Ancient and Modern Furniture and Woodwork

We have early notices of the use of cypress chests, perhaps cabinets as some of them are fitted with drawers, in this country. John of Gaunt in his will, 1397, specifies "a little box of cypress wood;" probably something like the chest engraved from a manuscript of that date: out of which the servant is taking a robe evidently richly embroidered with armorial bearings. In the memoirs of the antiquities of Great Britain, relating to the reformation, we find an account of church plate, money, gold and silver images, &c., delivered to Henry the eighth: "Paid William Grene, the king's coffer-maker, for making of a coffer covered with fustyan of Naples, and being full of drawers and boxes lined with red and grene sarcynet to put in stones of divers sorts, vi. li. xviij. s. ij. d.," by which we may gather something of its costly construction, "and to Cornelys the locke smythe for making all the iron worke, that is to say, the locke, gymours, handels, ryngs to every drawer box, the price xxxvi. s. iv. d."

The marquetry invented or brought to perfection by Boule was displayed in greater magnificence on cabinets of various shapes than on any other pieces of furniture. The same may be said of the marquetry cabinets in wood executed during the eighteenth century in France by Riesener and David, with the help of the metal mounts of Gouthière and his contemporaries. In these fine pieces the interior is generally simple and the conceits of the previous century are omitted. Japan cabinets obtained through the Dutch were frequently imported into England. The hinges and mounts were of silver or gilt metal, richly chased. The bureau, escritoire, or office desk, called in Germany Kaunitz after a princely inventor, was a knee-hole table. These tall bureaux were of general, almost universal, use in England during the last century.

Sideboards.

There are several old sideboards in the Kensington museum, described under the names of dressoir or dressoir de salle à manger in the large catalogue. They are small cupboards and would be called cabinets but for the drawers half-way down, and the rows of the shelves on the top; and are of the sixteenth century date. According to Willemin, the old etiquette of France, certainly that of Burgundy, prescribed five steps or shelves to these dressers for use during meals for queens; four for duchesses or princesses; three for their children and for countesses and grandes dames; two for other noble ladies. In the middle ages cupboards or dressers were mere covered boards or shelves against a wall on which plate was set out, and were made of three or four or more stages according to the splendour of the occasion. The cupboard dresser of more modest pretensions was considered as a piece of dining-room furniture. It was ordinarily covered with a piece of embroidery.

Robert Frevyll bequeaths, 1521, to his "son John a stone cobard in the hall." A manuscript inventory of Henry the eighth names, "Item, one large cuppbord carpet of grene cloth of gold with workes lyned with bockeram, conteyning in length three yards, iii. q'ters, and three bredthes." In the herald's account of the feast at Westminster, on the occasion of the marriage of prince Arthur, we find "There was also a stage of dyvers greas and hannes (degrees and enhancings of height) for the cuppbord that the plate shulde stande inn, the which plate for the moost part was clene (pure) goold, and the residue all gilte and non silver, and was in length from the closet doore to the chimney." And when in the next reign Henry entertained Francis at Calais, a cupboard of seven stages was provided and furnished with gold and silver gilt plate.

Before concluding these remarks on dining-room furniture something may be said on painted roundels or wooden platters. Though they have long ceased to be used for their original purpose, several sets still complete remain in country houses and collections of different kinds; and three sets are in the Kensington museum. They are usually twelve in number: and all seem to be of the date of the late Tudor princes. They were kept in boxes turned out of a block, and decorated with painting and gilding. Their size does not differ materially, all the sets varying from 5⅜ to 5⅝ inches. There are, however, smaller sets to be seen which range from 2¾ to 5 inches in diameter. The top surface is in all instances plain and the under surface painted with a border of flowers, generally alternating with knots more or less artistically drawn in vermilion: "posyes" or a couple of verses are generally added. These platters were used in the sixteenth century as dessert plates, the plain side being at the top. Leland speaks of the "confettes" at the end of a dinner, "sugar plate fertes, with other subtilties with ippocrass" (a sweet wine). Earthenware plates though not unknown were still very uncommon in England before the reign of Elizabeth. The dinner was served on plate in royal or very great houses, on pewter and wooden trenchers in more humble and unpretending households. Specimens of the latter may still be seen in our old collegiate establishments. Probably the earliest instance of the use of earthenware may be found in the time of Edward the first, when some dishes and plates of that material were bought from a Spanish ship. Pitchers, jugs and the like had been for centuries commonly made. "Porselyn" is mentioned in 1587: where we read of "five dishes of earth painted, such as are brought from Venice" being presented to the queen on one of her progresses.

