The preventive conservation of antiques

 

Old things, just like old people, need looking after if they are to survive. Objects that have lasted for centuries may not last much longer if they are not treated with care and respect and protected from the threats that can cause damage.

The following factors are important elements in what can be called “preventive conservation”. Not every factor applies equally to every type of antique, but, for a general collector, they all have a role to play.

Relative Humidity

This is a major factor that hastens decay and deterioration in all sorts of materials, whether in a compost heap or a museum. Relative humidity refers to the wetness or dryness of the air surrounding an object, there being a safe range within which deterioration is halted or slowed. Some items are very sensitive to humidity, such as books that can show “foxing” or brown marks when exposed to damp, or wooden items that can disintegrate if allowed to get too dry.

A hygrometer can be used to measure relative humidity, and the values adjusted by changing the temperature or by using a humidifier or dehumidifier to add or remove moisture from the atmosphere in which the antique items are kept. As well as the actual value of the relative humidity, sudden change is another destructive factor, so any such adjustments should be made with care.

In museums, relative humidity can be controlled item by item, if each is enclosed in its own glass cabinet. However, this is not so easy to achieve in the home, so it might be desirable to keep antiques that require different relative humidities in separate rooms.

Water

Direct contact with water can come about as the result of flooding, which would have most relevance to furniture items. If there is a risk of flooding to a room, such as in a house near a river, for example, valuable items can sometimes be mounted on blocks that would keep them raised above likely flood levels. Alternatively, keeping such items in upstairs rooms might be advisable.

Another problem is spillage on wooden furniture, resulting in bloom or ring marking. Prevention is definitely better than cure in such cases, so placing flower vases on top of valuable pieces, for example, is to be avoided.

If water is to be used when cleaning an item, it is best to test the effects in an inconspicuous area before proceeding further, because water can dissolve adhesives, dyes, paints, etc.

Light

Excessive light can damage antique items, such as furniture or paintings, by causing fading or colour changes. It can also lead to deterioration in fabric items such as clothing, tapestries or book bindings. The damage is caused by the brightness or intensity of the light, such as through south-facing windows (in the Northern Hemisphere) and also by ultraviolet light, which cannot be seen but is just as destructive.

A lux meter can be used to measure the absolute amount of light entering a room, with this being controlled by the use of filters, dimmers, and so on. The positioning of light sources in a room is also important, so that bright light does not fall directly on to the objects. Ultraviolet light can be controlled by avoiding the use of fluorescent lighting, although sunlight also has a high UV content.

Insects and mould

Organic materials are excellent insect food and also for the growth of moulds, if the conditions are right. Moths do not damage fabrics, but their larvae do. Likewise, the larvae of the furniture beetle, commonly known as woodworm, make no distinction between floorboards and valuable pieces of Chippendale. Other pests include the carpet beetle and fur beetle and, in some parts of the world, termites.

Getting the relative humidity right, and making sure that ventilation is adequate, should prevent moulds and fungal growths forming. If there is a problem, the important thing is to dry out the atmosphere gradually and increase the level of ventilation. Fungicides should be used with care.

Insecticides should be used with great care, as they can also cause damage to the items you are trying to protect. It is better to examine objects carefully and regularly for signs of attack and deal with small problems rather than large ones.

Heat

As well as its role in relative humidity, mentioned above, excessive heat or cold can have a direct impact on antique objects, and should be avoided. For example, resins and waxes can melt, and paint can blister.

Dust and pollution

Keeping antiques dust free is not only important aesthetically but also in terms of preventing deterioration, because dust can attract moisture and chemical pollutants such as sulphides that tarnish silver and also form sulphuric acid. Dust can also act as an abrasive that weakens textile fibres.

The use of dust sheets and plastic coverings can prevent dust from reaching valuable objects, although this makes it less easy to appreciate the beauty of one’s antiques! Acid-free tissues can be used to advantage when cleaning.

Abrasion and over-cleaning

Despite the above note about the value of keeping items dust-free, it is also possible to overdo the cleaning and polishing of antique items. For example, the value of a piece of silver will be greatly reduced if the hallmarks are rendered unreadable by over-zealous polishing, and the loss of fine detail will in any case detract from the appeal of the item as a whole.

The use of abrasive cleaning materials can cause scratching, and, for many antique items, the patina of dirt acquired over centuries is part of their attractiveness and should not be removed.

Cleaning must therefore be done with great care, only using mild cleaning agents and gentle pressure. The whole point of owning an antique object is that it does NOT look like new!

Handling and storage

The more that fragile items such as glass or porcelain are moved or handled, the greater their chance or being dropped. Excessive handling can also cause finger-marks which could in turn attract mould. The leather bindings of books can be damaged when pulled from a shelf, and ancient manuscripts should only be touched when wearing soft gloves.

