Sep
24
Baroque Antiqies: Louis XIV Style
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Needless to say the furnishings of these buildings had to match
setting and once again it was Rome that led the way, this time in
scorative arts, particularl) furniture.
iggeration was the order of the day, in size, scale and proportion.
Jng was lavish and the Renaissance sense of proportion was often
scrollwork and mouldings. This was the furniture of the sculptor
Different styles of turned leg used on
wilh its large leafy scrolls, flower garlands, putti and human figures.
Perhaps one of the reasons for the 19th century’s derisive attitude to the
Baroque was that it was seen out of context. The furniture of this period
was designed exclusively for the room it was to occupy; take it away from
the painted ceilings and the richly hung walls and its ornateness and
massiveness become more obvious. Not all the furniture of the Italian
palaces was so designed, for the members of the household lived mainly
in smaller rooms above their large Baroque chambers. Here the furniture
was of the simpler type common in the 16th century.
As the 16th century progressed the Baroque revolution influenced
other Italian craftsmen including goldsmiths, metalworkers and glass-
workers. It was in France however that the Baroque was further ela-
borated into the Louis XIV style, an interpretation of Baroque that
spread to the rest of Europe in one degree or another.
The reign of Louis XIV, ‘Le Roi soled’, (1643-1717) was a period of
French pre-eminence in European history. An age of cultural and
political ascendancy for France, Louis’ reign saw the origins of an in-
fluence on international fashion that still lingers today. Paris replaced
Rome as the art centre of the world and French became the language of
European courts and diplomacy. The Louis XIV style in the decorative
arts was largely due to Louis himself for he believed that art should be
in the service of the king rather than the Church as it had been for cen-
turies past. Through his minister Colbert, Louis established academies to
standardize style in art. and the style he favoured was a dignified and
stately, but still sumptuous form of Baroque. The over-zealousness of
the Italians was refined into a new classicism.
In England it was not until after the Restoration in 1660 that Baroque
influences appeared. Before that date furniture had remained more or
less in the Elizabethan style and other arts and crafts had made little
progress for a quarter of a century.
A fuller expression of the Baroque only appeared in England with the
reign of William and Mary (1689-1702), after whom the style was named.
The Huguenot refugees from France after 1685 played a significant role
in the propagation of the Baroque, for many of them were skilled crafts-
men bringing with them French techniques and designs at a time when
the Louis XIV style was at the height of its fashion. The influences upon
English decorative arts were both French and Dutch. Dutch Baroque
was characterized by an element of realism which they introduced into
their art by their rejection of the old world peopled with angels and saints
and their acknowledgement of the new Dutch middle class in which the
artist worked not for a sole patron, but for the market.
The Baroque era followed the inspired humanism of the Renaissance
with inflated statements of pomp, power and splendour. During the 17th
century, the institutions of the Church in Italy, the state in France, and
all courts of Germany, spawned materialistic monuments to their
hjlglory in architecture and fine and decorative arts.
■ Italy, papal families such as the Barberini, Pamfili, Aldobrandini
anc Borghese constructed elaborate villas, and filled them with works
■ and expensive furnishings. At Versailles, the association of Louis
V with the sun-god Apollo required the development of an interior
setting not quite of this earth.
I lttiated by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the Baroque architectural and
ntural style retained classical elements, but took liberties with
iciples of symmetry and restraint. Columns became twisted, sculp-
tured figures contorted, carvings expressive and exuberant. Baroque
inti nors achieved striking effects through a colourful welding together
irchitecture, sculpture, and painting, which dazzled the eye with
qdour and variety. Rising numbers of wealthy merchants, bankers
and Inewly-aristocratic families resulted in a refinement of rules of
etic uette and ceremony in order to define rank rigidly. The villas of
prii wes, cardinals and courtiers were replete with devices that filtered
anc arranged guests and residents to exclude those of lower rank from
the more intimate courtly gatherings. Private audiences were held in
cat sets and closets, small rooms richly decorated with fine furnishings,
hai stings, crystal, porcelain and paintings.
ink determined access to the ‘public’ levees and touchers of heads of
staM princes and nobility in state bedrooms, where elaborately hung
bee s were generally enclosed inside alcoves or behind ceremonial
bal istrades. Rank also determined the allocation of seats: ornate, gilded
throne chairs in Italy and elsewhere were reserved for heads of house-
hol i and state, and progressively less imposing chairs and stools were
use i according to social position. In Spain, ladies were relegated to floor
cus uons.
Franee, privileged women received in bed, and guests sat on cushions
in hie ruelle, or alley, beside them. Fixed positions of most furniture
pie as emphasized the formality of Baroque interiors. Chairs generally
line d room walls, and were put back in place there by servants after use.
I Mended to impress, these palatial interiors were lined with Turkish
tapestries, Genoese cut velvets, Lucchese silks and Spanish embossed
an< gilt leathers that were exported throughout Europe. Ceilings and
wa Is were painted with brilliant frescoes and self-glorifying messages
we e not uncommon. Gilding of ceiling panels and wall ornaments
bee une increasingly fashionable.
/. though still relatively scarce. Baroque furniture took on the pro-
cla c^tory aura of the pompous fittings around it. Carved sconces,
guerdons and chandeliers provided glittering supports for candles, and
the ij gilded surfaces were reflected in cascades of light by decorative
miirors in elaborate carved frames.
I % Italy, large villas such as the Ca’Rezzonico in Venice housed suites
of (late apartments, including galleries, libraries, dining rooms and
sal< ns, all decorated with hangings, gold galloons and fringes, lacquer-
wo k and ivory and marble wainscoting. The furnishings of these rooms
we e objects of sculpture and art, rather than comfort. Produced by lead-
ing contemporary artists, scale, exaggerated style and cost precluded
casual use. The private family apartments located above the show rooms
of the piano nobile were furnished very simply.
Baroque furniture was bold, vigorous and sculptural. Naturalistic
carving in high relief supported tables, beds, chairs, stools and cup-
boards, Carved dolphins, eagles, shells, putti and grotesques were
combined with volutes, dense scrolling and foliage, and placed beneath
seats or slabs of marble to form chairs or tables.
