by allowing 2 feet to each person sitting at table; less than this
cannot with comfort be dispensed with. A table 6 feet by 3, on a pillar
and claws, will admit of eight persons, one only at each end and three
on each side. By the addition of another bed, twelve, with four times
the room in the centre for dishes; but if a third be joined, with the
insertion of two flaps of 30 inches each, there will be agreeable room
for twenty persons.” He recommends a “dining-table for eight persons to
be 5 feet by 4 at which two upon each side may sit, but if reduced to 4
feet, 8½ inches long and 3 feet, 10 wide, it will dine the same number,
and take the same quantity of wood as a table 6 feet by 3.”
[Illustration: PLATE LXI]
The cellaret sideboard and sideboard with drawers which became
fashionable under Heppelwhite are still more developed in Sheraton’s
early period; but in his last period there seems to be a return to the
old “sideboard table” without drawers. The cellaret sideboard was always
supplied with a partitioned place for bottles of wine. “In large
circular sideboards,” Sheraton tells us, “the left-hand drawer has
sometimes been fitted up as a plate-warmer, having a rack in the middle
to stick the plates in, and lined with strong tin all round, and on the
underside of the sideboard top, to prevent the heat from injuring it. In
this case the bottom of the drawer is made partly open, under which is
fixed a small narrow drawer, to contain a heater, which gives warmth to
the plates, the same as in a pedestal.
“In spacious dining-rooms the sideboards are often made without drawers
of any sort, having simply a rail a little ornamented, and pedestals
with vases at each end, which produce a grand effect. One pedestal is
used as a plate-warmer, and is lined with tin; the other is a pot
cupboard, and sometimes it contains a cellarette for wine. The vases are
used for water for the use of the butler, and sometimes as knife-cases.
They are sometimes made of copper japanned, but generally of mahogany.
“There are other sideboards for small dining-rooms, made without either
drawers or pedestals; but have generally a wine-cooler to stand under
them, hooped with brass, partitioned and lined with lead, for
wine-bottles, the same as the above-mentioned cellarette drawers.”
On Plate LX., No. 3, is a pattern of a “sideboard table” which has four
marble shelves at each end. “These shelves,” he explains, “are used in
grand sideboards to place the small silver ware on.”
“It is not usual to make sideboards hollow in front, but if a sideboard
be required 9 or 10 feet long, as in some noblemen’s houses, and if the
breadth of it be in proportion to its length, it will not be easy for a
butler to reach across it.” A hollow front, Sheraton thinks, would
“obviate the difficulty and take off the appearance of great length.
Besides, if the sideboard be near the entering door, the hollow front
will sometimes secure the butler from the jostles of the other
servants.”
“The pedestal is used to signify that part in cabinet furniture made
nearly to the proportion and figure of a pedestal in architecture. These
are generally placed at the end of sideboards, and are designed for
holding plates for dinner; for which purpose there are two wooden racks,
generally made of oak, in which the plates are placed. The plinth part
of these pedestals is generally formed with a drawer, containing an iron
stand and heater, which diffuses a warm air to the plates and keeps them
in proper temperature at the time of dining. These pedestals are lined
with tin completely over on the inside to prevent the heat from injuring
the wood. And it may be necessary further to observe, that when there
are two pedestals to a sideboard, one of them is generally fitted up in
the inside, either with plain drawers or as a cupboard. On such
pedestals is generally placed a vase.” This vase is usually a knife or
spoon case. On Plate LXI. a sideboard with pedestals is shown. The
pedestal parts are made separately and screwed to the sideboard, and the
top is one large piece screwed to the pedestal. Under the long drawer of
the front is a cupboard enclosed by a tambour shutter. The ornament at
the back is of brass “intended as a stay for silver plate, and has
branches for three candles.” If preferred the centre “may have a glass
lustre hung within it as an ornament.”
[Illustration: PLATE LXII]
Sheraton gives two designs for knife-cases, one concave, the other
convex. In one of them the corner pilasters have “small flutes of white
holly or other coloured wood let in, and the middle pilasters have very
narrow cross bands all round, with the panels japanned in small flowers.
The top is sometimes japanned, and sometimes has only an inlaid pattern.
