From Acanthus and Bun Foot to Regency and Tallboy, an essential glossary of antique furniture terms

 

Abattant: A term used to describe a drop-down flap often seen in the French style of the secretary desk, secrétaire à abattant, concealing drawers and shelves within.

Acanthus: Ornament representing stylized form of thick, scallop-edged Acanthus spinosus leaf. Of classical origin, It has been used extensively as carved decoration on furniture.

Antique: A piece of furniture or item that is more than 100 years old.

Applique: A term for a category of light which can be affixed to a wall.

Apron: A decorative element joining the surface of a chair or table with the legs.

Armchair: An armchair can be any chair with arms. However, there are two different kinds: the fauteuil, with open sides, and the bergère, with closed sides. (See Fauteuil and Bergère)

Armoire: A tall standing wardrobe or closet, often used to store clothes, which can feature one to three doors and sometimes a mirrored panel.

Arrow foot: A type of chair foot that ends in a tapered cylinder, often seen in the 18th century.

Art Deco: A style popular from the 1920s to the 1930s characterised by bold geometric designs.

Astragal: Small semicircular convex moulding commonly used as a glazing-bar on furniture. The reverse of scotia, and smaller than torus.

Arabesque: Literally “Arabian”, a scrolling and interlacing pattern of branches, leaves, flowers and scrollwork of Moorish origin. Found on sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Spanish and Portuguese furniture, it later spread to Northern Europe.

 

Back splat: The vertical piece of wood running from the frame of a chair to the base of the backrest.

Ball foot: A fully spherical foot on a piece of furniture.

Ball and claw foot: A cast or carved foot consisting of a ball covered by an animal’s claw, in English furniture often that of a lion or a bird. The design is thought to have originated in China, where a dragon’s claw would represent the strong grip of the emperor.

Baroque: A decorative style from the late 16th century through to the 18th century characterised by the use of bold sculptural forms, dynamic surfaces and elaborate ornament.

Barrel chair: Also known as a tub chair, a barrel chair has a round upholstered seat, with the arms forming a continuous line with the backrest.

Bas relief: A form of carving or moulding where the design projects out from the flat surface of the background.

Bentwood: A kind of wood that has been heated and shaped to become curved.

Bergère: A kind of upholstered armchair with closed sides that first became popular in the 18th century.

Bevel: An edge that has been cut at a slant, often seen on mirrors.

Biedermeier: Biedermeier encompasses the period between 1815 and 1848 in Central Europe. Influenced by the Napoleonic styles, Biedermeier furniture was produced in Germany and Austria, with simpler designs that often incorporated local timber.

Blanket Box: A low chest without drawers but with a lid which opens to access the contents. Normally placed at the foot of a bed.

Blockfront: A kind of chest divided into three parts whereby the middle part is set back from the sides.

Bombé: A term used to describe the bulging outwards of a piece of furniture.

Bowfront: A chest with a convex front.

Bracket foot: A right-angled foot shaped like a bracket.

Boule: The inlaying of tortoiseshell with brass designs.

Buffet: Side-or serving-table used from medieval times. In sixteenth-and seventeenth-century England, buffet was synonymous with court cupboard.

Bun foot: A ball foot that has been flattened slightly, like a bun.

Bureau: A chest of drawers often used in a bedroom, sometimes combined with a fold-down desk.

Burled:  (American) or Burr (British) wood veneer Popular from the seventeenth century. Made from the tumescent growth of certain trees (notably walnut). Valued for unusual but attractive grain.

Cabinet: Cabinets can come in many forms, from the industrial to the ornate, and usually consist of drawers and shelves; some feature glass doors for the display of objects.

Cabriole: A kind of leg that curves out from the seat of a chair or base of a table before curving into a foot in a narrow S shape. The name comes from a type of ballet jump in which the dancer leaps into the air with one leg forward.

Caning: A technique using the rattan or bamboo plant to create an interwoven seat, back or side of a chair.

Canted: A beveled or chamfered surface - used to refer to furniture legs inclining outwards.

Canterbury Mid-eighteenth-century low supper trolley more commonly known in its late-eighteenth-and nineteenth-century form, a stand with vertical compartments to hold sheet music.

