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.