The half-columns of the right-hand case are sometimes fluted out, and
sometimes the flutes are let in. The feet may be turned and twisted
which will have a good effect.”
“Cellaret amongst cabinet-makers denotes a convenience for wine, or a
wine cistern.” These were mostly in the form of a sarcophagus, “an
imitation of the figure of ancient stone coffins.” They are adapted to
stand under a sideboard, some of which have covers, and others without.
Sheraton gives one design supported by dolphins, whose heads form the
foot, while the tails curve upwards. The other design is supported on
lions’ paws, and ornamented with lions’ heads. He recommends rings at
each end of the cellaret, so that the servants can conveniently move
these pieces about. “The rings and heads should be cast in brass and
lacquered, and also the dolphins and lions’ paws.”
“Buffet, anciently an apartment separated from the rest of the room by
small pillars or balusters. Their use was for placing china and glass
ware, with other articles of a similar nature. In houses of persons of
distinction in France, the Buffet is a detached room, decorated with
pictures suitable to the use of such apartments, as fountains, cisterns,
vases, etc. These ancient buffets seem in some measure superseded by the
use of modern sideboards, but not altogether, as china is seldom, if
ever, placed upon them: and we therefore think that a buffet may, with
some propriety, be restored to modern use, and prove ornamental to a
breakfast room, answering as the repository of a tea equipage. Under
this idea, we have given a design of one intended to be executed in the
following style. The lower part is to be inclosed with doors, having
silk curtains, with worked brass or wire before them. The upright border
on the top of the lower part is of brass, together with those round the
china shelves. These shelves are supported at each end with four brass
columns, made very light. The lights on each side are of brass, and may
be unscrewed and taken away occasionally. As these buffets would suit
well to be placed one on each side of the fireplace of a breakfast room,
they might very conveniently hold such branches with the addition of one
on the top, which may be screwed into a socket; or a small figure
holding a light may be placed upon it. Under the cornice is a Gothic
drapery and fringe above it.” This design, dated 1803, is represented on
Plate LIX.
“There are three kinds of dumb waiters, but they are all made of
mahogany, and are intended for the use of the dining-parlour, on which
to place glasses of wine and plates, both clean, and such as have been
used.” The one represented on Plate LXI., No. 3, is “partly from the
French taste, on the top of which, where the glass is represented, is a
slab of thin marble, which not only keeps cleaner, and looks neater than
mahogany, but also tends to keep the wine cool, when a bottle for
present use is placed upon it. The shelves below are for plates and a
knife tray. The holes for the decanters have cases of tin fit into them,
and are japanned white, which shows through the front panel in the rail,
and makes it look lighter.”
Another dumb waiter that Sheraton recommends is a table similar in
general form to No. 1 on Plate LX. The drawers are used for knives, etc.
In the centre a shelf or waiter rises on a stem, and below it are four
trays for decanters, glasses and small plates. The drawers are lined
with “a tin case to fit loose in and japanned white, to have the plate
trays with the balusters. These are easily taken out, and may be cleaned
and replaced when necessary. And the workman must observe that the
waiters turn round on the pillars; for the under pillow has a beechnut
let into it, and the upper part screws itself home into it, so as to
admit the waiter to turn.
“The plate trays ought to be 11 inches in diameter in the clear, and the
opening for the hand 4½ inches. There is a turned astragal for the top
rail and the baluster.”
A supper tray called a “Canterbury,” Sheraton says is “made to stand by
a table at supper, with a circular end, and three partitions crosswise,
to hold knives, forks and plates at that end, which is made circular on
purpose.” An Archbishop of Canterbury is said to have invented this
piece of furniture.
Sheraton made a great variety of beds. They include French beds, state
beds, dome, canopy, alcove, and sofa beds. The former are very
intricate. He describes them as follows: “Beds of this kind have been
introduced of late with great success in England. The dome is supported
by iron rods of about an inch in diameter, curved regularly down to each
pillar where they are fixed with a strong screw and nut. These iron rods
are covered and entirely hid by a valance, which comes in a regular
sweep, and meets in a point at the vases on the pillars. Behind this
valance, which continues all round, the drapery is drawn up by pulleys
and tied up by a silken cord and tassels at the head of the pillars. The
headboards of these beds are framed and stuffed, and covered to suit the
hangings, and the frame is white and gold, if the pillars and cornice
are. The bed-frame is sometimes ornamented, and has drapery valances
below. Observe that grooves are made in the pillars to receive the
headboards, and screwed at the top, by which means the whole is kept
firm, and is easily taken to pieces. Square bolsters are now often
introduced, with margins of various colours stitched all round. The
counterpane has also these margins; they are also fringed at bottom, and
have sometimes a drapery tied up in cords and tassels on the side.”