Carver Chair: A dining chair with arms, usually found in pairs as part of a dining suite.

Castor: A small wheel that allows a piece to be moved easily.

Center table: A table made to stand in the middle of a room.

Chaise longue: A long low chair for reclining, with a back and single armrest to one side.

Chest on chest: Two chests of drawers stacked together, with the narrower piece on top.

Chest on stand: A chest of drawers on legs.

Cheval mirror: A freestanding mirror that can be tilted to change the angle of reflection.

Chevron: Zigzag pattern of Anglo Saxon derivation often used on medieval, Gothic revival and Art Deco pieces.

Chiffonier: A tall chest of drawers often used to store linen or needlework, sometimes topped by a shelf or mirror.

Chinoiserie General term for European adaptation of Oriental designs popular during late seventeenth century, Rococo and Regency periods.

Chippendale: For Thomas Chippendale, one of the leading cabinetmakers of 18th-century Britain. The term also refers to a style of 18th century American furniture.

Claw foot: A foot carved to resemble an animal’s claw (see also Ball and claw foot).

Club chair: A chair with a low back, often upholstered in leather.

Cock-beading: Moulding dating from the early eighteenth century

Coffee table: A long low table to be placed in front of a set of chairs or a sofa.

Commode: Not to be confused with a chair containing a chamber pot, the traditional commode is a cabinet with doors or drawers, often highly ornamental.

Console table: A narrow table that is designed to be placed against a wall.

Coquillage: From of decorative shell motif which became popular during the Baroque and Rococo periods.

Cornice: Horizontal moulding projecting from the top of case pieces such as bookcases and cabinets.

Credenza: A low sideboard with doors, used for storage or for serving food. The name comes from the Italian word for ‘belief’; in the 16th century the act of credenza entailed the tasting of one’s food by a servant to ensure it was not poisoned.

Cresting: The carved decoration on the top rail of a piece of seat furniture or mirror.

Crossbanding Thin strips of decorative cross-grained veneer.

 

Damask: A lustrous fabric with a reversible pattern and figured weave, often of linen, cotton or silk, which can be used for upholstery.

Davenport: A narrow writing desk with a sloped top above drawers.

Daybed: A long sofa, similar to a chaise longue, that can double up as a bed, often with a small headboard at either end.

Dentil moulding:  A form of decoration of evenly spaced blocks often used on a cornice. From the Latin for tooth, dens.

Diaper motif: Trellis of repeated square or lozenge shapes sometimes enclosing carved decoration.

Dresser: A type of sideboard, often with shelves above drawers for the display of plates.

Drop-leaf: A kind of table with extendable parts that hang by its sides when not in use.

 

Ebonising: The process by which wood is stained dark to resemble ebony.

Egg-and-dart moulding: A principal decorative motif of classical origin consisting of oval or egg shapes alternating with leafy arrowheads.

Empire: A style dating to Napoleon’s reign (1804-1814) characterised by Egyptian, Greek and Roman motifs.

Escutcheon: The term for the plate of metal that surrounds a keyhole, often decorative. From scutum, the Latin for shield.

Etagère: A piece of furniture with open shelves used for the display of ornaments.

 

Fauteuil: An armchair with open sides, usually upholstered on the seat and the back, leaving the wooden frame exposed.

Filigree: Lace-lie ornament made from delicately curled and twisted gold or silver wire.

Finial: Projecting ornament which can take many forms, including those of a ball, flame, flower, acorn, pineapple or vase.

Fluting: Vertical grooves which form an elliptical-shaped recess, often employed on columns.

Fretwork: Interlocking geometrical designs cut from thin wood and used ornamentally.

French Polishing: The lengthy and repetitive process of applying many thin coats of French polish using a cloth or pad resulting in a very high gloss and deep colour.

Frieze: A broad, horizontal band which is often decorated with painting or sculpture.

Front rail: The piece of wood that runs between the front two legs of a chair.

Four-poster bed: A bed with high posts at each corner and sometimes a canopy.

 

Gallery: An ornamental wood or metal rail around a piece of furniture.