Gilded chairs with outstretching arms and velvet upholstery were
carved with broad, ribbon-like forms which twisted and furled to in-
corporate putti and foliage. Decorative console tables were carved by
sculptors such as the Venetian Andrea Brustolon (1662-1732) in vigorous
compositions of animals, blackamoors, shells and figures.
Brustolon’s training began in his native city of Belluno and was con-
tinued, from his fifteenth birthday, under the Genoese sculptor Filipo
Parodi whose late Baroque style no doubt influenced him. His earliest
known work is a pair of angels for the sacristy altar in the Frari, Venice,
probably about 1683 and it seems that much of his life was spent creating
religious works for church use. The only furniture that can definitely be
attributed to him is a suite, sometimes called the “negro suite’ which he
made for a prominent Venetian, Pietro Venier, sometime before 1699
and now in the Ca’ Rezzonico, Venice. The chairs of this suite are
carved in boxwood, and the arms are fashioned as creeper-entwined
branches supported by negros with lacquered heads and arms. The
largest piece is a side-table in which Hercules, flanked by Cerberus and
the Hydra, supports a platform on which two river gods lie holding por-
celain vases with three nude negros supporting yet another vase in the
centre of the table. Only two other suites can be tentatively assigned to
Brustolon, one made for the Correr family and now in Ca’ Rezzonico
and the other for the Pisani which can be seen in the Quirinal, Rome.
The collection of Lord Burnham in Beaconsfield holds four armchairs
similar to the Venier pieces.
Features of the Italian Baroque reached France during the reign of
Henri IV, who established craft workshops in the Grand Galerie du
Louvreon the example of the Florentine ducal manufactories. Aided by
cardinals Jules Mazarin and Armand Jean de Richelieu, who wished to
establish a national style, Louis XIII continued to promote the emula-
tion of Italian and Flemish achievement in the decorative arts.
In 1661 Louis XIV acceded to the throne, and in 1667 Jean Baptiste
Colbert, his minister of arts, founded the Manufacture Royale des
Meubles de la Couronne, known as the Gobelins after the workshops
previously established in 1622. Under the directorship of the artist
Charles le Brun, and stimulated by the personal interest extended by
Louis XIV, the Gobelins workshop developed into flourishing collabora-
tive manufactories, in which designs of le Brun, Jean Berain (1638-1711),
and Jean le Pautre (1618-82) were completed by craftsmen contributing
diverse skills and talents. Among the most prominent were Jacques
Caffieri (1678-1755) and Andre Charles Boulle (1672-1732).
Boulle is undoubtedly France’s most celebrated cabinetmaker and
his name has been internationally adopted to describe the style of furni-
ture produced in his workshops. In 1672, he was given rooms and a
shop in the Louvre by Louis XIV, where for the next thirty years
jade furniture for the Court and the nobility, receiving the title
ier ebeniste du roi. While he made a great deal of furniture for
VerMilles, only two fully documented pieces are known - a pair of
commodes made for the king’s bedroom at the Trianon. It is not certain
whether boulle actually invented the commode but he certain!) spent
son e time experimenting with the concept and played an important
role in its development. The original versions of the commode were not
the bureau but with fewer drawers which extended the whole
and sometimes provided with doors and the top in either mar-
or marble. While marquetry was fashionable at this time, it was
: who brought the technique to perfection. The technique involved
glueing together thin sheets of brass and tortoiseshcll and then pasting
on to the surface a piece ol paper on which the required pattern had been
drawn. I he pattern was cut out with a saw and the layers separated to
givel two kinds of marquetry, the first called premiere-partie in which the
pattern of brass was on a tortoiseshcll ground and the other, contre-
partie which was the reverse. His most magnificent achievement was the
cabinet of the Dauphin, completed between 1680-83, which was
iestroyed.
French Baroque incorporated the exuberance and lavishness of
designs, forms and ornamented carving into a more restrained
Classical style. Rectilinear gilt upholstered sofas, day-beds and
were made at the Gobelins along with other furnishings for the
ce at Versailles. Tall, imposing cabinets, bureaux, and commodes
were covered with floral marquetry, or the delicate interlacing composi-
tions of contrasting toitoiscshell and brass popularized by boulle’s
craftsmanship. Heavy ormolu mounts of mythological scenes,
s, lions and acanthus leaves appeared on tables and case pieces,
i Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and the great reductions
)belins’ output which the government imposed for economic
is, forced many craftsmen to leave France. Thedesigns of Huguenot
te Daniel Marot (1663-1752) proved especially important in the
lination of the Louis XIV style.
Sep
24
Antique Linen Embroidery
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Linen Embroidery
Sw is linen embroidery was at its height in this century, declining after
6. Most of the work comes from the German-speaking cantons,
Jcularly those where linen was also produced such as St Gall, Con-
ic and Schaffhausen. The linen they used was of blue or brown yarn
because they used only small looms, larger works required the strips
joined. This in itself provided an opportunity for imaginative work
amental overstitching, embroidered braid or lace insertions,
lie Catholic Church had always been the prime inspiration for Swiss
in<£iji embroiderers and during the 16th century when the Swiss, like the
ish embroiderers, were studying books and woodcuts for new
ns, Bible woodcuts took pride of place. Renaissance motifs were
i slowly accepted by the Swiss and certain motifs, such as architec-
scrollwork, were never used.
Spain and Italy
Spanish embroidery, though it owed much to the long Moorish tradi-
tio l, was also influenced by the Incas of South America, for the plunders
of civilization were now reaching Spain. The Incas had achieved
Pair of embroidered gloves given by
Henry VIII to his friend Sir Anthony
Denny.
Embroidery
high artistic standards in their own textile work and their stylized animal-
istic motifs were given a new interpretation in Spain.
The standard of embroidery was high and as well as the previously
mentioned influences, designs were also taken from the Spanish painters
of the day, such as Murillo. Altar cloths, not surprisingly in Catholic
Spain, provide some of the more luxurious examples.
Italian embroiderers were also influenced by the painters of the day
but took greater pains to imitate as closely as possible even the smallest
gradation of shade or colour.
