Copyright (c) 2013 Mathew Jenkins
During the Middle Ages, the rich, in Parker's words, displayed their wealth, not so much in the acquisition of household comforts as in the splendor and profusion of their plate, and the stuffs with which they decorated their walls. The quality and value of plate and textiles continued to surpass furniture during the early years of the Renaissance.
The furniture of the early Renaissance that has come down to us is almost exclusively of oak, though inventories record gilt furniture and furniture of deal and walnut. Of this early period the surviving examples are few, and in some of these the Gothic tradition still lingers. Magnificent furniture appears to have been limited to Wolsey's household and the royal palaces. The quantity of Wolsey's arras, cupboards of plate, and household stuff was a never-ceasing source of wonder to foreign visitors; and Guistiniani, the Venetian ambassador, who was invited to one of Wolsey's banquets, declared that "the like of it was never given either by Cleopatra or Caligula, the whole banqueting hall being decorated with huge vases of gold and silver." Much of his furniture, such as the "round tables of cypress," must have been imported like his arras. The X-framed chairs associated with the reign of Henry VIII. and Mary, of which the framework is painted or overlaid with a veneer of chequered bone, are of North Italian or Spanish origin.
"One folding chair of walnut tree the seat back elbows of crimson vellat embroidered with scalloped shells and letters fringed with gold silk with a foot stool to the same likewise embroidered."
Besides chairs and buffets there are a certain number of large panelled cupboards with hinged doors, which fold back into small compass, such as two in the possession of Mr A. L. Radford, and the well-known example in the Strangers' Hall, Norwich, probably made by a "stranger artificer " for Nicholas Sotherton, who acquired the Hall in 1509. It is a rare instance of an article of furniture remaining for four centuries in its original surroundings. at work on the wainscot. The Countess of Shrewsbury had inlaid furniture made for her, which is still preserved at Hardwick,' and the first extant day-bed or couch, painted with her arms, stands in the long gallery of the house. A few years later a couch is during the last quarter of the century the bulbous or melon-shaped excrescence appears on table legs and supports, which is also found in furniture in the Low Countries. In the best examples the gadrooning suggests contemporary silversmith's work, and the enlargement is divided into a clearly marked cup and cover. During the late seventeenth century, however, this motif loses its original meaning, and the division is slightly indicated by a groove or ring. A plain bulb or peg-top enlargement is characteristic of the Restoration period. Upholstered furniture was in use late in the reign of Elizabeth, for we find Sir John Harington inquiring if it would not as well " become the state of the chamber to have easy quilted and lined forms and stools for the lords and ladies to sit on, which fashion is now taken up in every merchant's hall, as great plank forms that two yeomen can scant remove out of their places, and wainscot stools so hard that since great breeches were laid aside, men can scant endure to sit upon."
At the end of the reign of James I. and during that of Charles I., however, a certain amount of furniture was imported for the Court and nobility from Venice, and the elaborate upholstery in velvets, trimmed with gallons and fringes, is also Venetian in origin. Stow, speaking of the former reign, tells us that " cushions and window pillows of velvet and damask in former times were only used in the houses of the chief princes and peers of the land; though at this day those ornaments of estate and other princely furniture be very plenteous in most citizens houses" and upholstered furniture and cushions figure prominently in Lady Compton's well-known intimation of her wants to William, Lord Compton, in the early seventeenth century.
The types of furniture were multiplied and elaborated during this period, and the quantity considerably increased. Much of the oak furniture produced towards the close of the reign of James I. and in the reign of Charles I. is plain, the carving when employed being flat, and split turnings were also employed. To relieve this simplicity a fret is often added beneath the bottom rail of chairs and stools. A fondness for pediments and perspective views is also noticeable. The inventories and letters of this period gave evidence of richer interiors and enlightened taste; Inigo Jones was employed by the great nobles to purchase pictures and other treasures for their homes, and John Webb tells us that he had been commissioned by the "great nobility and eminent gentry" to procure them medals, statues, and other works of art.
A cabinet, once the property of Archbishop Laud, at Arbury, resembles contemporary wainscot in the architectural design of its doors. The doors open in front, disclosing a number of drawers, no doubt used as a receptacle for medals and intaglios. The front is divided by pilasters into two compartments, each of which is filled by a pediment composition. The bookcases of Archbishop Laud at St John's College, Oxford, are an early forerunner of the architecturally-designed bookcase of the eighteenth century. Though these cases were considerably altered when they were sold out of the library in 1843, there is no reason to doubt that the upper portion closed by traceried doors represents the cases provided by Laud 1 for books and manu­scripts mentioned in his regulations for the library. To the break-fronted pedimented bookcase the base containing folio volumes has been added below the original plinth.
A large admixture of French and Italian furniture might have been expected in the home of the much travelled Earl of Arundel; but looking-glasses, cabinets, inlaid furniture also appear widely in English inventories of the reign of Charles I. The very full inventory of the furniture of the royal palaces sold by the Council of State (1649) includes many objects which were rare at that date, such as inlaid marble tables , upon a gilt frame, rock crystal chandeliers, a silver table and frame all laid over with silver," china screens gilt, and silver painted furniture.
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Mathew Jenkins works with the Woodcarvers Guild preserving the history & finesse of period furnitre and architectural fittings. Would you like to have your own piece of captured history whether it be wall panelling, four poster beds, furniture, etc? Go to for more information and for a free ebook.
http://www.periodfurniture-carved.co.uk/
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