Likewise, an antique’s safety may depend on how secure the surface is on which it is displayed. The top of a wobbly bookcase is probably not the best place for your priceless Ming vase!

Items in storage are also not safe from deterioration if the conditions of storage are incorrect. For example, an attic is quite likely to suffer from extremes of heat and cold or to be damp. Materials in which items are wrapped can also have an adverse effect, as such things as newspaper or foam rubber can release harmful chemicals when they deteriorate.

With all these factors to bear in mind, it sounds as though collecting antiques is an activity that is fraught with peril! However, the responsible collector appreciates that he or she holds these items on trust for future generations, and has a duty to posterity to ensure that they are preserved as carefully as possible.

That said, the above precautions should not be too arduous to take, and, as said earlier, not every hazard applies to every type of antique. It does, however, behove the collector to be aware of the threats that apply to the objects he or she wishes to collect, and to act accordingly.

© John Welford

18th-century English wineglasses

Whereas earlier English wineglasses had paid great attention to the engraving of the bowls of the glasses, those of the third quarter of the 18^th century saw a marked changed as makers lavished much more attention on the stems, developing new techniques and a wide range of designs that led to work of great beauty and delicacy.

This is not to say that bowl decoration ceased altogether, merely that engraving tended to be more formal and less individualistic. Makers also became more interested in the use of gilding and enamelling to add decoration.

There was a short-lived vogue from about 1750 to 1765 for glasses with incised stems, possibly made to imitate porcelain designs that were current at the time. However, these glasses did not become universally popular during a period when people of taste and refinement wanted style and beauty above all else, and relatively few such glasses have survived to the present day.

The innovation that really sparked the imagination of makers and delighted buyers was the internal twisted stem. Although the outside of the stem was straight (sometimes with one or more “knops”), columns of air or strands of opaque glass were inserted and twisted to form what could be a complex and intricate pattern.

Air twists were made by blowing a narrow column of air down the centre of a stem as it was turned, thus producing a central “worm”. Opaque twists were made by placing rods of opaque-white enamel glass upright in a circular mould. Clear glass was then poured into the mould before all the glass was reheated and drawn out to the required thickness, the twisting being performed with exact regularity. Up to 36 individual canes of white glass have been detected in some stems.

The craftsmen who made these stems became extremely skilled and developed hundreds of different patterns. These might include the use of up to three different twist designs within the same stem, the inclusion of coloured glass as well as white, and the mixing together of air and opaque twists. 

The colours used, which were generally translucent rather than opaque, included yellow, green, black, lavender, chocolate, orange, turquoise, shades of blue and a wide variety of reds. The rarest colour seen today is yellow and the commonest combinations are red and green or red and blue. 

However, it is notable that the use of colour, and of mixed air and opaque twists, was far less popular with the original customers of these glasses than was standard opaque twisting. It is possible that the extra complexity made these glasses too expensive, or it might be that they were considered too garish and therefore not suitable for refined English tastes. Whatever the reason, coloured stems were only used in 3% of wineglasses manufactured at this time.

As noted above, the bowls of late-18^th century wineglasses tended to be either un-engraved or decorated with standard designs such as fruiting vines or, on larger glasses intended for ale, hops and barley. Commemorative glasses, inscribed to mark a particular occasion, were much more common earlier in the century.

The use of knops, i.e. swellings on the stem, was quite common especially in the earlier part of the century, with up to four knops being present on a stem. However, knops tended to distract from appreciation of the more complex twists achieved in the mid to late 18^th century, so are seen less frequently on glasses produced at that time.

The bowls could be of many different shapes, with the commonest being round-funnelled or ogee shaped (i.e. a double curve leading to an outward-facing lip). Decoration was added by hammering, moulding and fluting.

After the Excise Act of 1746 glass became more expensive, so the practice of producing a heavy foot by folding the glass over became less common. Glasses with complex opaque twists that also had folded feet were only produced to special order and so are rarely found today. Only 4% of opaque twist glasses have folded feet and are therefore highly prized by collectors.

Some of the rarest, and therefore most valuable, wineglasses of this period were gilded or enamelled. The processes involved required considerable skill and patience and only a handful of craftsmen (and women) are known who were able to do this. One of these was Michael Edkins of Bristol, but the name most often associated with the very best work of this kind is Beilby.

William Beilby was a jeweller and silversmith who moved to Newcastle from Durham in about 1760. Of his five surviving children, four became craftspeople, with William junior and Mary specialising in glass enamelling. Virtually all the superb enamelled Beilby glasses were made between 1762 and 1778, with Mary not being involved in the early years. After 1768, when Mary was nineteen and ready to start in the family business, the designs and decoration acquired a decided feminine touch, with scenes including rustic landscapes, ruins and obelisks.

