had elected to inspect it by means
+of Mr. Wells's Time Machine. Its exterior was square, unpretentious and
+a trifle heavy, and the interior comfortable and efficiently furnished.
+In fact, it is at this period that we find the first tangible approach
+to our own idea of a home. The bathroom was still a luxury even in the
+great houses, but in most other respects the standard of comfort
+approached the modern idea.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The first tables made of walnut-wood seem to have followed very much the
+designs of the Jacobean oaken tables, and have the square sturdy look
+which we associate with oak furniture. One of the first changes to be
+noticed is in the appearance, on the legs, of an inverted bowl
+decoration as in Fig. 46. Then we find a change in the stretchers or
+bars connecting the legs; these instead of being straight rails between
+the four corners, now assume the X or tied-stretcher pattern as shown in
+Fig. 47. This table is inlaid with cedar and boxwood, and is valued at
+twelve guineas. Fig. 48 is a Museum piece of the same period, the
+marquetry work on which is very fine--the top being most elaborately
+inlaid. The inlaid work of this period reached great perfection,
+blossoms and birds, as well as geometrical designs, being worked out in
+various woods with great taste and dexterity. It will be noticed that
+there is a strong family likeness between the two tables, although the
+latter is a much finer one.[5] Chinese pottery was (as has been pointed
+out) the rage at this time, and the flat space in the centre of the tied
+stretcher was very likely intended to hold a Chinese bowl.
+
+    [5] Fine tables of this type are very expensive. One such was sold
+    at Christie's in June 1911 for fifty-eight guineas. It was thus
+    described: "A William and Mary walnut-wood table, with one drawer,
+    the top inlaid with a chariot, flowers and birds, in marqueterie
+    of various woods, on turned legs with X-shaped stretcher--38 in.
+    wide."
+
+William and Mary tables have turned legs, which were so popular on the
+furniture of the preceding period but which were soon to disappear in
+favour of the cabriole leg. In fact, the tables in a few years underwent
+a great transformation, as will be seen in the next example, Fig. 49.
+
+The Queen Anne period was a drinking, gambling, duelling, dice-throwing
+age. In fact, it is said that loaded dice could be purchased at the toy
+shops in Fleet Street. The spirit of speculation was about. The nation
+had accumulated wealth a trifle too quickly, and trustee securities, as
+we now understand them, had small attraction for any one. Every one
+wanted to grow rich at once. The wildest schemes were launched. These
+culminated in 1720 in the South Sea Bubble. Companies, as is well known,
+were formed with the most extraordinary objects, such as "for the
+invention of melting down sawdust and chips and casting them into clean
+deal boards without cracks or flaws"; "for the importing of a number of
+large jackasses from Spain"; and "for an undertaking which shall in due
+time be revealed." All classes were affected; and the Prince of Wales
+became governor of a copper company which had an unfortunate end.
+
+The gambling spirit was continued in private, and to this fact we
+probably owe the existence of the many interesting card-tables of the
+late Queen Anne period. These were, of course, only found in the houses
+of the richer classes, and are often beautiful pieces of furniture.
+
+Table legs developed similarly to chair legs. The ubiquitous cabriole,
+which has already been dealt with at length, was applied generally to
+tables, with, later, the escallop-shell decoration and the claw-and-ball
+foot. The fine example, Fig. 49, possesses all these decorations,
+together with a pendant under the shell. This specimen was purchased by
+the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1904 for the sum of twelve pounds,
+which figure has, of course, little relation to its present value. These
+tables are generally built with a flap and covered with cloth, except at
+the four corners, where round or square places are left to take
+candlesticks or glasses; cups are also shaped in the tables to hold
+money, and they are sometimes provided with secret drawers. We have read
+extraordinary stories of great sums being discovered in these
+drawers--the proceeds of a night when "the old home was gambled away";
+but personally we have not chanced on such a find.
+
+Tables with two flaps were also used as breakfast-and small
+dining-tables. They were generally oval, but sometimes round, and
+occasionally square. These types were repeated later in mahogany with
+added decorative details, and later still Sheraton adopted the
+folding-table, converting it to his own style.
+
+Tables in great variety were made in this period, but the heavy type of
+table of the previous century went out with the banqueting-hall and has
+never returned. The gate-leg table, which originated in the oaken
+period, is dealt with in Volume I.; and no doubt in many parts of the
+country it continued to be made in oak, but it does not appear ever to
+have become popular in walnut, which, after all, was never a wood in
+general use in country districts. Fashion has a strong controlling
+influence over furniture, as it has over so many other matters of taste.
+The table with cabriole legs came into fashion, and immediately cabriole
+legs in some form or other became _de rigueur_. The slender-legged
+gate-leg table did not offer sufficient opportunity to the wood-carver,
+and was also rather unsuitable for card-playing. Its perfect plainness,
+moreover, was not to the taste of an age which inclined towards richness
+and colour in its household surroundings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V: CHESTS OF DRAWERS, TALLBOYS, CABINETS AND CHINA CABINETS
+
+
+In Volume I., dealing with the oak period, we traced the evolution of
+the chest of drawers from the simple chest or coffer, first by the
+addition of an under-drawer to the coffer; then, the main body of the
+chest being subdivided into convenient drawers (with the consequent
+disappearance of the lid), we had the primitive form of the chest of
+drawers, the term "chest" still clinging--apparently for all time--to
+the structure.
+
+The earlier chests of drawers, dating from about the middle of the
+seventeenth century, were comparatively small, usually with raised
+panels or mouldings; occasionally we find them with decorations of
+simple carved scroll-work and guilloche banding. The prolongation of the
+stiles to form feet, as in the simple chest, had disappeared in favour
+of bracketed corners or ball feet, as in Figs. 50 and 51.
+
+Fig. 50 represents an interesting chest of drawers, simple in outline
+but elaborately decorated. The top is inlaid _en parterre_ with four
+corner scroll designs and a centre design of birds, flowers, and fruit,
+in ebony and laburnum wood on a ground of holly. A delicately cut
+laurel-leaf band of inlay (shaded with hot sand) frames the top, sides,
+and drawer fronts. It belongs approximately to about 1680. The
+dimensions are fairly typical for the period, being 36 in. high, 39 in.
+wide, and 23 in. deep.
+
+Fig. 51 is of rather unusual form, having three large drawers in the
+upper portion and one long drawer under, which is capped by a bold
+moulding. The oblong panel decorations consist of marquetry designs of
+conventional flowers in ebony, holly, rose, and laburnum woods. This
+also belongs to the year 1680; 41 in. high, 40 in. wide, and 23 in.
+deep. It has a value of about eighteen guineas.
+
+Marquetry began to come into favour in this country about 1675-1680. We
+quote Mr. Pollen, who says: "At first the chief motives in design appear
+to have been acanthus leaves, figures, and arabesques, under Italian and
+French influence: a little later, designs of flowers and birds, treated
+in a more realistic fashion, were introduced by the Dutch. Finally,
+about 1700, these two styles passed into an English style of very
+delicate leaf-work of conventional form, often intricately mingled with
+scrolls and strap-work; and geometrical designs were used." Mr.
+Macquoid remarks that "investigation proves that, compared with the
+English manufacture, Dutch marquetrie is always duller in colour and
+more disconnected in design."
+
+Late in the seventeenth and early in the eighteenth centuries we find
+the chests of drawers raised on twisted or turned legs, which are fixed
+to a shallow plinth or joined near the ground by shaped stretchers. For
+the first-named type we refer readers to Fig. 52, a specimen at the
+Victoria and Albert Museum. It is built of pinewood overlaid with lignum
+vitæ, sycamore and walnut, in small roundish pieces cut across the
+grain. The top is further decorated with sycamore bands arranged in two
+concentric circles in the centre, surrounded by intersecting segments.
+In the corners are quadrants. Each side has a large circle of similar
+materials. The structure is 3 ft. 8 in. high and 3 ft. 4 in. wide. It
+cost the museum £10 in 1898.
+
+Fig. 53, another dwarf chest of drawers of the same period, also at the
+museum, is of oak and pine veneered with various woods. This is an
+excellent example illustrating the amount of labour expended by the
+craftsmen of the day on the early examples of veneering. On the face of
+the top drawer alone there are no less than twenty large and
+thirty-three small pieces of veneer, exclusive of the bordering. The
+feet are very unusual, having a curiously booted appearance, with the
+soles clearly indicated. This and the previous example bear the brass
+drop handles and fretted escutcheons of the period. Great variety is
+displayed in these brass fitments. The handles more often are of
+elongated pear shape, but occasionally resemble a flattened flower-bud.
+The ring handles appeared somewhat later.
+
+As types of the chests of drawers on legs we give two illustrations.
