Chats on Old Furniture Part 5

With arms of Thomas Wentworth, first Earl of Strafford (1593-1641).

(_Victoria and Albert Museum._)]

In Early Stuart days the influence of Inigo Jones, the Surveyor of Works to Charles I., made itself felt in woodwork and interior decorations. He was possessed with a great love and reverence for the cla.s.sicism of Italy, and introduced into his banqueting hall at Whitehall (now the United Service Museum), and St. Paul's, Covent Garden, a chaster style, which was taken up by the designers of furniture, who began to abandon the misguided use of ornament of later Elizabethan days. In the Victoria and Albert Museum is an oak chair with the arms of Thomas Wentworth, first Earl of Strafford, which, in addition to its historic interest, is a fine example of the chair of the period of Charles I.

(ill.u.s.trated p. 93).

[Ill.u.s.tration: ITALIAN CHAIR, ABOUT 1620.

Thence introduced into England.

(_Victoria and Albert Museum._)]

It is certain that the best specimens of Jacobean furniture of this period, with their refined lines and well-balanced proportions, are suggestive of the stately diction of Clarendon or the well-turned lyrics of Herrick.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Hampton & Son_

HIGH-BACK OAK CHAIR. EARLY JACOBEAN.

Elaborately carved with sh.e.l.l and scroll foliage.

(Formerly in the Stuart MacDonald family, and originally in the possession of King Charles I.)]

In the ill.u.s.tration of a sixteenth-century chair in common use in Italy, it will be seen to what source the Jacobean woodworkers looked for inspiration. The fine, high-backed oak Stuart chair, elaborately carved with bold sh.e.l.l and scroll foliage, having carved supports, stuffed upholstered seats, and loose cus.h.i.+on covered in old Spanish silk damask, is a highly interesting example. It was long in the possession of the Stuart MacDonald family, and is believed to have belonged to Charles I.

The gate-leg table, sometimes spoken of as Cromwellian, belongs to this Middle Jacobean style. It cannot be said with any degree of accuracy that in the Commonwealth days a special style of furniture was developed. From all evidence it would seem that the manufacture of domestic furniture went on in much the same manner under Cromwell as under Charles. Iconoclasts as were the Puritans, it is doubtful whether they extended their work of destruction to articles in general use. The bigot had "no starch in his linen, no gay furniture in his house."

Obviously the Civil War very largely interfered with the encouragement and growth of the fine arts, but when furniture had to be made there is no doubt the Roundhead cabinetmaker and the Anabaptist carpenter produced as good joinery and turning as they did before Charles made his historic descent upon the House in his attempt to arrest the five members.

There is a style of chair, probably imported from Holland, with leather back and leather seat which is termed "Cromwellian," probably on account of its severe lines, but there is no direct evidence that this style was peculiarly of Commonwealth usage. The ill.u.s.tration (p. 97) gives the type of chair, but the covering is modern.

That Cromwell himself had no dislike for the fine arts is proved by his care of the Raphael cartoons, and we are enabled to reproduce an ill.u.s.tration of a fine old ebony cabinet with moulded front, fitted with numerous drawers, which was formerly the property of Oliver Cromwell. It was at Olivers Stanway, once the residence of the Eldred family. The stand is carved with sh.e.l.ls and scrolls, and the scroll-shaped legs are enriched with carved female figures, the entire stand being gilded. This piece is most probably of Italian workmans.h.i.+p, and was of course made long before the Protector's day, showing marked characteristics of Renaissance style.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JACOBEAN CHAIR, CANE BACK CROMWELLIAN CHAIR.

ARMCHAIR. DATED 1623. ARMCHAIR. WITH INLAID BACK.

JACOBEAN CHAIRS.

(_By permission of T. E. Price Stretche, Esq._)]

The carved oak cradle (p. 107), with the letters "G. B. M. B." on one side, and "October, 14 dai," on the other, and bearing the date 1641, shows the type of piece in common use. It is interesting to the collector to make a note of the turned k.n.o.b of wood so often found on doors and as drawer handles on untouched old specimens of this period, but very frequently removed by dealers and replaced by metal handles of varying styles, all of which may be procured by the dozen in Tottenham Court Road, coa.r.s.e replicas of old designs. Another point worthy of attention is the wooden peg in the joinery, securing the tenon into the mortice, which is visible in old pieces. It will be noticed in several places in this cradle. In modern imitations, unless very thoughtfully reproduced, these oaken pegs are not visible.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Hampton & Sons._

EBONY CABINET.

On stand gilded and richly carved.

FORMERLY THE PROPERTY OF OLIVER CROMWELL.

(From Olivers Stanway, at one time the seat of the Eldred family.)]

In the page of Jacobean chairs showing the various styles, the more severe piece, dated 1623, is Early Jacobean, and the fine unrestored armchair of slightly later date shows in the stretcher the wear given by the feet of the sitters. It is an interesting piece; the stiles in the back are inlaid with pearwood and ebony. The other armchair with its cane panels in back is of later Stuart days. It shows the transitional stage between the scrolled-arm type of chair, wholly of wood, and the more elaborate type (ill.u.s.trated p. 123) of the James II. period.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JACOBEAN CARVED OAK CHAIRS.