Unfortunately, Mary suffered a stroke in 1774 and, because she and her brother had always worked as a pair, the production of enamelled wineglasses did not continue for much longer, ceasing altogether when the brother and sister retired and moved to Scotland. No other craftsmen took over when the Beilbys finished, so all glasses enamelled in the Beilby style can safely be dated to before 1780.

The 18^th century was certainly the golden age of English glass, with its combination of practicality and delicacy. The wineglasses produced at this time were greatly treasured, being expensive to buy and therefore only owned by the wealthier members of society. Their appreciation of these naturally fragile objects, which would have passed down through the generations, doubtless explains why a reasonable number have survived to the present day. Needless to say, the best of these glasses command very high prices today, with single glasses changing hands for thousands of pounds.

There are important collections of 18^th-century English wineglasses at several museums, including the Victoria and Albert in London, the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge and the Ashmolean in Oxford.

© John Welford

Victorian Gothic furniture

The term “Victorian Gothic” is a bit misleading, in that the gothic period in art, architecture, design and literature began several decades before Queen Victoria came to the throne of Great Britain in 1837 and had run its course long before her death in 1901. Indeed, the Great Exhibition of 1851 contained very few examples of gothic style among the many hundreds of pieces on display, because the style was by then largely on its way out. It is therefore necessary to look at the development of furniture design from around 1800 in order to understand it fully.

The fashion for all things gothic, although it had been lurking in the background for some time (for example, Thomas Chippendale used gothic motifs in some of his designs in the mid-18^th century), took off when England’s emerging middle class sought to spend their new-found wealth on design that was noticeably “English”.  An important reason for this was that Britain was at war with Napoleonic France until 1815 and there was a conscious desire not to copy French design, whether Classical or Rococo.

The trend was to look backwards in time to the medieval period, when English armies were defeating French ones at Agincourt and elsewhere, and massive cathedrals were being built at places such as Salisbury and York in a distinctively gothic style. Despite the fact that these buildings were inspired by similar creations across Europe, especially in France, these were thought by many to be quintessentially English and thus to be the style to emulate in the early 19^th century.

In terms of furniture design, a considerable amount of imagination was applied in the drive to go back in time, given that hardly any pieces of genuine medieval furniture had survived, and those that had done so were noticeably simple in form and style, and a long way from some of the extraordinary pieces that appeared during the pre-Victorian and Victorian eras.

The features that were characteristically gothic were the same in terms of both architecture and furniture design. Chairs, beds, cabinets and buildings likewise sprouted pinnacles and arches, crockets (projecting carved leaf shapes), flower balls, clusters and carved figures. Beds were designed that looked like medieval tombs and couches were built with decoration that could have come straight from a 13^th century cathedral.

It should therefore come as no surprise that gothic furniture survived longer in ecclesiastical settings than in domestic ones. The novelty of living in what looked like a medieval monastery, with its dark oak or mahogany furniture in rooms dimly lit by narrow pointed windows, soon wore off. Indeed, very few houses were ever furnished entirely in gothic style, which was considered more suited to the “serious” rooms such as the hall and the library rather than the bedrooms and drawing room in which people wished to relax.

However, gothic church furnishings stayed in vogue for much longer, even into the 20^th century. A good place to see gothic furniture today is a typical church, be it Anglican or Nonconformist, that was built during the Victorian vogue for church building and which has not undergone subsequent modernisation.

The most significant designer of gothic furniture during the Victorian period was the last great exponent of this style, namely Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-52). His name will always be associated with the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, which were rebuilt, after a disastrous fire, between 1840 and 1865. Pugin worked alongside the architect Sir Charles Barry from 1844, although he did not live to see his work completed. Pugin was responsible for many of the internal elements of the Houses of Parliament, including the furnishings, and he embraced the gothic ethos in everything he did. Whereas many designers tended to start with a basic form and add gothic ornamentation as an afterthought, Pugin’s pieces were gothic through and through, which made them convincing. It is easy to apply gothic principles in a way that makes the finished result look cheap or even ridiculous, but Pugin’s pieces had an integrity which no other designers of his time could equal. Items such as the gilt throne from which the Queen opens Parliamentary sessions in the House of Lords are at the pinnacle of gothic design and are entirely correct in their setting.

Some of the best surviving gothic furniture was produced by unknown designers in provincial factories. This was often mass produced, but gothic decoration was applied sparingly to give the pieces a little bit of character. One can find, for example, kitchen cupboards with panels in the shape of arched church windows, or otherwise simple chairs with a gothic design on the back.

