A SHORT HISTORY OF FURNITURE PERIODS
Throughout
history, trends in furniture design have evolved alongside
societies,
the materials they had access to, and advancements in
technology.
Today’s historian thus has a variety of characteristics to
apply to
furniture to determine the date in which it was made.
• Categorized by
species:Furniture periods are sometimes defined
by the prevailing species of the time
• Categorized by
century:Many
furniture periods span multiple
centuries, but general design themes can be attributed
defined 100-year
spans
Age of
Oak
Furniture made during the
reigns of
the British Tudor monarchs (Henry
VIII, Elizabeth I, et al.) is commonly referred to as
belonging to the
Age of Oak, since oak was the predominant species used for
most pieces.
As with all period styles, there is no clear beginning and
end, but
over a period of 160 years from around 1500 broad
characteristics can
be seen.
Age of Oak furniture
retains much of
the previous Gothic period,
especially in the amount of carving used to decorate
panels and framing
members, although the use of pierced carving was less
popular. In
general these are massive, sturdy pieces, such as huge
four-poster
beds, long rectangular tables with bulbous turned legs
connected by
stout stretchers, benches for general use, and joined (as
opposed to
turned) chairs made for important people. The totally
enclosed,
frame-and-panel chair typical of the medieval period
slowly gave way to
a lighter version with turned or carved legs, but both are
known as
wainscot chairs, implying either that the oak used was
imported from
the Baltic or that the construction method was
frame-and-paneling
similar to the wall paneling of the period.
Joined, frame-and-panel
chests, in
distinction to the solid-board
chests of previous centuries, reached their peak in this
period, and
became the inspiration for various other developments such
as settles,
dressers, and cupboards. This period is also known as the
English
Renaissance, since much of its inspiration came from a
renewed interest
in classical forms brought to England by craftsmen from
Spain, Italy,
and the Netherlands at the invitation of Henry VIII.
Italian-inspired carving
in the form
of acanthus leafage, fruit and
floral carving, bas-relief figure carving, and armorial
motifs was as
widespread as the earlier linenfold and
parchemin carved
panels. The honest, four-square, if massive quality of
this period was
in part the inspiration for the Arts and Crafts style that
appeared
towards the end of the
19th century.
Age
of Walnut
The term “Age of Walnut”
is not so
much descriptive of any particular
style of furniture as it is a means of dating
furniture -- roughly
from 1600 to 1730. One reason for the gradual introduction
of walnut
may have been improvements in sawing. While planks could
only with
difficulty be sawn thinner than an inch, it was natural to
construct
furniture using them as such, and to employ carving as the
easiest form
of decoration. But as people learned to cut thinner slices
of material,
it became possible to use such thin slices --
especially when of
wood remarkable for its contrasting color or unusual
figure -- as
an alternative form of decoration. And, in fact, it was
the gradual
increase of this new technique (using walnut inlaid or
veneered upon
oak) that accounts in large part for the decrease of
carved surfaces as
the chief characteristic of fancy furniture.
Age of
Mahogany and
Satinwood
The Age of Walnut
gradually gave way
to a period in which mahogany was
the predominant species used. The Age of Mahogany
dominated much of the
middle part of the 18th century. The beginning of this
period saw a
sudden simplification of style into a less ornamented and
more severely
elegant aesthetic. Emphasis was henceforth on simple,
flowing lines.
Later examples became more heavily carved, fretted, and
typically
replete with what is perhaps the most characteristic
element of this
whole period: the cabriole leg. This was at first
plain and
finished with a simple turned pad foot, and later
developed into a much
carved element, complete with ball-and-claw, hairy paw, or
lion’s feet.
The latter part of the
century is
sometimes referred to as the Age of
Satinwood, although mahogany continued to be very
popular. It
was dominated by a less curvilinear, more severe,
classically
inspired style introduced by the architects known as the
Adelphi — the
trademark adopted by the four Adams brothers.
17th
Century
The early Jacobean period,
starting
around 1603, when James I came to
the throne, represents a gradual change from Age of Oak
Elizabethan
exuberance to a less ornamented, quieter style. Table
legs, for example
became straighter and lost the large "melon" turnings that
were typical
of earlier pieces. Spiral-turned legs are also typical of
this
period -- something that remained popular in gateleg
tables for
centuries. Overall profiles became lower and more
rectangular. Later
Jacobean furniture (during the time of Cromwell the
Protector) was very
stern, square, and frugal, as befitted a retreat into a
time of
righteous severity. But with the return of the monarchy
under Charles
II, Carolean furniture once again became much more ornate,
characterized by intricate carved stretchers and colorful
upholstery
decorated with tasseled fringes.