+Fig. 54, from a photograph supplied by Messrs. Hampton and Sons Ltd.,
+Pall Mall, represents a fine specimen of veneered work of the William
+and Mary period. The figuring in the walnut veneer is very good and
+finely matched. The stand is tall, with but one long shallow drawer. The
+turned legs are particularly graceful in outline. It will be noticed
+that the inverted cup detail is repeated in the china cabinet (Fig. 69),
+amongst the illustrations of lacquered furniture.
+
+Fig. 55 possesses twisted legs, a survival of the Stuart period proper.
+During the reign of William and Mary and that of Anne, we are, strictly,
+still in the Stuart period--the two queens being wholly and William half
+Stuart. With the abdication of James II. there was a change in the
+temper of the people and a comparatively abrupt change in the furniture.
+In the chest under discussion the upper portion is severely plain,
+whilst the lower half or stand is of particularly graceful outline. We
+see how the stand is gradually being brought into requisition, not only
+as a stand, but to hold extra drawers--quite small drawers at first. The
+lifting of the central arch and consequent shallowing of the
+corresponding small drawer give a pleasing diversity of line. This
+structure is scarcely a "tallboy," being rather a chest of drawers on a
+stand; and the stand, more than anything (as in the previous
+illustration), points to the reign of William and Mary. This piece is in
+the possession of Mr. F. W. Phillips, of the Manor House, Hitchin. The
+owner values it at ten guineas.
+
+Something more nearly approaching the genuine "tallboy" is shown in the
+coloured frontispiece. Here we have the stand growing deeper and
+containing five small drawers. The angular-kneed cabriole legs denote
+the period--about 1710, the middle of Queen Anne's reign. The veneer is
+of richly figured walnut banded with herring-bone inlay. It is furnished
+with brass handles and engraved escutcheons.
+
+We begin to see how increasing wealth in clothes called for more
+commodious furniture. This piece has six drawers in the upper carcase in
+addition to the five small ones in the stand: altogether a very
+considerable storage capacity as compared with the dumpy chests of
+drawers of earlier make.
+
+By easy stages we arrive at the tallboy pure and simple, sometimes
+called "double chest" or "chest on chest." The term "tall" is obvious,
+but "boy" is not so clear.
+
+The tallboy was purely the outcome of a demand for something more
+commodious than the early form. It was made in two sections, mainly for
+convenience in moving, and partly, by breaking up the lines, to lighten
+the appearance of what would otherwise be a somewhat ungainly structure.
+There is scarcely room for much variation in form, and the tallboys of
+the Queen Anne and early Georgian period are very much of one family.
+Fig. 56 is of walnut-wood bordered with a herring-bone banding of
+yew-wood. A lightness is given to the upper portion by the corners being
+canted and fluted. The oval ring plates are a pleasing feature. This
+double chest of nine drawers stands 69 in. high. A well-preserved
+specimen of this calibre would have a value of from ten to fifteen
+guineas.
+
+Fig. 57 is a less pretentious tallboy chest of six drawers, valued at
+ten guineas, in the possession of Mr. J. H. Springett, of High Street,
+Rochester. Like the majority of these old veneered walnut chests, the
+drawer fronts and sides of the main structure are veneered on pine,
+whilst the bodies of the drawers are of oak. The fretted escutcheons and
+cusped handles (unfortunately not quite uniform) are exceptionally good.
+There is interesting documentary evidence connected with this old piece
+of furniture. Pasted on the back of the bottom drawer is the maker's
+label, yellow with age. At the top of the label are engraved designs of
+an elaborate cabinet and four coffins; underneath is printed the
+following legend:
+
+"John Knowles Cabinet Maker and Sworn Appraiser, at the Cabinet and four
+Coffins in Tooley Street Southwark maketh and selleth all sorts of
+Cabinets and joiners goods, Viz Cabinets scruetores, desk and book
+cases, bewrowes, chests of draws and all sorts of tables as wallnut tree
+mehogny, wainscot and Japan'd. All sorts of corner Cubbords looking
+glasses and sconces and all other joiner's goods made and sold both
+wholesale and retail at reasonable rates. Likewise funerals decently
+furnished."
+
+We have not been able to unearth any other record of John Knowles. His
+name does not appear in the first edition of the London Directory, a
+very small volume published in 1731, nor in any subsequent edition up to
+1771. The style of printing and archaic spelling, however, would point
+to a date fairly early in the eighteenth century, probably during the
+reign of George I. The mention of "mehogny" practically precludes an
+earlier date than 1715-20.
+
+In the earlier days--away back in the thirteenth and fourteenth
+centuries--the wardrobe was a special room, fitted with closets set
+apart for the storage of clothes. All through Tudor times the coffer was
+in use, and was all-sufficient to hold the clothes and household linen.
+We find in Jacobean times the coffer growing into the chest of drawers,
+and, in addition, tall hanging-cupboards were coming into use. But it is
+not till the reign of Queen Anne--the walnut period--that we find the
+prototype of the present-day wardrobe, with its roomy drawers,
+hanging-cupboards, and numerous shelves.
+
+The inspiration of this eminently useful article came from Holland. It
+is made usually of oak and pine veneered with walnut and, as often as
+not, inlaid with marquetry. The upper storey consists of small drawers
+and shelves enclosed by two doors and surmounted by a curved cornice,
+the lower portion being a chest of three or four long drawers.
+
+Even the admittedly English-made specimens are so extremely Dutch in
+appearance, that it is probable the majority were designed and made by
+the Dutchmen who came over in the train of William III. We give an
+example in Fig. 58 of an inlaid hanging-press or wardrobe, showing
+decidedly Dutch influence in the lower portion, particularly noticeable
+in the protruding knees set at an angle of forty-five degrees. The
+marquetry designs of vases and flowers are also of Dutch type. It is of
+average size, being 91 in. high, 66 in. wide, and 22 in. deep. As with
+the other furniture of the walnut period, the early wardrobes were
+extremely solid and dignified in appearance. The modern maker has made
+improvements as to interior fittings, but on general principles the old
+pieces leave little or nothing to be desired. The old-time craftsman was
+conscientious in his work. We do not find the doors flying open unasked;
+the drawers have no nasty habits of refusing to open or close. The Queen
+Anne or early Georgian wardrobe, which is sound to-day, bids fair to
+outlive our great-grandchildren, and should be cheap at its average
+selling-price--say, twenty to thirty pounds.
+
+The china cabinet came in with the craze for Oriental porcelain. We
+shall have more to say upon this subject in the chapter on lacquer.
+Fulham stoneware, Bristol and Lambeth "Delft" and other early English
+"Clome" had no claim on cabinet space. The more pretentious pieces, when
+not in actual use, adorned the court cupboard and sideboard cheek by
+jowl with the family silver or pewter. In the main, all pottery was for
+use rather than ornament until the blue-and-white and _famille verte_
+arrived from China, and we shall scarcely find a glazed china cabinet
+earlier than the Orange accession. Many of the William and Anne bureaux
+were surmounted by cabinets, the doors glazed with panes of glass set in
+designs consisting of small squares or oblongs with larger sexagonals or
+octagonals. This form was used either as a bookcase or a china cabinet.
+Unglazed corner cupboards, often bow-fronted and lacquered, made to hang
+in the angle of the wall, were for storage, rather than display, of
+china. Another variety of corner cupboard made to stand on the floor has
+a glazed upper storey. These belong to the varieties of furniture used
+by the middle classes, whilst the cabinet of the china collector would
+be an imposing structure of more elegant design surmounted on legs
+joined by shaped stretchers. We give an example in the chapter on
+lacquer.
+
+Fig. 59 is an example of a china cabinet in marquetry work, with
+scrolled cornice, two glazed doors, two cupboards, bracketed base, and
+shaped under-framing. This piece has a value of about £30.
+
+The walnut period is rich in cabinets, which were used for the storage
+of papers and valuables--structures quite distinct from the
+writing-desks of the period. Some types will be found in the
+illustrations to the chapter on lacquered furniture. It must be borne in
+mind that the lacquering was often but an afterthought decoration.
+Scrape away the pseudo-Chinese decoration and we shall probably find the
+beautiful old walnut veneer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI: SECRETAIRES, BUREAUX, AND WRITING-TABLES
+
+
+One would naturally suppose that the writing-desk is as old as the art
+of writing. So far as this country is concerned, the writing-desk of a
+sort was known in very early times. In the art library of the Victoria
+and Albert Museum are illuminated MSS. of about 1440-1450 showing
+scribes working at sloping desks of simple construction. Coming to
+Elizabethan and early Jacobean times, we find desks of small dimensions
+mounted on table-stands, but it is fairly certain that the ordinary
+tables of the house were more often used for writing purposes. The
+composite article--secretaire, escritoire, or bureau (interchangeable
+terms)--for writing and storage of writing materials is the product of
+the end of the seventeenth century. The connection between the writer or
+secretary (_secretus_, early Latin; _secretarius_, late Latin) and his
+desk, the secretaire, is obvious. Escritoire is but another form of the
+word; sometimes scrutoire or scruetoire in corrupt English. Bureau in
+the French was originally a russet cloth which covered the desk (from
+the Latin _burrus_, red), but came to mean the desk itself, and also the
+office in which the business was transacted.