Everything that bears the label “gothic” has to do with fantasy in some shape or form, whether it be gothic novels such as Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” or the follies built by Victorian landowners for no purpose other than to catch the eye. This is because the gothic ideal was based on an imaginary concept of a remote past. Good gothic architecture and design therefore appeals to the imagination, although the worst can rightly excite mockery and ridicule for being “over the top”.

A good place to see some excellent Victorian gothic furniture is Windsor Castle, the interiors of which were designed by Sir Jeffry Wyatville for King George IV in the gothic style. Another place is, as mentioned above, the Houses of Parliament, and there are also some typical gothic pieces in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

© John Welford

Tiffany glass

Tiffany glass was the brainchild of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) who was the son of Charles Louis Tiffany, who had already established himself as a jeweller and silversmith with the foundation of the New York firm of Tiffany and Young in 1837.

Louis Tiffany

Although Louis Tiffany could simply have followed in his father’s footsteps and earned a substantial fortune by so doing, he preferred to study art, becoming a painter of landscapes. He visited Paris in 1868-69 and subsequently toured Spain and North Africa, where he became fascinated by Moorish and Islamic art. He was also influenced by Oriental art, to which he was introduced by Samuel Bing, a dealer in Paris, and Edward Moore, who was a designer for Tiffany and Young.

Tiffany realised that he did not have the skill to succeed as a painter, and Moore persuaded him to turn his attention to applied art and interior decoration. In 1879 he formed a partnership with two colleagues to form “Louis C Tiffany and Associated Artists”, and soon acquired a reputation as a pre-eminent decorator. He was chosen to re-decorate part of the White House in 1882-83 and, for this purpose, created a large screen in opalescent glass. Unfortunately this was destroyed in 1904 by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Tiffany’s interest in glass

Tiffany became increasingly interested in the possibilities of glass and broke up the partnership in order to concentrate on this medium. He had collected a lot of glassware on his travels and was fascinated by the colouring and texture of ancient glass. The iridescence that he admired had largely been caused by the glass absorbing metallic oxides when buried in the ground, and the pitted surfaces resulted from natural decomposition. Tiffany wanted to find ways to reproduce these effects in new glass.

Tiffany was particularly keen to produce glass in which the colour and decoration were integral and not applied to the surface. He always wanted to produce shapes that were natural for glass and not imitations of objects in bronze or porcelain. He was not always interested in perfect symmetry, because he admired the irregularities found in ancient glass.

The items he produced proved to be highly popular, and the demand was such that he could not possibly have made them all himself, although he kept a close eye on everything that left his factory. There is therefore a division between the experimental pieces for which he was directly responsible and the more commercial items that were produced to satisfy the demands of the market. The modern collector needs to be aware of this fact and appreciate that Tiffany glass varies in quality, and therefore price, for this reason.

Variants of Tiffany glass

Tiffany used several methods to produce iridescent glass by adding a film of metallic oxide, the particular oxide determining the colour. For example, iron oxide gave a green colour, and manganese oxide produced glass that was violet. A very popular lustre was gold, sometimes formed by spraying a gold oxide on to the glass while it was soft on emerging from the furnace.

Decoration was added to iridescent glass by various methods. One involved the reheating of a small ball of glass many times (up to 20) with new pieces of glass being added each time. As the piece grew, so did the decoration added at the early stages. This method produced the characteristic “peacock feather” vases that are now highly prized.

Another technique was to decorate a vase while still soft, by adding coloured glass in flower patterns and rolling the new glass in until smooth, then encasing the whole in further glass, thus giving the finished piece an impression of depth. This technique was used for Tiffany’s “paperweight vases”.

“Cypriote” ware was glass with a crusted surface, intended to reproduce the corroded texture of ancient glass. The technique involved rolling the warm glass over a surface that was covered with pulverised glass crumbs. Cypriote ware was usually made from brown or blue opaque glass, and the pieces tended to be larger than other vase types.

Tiffany also produced “lava glass” with irregular decoration in gold lustre, agate ware (different colours run together then polished) and marbilized ware (colours blended to resemble marble).

Of particular interest are Tiffany’s lampshades, in the form of glass mosaics within a leaded framework. A very large number of these were produced, such that it would seem that nobody who could afford a Tiffany table lamp would dare to be seen without at least one in their house, preferably several. The quality varies considerably, but the best lampshades are beautifully constructed and incorporate subtle uses of colour.

Many Tiffany pieces are marked with the word “favrile”, and are sometimes referred to “Tiffany-Favrile”. The word is derived from the Old English word “fabrile” and simply means “hand made”.