During the early Colonial
period of
the United States (approximately
1620–1750), much furniture arrived with the first
immigrants, including
most famously the Pilgrims. They brought with them, and
then made,
pieces typical of the Jacobean and Carolean periods in
Britain: late
Renaissance-style pieces that were still largely
representative of the
so-called Age of Oak. These were in general sturdy pieces
heavily
carved, many with cup-turned legs and bun feet. In the
harsher
environment of the Colonies these pieces were often
simpler
representatives of the parent styles, as befitted a more
straightforward and utilitarian life.
Other influences were also
present
during the Pilgrim century, most
notably Dutch and French in the Northeast, and Spanish in
the
Southwest. Although recognizably different from their
British-inspired
counterparts, Dutch pieces are essentially in the same
tradition,
whereas the different climate and different species of
lumber available
to Spanish colonists produced -- and continue to
produce -- a
distinct style known as Mission or Southwestern.
The earliest attributable
American-made piece of furniture is a chest
made by Nicholas Disbrowe around 1660. Uncompromisingly
rectangular,
its distinctively carved frame-and-panel construction,
although very
reminiscent of earlier British Age of Oak pieces, is
already
recognizable as a distinct American style. Many other
early Colonial
era pieces, such as wainscot chairs and heavy
joint-tables, are
similarly in the Age of Oak tradition.
By the end of the period,
the
influence of the British William and Mary
style was being felt. Compared to earlier Jacobean and
Carolean pieces
this was a lighter, more elegant style. Inverted,
cup-turned legs, bun
feet, and serpentine stretchers make this style very
identifiable,
especially in comparison with the Queen Anne style that
followed,
marking the beginning of the 18th century.
The 18th
Century
To understand the
term "18th-century furniture," it will be most
instructive to refer to the following terms, all of which
may also be
defined as 18th century: William and Mary, Queen
Anne,
Georgian, Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton,
Adam,
Regency, Federal, and the French periods of the
several Louis,
Directoire, and Empire.
In essence, however, all
18th-century
furniture, whether American,
British, or French -- and there is much connection
between the
first two and a great deal of dependence of these two on
the latter --
shares an informed and purposely trained construction that
is distinct
from much subsequent furniture. There is both less of the
unrestrained
commercialism typical of the mass-produced furniture of
the 19th
century with its endless "Revival" styles, and less of the
often
self-indulgent aestheticism of so-called studio or art
furniture
typical
of the 20th century.
Eighteenth-century
furniture may be
commonly thought of as representing
the golden age of the cabinetmaker, trained in the "Arts
and Mysteries
of the Craft," which manifests as highly finished,
sophisticated
designs, albeit stylistically often as widely divergent
from one
another as is a cabriole leg from a Federal taper.
The 19th
Century
The 19th century is marked
by the
Industrial Revolution, which caused
profound changes in society. With increasing working
populations in
cities, with the rise of a new class of wealthy (but not
necessarily
informed) furniture buyers, together with the arrival of
mass-production and the consequent demise of the
individual
craftsman-designer, the gradual progression of furniture
styles that
had characterized previous centuries was replaced by a
riot of often
poorly imitated styles.
Since mass-production of
parts became
easy and inexpensive, it was a
simple matter to graft more or less historically correct
ornaments onto
all sorts of furniture, thereby making possible a
continual stream of
"revival" styles to whet the public’s appetite. The result
was a
century of furniture whose commonest denominator was
excessive ornament
in the form of applied metal or wood carvings, inlays, or
stencils,
marketed variously under the guise of so-called Rococo
Revival, Gothic
Revival, Renaissance and Italian Revivals, Greek, Roman,
and Egyptian
Revivals, and even various Eastern Revivals.
20th
Century
The term"20th Century" is
only very
generally useful, since it includes
so many distinct styles more usefully understood on their
own. But it
can be taken to refer to anything produced after the 19th
century, and
by and large as representing relatively contemporary
furniture as
opposed to period furniture.
Styles such as Art Nouveau
and Art
Deco, while remaining useful
inspirations for subsequent 20th-century styles, are quite
distinct
from most Modern and Post-modern furniture, and none of
the above can
be considered as quintessentially representative of
the20th century.
The fact remains, however,
that
because of the greater availability of
a wider array of materials than ever before, and because
of an
ever-expanding awareness of historical and cross-cultural
aesthetics,
20th-century furniture is perhaps more diverse, in terms
of style, than
the entire three centuries that preceded it.
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