English Regency Furniture
English Regency Style Furniture
The principal characteristic of Regency furniture in England was a revival not only of the classical forms of Greece and Rome but also of the styles of the ancient world generally. In this the designers and
furniture-makers were not original; they were interpreters of older styles which in themselves had been classical. The furniture of the Regency period can in fact be divided into Greek and Roman, antique rockingham china ancient Egyptian, bergere rococo
Chinese, the last in bed to put out the lightantique Gothic and even French schools of design.
The Regency period, silver tankards antique with medallions like that of the Regence of France (see page 46), roccocco standard lamps covers a number of years in excess of the actual duration of the Prince Regent’s official term, antique dining chair windsor came bottom nine spindle and extends in the case of England from about 1795
to about 1830. Ironically, antique marquetry chair types too, 18th-century french louis xvi-style armchair machine made the majority of the aspects of Regency furniture were not in line at all with the Regent’s own preference for Chinese fashions with brilliant lacquer and ornate gilding.
A prime mover of the Regency style was the architect Henry Holland who redecorated Carlton House for the Regent and Woburn for the then Duke of Bedford. He adopted French Directoire styles, makers of military chests 1800’s and employed some
French craftsmen who had left their country during the Revolution, antique chairs with queen ann leg but he merged the Directoire influence with his own interpretation of classical styles and the result was a great improvement. Bronze and stone pieces of furniture, antique georgian corner cabinet bowed or remains of these, captain’s desk with turned columns such as couches, oak barley twist leather top game table stools, victorian button back library chair by gillow tripod tables, tall back inlayed antique chairs etc., turn of the century oak side by side china/ buffet which had been found in Pompeii, fobbar 1,0 skin were now interpreted in wood by the cabinetmakers, thonet poland bentwood rocking chair and the popularity of these revivals soon spread. The principal woods used were rosewood and dark mahogany, roberts and belk toastrack and these rich colours were accentuated by bronze or brass mounts or brass inlay. Pieces made were severe and rectilinear. Couches and sofas were commonly made, us government writing table walnut oak and so were sabre-legged chairs in the manner of the ancient Greek klismos (see page 11). Round-top tables on single stalks, 19th century antique empire-style sideboards known as monopodial, 1907 silver salt cellar with huge areas of plain surface, roll top bureau edged with brass inlay, guilloche urn clock were in demand. Unbroken lines, 17th century oak enclosed chest of drawers reeding and fluting where accentuation of structure was important, queen anne hotel brussels and details such as lions’ feet were major features.
An interest in Egyptian motifs derived largely from fascination with reports of Napoleon’s campaigns in that country, 18th century dutch stoneware and Nelson’s great victory over the French fleet at the Battle
of the Nile in 1798. Furniture began to display sphinxes in all sorts of places; at the tops of legs on desks and tables, used mahogany shield back dining chairs as capitals to pilasters on mirrors and cabinets, oak drum table and Egyptian carvings and hieroglyphics were
reproduced along friezes under cornices. Some chairs were adorned with Egyptian heads forming complete vertical pieces from the arm to the leg top.
The Carlton House writing table was not invented by Sheraton but he produced designs for it in his books. This one is of satinwood Very fine Regency rosewood circular table, small antique table turned top and legs about 1816, oak clawfoot table and chair set with brass inlay. The large undecorated area illustrates the splendid figure of this wood.
The English never lost their enthusiasm for things Chinese, antique celestial globe and in the Regency period the Chinese taste flourished, sideboard tapestry antique largely through its popularity with the Regent. It has been said that the Chinese style provided an
escape from the five orders of Western architecture. Whatever the reason for its success, longwy primavera certainly the Regent had the Royal Pavilion at Brighton remodelled with strong emphasis on Chinese styles. The black and gold
lacquered bed there is a good example of the happy mixture of Chinese and Western styles.
There was also a revival of interest in the Gothic style, dynasty heritage green rug particularly following the publication of George Smith’s book Household Furniture and Interior Decoration in 1808, antique table folds up to desk size which contained a great variety of Gothic designs for chairs, antique long slender table with medallion columns and claw feet sofa tables, william and mary dresser black pear drop pull canterburies and bedroom furniture.
It should, antique card tables value however, silk karpets tabriz be stressed that most of the Regency years were lean ones, claw foot 4 drawer desks not least because of the heavy expenditure on the Napoleonic wars. As a result such luxuries as carving on wood, gilt bronze plaster bust marquetry, antique silver basket shapes or high
quality gilding were rare. More emphasis was put on the woods themselves and their fine graining.
Despite the shortages, chateau des tuileries porcelain there was little limit to the range of Regency sofa table in rosewood, adam style chaiselonge made in about 1810, english neoclassic interiors and now in the Royal Pavilion, oak clawfoot pedestal table Brighton pieces made, antique italian small round table such as sofa tables, bookcases with paw feet a great speciality, how to remove gesso from old picture frame dining tables with or without extension pieces, bow fronted corner cabinet Pembroke tables, restoring mahogany veneer nests of tables, red upholstered louis iv chair card tables, 1920 william and mary antiques library steps, trafalgar copenhagen antique furniture sideboards, empire stlyle slant top desk dumb waiters, buffet w/ table & chairs 1850’s what-nots, scarlet japanned chinoiserie furniture canterburies, carved lions head english dining firescreens and music stands. Chairs showed a variety of leg styles : sham bamboo, jacobean settle history lion’s leg, nancy ashtray plain and turned, moorse bros ceramics with no mark scimitar, antique clawfoot occasional table feathered eagle claw, mahogany pembroke table cabriole with acanthus knee. None was so popular as the Trafalgar sabre-leg chair, classic oak table 6 chairs italy so called because it reached its first general favour in the year of the great naval victory, dutch silver basket when the back sometimes incorporated a rope design to signify the sea. Usually made of beechwood and often painted, doucai ming these chairs were copied in one form or another for generations afterwards, kidney desk antique and still are today.
Regency gave way to English versions of Empire, leather button back wood armes settee 1820 1890 then Gothic and Victorian, antique watches and chains which are not part of this work.
One of a set of six rope-back beechwood Regency Trafalgar upright chairs, antique chair with high arm one side of about 1810. This style of chair, myott son mark with variations in the back design, wood table with brass feet enjoyed popularity for some time, bohemian china czechoslovakia and has been successfully reproduced ever since.
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