+
+We look back upon the Elizabethan times as the Renaissance period of
+English literature, but even then the lettered were in the minority. By
+the end of the seventeenth century literature had spread to the middle
+classes, and we find the Press pouring out countless ponderous volumes
+on every imaginable subject. It is the age of the diarists, conspicuous
+amongst whom were Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, whose gossipy daily
+journals bring us so intimately in touch with the political and social
+life of the times. It is the age of the pamphleteers and essayists whose
+effusions led up to the semi-satirical periodicals of the early
+eighteenth century--chief amongst them being the _Spectator_, started by
+Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in 1710.
+
+This vast outpouring of literature called for more commodious
+writing-desks, and the escritoire or bureau is the natural result. Like
+the other furniture of the period, the desks were solid and dignified.
+In the main they were severe in outline, but generally reflected the
+prevailing architecture of the period, which was derived from the
+Italian Renaissance. We find the desks often surmounted by finely
+moulded, boldly carved cornices and broken pediments. As the Dutch
+influence grew we find the lower portions, containing commodious long
+drawers, with rounded or _bombé_ fronts.
+
+The principal wood used was walnut, sometimes solid and sometimes
+veneered on oak and pine. We also find the same schemes in marquetry
+work, as in the chests of drawers, cabinets, and clock-cases showing
+Continental influences.
+
+Fig. 60 represents a William and Mary period bureau of simple outline
+surmounted by a panelled cupboard with bookshelves. The raised panels
+are of the late Jacobean type. It is built of solid walnut, oak and
+limewood. Behind the visible stationery cases are concealed a number of
+secret recesses; the two pillars flanking the small central cupboard are
+the fronts of two narrow upright sliding receptacles; on removing these,
+springs are released which secure inner secret drawers. This bureau,
+valued at sixteen guineas, is in the possession of Mr. J. H. Springett,
+of Rochester.
+
+Fig. 61, dating from early eighteenth century, is a bureau with four
+serpentine drawers below decorated with sprigs of flowers. It stands on
+depressed ball feet much like "China oranges." The knees set at an angle
+denote the Dutch influence, if it were not actually made in Holland.
+The piece, standing 43 in. high and 40 in. wide, is valued at eighteen
+guineas.
+
+Fig. 62, a walnut-wood small bureau with sloping lid and knee-hole
+recess, belongs to Queen Anne's reign. Beneath the lid are numerous
+useful small drawers and stationery cases. It bears the charming
+original brass drop handles in form of flattened flower-buds. This type
+was very popular all through the eighteenth century. In general outline
+it is of the pattern adopted by modern makers of small bureaux.
+
+Fig. 63 represents a charming type of Queen Anne period pedestal
+writing-table with knee-hole recess. It is a beautiful example of
+figured walnut veneered on oak; all the drawers are oak-lined. It was
+recently purchased in London for ten pounds. The knee-hole writing
+table--of which the present is an example--is a type of Queen Anne
+furniture of the greatest utility. It has many drawers as well as a
+cupboard underneath, and, for its size, may be said to represent the
+maximum of usefulness. Whilst seated at it you may be said to have the
+whole of its resources to your hand, which can scarcely be said of the
+bureau, as, when the writing-flap falls, it is difficult to get to the
+drawers beneath. The Queen Anne knee-hole table is becoming rarer, and
+the writers would certainly recommend its purchase should opportunity
+arise. Its pleasing lines and frequently beautiful arrangement of
+veneers make it a desirable addition to almost any room. Its dimensions
+are slender, usually measuring at the top about 30 by 21 ins.
+
+Fig. 64 represents a still simpler form of Queen Anne writing-table on
+solid walnut cabriole legs. The drawer fronts and top are veneered and
+inlaid with simple bands. This specimen has a value of about £5. The
+photograph was supplied by Mr. Springett, of Rochester. This form of
+table and the one previously illustrated are sometimes described as
+dressing-tables. They were probably used for both purposes, and they
+certainly lend themselves to either use.
+
+One of the most useful forms of the escritoire, or bureau, is of the
+type given in Figs. 65 and 66. It was bought recently in Mid-Somerset at
+a cost of thirty pounds. This type is made in two sections, sometimes
+with bracketed feet and sometimes with ball feet. The bureau under
+consideration is of an average size, being 5 ft. 3 in. high, 3 ft. 7 in.
+wide, and 19 in. deep. It is of rectangular form and the falling front,
+which serves as a writing-table, is supported by jointed steel rods. The
+opened front discloses an assemblage of drawers and pigeon-holes. The
+pigeon-holes at the top pull out in four sections, and behind are
+hidden numerous small drawers. Other secret drawers are so ingeniously
+contrived that they can only be discovered on pulling out the visible
+drawers and the dividing pieces on which the drawers run. The middle
+member of the cornice details forms the front of a shallow drawer
+running the whole length and depth of the bureau top. This bureau, which
+contains in all about thirty drawers and recesses, is built of red deal
+overlaid with thick veneers of walnut and fine knotted pollard oak of
+dark hue, with cross-banded edges of walnut in various shades. The
+visible drawers are of oak throughout, whilst the hidden ones are
+oak-bodied with red deal fronts to match the lining of the main
+structure--thus ingeniously disguising their presence.
+
+We have seen specimens of the same type entirely veneered with walnut
+and others inlaid with marquetry. These bureaux, dating from about 1690
+well into Queen Anne's reign, have selling values of from £25 to £35.
+
+There must be an added sentimental pleasure in sitting at an escritoire
+which was possibly the treasured possession of a pamphleteer or diarist
+of the last years of the rebellion: an æsthetic joy in rummaging amongst
+the secret drawers which contained the journals in cypher of the
+wire-pullers of the new monarchy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII: CLOCKS AND CLOCK-CASES
+
+
+A learned dissertation on clocks and the theory of time would be out of
+place in a volume of this description, and anything we have to say
+concerning the clocks of the "walnut period" will, of necessity, be of a
+popular nature. In England the chamber clocks, as distinguished from the
+costly and elaborate timepieces which adorned public buildings, appear
+to have been introduced about the year 1600.[6] The type is fairly
+familiar, and is known as the "lantern," "bird-cage," or "bedpost."
+Amongst dealers such clocks are usually styled "lantern" or "Cromwell."
+They usually stood on a wall-bracket, but sometimes were suspended from
+a nail. The clocks are built of brass surmounted by a bell, sometimes
+used for striking the hours and sometimes only for an alarm. The clocks
+were often housed in hooded oak cases, which protected them from the
+dust.
+
+    [6] Strictly speaking, De Vyck's clock, invented about 1370, is
+    the earliest known type of the domestic clock. Made for the
+    wealthy few in days when the generality of people did not look
+    upon clocks as necessities, they only exist to-day as rare museum
+    specimens.
+
+These original cases are sometimes met with and are interesting in
+themselves, but the brass clocks are more ornamental when minus the
+cases. These clocks were made to run for thirty hours, the motive power
+being a heavy weight with a cord or chain. At first the vertical verge
+movement was used, but about 1658 the pendulum was introduced. The
+alternate bobbing in and out of the short pendulum through slits in
+either side of the clock accounts for the term "bob" pendulum. It has
+been noticed that the doors of these early clocks were often constructed
+from old sundial plates, the engraved figures of the sundial still
+showing on the insides. Doubtless the sundial makers, finding their
+trade falling off, used the materials in hand for the new-fangled
+clocks. The dial-plate of the early lantern clock is circular, with a
+band of metal (sometimes silvered) for the numerals, which at first were
+rather short. About 1640 the hour-hands were made wider and the numerals
+longer. After about 1660, we find the circular dial growing larger in
+relation to the body of the clock and protruding slightly on either
+side. During the latter years of Queen Anne's reign the dial-plates
+often protruded as much as two or three inches on either side. This did
+not improve the general appearance. Clocks of this pattern are known as
+the "sheep's head." With such slight variations the lantern clock was
+made from Elizabeth's to George III.'s reigns. The late ones, probably
+made by provincial clock-makers, have square dials with arched tops.
+
+The tops of the square cases of the lantern clocks are often surrounded
+by fretted galleries. As a rule the four fretted pieces are all of one
+pattern, but generally the front one only is engraved. A favourite form
+of fret is that in which the crossed dolphins appear; this pattern came
+in between 1660 and 1670. These lantern clocks with ornamental galleries
+are furnished with bells as wide as the clock-case suspended from two
+intersecting arched bands stretching from corner to corner. They are
+finished off by the addition of a turned pinnacle at each corner and a
+fifth one on the apex of the bell. Such clocks were apparently not
+intended to be covered by an outer wooden case. They would not be
+greatly harmed by dust, as they contain no delicate mechanism.