Georgian: Term referring to the artistic output in the decorative arts during the reigns of the first four members of the British house of Hanover, between the accession of George I in 1714 and the death of George IV in 1830.

Gesso: From the Italian for chalk, a material that can be moulded into elaborate designs for cornices, frames, etc.

Gilding: A technique of applying gold leaf to wood for decoration.

Gillows: A firm founded by Robert Gillows in 1703 in Lancaster, known for its elegant designs and superior craftsmanship. Its pieces are still highly sought-after by collectors today.

Grisaille: Painting in shades of black, grey and white which attempts to imitate marble relief ornament. 

Grotesque: Fanciful decoration comprising a combination of foliage, urns, animals, mythical creature, etc.

 

Hassock: An upholstered footstool or short bench.

Herringbone: A way of using veneer as decoration, also known as feather banding, whereby two strips of veneer are laid at a 90-degree angle around the edge of a piece of furniture to create a herringbone-patterned border.

Hepplewhite: Referring to renouned cabinet maker, George Hepplewhite, characterized by contrasting veneers and inlays depicting seashells or bellflowers, pieces often contain more than one type of wood. Originally dating to 1780-1810 the style was revived in the late 1800's - known as Hepplewhite Revival.

 

Inlay: A technique of using a contrasting material to create a decorative pattern on the surface of a piece of furniture.

Japanning: A technique developed in Europe which imitates the lacquering applied to Asian furniture.

Jardinière: A pot for holding plants, often large and ceramic for outdoor use, but can also be a more elongated shape for indoor use.

 

Kneehole desk: A type of desk with a recess in the front to make space for one’s knees.

Key pattern: Repeating motif of straight lines, usually at right angles, derived from classical Greek architecture.

 

Lacquer: A high-gloss varnish used in Chinese and Japanese furniture.

Linenfold: Form of carving which imitated vertical folds of drapery.

Lopers: Poles, normally rectangular, which could be pulled out from the sides of a cabinet to support the flap-top of desks.

Loveseat: A small sofa designed for two people, often made in an S shape so that a conversation can be held face-to-face.

Lowboy: A low side table usually with three drawers and cabriole legs.

Lunette: Semicircular or half-moon shape making up a piece of furniture, often filled with carved decoration.

 

Mahogany: A a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus Swietenia, indigenous to the Americas and part of the pantropical chinaberry family, Meliaceae.

Marquetry: A style of inlay which uses different types of veneered wood or other materials placed together to form a pictorial pattern. Marquetry can be contrasted with parquetry, which forms a geometric pattern.

Mid-Century: Gererally refers to furniture manufactured between 1933 and 1965 - mid 20th century 

Monopodium: Classical pedestal support composed of an animal head and a single leg; widely used in the early nineteenth century.

Mortise-and-tenon: Joint formed by cutting a hole or mortise, in one piece of wood into which is fitted a projecting piece, or tenon, from another.

 

Neoclassic: A style of design that revives classical motifs, popularised from the second half of the 18th century. 

Nesting tables: A set of small tables that fit inside each other.

 

Occasional table: A catch-all term used to describe small freestanding tables such as coffee or side tables. 

Ormolu: A generic term for gilt metal.

Ottoman: An ottoman is usually a low upholstered stool that can be used as a foot rest and sometimes also for storage, adopted from similar styles in the Ottoman Empire.

Overmantel mirror: A mirror made to stand over a mantelpiece.

Oyster veneer: Late seventeenth-and early eighteenth-century veneer, made from symmetrically arranged cross-sections of small branches or roots from trees such as walnut, olive, laburnum and kingwood.

 

Pad foot: A kind of foot often found on cabriole legs that ends in a flat oval disk.

Palmette: Decorative motif derived from classical architecture loosely resembling an open palm leaf, often used interchangeably with the term anthemion.

Papier mache: Technique using sand, chalk, size and paper pulp which, when dry, forms a hard substance; later moulded to form furniture.

Parquetry: Similar to marquetry, parquetry is a technique used on floors and furniture of contrasting wood to create a geometric pattern.