[Illustration: PLATE LXIII]
Of the large bed on Plate LXIII. Sheraton says:
“This design requires no explanation, except that which relates to the
tester. The cove of the tester is to be formed by the ribs; one at each
mitre, and other short ones joined to them with the rest about five
inches apart from each other. At the upper part of the cove is a square
tester into which the ribs are fixed. On the edge of this tester, which
is made very light, is fixed a small moulding mitred all around. The
cove being formed, the ribs may be covered with strong board-paper, both
inside and out, which may either be japanned to match the furniture, or
it may be covered with the furniture itself. The circular part above the
cove is nothing more than a straight board fixed on to the upper tester.
For the sake of easy conveyance, the cove may be made in four parts,
mitering at each corner, and the ornament intended to be at each mitre
on the outside running entirely up to the feathers, will hide the joint.
“The swags of silk that appear on the drapery should be fastened to the
back part of the cornice in order that they may hang easy. The pillars
are to be japanned. The panel that hides the screws are made to slip
into a groove at the bottom, and being bevelled off behind at the top,
when raised up a little from their place, by pressing the finger on the
front, can easily be taken away to come at the screws. The valance and
drapery both together slip on to a lath as in common.” It may be
interesting to note that Sheraton preferred a “firm bed” to the soft
down or feather. He recommends first a straw mattress covered with a
flock mattress, upon which are placed a feather bed and then a hair
mattress.
“The alcove, or recess,” he writes, “is used in Spain for seats and
sometimes for beds of state. The English have imitated these by
sometimes fitting up the end of long rooms in this style; which may
answer both for ornament and to bring any apartment of undue length into
proportion. In forming such an alcove for a place of retirement to rest
on, a couple of Corinthian columns may be placed on each side of the
room, so as to leave a spacious entrance into the alcove. The columns
should not be placed less than six feet from the end of the room, nor
more than nine, except in extraordinary cases. The seats are made low to
receive their cushions, and drapery valances are fixed to the under edge
of the frame. From surbase height the walls are covered with silk
quilted, or disposed into uniform panels, in any other manner to suit
the rest of the room. In the space between the surbase are placed back
cushions, or a stuffed back, framed to fit all round and screwed to.
From the frieze of the cornice below the ceiling is fixed draperies,
either with or without tails: such alcoves when properly applied have a
pleasing effect. When they are fitted up for beds, it will add to the
effect if the bed be placed on a double plinth, in the form of two
steps, laid with a carpet to suit the rest, and the effect will still be
heightened, if a drapery be fixed, parting from the centre of the
entrance and flowing down each side of the inner columns.
“There is a curtain under the drapery which slides on a rod, and may be
brought forward to cover the whole bed. The other tied up may be
considered as a fixed drapery, but may be taken down occasionally. The
tester and cornice need not project more than twenty inches, and the
length of the bed, including the volutes, about eight feet.”
“Duchess, a kind of bed composed of three parts, or a chair at each end
and stool between them. They are only intended for a single lady, and
are therefore not more than about 30 inches wide. The chair ends, when
apart, have the appearance of large arm or fauteuil chairs, and the
middle part may be used as a stool.” The tester is made to fold. The
arms of the chair part are dolphins, and an acanthus spray ending in a
scroll ornaments the back. The duchess is covered with a striped
material, a square or round cushion is at each end, and the drapery is
composed of two curtains falling from a kind of dome (ornamented by a
pineapple or pomme), while a scarf is slipped through rings and forms a
swag in front of the dome and two festoons at each side. An illustration
of Sheraton’s duchess is given on Plate LIX., No. 2.