+
+These old-world lantern clocks were practically indestructible, and
+until a few years ago they could be found in plenty in the old
+farm-houses, and would fetch but a pound or two at auction. Of recent
+years, with the growth of the collecting habit, the dealers have found a
+ready market, and to-day a well-made lantern clock in original condition
+has an appreciable value of from five to ten pounds. They have but a
+single hand, like the old clock on Westminster Abbey, and consequently
+to tell the exact time of day is a matter of guess-work, as only the
+quarters are marked. To tell the time within a quarter of an hour would
+have been sufficient for the original owners, who had no trains to
+catch. The usual process to-day is to substitute a modern eight-day
+"fuzee" movement for the old thirty-hour "verge." Thus, by eliminating
+the chain and weight, the clock is adapted for a place on the
+mantelshelf. From a decorative point of view it is difficult to conceive
+anything more charming as a finish to a "walnut period" room.
+
+Fig. 67 is a "bird-cage" clock at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The
+dial, which is very nicely engraved with a flower design, is signed
+"Andrew Prime Londini Fecit." It has dolphin-pattern frets on three
+sides. The side frets are engraved to match the front one. This clock
+cost the museum £4 4s. in 1892. Andrew Prime was admitted to the
+Clockmakers' Company in 1647, and we shall be within the mark in
+assuming that the clock was made some time between that date and 1680.
+The dolphin decoration would, indeed, point to a date not earlier than
+1660, and, furthermore, the length of the pendulum would suggest not
+earlier than 1675.
+
+In Fig. 68 we give an illustration of a small lantern clock by Anthony
+Marsh, of London, with its original hooded oak case.
+
+Fig. 69 is the same clock shown without the hood. This subject was
+kindly lent for illustration by Mr. Whittaker, of 46 Wilton Road,
+London, S.W., one of the comparatively few remaining clock-makers
+following the old-time traditions. A talk with Mr. Whittaker in his
+workshop takes us back to the old days of individual work at the lathe
+and bench, when each clock-maker was an artist with ideas of his own--a
+clock-maker in every sense of the word, making his own parts by hand
+instead of, as in these days, buying them by the gross from the factory.
+
+Anthony Marsh, the maker of the clock illustrated, was a member of the
+Clockmakers' Company in 1724, and worked "at ye dial opposite Bank of
+England." Marsh is a well-known name amongst the clock-making
+fraternity, no less than fifteen of the name following the trade between
+1691 and 1842.
+
+Contemporary with the lantern clocks of the middle period (about 1660)
+we find the "bracket" or "pedestal" clocks enclosed by wooden cases, as
+distinguished from the brass-cased chamber clocks. The earlier patterns
+had flat tops with brass handles for carrying. Sometimes they were
+surmounted by perforated metal domes, resembling inverted baskets, to
+which the handles were fixed. As time went on the tops of the
+clock-cases were made more dome-shaped and the baskets and handles were
+elaborately chased. The cases, often of exquisite workmanship, were
+generally constructed of oak or ebony, and as timepieces these clocks,
+by skilled makers, were far superior to the generality of lantern clocks
+of the country-side. We associate these bracket-clocks with such names
+as Tompion, Graham, and Quare.
+
+Thomas Tompion, "the father of English watchmaking," was born at
+Northill, in Bedfordshire, in 1638, and died in London in 1713. He was
+the leading watchmaker at the Court of Charles II. George Graham,
+Tompion's favourite pupil, was born in Cumberland in 1673, and died in
+London in 1751. He was known as "Honest George Graham," and was probably
+the most accomplished British horologist of his own or any age. He was
+admitted a freeman of the Clockmakers' Company on completion of his
+apprenticeship in 1695, when he entered the service of Tompion. A
+lifelong friendship was only severed by the death of Tompion in 1713.
+Graham was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1720, and made a
+member of the Society's council in 1732. Even to-day Graham's
+"dead-beat escapement" is used in most pendulum clocks constructed for
+really accurate time-keeping. The site of Graham's shop in Fleet Street
+is now occupied by the offices of _The Sporting Life_. Tompion and
+Graham lie in one grave in the nave of Westminster Abbey, near the grave
+of David Livingstone. Daniel Quare, a contemporary maker of first rank,
+was born in 1648 and died in 1734. He was Clockmaker to William III.
+There is a fine example of a tall clock by Quare at Hampton Court
+Palace. Quare was the inventor of the repeating watch.
+
+Fig. 70 is a bracket clock in marquetry case made by John Martin, of
+London, in the seventeenth century. It is fitted with "rack striking
+work" invented by Edward Barlow (born 1636, died 1716). It will be
+noticed that the corners of the dial-plate are ornamented with the
+winged cherubs' heads which we find so often in the scheme of decoration
+of Sir Christopher Wren's churches. This clock, lent by Lieut.-Col. G.
+B. C. Lyons, may be seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
+
+The "bracket" clocks were the favourite household timepieces before the
+introduction of the long-cased or grandfather clocks, which came in some
+time between 1660 and 1670. The earliest long-cased clocks were
+furnished with the "bob" pendulum. The long or "royal" pendulum was
+introduced about 1676. The "bob" pendulum clock-cases were very
+narrow--just wide enough to comfortably accommodate the chain and
+weights, the primal idea of the case being merely to hide the chains and
+weights. The wide swing of the long pendulum necessitated more room in
+the case, and examples are found with added wings, showing that long
+pendulums have been added to the old movements.
+
+As with the lantern clocks, the early long clocks had thirty-hour
+movements; but the great makers, such as Tompion, Graham, and Quare,
+constructed clocks to run for eight days, a month, three months, and
+even a year. The introduction of the eight-day movement appears to have
+been coincident with the long pendulum.
+
+The cases of the grandfather clocks, in the main, harmonised with the
+other furniture of the period. The majority of them were built of oak,
+and those of country make were generally plain. Many were veneered with
+walnut, and others (more rarely) with ebony. With the advent of William
+III. came the taste for marquetry work, and the long-cased clocks
+received their due share of this form of ornamentation. The fronts were
+often pierced with an oval or circular hole filled with greenish
+bull's-eye glass, through which the swinging pendulum bob could be seen.
+About 1710 the taste for marquetry began to wane. The lacquering craze
+was at its height. Clock-cases were sent out to China to receive
+treatment at the hands of the Chinese lacquerers. It was a lengthy and
+expensive process: it probably would take a year or so with the slow
+travelling and slow drying of the various coats of lacquer. We show, in
+the chapter on lacquered furniture, how the growing demand was met by
+the English and Dutch lacquerers, who adopted less expensive and more
+expeditious, if less satisfactory, methods.
+
+It is in the nature of things that the old long-cased clocks were gently
+treated, and, consequently, genuine old specimens are still fairly
+plentiful. Old thirty-hour clocks in plain oak cases with painted dials
+may still be bought for four or five pounds apiece, whilst reliable
+eight-day clocks of fair make will fetch anything from five to ten
+pounds. We cannot expect to get a Tompion or Graham clock for anything
+like these prices. We had the opportunity five years ago of buying a
+magnificent Graham clock in a mahogany case of fine proportions for £20.
+It was the chance of a lifetime, and--the chance was missed.
+
+The three illustrations we give (Figs. 71, 72, and 73) represent fine
+examples of marquetry-decorated clocks at the Victoria and Albert
+Museum. The simple naturalesque style of marquetry, showing direct Dutch
+influence, is shown in Fig. 71. The carnations are exceedingly lifelike.
+The dial-plate of this clock, which is still in good going order, bears
+the inscription "Mansell Bennett at Charing Cross." It was probably made
+about 1690. Figs. 72 and 73 represent the more typically English style
+of delicate geometrical marquetry work, dating from about 1700. In both
+of these clocks the fretted bands of wood beneath the cornices, as well
+as the nature of the marquetry, would point to a later period than that
+of the Mansell Bennett clock. They belong to the Queen Anne period. Fig.
+72 was made by Henry Poisson, who worked in London from 1695 to 1720.
+Fig. 73, unfortunately a clock-case only, has the original green
+bull's-eye glass in the door.
+
+A word of warning may be in place in regard to grandfather clocks with
+carved oak cases. Such things purporting to be "200 years old" are often
+advertised for sale, but are scarcely likely to be genuine. Speaking for
+ourselves, we have never seen one which bore the impress of genuineness.
+We must bear in mind that at the date of the introduction of the long
+case--say 1660-1670--the practice of carving furniture was rapidly on
+the wane, and by the end of the century had practically ceased. In this
+connection we quote that great authority on old clocks, Mr. F. J.
+Britten, who says: "Dark oak cases carved in high relief do not seem to
+have been the fashion of any particular period, but the result rather of
+occasional efforts by enthusiastic artists in wood, and then in most
+instances they appear to have been made to enclose existing clocks in
+substitution of inferior or worn-out coverings."