Metal armour has been used by warriors for thousands of years but,
apart from a very occasional excavated piece of Roman or Greek armour,
very few pieces pre-dating the late 16th century are likely to be available.
By this date the wearing of armour was already in decline, for firearms
were changing the face of war and making armour obsolete.
The 16th century had heralded a distinct division of armour into two
types depending on its role. On the one hand there was the late Gothic
style called ‘Maximilian’ armour which was used mainly for pageants
and display and plain, undecorated armour which was used on the battle-
field. The latter is distinguished by the use of chain mail skirts and closed
helmets and by the employment of sabbatons instead of sollerets as foot-
guards. Battle helmets consisted of the crown which had a ridge, usually
roped down the centre and with two cheek-pieces meeting and fastening
at the chin. The visor and bevor were formed of one piece with horizontal
apertures to see through and small holes for ventilation. The chain mail
skirt had been growing in popularity during the second half of the 15th
century and was now in general use. Made of fine mail it usually hung
to about the middle of the thighs, though occasionally it reached below
the knees. Sometimes it had short slits back and front to facilitate riding.
From about 1500 male fashions in general began to change from
close-fitting garments to more ample clothing with slashed doublets.
This interest in new fashions was also reflected in armour design which,
coincidentally, was under review, particularly in Austria by the Emperor
Mi ximilian I, with a view to improving its efficiency. The ‘Maximilian’
sly i lasted, with a few changes, until about 1600 and was characterized
sbveral supplementary fittings for additional protection and the use
decorative fluting. On the helmet, which was of the closed type, the
flu ing usually ran from front to back, while the visor was formed of two
pa ts, the upper, or visor proper, which fell down inside the second section
or bevor which could be raised independently of the visor.
1 rrom about 1545 the fluting on all parts of the armour was discarded
be< ause it had been found that a lance meeting the fluting tended to be
caught and the point directed to vulnerable parts. The fluting was re-
placed by rich engravings and repousse work as well as gold and silver
damascening. As a result, the armour of the aristocracy tended to
be< ome a luxury, lined in velvet or silk, but made of relatively thin metal
an I so useless as a protection.
‘ ‘he armour worn by the lower ranks however tended to be less uniform.
Th b infantry at this time was made up of pikemen, arquebusiers, canoniers
and archers. The pikeman wore a pot-de-fer helmet with a turned down
brin i from about 1530 until later in the century when it changed to a classic
en sted helmet and later still to the cabasset helmet. He wore a breast-
an I packplate but probably only occasionally had arm and thigh armour.
In the early part of the century the arquebusier wore little armour but
about 1550 he was wearing a type of armour called ‘almayne rivets’ a
na ne taken from a German system of metal connected by sliding rivets.
Thsfcavalry wore mainly half-armour consisting of a closed helmet or
cas que and a breastplate and tassets which reached to either the middle
of tie thigh or to below the knee.
During the late 16th century there was an increased use of helmets
without face pieces, and these burgonets were worn by both cavalry and
infantry. Probably the commonest form is that known as the lobster
tai ed burgonet which was popular during the period of the Thirty Years
W; i (1618-48) and the English Civil Wars (1642-8). It had a domed
sku 1 with a peak through which passed a curved bar, the nasal, which
ga 4 some protection to the face. The back of the neck was covered by
a fl ired guard made of several overlapping strips or lames. Two ear flaps
pr< rected the cheeks.
Another light helmet was the morion which had a skull with just a
na rtow brim and perhaps earflaps. Another form had a high central
conb and a very pronounced curve in the brim.
7 till suits of armour are very rare and many of those which do appear
on t ie market are composed of parts from different armours. A number
of Victorian copies also exist and these will seldom deceive the collector
foi t tiey are usually ‘tinny’, light and lack the graceful lines of the original.
Llthough full armours are rare there is a great deal of interest in the
collecting of component parts. Helmets are probably the most desirable
pieiSss. Early 16th century examples of the close helm have a fluted
sui f ice designed to give greater strength. This style is known by collectors
as Maximilian and is very attractive. Some rather crude examples of
clo se helmets may be found and these are usually church helms which
we e hung above the tombs. They were often put together out of odd
piejcjes and many have a crest fitted.
German breastplate decorated with
etching.
Thd word Baroque is thought to have come from the Portuguese word
bartqco meaning an irregularly-shaped pearl. The term did not receive
wid Bjusage as a description of the predominant style of the 17th century
unt 1 the 19th century and, as the translation of the word indicates, it
was originally used disparagingly being applied particularly to post-
Rei a issance architecture. Nevertheless the perjorative use of the word
dis; ppeared and the Baroque style came to be seen as an original style
witl inuch intrinsic merit and beauty.
Whereas the previous two centuries of the Renaissance were an age
of < tcovery, the 17th century was an age of expansion and the art that
it produced, the Baroque, personified this expansive urge. Baroque art
has been described as spacious, dynamic, colourful, sensual, opulent and
exl avagant. It was an age that was to last for over 100 years.
1 He origins of the Baroque have not been well defined but it is clear
tha St began in northern Italy around 1600, the full transition taking
only a quarter of a century before it spread into most of Europe. It is
thought that the Baroque was initially the reaction of papal Rome
agatlst the spread of Protestantism and certainly echoes of this idea can
be :den in the flight of the Huguenots after the Revocation of the Edict
of I lantes in 1685 from France, which by then had become the model of
BaiDque for the rest of Europe. Ironically it was the Huguenots who
wei b among France’s finest craftsmen, and it was they who subsequently
car ied the Baroque to England and other Protestant countries.
I ‘Rome was the birthplace of the Baroque then Michelangelo seems
to 1 ave provided the base on which it was built even though he died in
156|| From Popes Paul III (1534-49) to Sixtus V (1580) a successful
campaign had been led against the rise of Protestantism after which
Six us determined to rebuild Rome more magnificently than before as
an < difice against paganism. For him, the style of the Renaissance carried
elei lents of the paganism he was opposed to. The building of St Peter’s
beg ih by Michelangelo earlier in the 16th century was continued (1606-
12) inderCarlo Moderna and became Rome’s greatest Baroque project.
