French and English furniture : $b distinctive styles and periods described and illustratedSingleton, Esther
History
French and English furniture : $b distinctive styles and periods described and illustrated
Singleton, Esther
Furniture -- England; Furniture -- France
They were greatly in demand, as we have seen, and not only altered the
interiors and exteriors of many English mansions, but designed the
decorations. Chimney-pieces, ceilings, walls, niches, the handles of
doors, locks, key-plates, cornices, draperies, furniture, gold and
silver ware, and even damask for the table. Nothing seemed too great,
nor too slight for their hands. The attitude they had towards their work
may be appreciated by the following words:
“If we have any claim to approbation, we found it on this alone. That we
flatter ourselves we have been able to seize, with some degree of
success, the beautiful spirit of antiquity, and to transfuse it, with
novelty and variety, through all our numerous works.”
The pictures on Plates L., LI., and LII. are taken from the book by the
Adams. No. 1, on Plate L., is the curtain cornice of the Earl of Derby’s
Etruscan Room; No. 2 on the same plate is another cornice with drapery,
which, with the mirror below it, were made for Sion House. No. 4 is the
leg of a table and No. 5 is the upper part of the frame of a pier-glass.
The lower drawing is a sideboard table, under which, in the original
drawing, a wine-cooler stands. No. 3 is a table, also from Sion House.
The sofa appearing on Plate LI. is of mahogany, the woodwork fluted and
mounted with brass reliefs. The legs are characteristic of Adam. The
cover is woolen work on canvas.
The table on the same plate is inlaid and has a border of inlaid brass
and wood around the top. The two drawers under the top have borders of
brass and are decorated with brass lions. In the centre of each
crosspiece there is a decoration of leaves surrounding a rosette. The
legs are gilded at intervals, and are ornamented with gilt lion’s heads
and end in claw feet. This dates from about 1780.
The screen on the same plate is supported on a stand of wood fluted and
gilded, out of which rises a brass rod. The oval frame encloses a piece
of silk embroidery said to have been made by Queen Caroline. The little
picture in the centre is painted. No. 1 is a curtain cornice, of which
Adam says: “These curtains were intended as an attempt to banish absurd
French compositions.” No. 2 is a ewer, that also appears in the Adam
book. Plate XLIX. is a library after the Adam style. The full drawing on
Plate LII. is a commode from the Countess of Derby’s dressing-room; it
is richly decorated. No. 2 is a detail. No. 3 on the same plate from it
is a girandole, made for a niche in the Earl of Derby’s Etruscan Room.
The full drawing is “a design of a vase for candles to be fixed to the
wainscoting of a room”; the central vase is a perfume-burner. No. 1 is a
tripod of gilded wood, intended to support a base with candles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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