+
+In regard to the wonderful time-keeping qualities of old grandfather
+clocks, Mr. H. H. Cunyngham, in his useful little book, "Time and
+Clocks," expresses the opinion that the secret lies in the length of
+the pendulum. "This," he writes, "renders it possible to have but a
+small arc of oscillation, and therefore the motion is kept very nearly
+harmonious. For practical purposes nothing will even now beat these
+old clocks, of which one should be in every house. At present the
+tendency is to abolish them and substitute American clocks with very
+short pendulums, which never can keep good time. They are made of
+stamped metal and, when they get out of order, no one thinks of having
+them mended. They are thrown into the ashpit and a new one bought. In
+reality this is not economy."
+
+Mr. Cunyngham's remarks point the moral as to the economy of the long
+clock. But we should say, more strictly speaking, that German and
+Austrian wall and bracket clocks have to a large extent taken the place
+of the old English long-cased clocks. The shortness of the pendulum is
+not of necessity the weak point. The bracket clocks of the best English
+makers since the seventeenth century, with short pendulums, have been
+noted for their reliability as timekeepers. Efficiency from a badly
+constructed clock, be it American, German or English, can scarcely be
+expected.
+
+As we have already suggested, fine clocks by the great masters are
+now beyond the means of the modest collector; but serviceable and
+decorative grandfather clocks of the late seventeenth and early
+eighteenth centuries are still obtainable at moderate prices. In many
+cases the dials show great taste in the art of engraving. We must bear
+in mind that the majority of these clocks--particularly those with
+the painted dials and plain oak cases--were the joint productions of
+the country clock-maker and the country joiner, and numbers of them
+have the very smallest pretentions to correctness of design. We find
+clock-cases which have the appearance of being "all plinth"; others are
+too long or too short or too wide in the body; others are overweighted
+in the head; and, again, others are too shallow and have an unhappy
+appearance of being flattened out against the wall. The old oak
+clock-case of perfect proportions is comparatively rare. The collector
+must studiously avoid any clock-case which is "obviously out of
+drawing," and in the main his eye will guide him in the selection. We
+are indebted to Mr. Stuart Parker, an experienced amateur collector of
+clocks, for a carefully thought-out opinion as to the ideal dimensions
+of a clock-case.
+
+Supposing a full-sized clock-case 7 ft. 6 in. high: the three main
+sections should measure as follows:
+
+The plinth: 2 ft. high and 1 ft. 10 in. wide.
+
+The body: 3 ft. high and 1 ft. 4½ in. wide.
+
+The head: 2 ft. 6 in. high and 1 ft. 10 in. wide.
+
+The width is taken at the middle of each of the three sections. The
+base of the plinth and the cornices of the head section should each
+measure 2 ft. 1 in. in width.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII: LACQUERED FURNITURE
+
+
+English lacquered furniture "in the Oriental taste" belongs to the
+last quarter of the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth
+centuries. It is not surprising that when the rage for everything
+Chinese and Japanese--at the time indiscriminately called "Indian"--was
+prevalent, a school of Anglo-Oriental craftsmen should have sprung up.
+The taste was at its height about 1710, and continued for many years.
+
+The art of lacquering is said by the Japanese themselves to have been
+practised in Japan as early as the third century, when the Empress
+Jingo conquered Corea. In the ninth century the Kioto artists inlaid
+their lacquer with mother-of-pearl. In the fifteenth century landscape
+decorations were used, and by the end of the seventeenth century the
+art had reached its zenith. The material used in Japan is resin-lac,
+an exudation from the lacquer-tree (_Rhus vernicifera_). Without going
+into the details of the art, it is well to bear in mind that the
+brilliant surface of Japanese lacquer is not obtained by varnishing,
+but by the actual polishing of the lacquer itself. It is treated as a
+solid body, built up stage by stage and polished at every stage. For
+an exposition of the art one cannot do better than read Mr. Marcus B.
+Huish's chapter on lacquer in "Japan and Its Art."
+
+It was probably not till late Tudor times that any specimens of
+Japanese or Chinese lacquer found their way to this country, and then
+principally in the shape of small cups, bowls, and trays. "Indian
+Cabinets" are mentioned occasionally in inventories at the end of
+Elizabeth's reign, and in the household accounts of Charles II. there
+is an item of £100 for "two Jappan Cabinets."
+
+The English and Portuguese traded with Japan in Elizabeth's reign,
+but were expelled in 1637. The Dutch were more tenacious, and from
+the commencement of their trading operations with Japan, in 1600,
+managed, at intervals, to keep in touch with their new market. Even
+the Dutch were regarded unfavourably by the Japanese authorities, and
+traded under considerable disabilities. The majority of the lacquered
+ware which came to England filtered through Holland. It was brought to
+Europe round the Cape in the armed Dutch merchantmen which, at the same
+time, were bringing home the beautiful old Imari vases and dishes with
+_kinrande_ (brocade) decorations, which served later on as the models
+for the early Crown Derby "Old Japan" wares and the simple Kakiyemon
+specimens copied at Chelsea, Bow, and Dresden. One of these old ships,
+the _Middleburg_, trading from the China Seas, homeward bound and laden
+with bullion and curios, went down in Soldanha Bay, off the South
+African coast, on October 18, 1714. In August 1907 the divers salvaged
+some of the cargo. Needless to say, the "Jappan Cabinets" had long
+since perished, but the little Chinese blue-and-white cups and saucers
+came to the surface none the worse for nearly two hundred years'
+immersion in salt water.
+
+We are fortunate in still possessing at Hampton Court Palace a goodly
+number of Kakiyemon hexagonal covered jars and bottle-shaped vases, and
+tall cylindrical Chinese blue-and-white vases of the Khang Hi reign,
+placed there by William and Mary; but the scarcity of contemporary
+English furniture there is deplorable. The real beauty of old Oriental
+porcelain is never so apparent as when displayed on the old "Jappan
+Cabinets" or the sombre furniture of the Orange-Nassau dynasty.
+
+It was fashionable to decry the craze for things Chinese, and early
+eighteenth-century literature teems with gibes at the china maniacs
+of the day. We have referred in the first chapter of the volume to
+Macaulay's small opinion of the merits of old Chinese porcelain. The
+_Spectator_ for February 12, 1712, contains a letter from an imaginary
+Jack Anvil who had made a fortune, married a lady of quality, and
+grown into Sir John Enville. He tells how my Lady Mary Enville "next
+set herself to reform every room in my house, having glazed all my
+chimney-pieces with looking glasses, and planted every corner with such
+heaps of China, that I am obliged to move about my own house with the
+greatest caution and circumspection for fear of hurting some of our
+brittle furniture."
+
+Daniel Defoe, in his "Tour of Great Britain," says: "The Queen (Mary)
+brought in the custom or humour, as I may call it, of furnishing houses
+with China ware which increased to a strange degree afterwards, piling
+their China upon the tops of Cabinets, scrutores and every Chymney
+Piece to the top of the ceilings and even setting up shelves for their
+China ware where they wanted such places, till it became a grivance in
+the expence of it and even injurious to their Families and Estates."
+
+At Hampton Court to-day we can see the chimney-pieces in the corners
+of the smaller closets with the tiers of diminishing shelves reaching
+almost to the ceilings, and displayed thereon are the "flymy little
+bits of Blue" which Mr. Henley laughs at in his _Villanelle_. Perhaps
+some day our National Museum will overflow and refurnish Hampton Court
+Palace, which to-day in its furnishing, apart from the pictures and
+tapestries, is but a shadow of its old self.
+
+Although germane to the matter, the foregoing is somewhat in the nature
+of a digression from the subject of the "japanned" furniture, which
+took such a hold of the popular fancy that the making of such things
+was practised as a hobby by the amateurs of the period. "A Treatise
+on Japanning and Varnishing" was issued by John Stalker in 1688, and,
+just as "painting and the use of the backboard" were essentials in the
+curriculum of the early Victorian seminary, so were the young ladies
+of the reign of William III. taught the gentle art of "Japanning." In
+the Verney Memoirs we find Edmund Verney, son of Sir John Verney, the
+Squire of East Claydon, writing to his little daughter Molly (aged
+about eight years) in 1682 or 1683, at Mrs. Priest's school at Great
+Chelsey: "I find you have a desire to learn to Jappan, as you call
+it, and I approve of it, and so I shall of anything that is Good and
+Virtuous, Therefore learn in God's name all Good Things, and I will
+willingly be at the Charge so farr as I am able--tho' They come from
+Japan and from never so farr and Look of an Indian Hue and Odour, for
+I admire all accomplishments that will render you considerable and
+Lovely in the sight of God and Man.... To learn this art costs a Guiney
+entrance and some 40's more to buy materials to work upon."