11 w; s in the amendment of Michelangelo’s basic plans that the Baroque
por entously emerged, but it was left to Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680),
“eatest artist of the Baroque if not the originator of true Baroque,
lplete the design for St Peter’s,
hje desire of the papacy to create a pomp and splendour that would
up the Church and attract more members spread to the nobility
i\y, who had palaces built which reflected the ecclesiastical magni-
ficence.
Sep
24
Antique Clocks. English and German Clocks
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
A notebook of Leonardo da Vinci’s from about 1500 cqntains
the first known illustration of a fusee and it also seems likely that the
first spring clocks came from Italy, although no early examples survive,
only references to them in early papers dated 1482 and 1493.
Peter Henlein of Nuremberg was responsible for the first significant
technical advances in the spring-clock in the first decade of the 16th
century. One of only three suriving clocks of the early 16th centufy is in
the possession of the Society of Antiquaries in London and is signed
‘Jacob Zech’ (Jacob the Czech). The clock has a year wheel show ng the
position of the sun in the zodiac and an hour circle that could be ac justed
for countries such as Bohemia and Italy that used a 24-hour day. Other
than these two clockmakers the only other known one is Caspar Werner.
The first spring driven clocks were horizontal with the cases either
drum-shaped, square or later hexagonal. The sides were fully enclosed
and frequently highly engraved. Progress was rapid and soon highly
ornate and more complicated clocks appeared. Greater accuracy was
possible and so minute hands were added. Automata and astronomical
dials appeared, together with complicated strike and chime mechanisms.
An alternative method of enclosing the mechanism was devised in the
early part of the century. The top-plate and dial-plate are fixed to the
movement frame while the sides and back are left open. The whole
assembly is then slipped into a case which has much of the fron open.
This method, by providing the large bare surfaces of the case, gave
ample scope for decoration.
Centres in South Germany produced the finest clocks at this date.
Organized guilds in these areas were particularly strict and by now
distinct from those of the blacksmiths, locksmiths and gunsmiths. The
Parisian Clockmakers Guild had also been granted a charter by Fi ancois
I, but the Company of Clockmakers was not established in Engladd until
lie advent of the mainspring opened the door to the possibility of
traf/elling clocks. Although there is some doubt about the authenticity
of he story, it is said that Louis XI (1423-83) was the owner of the first
tra felling clock, which it was said, was small enough to fit into the sleeve
of his gown. The clock was supposedly delivered to the king in 1480 by
Jeanlde Paris, so that if the story is true the king owned a clock that was
no Weight-driven, so preceding the earliest known Italian examples first
se« lin 1485. Mher than the Zech clock, another clock of German origin from
c.l 550 and now in a private collection, is a further step on the road to
travelling clocks. Drum-shaped, with no engraving on the case, it has an
iron movement with a tall fusee and large balance, but no balance spring.
Th sjclock has a leather travelling case with lock and key.
Drum-shaped table clocks with detachable alarums were in use on the
coi tinent from c.l 540-1600 and many were equipped with leather cases.
On w late 16th century table clock by Roweau of Paris, which has a
circular balance but no balance spring, would appear to be just a table
clock except for the fact that the leather case has a window to show the
dia J implying that it was not only meant to be carried but was also in
op Ration while travelling.
Watches undoubtedly developed from portable clocks, the latter becom-
ing possible once the source of motive power was the mainspring rather
thalri weights. It is now thought that the mainspring was possibly in use
by pie 1450s and it was definitely known by 1477.
There is some uncertainty about who invented the watch but references
in Qosmographia Pomponiae Melas (1511) by Johannes Cocclaeus point
locksmith Peter Henlein of Nuremberg. However, Italian clock-
xers were active in this period and by 1488 small portable clocks and
probably watches were being made there. A school of watchmaking in
France did not exist until the second decade of the 16th century. Another
tion that arises in connection with the originator of watches is that
one would expect the shape of the first watch to have been drum-
ed, following the pattern of portable clocks, Peter Henlein’s early
£hes are known to have been spherical. The earliest dated watch
48) has a tambour case.
jarly German movements were made of iron with a verge escapement
foliot with a stackfreed to equalize the power of the spring. Cocclaeus’
references to Henlein, however, speak of his watches running for forty
hours, whereas watches with a stackfreed run for only twenty-six hours.
It BJpossible that Henlein used ’stopwork’ which was a device to prevent
over-winding of the watch and to enable the middle turns only of the
mainspring to be used, giving a more even torque. Examples of early
Nuremberg watches with stopwork are well known. French and English
wctjhmakers preferred the use of a fusee rather than a stackfreed.
Watches
Initially these used a gut line, but this was replaced by the chain
Striking and alarm mechanisms were incorporated in very early
watches and, as had happened with some clocks, calendar and astro-
nomical indications also became popular. Dials had only one hand, the
hour hand, and were marked in hour and half-hour divisions. Since
glass covers had not been invented, either a solid cover was used or one
that had been decoratively pierced so that the tip of the hour hand was
visible.
Decoration on the dial usually consisted of a star or sun with twelve
sunbeams connecting the hour numerals to the centre. Dials became
more elaborate as the century progressed, with engraved work replacing
the central sun.
Cases of this period fall into two groups - drum and spherical - both
characterized by a restraint in decoration which probably emphasized
the greater importance of the movement at this time. Many watch cases
were pierced so that the movement could be seen. Spherical watph cases
were shaped from copper sheet and then chiselled and engraved; drum-
type cases were usually cast. After about 1585 the German drum shape
was replaced by a circular case with domed front and back covers.
Patterns of 15th century metalwork continued into the 16th century
which saw a few innovations. Firebacks originated around the beginning
of the 15th century. They were, it is thought, first made for use in
the newly-introduced wall-fireplace, both to protect the wall and to
radiate the heat of the fire. The first ones were probably simple! slabs of
cast-iron, but they soon became decorated. A plain board was used as
the basic pattern, and the mould was open topped. After the pattern’s
removal, decoration was impressed into the sand. The commonest im-
pressions were taken from stiffened lengths of rope, pushed into the
sand to form patterns such as pentagrams, triangles, squares and borders.