Patina: The ageing process, which occurs over time on both wood and metal to give the item a particular lustre, once stripped and removed it can never be recovered.

Pedestal table: A table supported by a single leg.

Pembroke table: A drop-leaf table often with a drawer and twin flaps to the long sides.

Pie-crust edge: A scalloped motif either carved or moulded on the edge of a table.

Pier-glass: Tall, narrow mirror with a frame originally placed between windows to enhance light coming into a room.

Pietra dura: A form of mosaic decoration using semi-precious stones, mostly seen on tabletops.

Plinth: The term for the squared base of a piece of furniture if it does not have legs.

Prie-dieu: A low-seated armless chair with a high back and wide top-rail on which to rest a prayer book.

 

Queen Anne: A style of English furniture made between 1702 and 1714, simple and elegant in style and favouring walnut.

 

Reeding: The convex equivalent of fluting, reeding comprises parallel lines of rounded moulding.

Regency: The term refers to English furniture made between 1800-1830 in a style promoted by George, Prince of Wales, who reigned as George IV.

Rococo: An elaborate style of furniture that followed the Baroque in the 18th century, characterised by scroll and foliate motifs.

 

Secretaire: A French term for a standing chest of drawers with a drop-down writing desk (see Abattant).

Shoe: The horizontal section of the back seat rail of a chair that supports the bottom of the splat.

Sideboard: A long cabinet often used in dining rooms for serving food and as storage.

Side chair: A traditional dining chair with no arms that would fit in at the side of a dining table.

Slat back: A chair back consisting of vertical slats instead of a single panel.

Sofa: An upholstered long seat with back and arms.

Settee: A small sofa

Sofa table: A high, small table to be placed alongside a sofa with twin flaps to the short ends.

Spindle back: A chair with turned spindles instead of a single panel as a back rest.

Straw marquetry: A form of marquetry which uses straw instead of wood to create a contrasting pattern on the surface of a piece.

Stretcher: Often forming an H, X or Y shape, the stretcher runs between the legs of a chair or table to reinforce the structure.

Sutherland:  Sutherland Tables are a 19th Century Victorian invention of a much smaller gateleg table design with a particularly narrow centre.

Tallboy: A tallboy, or chest on chest, is a high chest of drawers.

Term: A pillar surmounted by a carved male or female bust, usually armless, which tapers towards the base. Also known as a herm, after the posts bearing the carved head of Hermes which were used as boundary markers in ancient Greece.

Tiffany: A term commonly used to describe a type of lamp shade which is made from pieces of stained and leaded glass.

Trestle table: A table supported by an upright at each end.

Tub chair: See Barrel chair.

 

Upholstery: The padded covering on furniture, usually made of horsehair, foam or springs and covered in decorative fabric or leather.

 

Veneering: The technique of applying thin layers of wood to a piece of furniture.

Victorian: Refers to the period coinciding with the reign of Queen Victoria of Britain from 1837 to 1901.

Volute: A spiral scroll characteristic of Ionic capitals, often used as a decorative form on arm rests and feet in furniture.

 

Walnut: Well known for its characteristic dark coloured wood with attractive grain patterns, Walnut is a dense and strong wood that is highly desired for expensive furniture and carpentry.

Washstand: A stand made to hold a water pitcher, basin, soap dish, and other objects used for washing.

Webbing: A technique of interweaving elastic or fabric to provide support to an upholstered arm, back or seat.

What-not: Alternative term for an étagère.

Wicker: A term given to pieces woven from rattan, willow or reed.

Windsor chair: A classic design with a curved top and spindle back.

Wing back: A chair with wing-like side panels protruding from the top of the backrest and above the arms in order to shield one from draughts or the heat of a fire. Also known as a bergère à oreilles, or a chair ‘with ears’.

Wood Turning: A process that allows the wood to turn while a fixed or static tool is used to shape and cut it.

X-Frame: Commonly found on X-Frame stools, where the legs and arms form an X shape.

 

Zitan: a tropical hardwood ranging in colour from dark purple brown to reddish brown and considered, together with huanghuali, the most precious and luxurious material used in Chinese furniture.

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