Know Everything About Important and Incredible Products of Woods
Lets have a
look at some of the lesser-used wood products. There are many wood
products that the common man does not use them in his daily life.
Some of these
products are such as the knife boxes, with hinged lids, for holding
knives, spoons and forks. Lanterns, Pembroke Tables, which have
folding flaps, which can be supported on hinged concealed brackets at
each of the longer sides of the rectangular top, Pier
Tables, screens, settees
and sofas.
Knife Boxes
Cases, with
hinged lids, for holding knives, spoons and forks, were made of wood
or of wood covered in shagreen (fish skin). Although existing from
the middle of the seventeenth century, most of the surviving examples
are of eighteenth-century date and made of inlaid mahogany. The most
popular type had a sloping top and serpentine-shaped front, but
others in the form of a vase on a foot are sometimes seen. Some of
the latter were made from satinwood, inlaid or painted.
Lanterns
We do not
usually think of a hall-lantern
as a piece of furniture, but Chippendale has designs for them in his
Director, and one made to his pattern is in the Philadelphia Museum
of Art. Old wood ones are very rare, but gilt metal examples,
especially of Adam design, are to be seen. Many of them date from
long after the eighteenth century.
Pembroke Tables
These have
folding flaps, which can be supported on hinged concealed brackets at
each of the longer sides of the rectangular top. The legs of the
earlier ones are square and tapered, but by about 1790 they change to
round ones with turned ornament. They came into use about 1750, and
are said to owe their name to a Countess of Pembroke who first
ordered one. The Pembroke
table was made in mahogany, satinwood, and sometimes hare wood,
and decorated with inlay and painting; frequently they show
workmanship of the highest quality.
Pier Tables
Tables made
for placing against the piers of a room: the areas of wall between
windows. Originally they had mirrors above 'hem. They are sometimes
called side tables.
Screens
These have two
purposes; to keep away draughts from doors and windows, and to ward
off" the heat of a fire. Draught screens were first imported at
the end of the seventeenth century from China, and they are made of
lacquered wood with designs in gold and colors, or with the designs
incised (Bantam or Coromandel Lacquer). Many are of eight or ten
folding panels, and they stand up to eight or more feet in height.
Screens of similar folding type, but not quite so large, were made
with panel; of painted or embossed leather.
Fire
screens are small and portable, and date also from the late
seventeenth century. The stands were of all styles, following the
fashion of the time when they were made, and the screen itself often
held a panel of tapestry or needlework.
Settees and Sofas
A settee is
understood to mean a chair with space for more than one person to
sit, and a sofa is a larger piece of furniture with room on it to
recline. Neither of the terms seems to have come into general use
until the early eighteenth century, but some settees with tall backs
in the form of two chair backs joined together date from about 1680.
Shortly, they
became very fashionable and elaborately carved and heavily
upholstered examples were made. Most of them reveal considerably more
fabric and trimming than they do woodwork. In about 1730 there came a
reversion to the first style, and the settee
appeared again like an armchair but having the back in duplicate or
triplicate, side-by-side. This type continued to be made throughout
the eighteenth century, but the upholstered variety was made as well;
each conforming in outline and detail to the fashion of the time when
it was produced.
The love
seat is a very narrow settee or sofa with only just sufficient
space for two persons to sit on it; hence its name. Many early
eighteenth-century armchairs were widened ruthlessly into love seats
about thirty-five years ago, when the demand for them greatly
exceeded the supply.
The above furniture
is mainly made from walnut, mahogany and the wood covered in shagreen
(fish skin). They are decorated with flowers and carve and well
polished. We can still see some of the earliest furniture in the museums. |