Sometimes the founder would push the impression of his hand or of
some of his tools into the sand. Such decorations long persisted and were
used alongside more sophisticated decorations on the same backs.
In time, firebacks made from patterns carved in one piece became the
norm. The earliest English specimen dates from 1548. Decorations vary
enormously and include heraldic devices, flowers and allegorical.
Biblical and domestic scenes. Shape also altered somewhat over the
years; at first firebacks were simple horizontal rectangles, sometimes with
a pointed or curved top. Later they became less elongated and had more
elaborate tops; from the end of the 17th century they became roughly
square, again with decorative tops, to fit into the newer, smaller type of
fireplace. They were made into the 19th century, and reproductions are
still cast.
Firedogs or andirons have an even longer history than firebacks. They
were used in Roman times, long before the invention of the wall fireplace,
whehjthe fire was made in the centre of the house and the smoke escaped
thro igh a hole in the roof. Their parts are known as the stauke (the front,
usu Hy decorated, upright) and the billet (horizontal) bar. The billet bar
supj orted the logs and the stauke was to prevent them from falling out
of t e fireplace. The earliest liredogs were made of wrought iron, but
Iron the middle of the 16th century the staukes were cast on to the billet
bars.
F om the 16th century, firedogs became more elaborate, and though
impler types were still used in ordinary houses and the kitchens of
big louses, the more flamboyant types were used in the main rooms of
the big houses. Before long they became no more than a decorative
adjunct to the fireplace, in elaborately-wrought and highly-polished
braskJ bronze, steel and even silver.
Cast-iron holloware should also be mentioned (cauldrons, bowls and
mortars for instance), which was made in the low Countries and in
England in great quantities from the 16th century onwards. Design
followed that of similar bronzework, albeit more simply.
Pewter
Although domestic pewter was well established by the middle of the 15th wrough,
cent try, it was not until about 1550 that there was any attempt to move
awa ‘ from traditional designs. The reasons for this are various, notably
that pewter was not made in Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance, and
so tli ere was no school of pewterers to lead the way. Possibly as important
as he fact that until the 16th century there was no real market for luxury
pewrerware for the rich were still buying silver. As a result most of the
pewjer made before 1550 was entirely functional not artistic.
Tie Renaissance caught up with the pewterer at the same time as did
the general increase in wealth which manifested itself in the new middle
class .As a result the second half of the 16th century saw the arrival of
the ige of ‘display* pewter, which for the middle class became their
ansver to the display silver of the nobility. Display pewter was entirely
non-functional and is characterized by its relief decoration, for which
reas it is sometimes called relief pewter. It originated in France and
sooi (became popular in Nuremberg, but was never enthusiastically
rece ved in England. One of the earliest surviving pieces is a tankard by
Rolyn Griffet who lived in Lyons from 1528 68. Ihe creator of relief
pew ter though was Francois Briot of Lorraine, who is still best known
lor his masterpiece the ‘Temperantia Dish’ which was made between
158f 490. The dish is accompanied by a ewer as is another dish he made
decorated with the seated figure of Mars. Other surviving pieces of Briot’s
de a salt cellar and a bowl portraying the figure of Susanna.
The pewterers of Nuremberg were quick to follow Briot’s example and
decoration became even more popular there than in France. The
first Nuremberg pewterer to use the technique was N icholas Horchhaimer
who specialized in large bowls with low relief figures. His particular
technique of relief decoration was rather different from that of the Lyons
pew erers who used engraved moulds. Horchhaimer’s technique is
knoton as the ‘wood-cut’ style since the final product is a flat two-tier
relief reminiscent of wood-cuts.
Sep
24
Antique Venetian Glass. Vases
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
German salt-glazed stoneware jug c.1575.
Towards the end of the 15th century, the Venetian glassworkers began
to lose interest in pictorial decoration and sought ways to use it lesfs or
not at all, instead giving more attention to the material itself.
The greatest Venetian development was the re-discovery, c. 1500, of
decolorizing agents, resulting in the production of a colourless, trans-
parent glass metal, cristallo. To retain its clear property, cristallo’ had
to be blown fairly thin, and although brittle it was exceptionally pliable,
a joy to the gaffer who exploited this sometimes to the point of absurdity.
A distinctive style emerged, resulting in graceful airy shapes and exag-
gerated winged glasses with applied handles, writhing and snakejlike,
and sometimes in a clear strong blue colour contrasting well witn the
colourless body of the vessel. Finials and handles were often additionally
manipulated by pinching flat with a patterned tool, and rims ‘were
crenellated and wavy. Despite the interest in clear glass, one of the inno-
vations of the late 15th~early 16th century was ‘chalcedony’ glass, named
after the semi-precious stone which it resembles. A variety of objects
were made in ‘chalcedony’ - jugs, plates and ampullae with small spouts.
A significant development was the latticinio or lace glass technique.
This most decorative glass effect is achieved by embedding opaque (white
enamel threads in a clear matrix, produced by blowing clear glass into a
mould lined with canes of opaque white glass. The canes adhere \o the
colourless glass mass and the paraison is then manipulated to f0rm a
variety of patterns, the tour de force being the true criss-cross filigrjee net
(Netzglas). The whole is then covered with a layer of clear glass, and
the filigree pattern is truly embedded. When the white threads) were
arranged in spiral or interweaving patterns the method is known as
reticello (’net-working’). The threads were often so close together that
they completely covered the object: colours were not restricted to white,
red and blue also being used. Reticello was fashionable throughout the
16th century.
Alexandrian colour techniques were successfully revived in tne late
16th and 17th century. Schmelzglas, a process by which glass of several
colours are allowed to fuse and run into each other in a natural stone
design in imitation of various agates, is found in graceful forms of
Grecian-inspired urn or ewer shapes. It was revived during the 19th
century in several countries and particularly by the Italian, Salvi&ti.
Around the middle of the century enamelled decoration fell into] disuse
and was replaced by a freddo, a method of painting on glass without
having to reheat the object. Such painters worked particularly on the
underside of the bases of plates, glasses and goblets and their motifs
were taken from prints and wood engravings of the period.