+
+John Stalker's treatise is probably the earliest printed work in
+connection with furniture-making. We never hear of any individual name
+connected with the manufacture of furniture during the oak period,
+although there had been a guild of cofferers. The names of the makers
+of the superb Charles chairs are lost in oblivion, and we have to wait
+till the eighteenth century before any artist-craftsman or designer
+gives his name to a style.
+
+Stalker's treatise is contained in a folio volume of eighty-four pages
+of letterpress and twenty-four pages of copper-plate engravings. The
+title-page reads: "A Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing, Being a
+compleat discovery of those Arts. With the best way of making all
+sorts of Varnish for Japan, Woods, Prints, Plate or Pictures. The
+method of Guilding, Burnishing and Lackering with the art of Guilding,
+Separateing and Refining metals, and the most curios ways of painting
+on Glass or otherwise. Also rules for counterfeiting Tortoise Shell,
+and Marble and for staining or Dying Wood, Ivory, etc. Together with
+above an hundred distinct patterns of Japan Work, for Tables, Stands,
+Frames, Cabinets, Boxes &c. Curiously engraven on 24 large Copper
+Plates. By John Stalker September the 7th 1688. Licenced R. Midgley and
+entered according to order. Oxford Printed for and sold by the Author,
+living at the Golden Ball in St. James Market London in the year
+MDCLXXXVIII."
+
+This comprehensive work is "Dedicated to the RIGHT Honourable The
+Countess of Darby a lady no less eminent for her quality, Beauty and
+Vertue, then for her incomparable Skill and Experience in the Arts that
+those Experiments belong to, as well as in several others."
+
+In a page and a half of the preface the author takes us through the
+history of painting from early Grecian times, particularly pointing
+out that the art of portrait-painting alone can keep our memories
+green. He goes on to say: "Well then as painting has made an honourable
+provision for our bodies so Japanning has taught us a method, no way
+inferior to it, for the splendour and preservation of our Furniture and
+Houses. These Buildings, like our bodies, continually tending to ruin
+and dissolution are still in want of fresh supplies and reparations.
+On the one hand they are assaulted with unexpected mischances, on
+the other with the injuries of time and weather; but the art of
+Japanning has made them almost impregnable against both; no damp air,
+no mouldring worm, or corroding time, can possibly deface it; and,
+which is more wonderful, although its ingredients the Gums, which are
+in their own nature inflamable yet this most vigorously resists the
+fire, and is itself found to be incombustible. True, genuine Japan,
+like the Salamander, lives in the flames, and stands unalterable, when
+the wood which was imprison'd in it, is utterly consumed.... What can
+be more surprising then to have our chambers overlaid with varnish
+more glassy and reflecting than polisht Marble? No Amorous Nymph need
+entertain a Dialogue with her Glass, or Narcissus retire to a Fountain,
+to survey his charming countenance, when the house is one entire
+speculum. To this we subjoin the Golden Draught, with which Japan is so
+exquisitively adorned, than which nothing can be more beautiful, more
+rich or majestick."
+
+In John Stalker's opinion Europe, both Ancient and Modern, must in
+the adornments of cities give pride of place to Japan, for "surely
+this Province was Nature's Darling and the Favourite of the Gods, for
+Jupiter has vouchsaft it a visit as formally to Danae in a Golden
+shower."
+
+In an epistle to "the Reader and Practitioner" he severely censures
+inferior artificers who "without modesty or blush impose upon the
+gentry such Stuff and Trash, for Japan work, that whether it is a
+greater scandal to the name or artifice, I cannot determine. Might we
+advise such foolish pretenders, their time would be better imployed in
+drawing Whistles and Puppets for the Toyshops to please Children, than
+contriving ornaments for a room of State."
+
+He cautions the reader against the common error of mistaking Bantam
+work for real Japan. "This must be alledged for the Bantam work that it
+is very pretty," &c. &c.; but the Japan is "more grave and majestick
+... the Japan artist works most of all in Gold and other metals, and
+Bantam for the generality in colours with a small sprinkling of Gold
+here and there, like the patches on a Ladie's countenance."
+
+He professes, in the "Cutts or Patterns," to have exactly imitated
+the towers, steeples, figures and rocks of Japan according to designs
+of such found on imported specimens. "Perhaps we have helped them a
+little in their proportions where they were lame or defective, and made
+them more pleasant, yet altogether as Antick. Had we industriously
+contrived the prospective, or shadowed them otherwise than they are: we
+should have wandered from the Design, which is only to imitate the true
+genuine Indian work, and perhaps in a great measure might puzzle and
+confound the unexperienced Practitioner."
+
+It may interest readers to know the market prices of some of the
+materials used in 1688. Seed-lac, 14s. to 18s. per lb.; gum sandrack,
+1s. to 1s. 2d. per lb.; gum animæ, 3s. to 5s. per lb.; Venice
+turpentine, 1s. 6d. to 1s. 8d. per lb.; white rosin, 4d. to 6d. per
+lb.; shell-lac, 1s. 6d. to 2s. per lb.; gum arabic, 1s. per lb.;
+gum copall, 1s. to 1s. 6d. per lb.; gum elemni, 4d. to 5d. per oz.;
+benjamin or benzoine, 4d. to 8d. per oz.; dragon's blood, 8d. to 1s.
+per oz. "Brass dust," Stalker says, cannot be made in England, though
+it has often been tried. The best, we learn, comes from Germany! He
+goes on to describe various metal-dusts, such as "Silver dust," "Green
+Gold," "Dirty Gold," "Powder tinn," and "Copper." Of the makers of
+"speckles" of divers sorts--gold, silver, copper--"I shall only mention
+two, viz. a Goldbeater, at the hand and hammer in Long Acre; and
+another of the same trade over against Mercers Chappel in Cheapside."
+
+The twenty-four pages of "Cutts" include designs for "Powder Boxes,"
+"Looking glass frames," "For Drauers for Cabbinets to be placed
+according to your fancy," and "For a Standish for Pen Inke and paper
+which may also serve for a comb box." The drawings include "An Embassy,"
+"A Pagod Worshipp in ye Indies," and another sketch in which the central
+figure would appear to be a hybrid Red Indian before whom several
+devotees are grovelling.
+
+We have quoted John Stalker at some length as giving interesting
+sidelights on an industry occupying the attentions of a numerous class
+in his own day. For the actual carrying out of the methods employed we
+must refer the reader to the book itself--a book which is invaluable to
+any one who has a piece of Old English lac in want of repair. There is
+an old-world charm about the work of the Stalker and contemporary
+schools, but in point of real beauty it is as far removed from the
+Japanese lacquer as the "Oriental" porcelain of the eighteenth-century
+European factories is from its Chinese or Japanese prototype. The
+complaint has often been made of the lack of perspective in the Oriental
+decorations. This may be said, to use a hackneyed phrase, to be the
+defect of its qualities. We have by this time come to see things to a
+certain extent through Japanese eyes, and have learnt to love the
+defect.
+
+The artist of Old Japan--be he painter, potter, metal-worker, or
+lacquerer--was an artist to his finger-tips, and his work was full of a
+symbolism utterly incomprehensible to the Western mind. Those in Japan
+who know will tell you that a master lacquerer of the seventeenth
+century would spend many years on the decoration of a simple, small box.
+In the initial stage--the preparation of the background--it has been
+calculated that 530 hours are required in the aggregate for drying the
+various layers; but the young ladies at Mrs. Priest's school at Great
+Chelsey in the seventeenth century expect, by the aid of Stalker's
+instructions, to learn the art in twelve lessons! Honest John Stalker
+thinks he can improve upon his Japanese models, with the result that,
+whilst we may have a little less of the "defect," we have scarcely any
+of the "qualities." It is ever thus when West attempts to copy East.
+
+We may mention in passing that the French furniture-makers of the
+eighteenth century utilised, in the production of some of their finest
+commodes, drawer-fronts and panels of genuine Japanese lacquer which
+must have been manufactured specially for the French market,
+exhibiting, as they do, shapes quite foreign to anything in use in
+Japan. It is highly probable that these serpentine and bow-shaped
+drawer-fronts were sent out to Japan to receive their decoration. In the
+"Jones Bequest" at the Victoria and Albert Museum, we can see superb
+examples of such belonging to the period of Louis XV. It is said that
+Madame Pompadour expended 110,000 livres on Japanese lacquer. Marie
+Antoinette's collection in the Louvre is considerable; but it is quite
+certain that the finest examples of the art never left Japan. Mr. Huish,
+to whose book we have above referred, gives some interesting statistics
+pointing to the scarcity of fine old lacquer in this country during the
+early days of trade with the East. In one year during the eighteenth
+century eleven ships sailed, and, whilst carrying 16,580 pieces of
+porcelain, they brought only twelve pieces of lac.
