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CHATS ON OLD FURNITURE
[Illustration: _Jacobean Chair._]
CHATS ON OLD FURNITURE
_Press Notices, First Edition._
"Mr. Hayden knows his subject intimately."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
"The hints to collectors are the best and clearest we have seen; so that
altogether this is a model book of its kind."--_Athenaeum._
"A useful and instructive volume."--_Spectator._
"An abundance of illustrations completes a well-written and
well-constructed history."--_Daily News._
"Mr. Hayden's taste is sound and his knowledge thorough."--_Scotsman._
"A book of more than usual comprehensiveness and more than usual
merit."--_Vanity Fair._
"Mr. Hayden has worked at his subject on systematic lines, and has made
his book what it purports to be--a practical guide for the
collector."--_Saturday Review._
CHATS ON OLD CHINA
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
_Second Edition._
_Price_ 5s. _net._
_With Coloured Frontispiece and Reproductions of 156 Marks and 89
Specimens of China._
A List of SALE PRICES and a full INDEX increase the usefulness of the
Volume.
This is a handy book of reference to enable Amateur Collectors to
distinguish between the productions of the various factories.
_Press Notices, First Edition._
"A handsome handbook that the amateur in doubt will find useful, and the
china-lover will enjoy for its illustrations, and for the author's
obvious love and understanding of his subject."--_St. James's Gazette._
"All lovers of china will find much entertainment in this
volume."--_Daily News._
"It gives in a few pithy chapters just what the beginner wants to know
about the principal varieties of English ware. We can warmly commend the
book to the china collector."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
"One of the best points about the book is the clear way in which the
characteristics of each factory are noted down separately, so that the
veriest tyro ought to be able to judge for himself if he has a piece or
pieces which would come under this heading, and the marks are very
accurately given."--_Queen._
IN PREPARATION.
CHATS ON OLD PRINTS
_Price_ 5s. _net._
_Illustrated with Coloured Frontispiece and 70 Full-page Reproductions
from Engravings._
With GLOSSARY of Technical Terms, BIBLIOGRAPHY, full INDEX and TABLE of
more than 350 of the principal English and Continental Engravers from
the XVIth to the XIXth centuries, together with copious notes as to
PRICES and values of old prints.
LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN, ADELPHI TERRACE.
[Illustration]
Chats on Old Furniture
A Practical Guide for Collectors
By Arthur Hayden
Author of "Chats on English China"
LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN
1 ADELPHI TERRACE. MCMVI
* * * * *
_First Edition, 1905._
_Second " 1906._
_All rights reserved._
[Illustration: _Portion of Carved Walnut Virginal._]
PREFACE
This volume has been written to enable those who have a taste for the
furniture of a bygone day to arrive at some conclusion as to the
essential points of the various styles made in England.
An attempt has been made to give some lucid historical account of the
progress and development in the art of making domestic furniture, with
especial reference to its evolution in this country.
Inasmuch as many of the finest specimens of old English woodwork and
furniture have left the country of their origin and crossed the
Atlantic, it is time that the public should awaken to the fact that the
heritages of their forefathers are objects of envy to all lovers of art.
It is a painful reflection to know that the temptation of money will
shortly denude the old farmhouses and manor houses of England of their
unappreciated treasures. Before the hand of the despoiler shall have
snatched everything within reach, it is the hope of the writer that this
little volume may not fall on stony ground, and that the possessors of
fine old English furniture may realise their responsibilities.
It has been thought advisable to touch upon French furniture as
exemplified in the national collections of such importance as the Jones
Bequest at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Wallace Collection,
to show the influence of foreign art upon our own designers. Similarly,
Italian, Spanish, and Dutch furniture, of which many remarkable examples
are in private collections in this country, has been dealt with in
passing, to enable the reader to estimate the relation of English art to
contemporary foreign schools of decoration and design.
The authorities of the Victoria and Albert Museum have willingly
extended their assistance in regard to photographs, and by the special
permission of the Board of Education the frontispiece and other
representative examples in the national collection appear as
illustrations to this volume.
I have to acknowledge generous assistance and courteous permission from
owners of fine specimens in allowing me facilities for reproducing
illustrations of them in this volume.
I am especially indebted to the Right Honourable Sir Spencer
Ponsonby-Fane, G.C.B., I.S.O., and to the Rev. Canon Haig Brown, Master
of the Charterhouse, for the inclusion of illustrations of furniture of
exceptional interest.
The proprietors of the _Connoisseur_ have generously furnished me with
lists of prices obtained at auction from their useful monthly
publication, _Auction Sale Prices_, and have allowed the reproduction of
illustrations which have appeared in the pages of the _Connoisseur_.
My thanks are due to Messrs. Hampton, of Pall Mall, for their kind
permission to include as illustrations several fine pieces from their
collection of antique furniture. I am under a similar obligation to
Messrs. Waring, who have kindly allowed me to select some of their
typical examples.
To my other friends, without whose kind advice and valuable aid this
volume could never have appeared, I tender a grateful and appreciative
acknowledgment of my indebtedness.
ARTHUR HAYDEN.
[Illustration: _Italian Chair about 1620_]
[Illustration: _Spanish Chest._]
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE 7
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 13
BIBLIOGRAPHY 19
GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED 23
CHAPTER
I. THE RENAISSANCE ON THE CONTINENT 31
II. THE ENGLISH RENAISSANCE 57
III. STUART OR JACOBEAN (SEVENTEENTH CENTURY) 79
IV. STUART OR JACOBEAN (LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY) 109
V. QUEEN ANNE STYLE 133
VI. FRENCH FURNITURE. THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XIV. 155
VII. FRENCH FURNITURE. THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XV. 169
VIII. FRENCH FURNITURE. THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XVI. 189
IX. FRENCH FURNITURE. THE FIRST EMPIRE STYLE 201
X. CHIPPENDALE AND HIS STYLE 211
XI. SHERATON, ADAM, AND HEPPELWHITE STYLES 239
XII. HINTS TO COLLECTORS 257
INDEX 275
[Illustration: _Chippendale Bureau Bookcase._]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
JACOBEAN OAK CABINET; decorated with mother-of-pearl, ebony, and ivory.
Dated 1653. (By permission of the Board of Education) _Frontispiece_
CARVED WOOD FRAME; decorated with gold stucco. Sixteenth Century.
Italian _Title page_
PAGE
CHAPTER I.--THE RENAISSANCE ON THE CONTINENT.
PORTION OF CARVED CORNICE, Italian, Sixteenth Century 33
FRAME OF WOOD, with female terminal figures, Italian,
late Sixteenth Century 35
FRONT OF COFFER, Italian, late Fifteenth Century 38
BRIDAL CHEST, Gothic design, middle of Fifteenth Century 39
FRONT OF OAK CHEST, French, Fifteenth Century 44
WALNUT SIDEBOARD, French, middle of Sixteenth Century 45
CABINET, FRENCH (LYONS), second half of Sixteenth Century 48
EBONY AND IVORY MARQUETRY CABINET, French, middle of
Sixteenth Century 50
SPANISH CABINET AND STAND, carved chestnut, first half
of Sixteenth Century 51
SPANISH CHEST, carved walnut, Sixteenth Century 52