Of camp or field-bedsteads there is a great variety. They all have
folding tester laths, either hexagonal or elliptical shaped, and hinged
so as to fold close together. In size they run about 6 feet long and 3
feet, 6 or 9 inches in width, and between 5 feet 6 inches to 6 feet high
to the crown of the tester. “Suitable for low rooms for servants or
children, they receive their name on account of their being similar in
size and shape to those really used in camps.”
“A sofa-bed,” which is really the _lit anglais_ that was so fashionable
in France, appears on Plate LXIII., No. 1. Both of its ends are alike,
and, of course, it is supplied with two bolsters. Sheraton’s general
directions regarding the “sofa-bed” are as follows:
“The frames of these beds are sometimes painted in ornaments to suit the
furniture. But when the furniture is of very rich silk, they are done in
white and gold, and the ornaments carved. The tablets may each have a
festoon of flowers or foliage, and the cornice cut out in leaves and
gilt has a good effect. The drapery under the cornice is of the French
kind; it is fringed all round, and laps on to each other like unto
waves. The valance serves as a ground, and is also fringed. The roses
which tuck up the curtains are formed by silk cord, etc., on the wall,
to suit the hangings; and observe that the centre rose contains a brass
hook and socket, which will unhook so that the curtains will come
forward and entirely enclose the whole bed. The sofa part is sometimes
made without any back, in the manner of a couch. It must also be
observed that the best kind of these beds have what the upholsterers
call a fluting, which is done by a slight frame of wood, fastened to the
wall, on which is strained in straight puckers, some of the same stuff
of which the curtains are made.”
On Plate LXIII. No. 2 appears what Sheraton calls a “Grecian squab.” The
frame is of white and gold or mahogany. The end not visible in the
sketch turns up with a scroll. The back extends no further than shown.
It is a kind of _chaise longue_, which Sheraton calls “a long chair,
couch or squab.” The “_chaise longue_,” according to him, “has a stuffed
back and arm on each side with a bolster and its use pretty much the
same as the Grecian squabs or couches.” In another place he says “their
use is to rest or loll upon after dinner.”
A novelty is the “Turkey sofa,” which has been “introduced into the most
fashionable homes.” They are “an imitation of the Turkish mode of
sitting,” and are, therefore, “made very low, scarcely exceeding a foot
to the upper side of the cushion. The frame may be made of beech and
must be webbed and strained with canvas to support the cushions.”
Sheraton seems to have taken a particular pleasure in all the convenient
articles for the use of ladies, and these comprehend everything from
dressing and work tables to tiny comb and pin trays. The work-table was
generally a writing-desk as well, with compartments of all kinds
arranged with the greatest economy of space. No. 2 on Plate LX. is a
good specimen of a work-table dated 1793. The legs are lyre-shaped and
the top rises for writing. When let down it locks into the frame and
secures the bag where the work is kept. The work-bag is hidden by a
drapery that is tacked to a rabbet at the under edge of the frame all
around. The legs are lyre-shaped. No. 4 on the same Plate is a
“Pouch-table” dated 1803. The work-bag is attached to a frame which
pulls forward. In this bag ladies “deposit their fancy needlework.”
“When required to be elegant,” Sheraton remarks, “black rosewood is
used; otherwise they may be made very near of mahogany.” The example on
Plate LX. has a brass rail around each end. Sometimes the top is
finished as a chess-board. The “French work-table” was generally made of
satin-wood with a brass moulding round the edge of the rim. The tambour
shutter is often introduced into the work-table.
The Lady’s Cabinet dressing-table on Plate LIX. is composed of an
ordinary commode, upon the top of which is a case or nest of drawers
“when the washing drawers is in, a slider which is above it may be drawn
out to write on occasionally. The ink and stand are in the right-hand
drawer under the centre dressing-glass. Behind the drapery, which is
tacked to a rabbet and fringed or gimped to cover the nails, is a shelf
on which may stand any vessel to receive the dirty water. Above the
drapery are tambour cupboards, one at each end, and one in the centre
under the drawer. Above the tambour at each end are real drawers, which
are fitted up to hold every article necessary in dressing. The drawers
in the cabinet part are intended to hold all the ornaments of dress, as
rings, drops, etc. Behind the centre glass is drapery; it may be real to
suit that below, or it may only be painted in imitation of it. This
swings to any position, on centre pins fixed on the shelf above the
candle branches. The side glasses fold in behind the doors, and the
doors themselves, when shut, appear solid, with ovals in the panels and
ornamented to suit the other parts.”