The Venetian craftsmen also revived a technique of decorating glass
after it had been moulded, in which the design trees, branches and so
were traced around the edge of the object with a diamond or flint,
ss chosen for this type of treatment was usually transparent or deep
or blue. The cuts or incisions were extremely light and feathery, but
ite the gracefulness of this work it did not reach the standard of
ilar Dutch and Flemish work.
ne of the most practical inventions of the Italian gaffer is the folded
. The glassmaker needed a firm base for his vessel and by folding the
glass under to obtain a foot rim of double thickness, this was
achieved. This important innovation was quickly adopted elsewhere.
Ice or crackle glass was another Italian invention but was only short-
ed. It was produced either by brief quenching of the hot glass bulb in
wi ier, which caused numerous fissures on the surface (which could then
bt reheated and blown to requirement), or by rolling the glass bulb in
powdered glass fragments which adhere to the warm glass, and then
further blowing and reheating to obliterate sharp edges. This last
method was revived in 19th century France and named brocs a glaces.
Iri contrast with the fanciful shapes of plain brown facon de Venise, ice
gl iss is of more down-to-earth design - beakers, standing cups with
added decoration applied in the form of gilt lion masks and glass pearls.
All these processes are seen in glass produced in Netherland glass-
houses such as Antwerp and Liege, where Altarist and Venetian glass-
makers had settled. It is therefore frequently impossible to distinguish
between facon de Venise made on Italian or Flemish soil.
A branch of glassmaking that began in Venice during the 16th century
w s the manufacture of mirrors. It is not certain who first used glass in
place of metal for a mirror but it is thought that it may have begun in
G jrmany. It was left to the Venetians however to spread the art and to
use them in their homes. Early glass mirrors were quadrangular in shape
w th a frame made of glass held by metal connectors. Both the mirror
i the frame were often incised with floral or figurative motifs,
enice monopolized the Italian glassmaking industry throughout the
ury. Elsewhere in Italy much of the industry was devoted to producing
yday domestic wares rather than the luxury goods of Murano. In
province of Tuscany, particularly at Empoli, Pisa, Lucca and
ence, the well-known fiasche or bulb-shaped glass bottles held in
were made. There is evidence that the Tuscan glassmakers were
at empting to make table glasses in the 14th century, but even by the
It th century they had not achieved the quality of the Venetian product.
Some goblets with winged stems, bowls and cups have survived and are
ribed as alia veneziana. The glassmakers of Florence became re-
ned for their medicinal and pharmaceutical glass,
ith the opening of Eastern trade routes, Venice too commenced
production of milk-glass in imitation of the newly imported porcelain.
During the 18th century, the Miotti glasshouse in particular responded
to llhe latest fashion with drinking vessels and table-ware in milk-glass
(It nimo), decorated with exquisite enamelling in bright colours and in
black or sepia. By this time, however, Venice had lost her monopoly of
glassmaking industry and this was taken over by Bohemia and
Jland. Each was very different in its concept, but both produced glass
iccellent quality and design.
Several factors had contributed to this transition. The European jlass
industry had grown so successful that there was a decrease in jglass
imports from Venice. Spain and the Netherlands had developed into
maritime powers due to the discovery of new trade routes by way ol the
Cape of Good Hope, and Venice was losing her supremacy on the seas.
There was still a demand for mirrors and chandeliers, but a new invention
pushed aside the fragile Venetian cristallo - the invention of a sturdyjglass
metal capable of supporting decorative treatment by deep cutting and
engraving, gilding and enamelling by annealing. Bohemia and England
shared this success - one with a potash-lime glass composition, the other
with the sparkling lead crystal.
Sep
24
Antique Tudor Furniture
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Tudor furniture
In England the prospering wool trade and the sale of monastic lands
after Henry VIITs dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s 1 :d to a
national proliferation of manor houses, reaching an extreme fom with
‘prodigy’ houses such as the magnificent Longleat in Warminster begun
in the 1560s. These stately homes were enlarged and multiplied in
Elizabeth I’s reign, when the expense of entertaining the Queen’s en-
tourage, and of improving features that her critical eye might find
defective, led to more than one devious scheme to keep her away.
The geometric gardens and curious plans of these buildingi, some
shaped as their owner’s initials (as was the ornament often ca|ved on
the furniture they contained), expressed the Tudor delight in intellectual
curiosities.
Many English beds, cupboards and refectory tables resembled the
massive and bulbous forms illustrated in Flemish and German pattern-
books, especially those of Hans Vredeman de Vries. English pieces were
generally joined of oak, with turned stretchers and legs that occasionally
dominated design, as in the wholly-turned bobbin chairs with triangular
sei a. Various local woods were combined in the geometric pattern,
chequering, and strapwork inlaid into gate-leg tables, beds, chairs and
the pilasters that commonly divided the oak wainscoting of room walls.
The use of the word ‘cupboard’ in Tudor times is something of an
anomaly, for although it originally meant ‘cup-board’ that is a table for
cups and plates, it began to acquire partly or fully enclosed sections.
Hi 1 and parlour cupboards for instance, were made in two stages, in
wh ch either both stages or the upper one only were enclosed by doors;
the press cupboard on the other hand was completely enclosed by doors.
Fo cupboards were often made with doors that had ventilation holes
cut into them.
The court cupboard was an Elizabethan innovation and corresponded
to he old sense of cup-board for it was an open three-tiered side-table
used for holding the family plate. The central and upper stages often had
dn iters decorated with strapwork. The word ‘court’ seems to have been
dei ved from the French court, meaning short, for these cupboards were
rarely made more than four feet high, but on the other hand they were
widely used at Court.
Another Elizabethan development was the draw table which, as the
name suggests, was an extendable table with two leaves beneath the
main surface. The first reference to such a table is in an inventory, taken
in 1552, of the Duke of Somerset’s furniture. A particular feature of the
tables is the large bulbs on the legs called ‘cup and cover’ from their
similarity to silver covered cups.
airs of this period with panelled backs and arched crests were
d with strange conglomerations of Tudor roses, Gothic linenfold
ent, dates and grapes, pomegranates and foliage, grotesques,
stumpy figures and other motifs ornamented tables, beds, benches and
X-shaped chairs.