Tiffany’s reputation

Louis Tiffany had pretensions to be an American William Morris, but whereas Morris sought to simplify and to make art and good design affordable, Tiffany was more interested in the luxurious and exotic. By seeking to reproduce forms found in Nature and the distant past he could be said to have been in tune with the principles of Art Nouveau, but he did not subscribe to any Art Nouveau dogma. He did, however, make a huge contribution to American craftsmanship and produced many pieces that, although only moderately functional, were highly decorative (this is art glass after all, not tableware!) and often exquisitely beautiful.

Good collections of Tiffany glass can be seen at the Bethnal Green Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Chrysler Art Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts, among others.

© John Welford

Shaker furniture

Shaker furniture derived from the beliefs and practices of a religious group that was never particularly numerous and which only had a relatively short lifespan as an active movement. However, the artefacts which its members produced, particularly their furniture, have had a lasting appeal. Indeed, they have influenced and inspired many later designers, especially those of a functional and minimalist turn of mind.

The origin of the Shakers, or “Shaking Quakers”, was in 18^th century England when a young Quaker woman, Ann Lee, founded a small sect of her own, the members of which emigrated to the Colonies in 1774. They set up a community at Watervliet, New York, where they could farm and practice their religion. Other communities were later established, although at their height, in around 1860, the Shakers only had some 6,000 members.

At the heart of Shaker belief was simplicity, austerity and hard work, with little room for frivolity and certainly none for luxury. Pleasures were few and far between, “letting go” being confined to the music and dancing of their religious celebrations, which is where the “Shaker” nickname originated. One pleasure they denied themselves was sexual intercourse, even in marriage, so families could only be formed by adoption. Many Shakers of later generations had been orphans who were adopted and brought up by members of the sect.

Shaker furniture reflects these beliefs not only in its pure functionality and lack of decoration but also in its excellent workmanship. “Mother Ann” had stated: “Do all your work as though you had a thousand years to live, and as you know you must die tomorrow”. This meant that, whether a Shaker was baking a loaf or making a chair, the result had to be as close to perfection as possible. This attention to quality is one reason why so much Shaker furniture has survived to the present day.

Another reason is that the relatively small number of Shaker craftsmen did not confine themselves to making pieces for the use of their own community. The items they made, particularly chairs, were not only well-made but, because they used only as much wood as was essential to the construction, cheap to make. Thousands were therefore sold outside the Shaker settlements, throughout much of the 19^th century.

Mother Ann’s stipulations virtually dictated the Shaker style: “Whatever is fashioned, let it be plain and simple, unembellished by any superfluities that add nothing to its goodness or durability.” This meant that carving, inlays and veneers were out, and turning (on a lathe) was only used for functional purposes. The items made were limited to what was actually needed in a home, namely chairs, tables, stands, beds, cupboards, chests and clocks. Shakers believed in cleanliness, so the furniture was made to be easily moved in order that rooms could be swept frequently.

The typical Shaker side chair was of a ladder-back design with three slats, these being flat at the base and rounded at the top, also slightly concave to fit the user’s back. A double set of box-stretchers on the legs provided structural soundness, and the seat was of woven rushes or tapes. The only concession to decoration was an acorn-shaped finial at the top of the rear uprights. One design of side chair enabled the back to be tipped backwards without the feet leaving the floor. Most chairs were made from maple, although birch, cherry and other woods were also used.

Despite the overall austerity of Shaker life, they were not ascetics and the craftsmen did seek to make their furniture comfortable, at least by the standards of the day. A notable item of Shaker construction was the rocking chair, five different types of which can be identified. Shaker designers were particularly inventive, and some rocking chairs were made with drawers incorporated in the arms so that elderly Shaker women could have their sewing things close at hand. Many rocking chairs were made for sale to outsiders, and can sometimes be found with the original label in place to indicate its size, these varying from “1” to “8” to suit the size of the buyer.

Chests were made with simple, moulded edges and turned wooden knobs, as brass (etc) handles would have been ostentatious.  However, wrought-iron was used for catches on cupboard doors and for hinges. There was no call for huge chests, such as the “highboy”, because Shakers were limited in what they were allowed to possess and thus each member only needed a few drawers and cupboards. Shaker chests are therefore typically either five feet high with four full-width and four half-width drawers, or three feet high with three full-width and two half-width drawers. Some chests were made with drop-leaf tops so that they could double as tables.

Shaker dining tables are less likely to be encountered because Shakers ate communally at one long table, with men and women eating at different sittings. As these tables, of a trestle type with a shoe foot and underbracing, were typically eight feet long, they are not particularly suited to modern homes. However, one example that has survived is twenty feet long!