Sheraton devotes many plates to articles that appeal to gentlemen. His
shaving-stands and dressing-glasses are marvels of convenience. The
tambour shutter appears in many of the night-tables, bason-stands, etc.,
etc., and when it is not employed, little silk curtains hang down across
the shelves or doors. No. 5 on Plate LX. is a “corner bason stand.” The
bowl or bason fits into the hollow and the water-jug stands in the
centre of the straining-rails.
The Pembroke Table differed little from Heppelwhite’s. It is “used for a
gentleman or lady to breakfast on. The style of finishing these tables
is very neat, sometimes bordering upon elegance, being at times made of
satin wood, and having richly japanned borders round their tops with
ornamental drawer fronts.”
The Harlequin Pembroke Table “serves not only as a breakfast table, but
also as a writing table, very suitable for a lady.” This was equipped
with “ingenious machinery,” and contained a “nest of drawers” that could
be “raised to any height.”
A design particularly associated with Sheraton is the “kidney library
table.” Of the one appearing as No. 3 on Plate LIX., Sheraton writes:
“This piece is termed a kidney-table on account of its resemblance to
that intestine part of animals so called. The drawers are strung and
cross-banded with mahogany laid up and down. The pilasters are panelled
or cross-banded, and the feet are turned.” This is intended for a
writing-table. The French call this shape _haricot_. The secretary and
book-case was popular throughout the whole Sheraton period. Two examples
are shown on Plate LXI. One is a full drawing, which needs no
description, except to say that silk, preferably green, is fluted behind
the glass doors. The other, appearing as Nos. 1 and 2, Sheraton thus
describes.
“The use of this piece is to hold books in the upper part, and in the
lower it contains a writing-drawer and clothes-press shelves. The design
is intended to be executed in satin-wood, and the ornaments japanned. It
may, however, be done in mahogany; and in place of the ornaments in the
friezes, flutes may be substituted. The pediment is simply a segment of
a circle, and it may be cut in the form of a fan with leaves in the
centre. The vases may be omitted to reduce the work; but if they are
introduced, the pedestal on which the centre vase rests is merely a
piece of thin wood, with a necking and base moulding mitred round, and
planted on the pediment. The pilasters on the bookcase doors are planted
on the frame, and the door hinged as usual. The tops of the pilasters
are made to imitate the Ionic capital.” The cylinder desk and bookcase
was also in use. “The style of finishing them is somewhat elegant, being
made of satin-wood, cross-banded and varnished. This design shows green
silk fluting behind the glass, and drapery put on at the top before the
fluting is tacked to, which has a good look when properly managed. The
square figure of the door is much in fashion now.” The rim around the
top is brass.
A good library table is No. 1, on Plate LX.
No. 1 on Plate LX. Sheraton calls very modern (1803). He recommends it
to be made of mahogany. “The toes and casters are of one piece cast in
brass. The nest of drawers in the centre rise, by two small springs
placed opposite to each other, which are constructed on the model of
baize door springs, which cannot but be understood by any workman who is
acquainted with hanging a door of that kind. In this table, there are
four real drawers made with square sides.” For card-tables, he says:
“The ornaments may be japanned on the frames and tongued in the legs.”
Turning now to smaller articles, we find that convex and concave mirrors
with gilt frames and branches for candles and standing tripods bearing
lights are very fashionable. Brackets for lamps are made usually of
brass and sometimes of mahogany. They are often screwed to the handrail
of the staircase. Brackets are also especially designed for clocks.
Clocks are also placed upon the chimney-piece and upon the commode. In
Sheraton’s _Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterers Drawing-Book_ there are a
number of tall clock-cases painted and japanned with ovals and
arabesques and fanciful pictures; but in 1803 Sheraton writes that the
tall clock-case is “almost obsolete in London,” and from what he says we
gather that no fashionable person would think of having one in his
house. The footstool is stuffed with hair and covered generally with
needlework. Its frame is oval, square, or octagon, with turned legs. Its
height without stuffing is 6 or 6½ inches; its length 9½ to a foot, and
its width 7 to 8 inches.