Th i 16th century spanned the middle and late periods of the Ming
Dynasty in China, a century which finally saw the arrival of mass-
produced ceramics and the beginnings of the export trade to Europe.
Th Portuguese were the first to reach China in 1516, although it was
not until 1595, when the Dutch East India Company established itself
in Canton, that large-scale exports began.
The craft of the potter was influenced as never before by the Chinese
court which for the first time began sending large orders for porcelain
des gned and decorated in a manner specified by the court. As a result,
both the quality and style of porcelains reflected the often widely differ-
ing tastes and desires of both the various Emperors and others who had
influence at Court, in particular the despotic Moslem eunuchs employed
the e.
Cheng-te 1506-21 Chai-ching 1522-66 Lung-ching 1567-72 Wan-li 15/’i -1619
During the reign of Cheng-te (1506-21) supplies of ‘Mohammedan
Blue’ became available again after a lapse of some 60 odd years. This
was the cobalt ore imported from Persia, that had been responsible for
the blue of ‘blue and white’ since the 14th century. Also at this time
deposits of cobalt ore of good quality were discovered near Ch ng-te
Chen. The so-called ‘Mohammedan wares’ are interesting examples of
the blue and white of this period. They were so named because they were
heavily influenced by the Moslem eunuchs at the Emperor’s court. Most
of the articles made were writing table utensils - ink slabs, brush rests,
boxes and vases. They are usually inscribed with a motto in Arabic and
are often decorated with Mohammedan scrolls or arabesques.
Although the Imperial factories were dominated by the eunuchs, other
blue and white pieces of non-Moslem character were also made. These
represent a transition between the classical styles of the 15th century and
the mass-produced styles of the Chia-ching and Wan-li periods. Bowls,
ewers and vases were made in abundance with characteristic 15th century
decoration. The blue of this period has a somewhat greyish huei as do
some of the wares of the previous reign of Hung-chih (1488-1505). From
surviving pieces made in private factories it would seem that some
potters at least were making an effort to continue the traditional styles
of decoration, regardless of the Moslem influence.
Cheng-te was succeeded by Chia-ching (1522-66), a devout Taoist,
who had little or no interest in governing. Nevertheless, despite the lack
of Imperial direction the blue and white of this reign, when prqduced
for the court, was of a high standard. The cobalt deposits discovered in
the previous reign were now reaching the potter, who began to ust them
in preference to Mohammedan Blue.
Because of the Emperor’s dedication to Taoism, the commonest motifs
were Taoist, in particular a peach tree shaped into the form of sh m, the
Chinese character for longevity. Children at play or wa-wa decdration
was also popular and indicates a growing trend towards a new nati ralism
and less use of traditional motifs. Much of the porcelain of this period
however, was below Imperial quality as mass production became the
order of the day.
The decline of the Ming Dynasty became clearly evident during the
reign of Wan-li (1573-1619), a decline which was reflected in the quality
of Imperial porcelain. The potter’s work was made more difficult by
various factors, not least of which was the exhaustion of the fine clay
beds at Ma-ts’ang and the oppression of the potters by the court eunuchs
who were intent on amassing their own porcelain collections. Neverthe-
less the period was one of innovation; a pair of delicately potted
Italian Maiolica
Italian maiolica, which was well-developed by the end of the 15th
ceiiiury, maintained its distinctiveness well into the 16th century. Two
cei Ires of note are Deruta and Gubbio.
The Gubbio workshops of Giorgio Andreoli specialized in the applica-
tion of a brilliant ruby-coloured lustre. This factory remained in the
farhily until 1576. Deruta, in Umbria, started to produce wares with a
brassy-yellow lustre from about 1500, but the fine quality rapidly
deteriorated from about 1530. From the late years of the 19th century,
the lustres of Deruta have been imitated in a poor manner, by Cantagalli
of Florence, who uses a boldly painted cockerel in blue as his mark.
The principal development in maiolica in this century was the style of
pa nting called istoratio, pictorial representations of the writings of men
such as Ariosto, Ovid, Pliny and other authors of antiquity, as well as
th« (Bible. Painters took their inspiration from both engravings and
woodcuts; after 1830 the principal engravings used were those of
Marcantonio Raimondi after the works of Raphael. Wares of this latter
type were at one time referred to by collectors as ‘Raphael wares’. The
finest examples of this much copied fashion were produced originally
in the workshops of Orazio Fontana in about 1565.
lljwas during the middle years of the 16th century that Italian potters
appear to have become increasingly acquainted with Chinese porcelain,
the* result being to leave the thick white tin-glaze with little or no decora-
tiojnL a form of ware (bianchi) which soon found favour abroad.
German Salt-Glazed Stoneware
Despite the popularity of tin-glazed earthenware, the use of a clear
leadj-glaze over the natural coloured clay bodies was to continue
thiojughout Europe and had by the 16th century reached a very high
standard. But wares of this type were to take second place in Germany
lt-glazed stoneware, a development which took place towards the
of the 14th century.
oneware has all the advantages of a hard-paste porcelain, merely
ing the colour and the quality of translucency. Due to the high
nt of silicic acid, the material vitrifies at a high temperature and
pugh a glaze is not essential, the appearance and texture were im-
proved by throwing common salt into the kiln at the peak firing-
terhperature. The resultant close-fitting glaze was often coloured an
attractive brown by the previous application of a clay slip rich in iron.
The earliest of these wares were probably made at Siegburg, in the
Rhineland, where the tall slender jugs, known as Jacobakennen were
made as early as 1400. Wares from the 16th century can sometimes be
identified by the initials or signatures of such well known Siegburg potters
as uyniitgen, Symonds, Flack or Oem, all of whom were engaged in
producing a wide variety of well designed vessels, including the tall
cone-like tankards (Schnellen), or the long-spouted ewers (Schnabel-
kaake), wares usually decorated with moulded or carved relief decoration.
Ex irnples of these stonewares sometimes have English silvermounts.
