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
The field-bed, of which a design dated 1787 appears on Plate LVII., is
the French _lit à tombeau_ and _lit à double tombeau_. In England it was
known as the single-headed and double-headed field-bed. A single-headed
bed of this kind appears on Plate XXXVI., No. 8; and this Louis XV.
model was copied by Chippendale for his later plates, in which many
varieties of the field-bed appear. The bed represented on Plate LVII.
needs no explanation. The cornice, or “sweep,” is delicately carved.
Urns surmount the bed-posts. Below it, on Plate LVII., are “sweeps for
field-bed tops” dated 1787 (Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7). Another design in
Heppelwhite’s book for a bed with a sweep top is intended to be made of
plain mahogany or with gilt ornaments. The headboard and draperies are
quite elaborate. “The drapery may be the same as the furniture or the
lining, the ornaments gilt, the headboard is stuffed and projects like
the back of a sofa. The addition of stuffed headboards gives an elegant
and high finish to the appearance of beds.”
The “press bed” is nothing more or less than a folding-bed in the shape
of a wardrobe, with two big doors beneath which are drawers. Heppelwhite
says:
“Of these we have purposely omitted to give any designs: their general
appearance varying so little from wardrobes, which pieces of furniture
they are intended to represent, that designs for them are not necessary.
“The upper drawers would be only sham and form part of the door, which
may be made to turn up all in one piece, and form a tester; or may open
in the middle, and swing on each side; the under drawer is useful to
hold parts of the bed furniture; may be 5 feet 6 inches high, 14 feet
wide.
“Nine designs for Cornices which are suitable for beds or windows are
here shewn; these may be executed in wood painted and japanned, or in
gold. A mixture of these two manners produces an elegant and grand
effect. The foliage may be gilt, and the groundwork painted; or the
reverse.” One of these appears as No. 4 on Plate LIV. This exhibits the
curtain and toothed lappets, or points, of the lambrequin below the
cornice.
The sideboard with Heppelwhite is quite different to that of
Chippendale. The latter merely designs a long plain table with carved
legs and no drawers. Heppelwhite’s sideboard is a far more highly
developed piece of furniture. Sometimes the drawers were arranged in
compartments, for various uses, and the sideboard had a cavity between
the front legs to accommodate a wine-cooler. Pieces of plate and
knife-cases stood upon its wide slab. The sideboard represented on Plate
LIV. has Heppelwhite’s characteristic inlay of the husk or bell-flower
done in satin-wood and the characteristic “spade” foot. An inlaid floral
ornament decorates the corners below the front drawer.
Heppelwhite remarks:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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