Carriages.

The shape and decoration of carriages have changed continually, but these changes have not always been in the direction of convenience and handiness for rapid motion. Our space will not allow us to enter here upon a history of the chariots of ancient nations; Egyptians, Greeks, or Romans. A detailed account of them will be found in the introduction to the large catalogue of furniture at South Kensington. The woodcut represents the Roman "biga," the original of which (in marble) is in the Vatican; and the "pilentum," or covered carriage, from the column of Theodosius.

We know but little of the period succeeding the destruction of Rome and the extinction of classic customs. In the middle ages we find carts, like those now in use for agricultural purposes in France; a long frame with spreading rails balanced on one pair of wheels of large dimensions, drawn by a string of horses. The woodcut of a family carriage is from the well-known Luttrell psalter, an illuminated manuscript of the early fourteenth century. Such vehicles seem to have been clumsy enough and had no springs: nevertheless they were much ornamented with various decorations. They had roofs as a protection from the weather, with silk or leather curtains; and the interior was fitted with cushions. In the "Squire of low degree" the father of the princess of Hungary promises,

The oldest kind of wheel-carriages known in England were called whirlecotes, and one of these belonged to the mother of Richard the second. Whirlecotes were used also at the marriage of Katherine of Arragon. Coaches were probably first introduced from Hungary. They seem to have been square, not differing greatly in outline from the state coaches of which numerous engraved plates can be seen; and were considered as too effeminate a conveyance for men in the days of Elizabeth. The coach of Henry the fourth of France may be studied in the plate by Van Luyken that represents his murder by Ravaillac, 1610. It is four-wheeled, square, with a flat awning on four corner pillars or supports, and curtains. The centre descends into a kind of boot with leather sides. The accompanying woodcut represents the carriage of the English ambassador at Rome in 1688: and we add also an engraving of a state carriage of about fifty years later, still in the possession of Lord Darnley.

APPENDIX.

NAMES OF DESIGNERS OF WOODWORK AND MAKERS
OF FURNITURE.

Only very meagre notices are to be found of the artists to whom we owe the designs of modern furniture. For a hundred and fifty years after the renaissance, furniture partook so generally, and the woodwork of rooms so entirely, of the character and followed so continually the details of architecture that the history of furniture-designers is that of the architects of the day. These found in the members of guilds of carvers, carpenters, or image sculptors admirable hands to carry out the ornamental details of their woodwork, such as chimney-pieces, &c., and who made sideboards, cabinets, chairs, and tables to suit the woodwork. We have space here only for the names; in the large catalogue a brief notice of almost every one of them is also given.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | V | W

INDEX.