Although tables are scarce survivals, small round and square-topped stands are encountered far more frequently. These were required furniture in Shaker homes, with the rules stating that “one or two stands should be provided for the occupants of every retiring-room”. Stands were adapted for use in workrooms, with drawers underneath the top, and as candlestands and washstands.

Shaker beds were always single beds; with sex being off the menu there was no call for doubles! The common width was three feet, and they had a simple headboard and footboard. They were provided with wooden castors so that they could be moved for cleaning purposes. A concession to comfort was made with the provision of lightweight slats that would “give” with the body and could be easily replaced if they broke.

Some excellent child’s cots have survived, these being on rockers so that an adoptive mother could settle a crying child while lying in bed.

Although Shaker life and culture is now only of historical interest, with a number of their homes and settlements having been preserved, pieces of their furniture still appear for sale from time to time and are likely to command good prices. More importantly, perhaps, several aspects of their design have been imitated by later designers and incorporated in modern lifestyles where simplicity and good workmanship, without sacrificing comfort, are valued.

© John Welford

Regency furniture

The term “Regency”, when applied strictly, refers to the nine years between 1811 and 1820 when King George III’s eldest son ruled as the Prince Regent during his father’s mental incapacity. When the king died in 1820 the Prince Regent became king in his own right as George IV.

However, the Regency period is often taken to mean a wider span that includes the whole time during which Prince George was a major influence on taste and style, thus going back to at least 1800 and also including the years of George IV’s reign (1820-30). It should be remembered that the archetypal palace of the Regency, namely the Royal Pavilion at Brighton, was begun as far back as 1787 and not completed until 1823. Indeed, the period might even be considered as lasting until 1837 when the accession of Queen Victoria brought with it a very different era in British style and attitudes.

In terms of architecture and furniture design, the Regency period was one of considerable elegance and refinement, but with elements of the bizarre that could sometimes stretch good taste to the limit. Alongside the splendid terraces designed by John Nash one must set the Brighton Pavilion which brought India and China to the Sussex coast. Or, to quote Sydney Smith: "It looked for all the world as if the Dome of St Paul's had come down to Brighton and pupped."

One strong element in furniture design was the introduction of ancient Egyptian features that followed the discoveries made in that country during the late 18^th century. This trend had come via France, especially during the short period after 1802 when England and France were at peace. For a time everything was adorned with sphinxes, sun-discs, draped heads, papyri, crocodiles and lotus buds, with copious use of hieroglyphs although nobody had a clue what they meant.

The designs of George Smith, published in 1808, were highly influential on furniture makers, and included elements from Greek, Roman, Chinese and Gothic sources as well as Egyptian. Some extraordinary pieces were produced that included crocodiles and dolphins as structural elements of couches, tables and chairs.

The Regency period was one in which many people were able to better themselves by succeeding in the trades and businesses that the Industrial Revolution had engendered. The new middle class sought to use its modest wealth by copying the aristocracy and therefore provided a ready market for furniture designers who could combine utility with elegance, but the smaller homes of the merchant class were not suitable locations for the extravagances that the Prince Regent and his circle would have commissioned. Some of the best Regency taste is therefore seen in items such as pianos of various shapes and sizes in which veneers and brass inlays add considerable beauty given that this popular item of the middle class drawing room was also a substantial piece of furniture.

Brass was indeed a popular feature of Regency furniture, especially in the latter part of the period. Brass decoration was used in thin string-lines and beading and also in broader panels and floral forms, developing eventually into full panels of brass marquetry. By 1820 brass had virtually replaced boxwood and ebony for inlays on furniture of all types.

After 1815, with the final defeat of Napoleon, French taste was again welcome in England, and furniture makers began to make pieces in imitation of Louis XIV and XV styles. This trend was led by a decided shift in attitude on the part of the Prince Regent himself, and ironically this was to lead to the demise of a distinctive Regency style.

One aspect of this process was the use of native timbers in preference to exotic veneers, with solid oak now often being used. This led to furniture with a much heavier appearance which was therefore less frivolous than what had gone before. The foundations of Victorian style were thus being laid even before the Prince Regent had succeeded as king.

Examples of Regency furniture can be seen, not surprisingly, at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, as well as at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. There are also some excellent specimens at the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham.

© John Welford

Queen Anne furniture

The reign of Queen Anne (1702-14) marked a period in English furniture design that was characterised by functionality, comfort and elegance. Queen Anne furniture is generally regarded today as the most popular of all English styles, although it derives more from the work of independent craftsmen than professional designers.

The style began as a simplification of its 17^th century ancestry, the elaboration of which during the William and Mary period had betrayed continental, particularly Dutch, influences. With the growth of affluence in England, patrons of fine furniture no longer felt the need to copy foreign tastes and could commission pieces that suited their need for practicality.

