Know Everything About English Pieces of the Furniture World
England has a
rich collection of antique furniture in its possessions. This is
because of its rich historical background. Many of their designs and
style were copied and inspired from different countries. Let us have
a look at some of the types of tables
and from where they got their names.
Butler's Trays
The butler as
an extra and movable sideboard used a large oblong tray on a folding
X-shaped stand, usually of mahogany. Late eighteenth-century examples
are of various types: plain, brassbound at the corners, and with all
four sides of the tray hinged to fall flat. Another type has the
rimless top hinged across the centre and in one with the base, and
the whole article folds up. These are sometimes known as 'coaching
tables1.
Cabinets,
Cabinets with hinged doors, with or without drawers inside, were made
in the later seventeenth century, and much attention was paid to
their decoration. They were veneered with rare woods, inlaid with
marquetry and embellished with plates of embossed silver. They were
placed on stands of turned wood, and later on elaborately carved gilt
wood bases. Many lacquered cabinets were imported from the Far East,
and placed on similar stands for use in English rooms.
Cabinets
on stands did not retain their great popularity in the eighteenth
century, but their place was taken by book and china cases with
glazed doors. About 1800 low cabinets standing on the ground came
into fashion, and many of these had marble tops and the doors were
inset with panels of silk or with gilt brass trellis.
Caddies
The caddy
owes its name to a Chinese weight, a catty or kali, which equals
about one and a third pounds. Much of the tea coming from the East
was doubtless packed in amounts of one catty, and the name of the
quantity became corrupted into that of the box to hold it. Although
tea-caddies were made from different materials, many were of wood and
it is proper therefore to mention them under the heading of
Furniture. Few, if any, survive from before about 1740, but in 1752
Chippendale showed in his Director designs for a number of them,
elaborately shaped and carved. Each succeeding designer influenced
the shape, coloring and ornament of the tea caddy, and the immense
number of variations in pattern is too numerous to list. Many of them
had silver containers inside a wooden outer case, others, had
removable wooden boxes. In the nineteenth century it was common to
fit them with two boxes, one each for green and black tea, and a
glass bowl; the latter described variously as for holding sugar and
for blending the teas.
Canterbury
This is the
name given to a low open stand with divisions, a drawer beneath and
short legs, for holding music. They were made in mahogany from about
1800, and later in rosewood
and walnut. No one knows how they got their name, but it is
assumed that one was designed in the first instance for an Archbishop
of Canterbury. They are very popular nowadays, not always for holding
sheet music but for newspapers.
Card Tables
Playing cards
were introduced into England in the fifteenth century, and doubtless
a special table for use with them followed shortly. None survive
before walnut ones made in the reign of William and Mary, with the
typical folding tops lined with needlework or cloth. They are rare,
but later examples in mahogany survive in large numbers. Almost all
are lined with cloth, and many have the inside corners recessed to
hold candlesticks; others have oval sunken spaces to hold counters or
coins. Late in the eighteenth century
card tables were often made in pairs, and examples are found
occasionally veneered in satinwood and of half-round shape.
After 1800
they were made on a pillar support with splayed legs and brass-capped toes.
We have seen
some of the types of tables
and from where they derived their names. It is interesting to know
what are the different types of tables and their historical
background. The shapes and sizes and the different kinds of woods
that were used to make them. |