+
+To-day Old English lacquered furniture is much sought after, and prices
+are advancing rapidly. The coloured varieties include red, blue, green,
+violet, and occasionally buff.
+
+The red in particular is highly prized. Black lac, which was made in
+great quantities in every shape of furniture, is still comparatively
+plentiful. An early eighteenth-century grandfather's clock, which might
+fetch anything from five to ten pounds if the case were of plain oak,
+would have a selling value of from ten to twenty pounds if lacquered.
+
+Evidence points to the fact that, in the majority of cases, the lacquer
+was an afterthought. The furniture of the day was turned out, in the
+ordinary course of trade, quite innocent of lacquer, and afterwards
+treated by professional japanners--sometimes maltreated by amateurs. Not
+long since, in our own day, there was a similar craze for covering
+furniture with enamel paints.
+
+Fig. 74 is an interesting china cabinet in black lacquer of William and
+Mary period, 7 ft. 5 in. high and 5 ft. wide, priced at £30. A
+first-class modern mahogany or walnut-wood cabinet of the size could
+scarcely be made for the money, whilst the old lac, apart from its
+intrinsic charm, has an additional sentimental value as marking a phase
+in the history of furniture--a phase in decoration. In this cabinet we
+have also a development in form; it is palpably the product of a period
+when the rage for collecting porcelain was prevalent, and in the same
+connection it is no less useful to-day. The modern designer scarcely
+invents anything more appropriate. It is interesting to note this
+cabinet as an example of the afterthought in decoration. The
+owners--Messrs. Story and Triggs Ltd., of Queen Victoria Street,
+London--have discovered that the lacquer is superimposed on walnut
+veneer! It tells its own tale.
+
+Fig. 75 is an early example of red lacquer, a cabinet with boldly arched
+cornice; the repetition of the arch at either end gives a fine
+architectural finish to the top. The upper part encloses shelves, and
+there are four drawers in the base. The decoration consists of various
+Chinese views of ladies in a garden, a temple with a man and children,
+trees, rocks and lakes. It was probably made about 1690; 75 in. high, 31
+in. wide, and 23 in. deep.
+
+Fig. 76 is somewhat later--about 1710--with typical Queen Anne period
+cabriole legs and claw-and-ball feet. The doors, which enclose five
+drawers, are decorated with figures, buildings, birds and flowers, and
+are furnished with finely chased ormolu lock-plates and hinges. It is of
+black lacquer with red and gold reliefs, measures 67 in. by 39 in. by 19
+in, and is valued at about £45.
+
+Fig. 77 is still later--about 1730--a cabinet surmounted on plain
+cabriole legs. On the front is a view of a lake with Oriental figures,
+cocks, and vegetation. Inside the doors are studies of the lotus-flower
+in vases. The hinges and lock-plates are fine examples of English
+metal-work in the Chinese taste. This piece is 56 in. high and 36 in.
+wide, and is valued at £35.
+
+For comparison we give an example (Fig. 78) of a piece of lacquered
+furniture made in China about 1740. This dressing-table, built of
+camphor-wood, and still exhaling a delicate fragrance, was evidently
+made for England and copied, as to shape, from an English table. It is
+inlaid with mother-of-pearl designs of landscape, birds, and flowers;
+and the interior is fitted with a mirror, writing-desk, and numerous
+boxes.
+
+During the English "japanning" period, every imaginable shape of
+furniture received this Oriental treatment. Besides the various forms of
+cabinet, we find lacquered mirror-frames, dressing-tables, corner
+cupboards, hanging cupboards, chests and chests of drawers, chairs,
+work-boxes, writing-desks, coffee-tables, card-tables, pole-screens,
+trays, barometer-cases, and even bellows-cases.
+
+We give an example of a simple mirror in red lacquered frame with arched
+top (Fig. 79). It measures 39 in. by 19 in. This and the three preceding
+examples are the property of Mr. F. W. Phillips, of The Manor House,
+Hitchin.
+
+Fig. 80 is a barometer in lacquered case of about 1700.
+
+Fig. 81, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, is of Dutch make of the
+early eighteenth century--a dressing-glass suspended between two
+uprights, which are supported on a cabinet with sloping front. Inside
+the cabinet is a compartment with a hinged door, flanked on either side
+by an open compartment, one long and two short drawers. The lower part
+has seventeen compartments fitted with boxes, brushes, and various
+toilet requisites. The lacquer is raised and gilt on a red ground,
+showing groups of figures in Chinese costumes, buildings, landscapes and
+floral designs with birds.
+
+Fig. 82 is a somewhat similar glass but of English make. The woods
+composing it are poplar, pine and oak, and it is decorated with blue and
+gold lacquer, the effect of which is the reverse of pleasing.
+
+We have said that the European lacquer will not bear close comparison
+with the Old Japanese. The methods of the Chinese were simpler, and the
+English "japanner" (it is, of course, a misleading term) was more
+successful in his attempts to copy the Chinese cabinets. His best
+examples, if indeed they fell far short in technique, did in method to
+a large-extent approximate to the work of the Celestial.
+
+English lacquer as a mere investment is worth buying at reasonable
+prices, and in choosing pieces the collector will do well to look, as
+much as possible, for the real Oriental feeling.
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 1. MANTELPIECE IN HAMPTON COURT PALACE]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 2. BEDSTEADS AT HAMPTON COURT PALACE]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 3. ROOM IN CLIFFORD'S INN (PERIOD WILLIAM AND
+    MARY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 4. CARVING IN PINEWOOD ATTRIBUTED TO GRINLING
+    GIBBON]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 5. TURNED BALUSTERS (LATE SEVENTEENTH AND EARLY
+    EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 6. DOORWAY (LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 7. OVERMANTEL (LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 8. DOORWAY (EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 9. MANTELPIECE (EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 10. MIRROR FRAME ATTRIBUTED TO GRINLING GIBBON]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 11. SIMPLE WALL MIRROR (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)
+
+    (The property of Mr. F. W. Phillips, The Manor House, Hitchin)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 12. SIMPLE TOILET MIRROR (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)
+
+    (The property of Mr. F. W. Phillips, The Manor House, Hitchin)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 13. WALL MIRROR (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 14. WALL MIRROR (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 15. "GESSO" MIRROR (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 16. "GESSO" MIRROR (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 17. FINE "GESSO" MIRROR (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 18. MIRROR FROM "FLASK" TAVERN PIMLICO, DATE ABOUT
+    1700]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 19. MARQUETRY MIRROR (EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 20. TOILET MIRROR WITH DRAWERS (QUEEN ANNE
+    PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 21. TOILET MIRROR ON STAND (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 22. STOOL (PERIOD OF WILLIAM AND MARY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 23. FINE STOOL (PERIOD QUEEN ANNE)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 24
+
+    FIG. 25
+
+    FIG. 26
+
+    FINE CHAIRS (PERIOD WILLIAM AND MARY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 27. FINE CHAIR (PERIOD WILLIAM AND MARY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 28. SIMPLE CHAIR (PERIOD WILLIAM AND MARY)
+
+    (The property of F. W. Phillips, The Manor House, Hitchin, Herts)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 29
+
+    FIG. 30
+
+    FIG. 31
+
+    SIMPLE CHAIRS (PERIOD QUEEN ANNE)
+
+    (The property of Mr. J. H. Springett, High Street, Rochester)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 32 SIMPLE CHAIR WITH CABRIOLE LEGS (QUEEN ANNE
+    PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 33
+
+    FIG. 34
+
+    FIG. 35
+
+    SIMPLE CHAIRS WITH CABRIOLE LEGS (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)
+
+    (The property of Mr. J. H. Springett, High Street, Rochester)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 36. QUEEN ANNE CHAIR WITH INLAID SPLAT]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 37. LATE QUEEN ANNE CHAIR]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 38. FINE ARM CHAIR (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 39. ARM CHAIR (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD) COVERED WITH
+    "PETIT POINT" NEEDLEWORK]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 40 FINE CHAIR (LATE QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 41 FINE CHAIR (LATE QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 42
+
+    CORNER OR ROUNDABOUT CHAIR (LATE QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 43. SETTEE (WILLIAM AND MARY PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 44. FINE SETTEE (LATE QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 45. FINE SETTEE (LATE QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 46 TABLE (PERIOD WILLIAM AND MARY)
+
+    (The property of Mr. F. W. Phillips, The Manor House, Hitchin)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 47 TABLE (PERIOD WILLIAM AND MARY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 48. TABLE (WILLIAM AND MARY PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 49. TABLE (LATE QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 50. CHEST OF DRAWERS (WILLIAM AND MARY PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 51. CHEST OF DRAWERS (WILLIAM AND MARY PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 52 CHEST OF DRAWERS ON TWISTED LEGS (WILLIAM AND
+    MARY PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 53. DWARF CHEST OF DRAWERS ON FEET (WILLIAM AND
+    MARY PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 54 FINE CHEST ON STAND (WILLIAM AND MARY PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 55 SIMPLE CHEST ON STAND (WILLIAM AND MARY
+    PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 56. TALLBOY (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 57. TALLBOY (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 58. WARDROBE IN MARQUETRY
+
+    (The property of Mr. F. W. Phillips, The Manor House, Hitchin,
+     Herts)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 59. CHINA CABINET IN MARQUETRY]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 60. SIMPLE BUREAU (WILLIAM AND MARY PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 61. BUREAU (WILLIAM AND MARY PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 62. BUREAU (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 63. WRITING TABLE (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 64 WRITING OR DRESSING TABLE (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 65.