This was an age during which many great houses were built in England, most notably Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace. The furniture designed during this period reflected the architecture in that it was essentially English in style, unlike the high crested and pedimented pieces from the previous reign that seemed to imitate the pointed gables of Dutch houses. With Queen Anne furniture, the centre of gravity is lower and the pieces appear more stable and solid.

The woods used in Queen Anne furniture were more restricted than in the previous century, with imported rosewood and kingwood becoming unfashionable and the preference being for English elm and walnut. These also produced delicate and beautiful veneers that took over from the fashion for marquetry and parquetry. Unfortunately, elm has proved over the years to be highly susceptible to woodworm attack, and good quality elm furniture of this period is therefore uncommon today.

The lifestyles of wealthy people during Queen Anne’s reign are reflected in the types of furniture that they commissioned. Dressing-mirrors appeared that were pivoted between two uprights mounted on a stand including drawers and often a small writing flap, so that elegant ladies could write billet-doux while being attended to by their maids before going to a ball or reception.

For men, bachelors’ chests were made both for storage and to provide a folding table top. These were used when travelling, to make up for the unfurnished nature of rooms in inns and lodgings.

Card-tables were developed to suit the growing fashion for four-handed games such as quadrille and ombre. Many have survived due to their usefulness for whist and bridge.

The tallboy, a chest resting on top of a slightly broader chest, thus providing drawers from floor to near the ceiling, was developed to replace the earlier chest on a stand.

Queen Anne chairs achieved a degree of elegance not seen before, and specialised chair-makers concentrated on the specific skills needed to produce high-quality pieces. Curved backs gave extra comfort, and the use of mortice and tenon joints gave added strength that enabled stretchers between the legs to be dispensed with.

The cabriole leg, although not universal, is a distinctive innovation of this period. This is a double curve, both convex and concave, in the same member, which gives movement and a natural appearance to the legs of chairs, settees and tables. The form was capable of being developed into a number of variations, some more complex than others.

Britain was at war during much of Queen Anne’s reign, but peace came with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and with it a greater interest in ornamentation in furniture design. This came largely from French influence and produced, for example, foliage carving and highly stylised scallop shells. These trends continued after Queen Anne’s death in 1714 into the Georgian period, when other continental trends came into vogue with the Hanoverian succession.

Fine examples of Queen Anne furniture can be seen at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and country houses such as The Vyne in Hampshire and Oxfordshire’s Blenheim Palace.

© John Welford

Ming Dynasty porcelain

The Ming Dynasty in China was renowned for its high culture, and an important part of this was the production of fine porcelain which is highly prized today.

The Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty refers to the period of Chinese history between 1368 and 1644, from the fall of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty to the eventual conquest of China by the Manchu and the ensuing Qing Dynasty.

This long period of relative stability was marked by the growth of trade with other countries, including those of Europe, which in turn brought great wealth to the ruling class. The development of high-quality porcelain, both for domestic use and export, was an important element of Ming culture.

Early Ming porcelain

Pottery manufacture had already been established in China before the first Ming Emperor (Hongwu) came to power, but it was during his reign that potters mastered the art of producing high-fired translucent and resonant porcelain. As well as delicate drinking vessels they also produced large storage jars that were made in separate sections and then fixed together with a watered-down clay (called “slip”) that was then dried before being decorated and glazed.

Ming Dynasty porcelain is often characterised by its blue coloured decoration, originally using cobalt imported from Burma. The glaze was usually applied thickly, which caused a slight smudging or “bleeding” during firing, which created a depth and richness that later forgers (in Western countries) found very difficult to copy.

Celadon ware

The Ming potters also continued and developed the earlier production of celadon ware. This term refers to the (usually) pale-green glaze that typified these pieces, although the Ming potters tended to use it for larger-scale pieces than their predecessors, and to apply the glaze more thickly on items such as deep bowls and large plates.

Celadon wares were widely exported and examples are known from all along the main trade routes to India and further west, aided by the belief that such goods could detect poison in food, which would boil if it touched a celadon-glazed dish. Needless to say, this made such items popular in the suspicious and dangerous courts of monarchs across the known world, and the Chinese traders were unlikely to try very hard to dispel the myth!

Later Ming porcelain

During the late 15^th century the potters at Ching-te-chen (the imperial kilns of Emperor Chenghua) mastered the art of enamel painting on porcelain in colours that could survive firing. The paint was applied on to a clear glazed vessel that was then re-fired in a “muffle kiln” at a lower temperature.

Dating pieces from this period is made more complicated by the practice adopted by Ming potters of celebrating the successful production of a pot made in an earlier style by marking it with the Emperor’s mark that would have been appropriate at the time of the original manufacture. This was done as a form of tribute to the earlier Emperor, and was not intended to deceive.

