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 console is somewhat squarer than that of the former period, and
stands frequently with its back against a pier glass. The slab is of
marble and sometimes of rich mosaic. The hind’s feet here give place to
the termed legs, which are joined by straining-rails. Some of them have
eight feet, that is to say, four double feet.
Another form of the console is shown on Plate XVI., No. 1, the leg of
which appears also on Plate XVI. as No. 4. This is decorated with the
ram’s head, heavy swags of flowers, the cartouche with the double L and
the woman’s head. The curved scroll under the slab proclaims the advent
of the new style.
Cabinets, desks and _armoires_ were sumptuous. A typical marquetry desk,
3 feet, 10 inches long, and 2 feet, 4 inches wide, inlaid with many
coloured woods on a background of ebony, contained seven drawers and a
door on which a _fleur-de-lis_ was represented. The drawers were
furnished with gilt bronze key-plates. On the top of the desk, the
design was a vase of flowers, foliage, birds and butterflies, all
surrounded by a border of marquetry between two bands of violet wood and
threads of white. Each desk stood on eight termed pillars with capitals
and feet of gilt wood.
A marquetry cabinet inlaid with bright flowers on ebony and ornamented
with bands of violet-wood and white was composed of two sections, each
having three doors with gilt copper locks.
The Duchess of Orleans owned a cabinet of marquetry in two parts,
containing three wings and three drawers of marquetry of copper and
pewter on ebony, enriched with columns, pilasters, squares, bands and
pyramids of lapis; in the centre of each of the three wings were masques
of men and women in copper-gilt carrying on their heads baskets of
flowers and fruits, also copper-gilt. The feet were four consoles; on
the two central ones were two children of gilded wood, and on the
straining-rail a little child holding a blue shield in a cartouche of
gilded wood. The dimensions of the whole were 5 feet, 4 inches long, 18
inches deep, and 4 feet, 3 inches high.
The favourite clock is Boulle’s. It stands on the mantel-piece, or upon
a pedestal, or term. The tall clock in the long pedestal-shaped box was
also in use.
Some of the frames of the clocks follow the designs shown on Plate
XVII., Nos. 2 and 3.
The pedestal that Boulle makes for his clocks have almost an
architectural form; they are like a kind of small pavilion, at the top
of which is the dial. The legs are most frequently formed by a scroll of
foliage terminating in a clawed paw. The subject on top is usually Time
with his scythe, or some mythological symbol.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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