• Adam, Robert and John, 112
• Alexandria, ancient centre of civilisation, 17
• Anglo-saxon houses, 44
• Antioch, ancient centre of civilisation, 17
• Architectural style in furniture, 94
• Art, classic, ends in third century, 34
  • Byzantine, 35
  • mediæval, its growth, 41
    • its perfection, 47
  • Romanesque, long continuance, 42
  • renaissance, 66
  • classic, revived in eighteenth century, 107
    • early nineteenth century, 114
• Atrium, 18
• Attalus introduces tapestry, 17
• Bedrooms, English, fourteenth century, 50
  • French, eighteenth century, 104
• Beds, Byzantine period, 37
  • Norman, 46
  • Egyptian, Greek, &c., 116
  • Mediæval, 118, 119
  • at Hampton court, 120
• Bellows, renaissance, 72
• Bombé furniture, 104, 111
• Boucher, 108108
• Boule, 95
• Bureaux in marquetry, 93, 104
  • or knee-hole, 128
• Byzantine period, 35
  • wealth, 38
  • artists welcomed by Charlemagne, 41
• Cabinet, French, sixteenth century, 89
  • Japan, 128
• Cafass, Egyptian wood, 4
• Candelabra, 23, 24
• Candles, Anglo-saxon, &c., 23, 48
• Carriage, Anglo-saxon, 45
  • fourteenth century, 54, 131
  • seventeenth century, 92
  • the Speaker's, 132
  • Lord Darnley's, 132
• Caskets, Byzantine, 37
• Ceilings in Roman houses, 21, 31
• Chair, Egyptian, 4, 121
  • Nineveh, 7
  • Greek, 10, 11, 14
  • Roman, 28, 122
  • of St. Peter, 35
  • Byzantine, 37
  • at Ravenna, 39, 122
  • in Bayeux tapestry, 45
  • coronation, 49
  • of Guidobaldo, 63
  • Italian, fifteenth century, 63
  • folding mediæval, 122
  • of silver, at Barcelona, 123
  • the Glastonbury, 123
  • Italian, seventeenth century, 124
  • marquetry, 124
• Chambers, Sir William, 106
• Chariots, Hebrew, 9
  • Greek, 15
  • Roman, 130
  • Byzantine, 37
• Chest, Greek, 11
  • Roman, 29
  • of king John, 47
  • fourteenth century, 51
  • for copes, 56
  • fifteenth century, 60
• Chest, Italian, 61
  • renaissance, 69, 71
• Chimneypieces, eighteenth century, 106
• Chippendale, 106
• Cipriani, 112
• Cluny hôtel, carriages there, 2
• Colbert, his patronage of art, 94
• Couches, Egyptian, 5
  • Roman, 13
  • mediæval, 120
• Coypel, Antoine, 104
• Cradle, mediæval, 121
• Cubicula, 20
• Cypress chests, 70, 127
• Dagobert's chair, 43
• David, 105
• Delafosse, 104, 108
• Dilettanti society, influence, 115
• Dining-room, Byzantine, 38
• Diptych of Anastasius, 36
• Distaff, 106
• Doorway, English, seventeenth century, 98
• "Droit de prisage," 54
• Ébénistes, fine cabinet makers, 108
• Ebony used seventeenth century, 108
• Egyptian furniture, 5
• Elizabethan style, 85
• Flemish furniture, seventeenth century, 87
• Fragonard, 108
• French style prevalent in eighteenth century, 103, 105
• Furniture, use of a collection, 1
  • Byzantine, still perhaps in mosques and treasuries, 40
  • sixteenth century, architectural, 75
  • eighteenth century, 103
  • bombé, explained, 104
• German artists in England, sixteenth century, 78
  • work, eighteenth century, 111111
• Gillow, 113
• Glass windows in Roman houses, 20
  • mosaics, &c., 22
  • Venetian, 99
• Glue used by the Romans, 33
• Gouthière, 105, 110
• Greek manners, simple, 12
  • houses, 14
• Grinling Gibbons, 97
  • best examples of his work, 97
• Halls in Roman villas, 20
• Hebrew furniture, 8
• Heppelwhite, 113
• Hogarth, paintings of chimneypieces, 106
• Holbein, his influence, 78
• Holy-water stoup, 102
• House, Roman, 18
  • Greek, 14
  • how warmed in Rome, 29
  • Anglo-saxon and Norman, 44, 46
  • of timber, fifteenth century, 58
• Iconoclasts, destruction by, 40
• Italian coffer at South Kensington, 61
  • artists, sixteenth century, 68
    • in France and England, 78, 89