The export of Ming porcelain reached its peak later in the 16th and 17^th centuries, and the markets extended beyond Asia and the Arab lands to Europe, with pieces being designed to appeal to Western tastes. Dutch traders established a base at Canton from which vast amounts of mass-produced Ming tableware were eventually sent to Europe. This was typically in traditional blue-and-white, decorated with dragons and flower designs. These export pieces were normally in a lighter shade of blue than is typical of early Ming, as it was intended for the tables of the middle classes rather than royalty.

The European craze for blue-and-white, as in Dutch delftware, derived from the Ming examples, and was indeed developed as a means of countering the flood of Chinese imports.

In contrast to the cheaply-produced export ware, some Ming pieces were extraordinarily well made and decorated to imperial order. These include huge bowls, some 30 inches in diameter and an inch thick in places, designed as fishbowls. The painting on these is of the very highest quality. There is a legend that one potter, despairing of ever being able to get one of these bowls to emerge from the kiln in one piece, threw himself into the kiln along with the bowl, which came out perfect in every way.

Ming porcelain commands very high prices when it comes on to the market. As might be expected, relatively few pieces of domestic tableware from the 17^th century and before have survived to the present day.

However, there are some excellent pieces on display at many top museums, including the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge MA and the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

© John Welford

Elizabethan oak furniture

A considerable amount of oak furniture has survived from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), partly because of the material in question and partly because much of it was made for the great houses built by men who achieved fame and fortune in that era. Where the houses have survived, so have many of the pieces that furnished them.

Elizabethan furniture

After the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, wealthy Elizabethans felt more secure than their ancestors had done for centuries, and they wished to settle down to lives surrounded by comfort and ostentatious decoration. Massive, well-constructed and richly carved oak furniture was therefore typical of this age.

This was also the age of the triumph of Protestantism, so much of the furniture was influenced by northern rather than southern Europe, with classical features less obviously apparent than those typical of Germany and the Low Countries.

England was also well supplied with oak trees, which provided timbers not only for the Navy but also for craftsmen who could work the wood into panels and frames, the panels often being richly carved. Frames were made with mortise and tenon joints, the mortise being the socket into which the projecting tenon fitted exactly. The fixing was often done by knocking in wooden pegs.

Chairs

Elizabethans valued their furniture, with special respect being paid to items that were used by important people, such as the master of the house. Only he would sit in the imposing panel-backed chair at the head of the table, with the rest of the family sitting on stools or benches. The master’s chair would often have carved panels on the sides and front, as well as the solid back. Many of these chairs have survived to the present day.

However, changes in chair design occurred during the period, with later chairs being lighter and, indeed, more comfortable to sit in, with curved arms and fewer panels. Another development was the “back stool”, literally a stool with a back, designed for use around dining tables as opposed to having one’s back against the wall as in old-fashioned great halls.

Many pieces were known to have been upholstered with velvet or silk, but these additions have not survived.

Tables and cupboards

The Elizabethans invented the draw table, which could be extended to almost double its length or width by pulling extra leaves out from underneath the top. Such tables would have been very useful in smaller houses where space was at a premium.

Another innovation was the “court cupboard”, with “cupboard” to be understood as a “cup board”, a board for storing cups (etc). The word “court” may be of French derivation, meaning “short”. The court cupboard was an open three-tiered side-table designed for housing and displaying the family’s best crockery. The cupboard was therefore also a prestige piece, often highly decorated with inlay or strap-work (intricate repeated geometrical carving in low relief), and with legs in the shape of heraldic beasts. Later cupboards were made with doors, so that they began to resemble what we now understand by the term.

Beds

Wealthy Elizabethans gave much attention to their beds, and some spent huge amounts of money on these items. Shakespeare himself is known to have taken great pride in his beds, only bequeathing his “second best bed” to Anne Hathaway.

A wonderful example of an Elizabethan oak bed can be seen in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. This is the Great Bed of Ware, which was known at the time of its construction to be remarkable, as it gets a mention in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”. It is a massive construction of the “four poster” type, having pillars that support a heavy “roof” from which draperies would have hung to provide complete privacy. The bed is about 11 feet square with intricate carvings over practically the whole surface, and especially the headboard.

With a few exceptions as noted above, Elizabethan oak furniture was very right-angled in appearance, with every element being either vertical or horizontal. There were very few curves or diagonals, which accorded with the preferred styles of architecture and garden design of the time. However, what might otherwise have given an image of severity or coldness was countered by the delight taken in carved decoration and in the warm colouring of the wood itself, which was often highly polished to bring out the rich dark sheen of one of the most beautiful of timbers.

© John Welford