Yorks.h.i.+re, about 1640.

Derbys.h.i.+re; early seventeenth century.

(_Victoria and Albert Museum._)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of the Rt. Hon. Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane, G.C.B, I.S.O._

JACOBEAN OAK CUPBOARD. ABOUT 1620.]

In addition to the finer pieces of seventeenth-century furniture to be found in the seats of the n.o.bility, such as at Penshurst, or in the manor houses and homes of the squires and smaller landowners, there was much furniture of a particularly good design in use at farmsteads from one end of the country to the other, in days when a prosperous cla.s.s of yeoman followed the tastes of their richer neighbours. This farmhouse furniture is nowadays much sought after. It was of local manufacture, and is distinctly English in its character. Oak dressers either plain or carved, were made not only in Wales--"Welsh Dressers" having become almost a trade term--but in various parts of England, in Yorks.h.i.+re, in Derbys.h.i.+re, in Suss.e.x, and in Suffolk. They are usually fitted with two or three open shelves, and sometimes with cupboards on each side.

The better preserved specimens have still their old drop-handles and hinges of bra.s.s. It is not easy to procure fine examples nowadays, as it became fas.h.i.+onable two or three years ago to collect these, and in addition to oak dressers from the farmhouses of Normandy, equally old and quaint, which were imported to supply a popular demand, a great number of modern imitations were made up from old wood--church pews largely forming the framework of the dressers, which were not difficult to imitate successfully.

The particular form of chair known as the "Yorks.h.i.+re chair" is of the same period. Certain localities seem to have produced peculiar types of chairs which local makers made in great numbers. It will be noticed that even in these conditions, with a continuous manufacture going on, the patterns were not exact duplicates of each other, as are the machine-made chairs turned out of a modern factory, where the maker has no opportunity to introduce any personal touches, but has to obey the iron law of his machine.

As a pa.s.sing hint to collectors of old oak furniture, it may be observed that it very rarely happens that two chairs can be found together of the same design. There may be a great similarity of ornament and a particularly striking resemblance, but the chair with its twin companion beside it suggests that one, if not both, are spurious. The same peculiarity is exhibited in old bra.s.s candlesticks, and especially the old Dutch bra.s.s with circular platform in middle of candlestick. One may handle fifty without finding two that are turned with precisely the same form of ornament.

The usual feature of the chair which is termed "Yorks.h.i.+re" is that it has an open back in the form of an arcade, or a back formed with two crescent-shaped cross-rails, the decorations of the back usually bearing acorn-shaped k.n.o.bs either at the top of the rail or as pendants. This type is not confined to Yorks.h.i.+re, as they have frequently been found in Derbys.h.i.+re, in Oxfords.h.i.+re, and in Worcesters.h.i.+re, and a similar variety may be found in old farmhouses in East Anglia.

In the ill.u.s.tration of the two oak chairs (p. 105), the one with arms is of the Charles I. period, the other is later and belongs to the latter half of the seventeenth century.

The Jacobean oak cupboard (ill.u.s.trated p. 101) is in date about 1620. At the side there are perforations to admit air, which shows that it was used as a b.u.t.ter cupboard. The doors have an incised decoration of conventional design. The lower part is carved in style unmistakably Jacobean in nature. The pattern on the two uprights at the top is repeatedly found in pieces evidently designed locally for use in farmhouses.

It is not too much to hope that enough has been said concerning Jacobean furniture of the early and middle seventeenth century to show that it possesses a peculiar charm and simplicity in the lines of its construction, which make it a very pleasing study to the earnest collector who wishes to procure a few genuine specimens of old furniture, which, while being excellent in artistic feeling, are not unprocurable by reason of their rarity and excessive cost. It should be within the power of the careful collector, after following the hints in this volume, and after examining well-selected examples in such a collection as that at the Victoria and Albert Museum, to obtain, without unreasonable expenditure, after patient search, one or two Jacobean pieces of undoubted authenticity.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Fenton & Sons._

JACOBEAN OAK CHAIRS.

Armchair, time of Charles I.

Yorks.h.i.+re chair. Late seventeenth century.]

RECENT SALE PRICES.[1]

s. d.

Cabinet, Jacobean oak, with two drawers, and folding doors below enclosing drawers, decorated with rectangular panels in relief, inlaid in ebony and ivory, and with bal.u.s.ter columns at the side--48 in. high, 46 in. wide.

Christie, November 27, 1903 44 2 0

Cabinet, Jacobean black oak, 5 ft. wide by 6 ft. 2 in. high, fitted with cupboards above and below, with sunk panelled folding doors, carved with busts of warriors in high relief, the pilasters carved with mask heads and caryatid figures, the whole carved with floral scrolls and other devices. Capes, Dunn & Pilcher, Manchester, December 9, 1903 57 0 0

Chairs, set of three Jacobean oak, with canework seats, and panels in the backs, the borders carved with scrolls, and on scroll legs with stretchers. Christie, January 29, 1904 52 10 0