Little Books About Old Furniture. Volume II. The Period of Queen Anne — John Shaqi
Little Books About Old Furniture. Volume II. The Period of Queen AnneBlake, J. P. (John Percy)
History
Little Books About Old Furniture. Volume II. The Period of Queen Anne
Blake, J. P. (John Percy)
Decoration and ornament -- Queen Anne style; Furniture -- England -- History -- 18th century; Furniture, Queen Anne
Fig. 37, in addition to its cabriole legs and embryo claw-and-ball feet,
is especially interesting as foreshadowing the familiar ladder-backed
chairs of the Chippendale school. In this chair the rail connecting the
back legs has been retained.
[3] The splat of the original is nicely inlaid, but it is
impossible to adequately reproduce this in a photograph.
In this period the "knee" was either plain or ornamented with an
escallop-shell; it rarely had any other form of decoration: but it
developed many forms under the influence of Chippendale and his school.
It is well to remember, however, that in England the cabriole leg in its
original and simpler form belongs to the reign of Queen Anne.
An essential and highly important development is at this period
particularly noticeable in the chair, which is now adapted to the human
frame instead of, as heretofore, the human frame having to adapt itself
to the chair. It is probable that the greater pliability of walnut over
oak made this departure feasible, but one has only to sit in the tall
straight-backed Stuart chair and the shaped chairs of the Queen Anne
reign to see in which direction the advantage in comfort lies. It will
be found that in the latter the top of the back is curved so as to fit
the nape of the sitter's neck, and that the splat is shaped to suit
itself to the back and shoulders. Examples of this shaping are shewn in
the chairs, Figs. 32 and 36, which also have the simple cabriole legs.
Figs. 38 and 39 are arm-chairs of this period. Fig. 38 has a central
vase-shaped panel with a volute and leaves on either side. The arms have
flattened elbow-rests. Fig. 39 has curiously twisted arms. It has
suffered in the splat very much from the worms. In this chair it will
be noticed the side rail connecting the legs is missing. The seat is
stuffed and covered with canvas, which is decorated with needlework
("petit-point") in coloured wools and silks.
These are arm-chairs for respectable people, but there were also
broad-seated arm-chairs at this time known as "drunkards' chairs." The
width of the seat in front was nearly three feet, which gave ample room
for a man to comfortably collapse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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