+
+    FIG. 66
+
+    ESCRITOIRE (QUEEN ANNE PERIOD)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 67. "BIRDCAGE" CLOCK (SECOND HALF SEVENTEENTH
+    CENTURY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 68 LANTERN CLOCK IN HOODED CASE (FIRST HALF
+    EIGHTEENTH CENTURY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 69 LANTERN CLOCK WITHOUT CASE (FIRST HALF
+    EIGHTEENTH CENTURY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 70. BRACKET CLOCK (SEVENTEENTH CENTURY)]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 73
+
+    FIG. 72
+
+    FIG. 71
+
+    MARQUETRY CLOCKS AND CLOCK CASES]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 74. LACQUERED CHINA CABINET]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 75. LACQUERED CABINET WITH DRAWERS]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 76. LACQUERED CABINET]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 77. LACQUERED CABINET]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 78. LACQUERED DRESSING-TABLE]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 79 LACQUERED MIRROR]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 80 BAROMETER IN LACQUERED CASE]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 81 LACQUERED TOILET MIRROR]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 82 LACQUERED TOILET MIRROR]
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Architectural inspiration less marked, 39
+
+  Ashton on Queen Anne period, 13
+
+
+  Balusters, examples of, 31
+
+  Baths at Hampton Court, 5
+    in early times, 5
+
+  Bedroom, Queen Anne, 43-46
+
+  Bedsteads at Court, 7
+    modern Queen Anne, 43-44
+
+  Buckingham's, Duke of, glass works, 37
+
+  Bureaux, Queen Anne period, 79
+    William and Mary period, 78
+    with secret drawers, 80-81
+
+
+  Cabriole legs, 53
+
+  Chairs (_see_ Chapter IV.)
+    claw-and-ball decoration, 54
+    double, 58
+    drunkards', 57
+    fine, 57
+    ladder-backed, 55
+    period of James II., 47
+    Queen Anne, 51-57
+    shaped, 56
+    William and Mary, 50-51
+    with cabriole legs, 53-54
+    with rigid lines, 8, 50
+
+  Chests of drawers (_see_ Chapter V.)
+    history of, 65
+    the tallboy, 70-71
+    veneered, 67-68
+    with cabriole legs, 69
+    with marquetry, 66
+    with turned legs, 67-69
+
+  China cabinets first introduced, 13
+    varieties of, 74-75
+
+  Chinese porcelain, Defoe on, 98
+    Evelyn on, 4
+    first introduced into England, 3
+
+  Chinese porcelain, Macaulay on, 4
+    popularity of, 13
+    _Spectator_ on, 59, 98
+
+  Chintzes, 59-60
+
+  Coffee-houses, 11, 12
+
+  Claw and ball, 54
+
+  Clocks (_see_ Chapter VII.)
+    "Bob" pendulum, 83
+    bracket or pedestal, 86-89
+    Cromwell or lantern, 82-86
+    Cunyngham on, 92-93
+    Daniel Quare, 88
+    George Graham, 87
+    grandfather, 89-94
+    in lacquer, 90
+    in marquetry, 88, 91
+    "sheep's head," 83
+    Thomas Tompion, 87
+
+  Clouston on Queen Anne mirrors, 37
+
+  Cunyngham on clocks, 92-93
+
+
+  Defoe, Daniel, on Chinese porcelain, 98
+
+  Doorways, carved, 32
+
+  Dutch influence, 1, 20, 47, 96
+
+  Dwelling-room, Clifford's Inn, 7
+
+
+  Escallop-shell decoration, 54
+
+  Evelyn on Sir Christopher Wren, 21
+
+  Evelyn's Dairy, 4, 36
+
+
+  "Gesso" work, 41
+
+  Gibbon, Grinling, and Charles II., 26-27
+    examples at Hampton Court, 6
+    his life and work, 25-30
+    mirror frame, 38
+
+  Graham, George (clock-maker), 87
+
+
+  Hampton Court Palace (_see_ Chapter I.), 97, 98-99
+
+  Homes of the poor, 11, 47
+
+  Houses of the wealthy, 10
+
+  Huguenot silk-workers, 57
+
+  Huish, M. B., on "Japan and its Art," 96, 107
+
+
+  Inlay, 14
+
+
+  Japanning or varnishing by John Stalker, 99-105
+
+
+  Lacquer (_see_ Chapter VIII.)
+    cabinets, 109
+    China cabinet, 108
+    clock, 108
+    dressing-glasses, 111
+    dressing-table, 110
+    French, 106-107
+    history of, 95-97
+    Japanese, 106
+    mirror, 110
+
+  Law, Ernest, on Queen Anne period, 2, 3, 8
+
+
+  Macaulay, on Verrio, 9
+    views on collecting porcelain, 4
+
+  Macquoid, Percy, "Age of Walnut," 50
+    on marquetry, 67
+
+  Mahogany introduced, 8, 72
+
+  Marquetry defined, 16
+    Macquoid on, 67
+    Pollen on, 66
+    used on clock, 88
+      mirror frames, 42
+      tables, 61
+      wardrobes, 73
+
+  Marsh, Anthony (clock-maker), 86
+
+  Martin, John (clock-maker), 88
+
+  McCarthy, Justin, on Queen Anne period, 11
+
+  Mirrors (_see_ Chapter III.)
+    by Grinling Gibbon, 38
+    Clouston on, 37
+    early examples, 35
+    "Gesso" work, 41
+    in Hampton Court, 36-37
+    in Holyrood Palace, 36
+
+  Mirrors, in marquetry, 42
+    in Van Eyck's picture in National Gallery, 35
+    influence of Wren, 40
+    mentioned in Evelyn's Diary, 36
+    mentioned in "Paradise Lost," 34
+    notes on purchasing, 40
+    simple, 38-39
+    toilet, 42
+
+
+  Needlework, "petit point," 57
+    popular with women, 59
+    Queen Mary's, 3
+
+
+  Pollen, J. H., on marquetry, 66
+    on Queen Anne period, 10
+
+
+  Quare, Daniel (clock-maker), 88
+
+  Queen Anne period, a gambling age, 62
+    Anne's influence, 10
+    Ashton quoted, 12
+    bedroom, 43-46
+    chairs and tables, &c. (_see_ Chapter IV.)
+    definition, 8-9
+    houses of middle class, 60
+    Justin McCarthy on, 11
+    old city houses, 31
+    ordinary types of mirrors, 38, 39
+    simple furniture, 9, 10
+    Thackeray on, 12
+    writing-table, 79
+
+  Queen Mary, her needlework, 3
+
+
+  Settee, 58
+
+  Stalker, John, on japanning and varnishing, 99-105
+
+  Stools, William and Mary, 42
+    Queen Anne, 43
+
+
+  Tables (_see_ Chapter IV.)
+    card, 62-63
+    gate leg, 64
+
+  Tables, inverted bowl decoration, 60
+    William and Mary, 61
+    with cabriole legs, 63
+    with claw-and-ball feet, 63
+    with escallop-shell decoration, 63
+    with flaps, 63
+    with marquetry work, 61
+    with tied stretchers, 61
+
+  Tallboys, 70-71
+
+  Tea-drinking, 12
+
+  Thackeray on Queen Anne period, 12
+
+  Toilet sets, 45
+
+  Tompion, Thomas (clock-maker), 87
+
+
+  Van Eyck, picture by, 48
+
+  Veneering, 14-15
+
+  Verney Memoirs, 99
+
+  Verrio, his work at Hampton Court, 9
+
+
+  Wardrobe (or hanging cupboard) in early days, 72
+    in marquetry, 73
+    of Dutch origin, 72
+
+  William and Mary at Hampton Court, 1
+    costume, 48-49
+
+  Woodcraft, ancient, 16
+
+  Wren, Sir Christopher, 2-3
+    builds St. Paul's Cathedral, 22
+    Evelyn on, 21
+    his life and work, 20-25
+
+  Writing-desks, history of, 76-78
+    Queen Anne knee-hole, 79-80
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: The italics markup surrounding currency has been
+removed. The hyphenation of some words has been standardised.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Books About Old Furniture.
+Volume II. The Period of Queen Anne, by J. P. Blake and A. E. Reveirs-Hopkins
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43805 ***