  • carved woodwork, sixteenth century, 89
  • distaff, 106
• Japanese lac-work, 106
• Kauffmann (Angelica), 112
• Kaunitz, a kind of bureau, 128
• Kitchen utensils, Roman, 30
• Knife case, sixteenth century, 76
• Lac-work, Chinese and Japanese, 106
• Lalonde, 108
• Lares, 28
• Lebrun, first head of the "Gobelins," 95
• Le Pautre family, 104
• Litters, Roman, 31
• Lock (Matthias), 112
• Locks in Roman houses, 21
• Louvre, Egyptian boxes, 6
• Maggiolino, 111
• Mansard, 104
• Marquetry, Venetian, 62
  • seventeenth century, 92, 93
  • Boule, 95
• Meissonnier, 104, 108
• Metallurgy, British, 42
• Micque, 108
• Mirror, Greek, 13
  • renaissance, 69
• Mirror frames, sixteenth century, 71
  • Venetian, 91, 99
  • made in England, seventeenth century, 99, 100
• Mosaic, Roman, pavements and on walls,
  • or pietra dura, 74
• Natoire, 108
• Nero, colossus in his house, 25
• Nineveh furniture, 6
• Nuptiale, 18
• Œci, 20
• Oppenord, 108
• Ostium, 18
• Paintings and pictures in Roman houses,
  • in thirteenth century, of rooms, 48, 49
• Panelling for rooms, 49
  • oriental, 57
  • of a chest, 60
  • English, sixteenth century, 79, 80
  • French, sixteenth century, 84
  • English, 86
• Pedestal, 90
• Penates, 18
• Peristylium, 20
• Persian furniture, 8
  • marquetry, 63
• Picture-frames, renaissance, 71
• Pomeranian cabinet at Berlin, 92
• Pompeii, value of discoveries, 16
• Porcelain given to Queen Elizabeth, 130
• Pottery, time of Edward I., 49
• Pudens, ancient house of, 20
• Pugin, 114
• Queverdo, 108
• Religious houses, their woodwork, 63
  • safe generally from spoliation, 67
• Renaissance in Italy, 66
  • materials employed, 69
  • in England, France, &c., 78
• Restout, Jean, 104
• Riesener, 105, 108, 109
• Robert, 108
• Rococo furniture, 103
• Roentgen, 108, 109
• Roman habits, at first simple, 16
  • house, 18
  • couches in dining-rooms, 19, 27
  • locks and hinges, 21
  • tables, 25
  • chairs, 28
  • kitchen utensils, 30
• Roof of Westminster Hall, 55
• Room decorations, French, eighteenth century, 107
• Room of Marie Antoinette's time at South Kensington, 107
• Roundels, 129
• Salembier, 108
• Scamnum, 28
• Sculpture, architectural, &c., fourteenth century, 56
  • renaissance, 69
• Settle or seat, fourteenth century, 51
• Sheraton, Thomas, 113
• Sideboards, 128
• Silks for furniture, eighteenth century, 107
• Stuart style of woodwork and furniture, 85, 96
• Table, Egyptian, 124
  • Nineveh, 8
  • Roman, 25, 125
    • veneered, 27
    • great value, 27
  • Norman, 46
  • furniture of, fourteenth century, 50
  • fourteenth and fifteenth century, 53, 58, 125
  • sixteenth century, 71
  • of Francesco de' Medici, 75
  • French, sixteenth century, 80, 81
  • English, seventeenth century, 102
  • long kept at Flaxton Hall, 126
• Tapestry first brought to Rome, 17
  • in Roman houses, 30
  • in England, fourteenth century, &c., 50, 61
  • Gobelin, 95
• Tarsia, 62, 73, 74
• Temple of Diana, 33
• Theatre of C. Curio, 32
• Tigrinæ tables, 26
• Triclinium, 18,
• Tripods, 22
• Tudor cabinet at South Kensington, 78
  • style, 85
• Vase from Hadrian's villa, 25
• Venetian mirror-frame, 91
• Vernis-Martin, 105
• Vestiaria, 20
• Walpole (Horace), opinion on mediæval art, 111
• Wardrobe, old English, 49
  • Roman, 126
• Wars of the Roses, evil consequences, 64
• Wood used in Nineveh, 8
  • Greece, 15
  • Rome, for tables, &c., 26, 32
  • by Riesener, 109
• Woodwork, English, in thirteenth century, 48
  • sixteenth century, 79
  • Germany, in sixteenth century, 83
  • Spanish, in sixteenth century, 84
  • Tudor and Stuart, 86
• Wren, Sir Christopher, 97
• Wyattville, 114