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
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.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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