Sep
24
Renaissance Antiques - Furniture, Glass, Porcelain, Pottery, Silver
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
The discovery of the Baths of Titus and Nero’s home stimulated a leap
forward in the decorative arts. The stucco decoration of both buildings
witl animal, floral, human and grotesque motifs all symmetrically
placed was adapted to furniture, metalwork, gold and silversmithing,
pottery, textiles anil jewelry in the early 16th century.
The Renaissance should not be seen however as a backward-looking
sear :b for the glories of a lost empire but as a momentous”advance in
hun ; n culture a desire not so much to re-create classical culture but to
use t as a springboard to the future. 1 he innovations of the craftsmen
of tl e 16th century are a notable illustration of this desire.
The cabinetmaker was, for the first time, primarily concerned with
the oportions of his furniture to which he could then apply classically
pure) decoration. Italian cabinetmakers turned away from oak which
was i flicult lo carve and decorate, to ebony, walnut and soon, framing
was ; dapled as a method of construction which allowed decorative
technques not used before. Both Italian and Spanish cabinetmakers
u ere nfluenced by their contacts with Islam. The geometric and natural-
istic motifs of Moorish decoration were highly appealing to the Renais-
sance artist. New furniture forms were also developed, reflecting the
needs of a population who were becoming accustomed lo more per-
manent dwellings as the political turmoil of the Dark Ages subsided.
The cassone was a development of the Gothic chest while the cassajpanca
was a form of sofa which evolved from the cassone as the cabinetmaker
sought newer forms. The characteristic ‘X’ or scissor chair which had
been a portable folding chair now became a rigid piece of furniture that
was richly decorated. In Spain the chest evolved into the vargueno, a type
of desk. Tables were no longer designed to be folded away thus opening
up a whole variety of forms and decoration to the cabinetmaker.
Italian gold and silversmiths also drew heavily on the surviving
buildings of ancient Rome and Greece for their inspiration, tend ing to
use clean, well proportioned lines for the form and to use decorative
panels. The smiths of Florence achieved renown throughout Europe for
their ingenuity and originality of style and their casting techniques.
Venice, on the other hand, was the centre of the world’s glassmaking
industry. Although the secrets of making high-quality glass had been
lost in the Dark Ages they were rediscovered around the 11th century
and by the 13th century a glass industry was established on the island of
Murano. Venice began to rise to its pre-eminent position in the 15th
century and reached its peak in the 16th century. The glassware of the 15th
century though reflecting the splendour of the Renaissance by the) use of
colour and enamelling, tended to be influenced by silverware of the day
and was rather heavy and massive in shape. By the 16th century lighter
design had opened the way to more fanciful forms and the inven ion of
cristallo was the piece de resistance of the Venetian glassmakers. The
fragility of cristallo led glassmakers to concentrate upon form rather
than applied decoration. Thus glassmaking came of age.
The Renaissance reached France sometime after 1450 at a time when
the Gothic style was at its peak. As a result the first effects of the Renais-
sance were restricted to applied decoration. During the reign of Francois
1 (1515-47) the first distinctive Renaissance style came into being and
underwent subsequent changes during the reign of Francois’ successor,
Henri II, and later (1610) with Louis XIII.
Spain first showed signs of Renaissance influence at the end of the
15th century where it became known as the Plateresque style because
decorative work was similar to the fine work of the silversmith. Although
the goldsmiths of Spain borrowed much from Renaissance Lornbardy
in their designs - foliated scrolls, classical heads, mythical beasts and so
on - they made a style all of their own and their work is amongst the
finest of the Renaissance metalworkers. The skill of the Spanish metal-
workers extended to wrought-iron grilles, railings and so on. Spanish
tables, as elsewhere, were no longer designed to be portable arid were
notable for being bound by wrought-iron stretchers.
The Renaissance did not reach England until the reign of Elizabeth I
(1558-1603) and even then the transformation remained incomplete,
the Gothic style determining form with Renaissance decorative motifs
added on.
By the middle of the 16th century in Italy the creative outpourings of
the Renaissance were all but spent and until the end of the century the
short-lived style called Mannerism was the dominant influence. The
Mannerists ceased research into nature and natural appearance a$ source
material and turned back instead to the masters of the High Rem issance
suqrias Michelangelo, and to relief sculpture for inspiration. But around
the turn of the century a new style began its march across Europe. The
age] of the Baroque was beginning.
Renaissance had been evolving in Italy for nearly a century before
[fiuence reached Northern Europe in the early years of the 16th cen-
The Netherlands were the first to adopt Renaissance forms and it
from there that the style was disseminated to Germany, Scandi-
and England through circulated prints such as those by Cornells
is (active in the 1550s), who introduced Renaissance scrolled
orriament and grotesques to the Low Countries and Germany in mid-
ceriniry. Engravings by Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527—C. 1604) and his
son Paul (1567-c.1630) accelerated the diffusion of northern Renais-
sar ce design.
bound 1580 in Antwerp, de Vries published a pattern-book showing
kg Italian Renaissance and Mannerist influence in his designs for
poster beds, tables, chairs, cupboards and other furnishings. The
Sees, caryatids, pilasters, arches and other architectural details
[rated in these plates were to be as important for northern European
tture production as his depictions of scrolls, spindles, figures, heavy
str^pwork and gem-shaped bosses.
|te Renaissance joined cupboards of the Netherlands, particularly
thdjjB of Antwerp, were characterized by this heavy style. Set on bun
feeLjthey had panelled doors ornamented with rectangular mouldings
and separated by pilasters or consoles. Turned supports of spheres,
blocks and balusters, the latter often fluted, appeared on Flemish stools,
benches, chairs, tables and beds, often joined by similarly turned
st res tellers.
Germany, prints executed by Albrecht Diirer (1471-1528), Peter
inspired forms and motifs which furniture-makers had widely adopted
(c. 1485-1576) and the de Vrieses, circulated Renaissance-
le mid-16th century. Engravings by Lorenz Stoer (active 1555-
(.1620) popularized designs for the inlay and marquetry ornament of
is and cabinets, with involved and complicated perspective views
thajt included overgrown architectural ruins, strapwork, rollwork and
olyhedral forms such as dodecahedra.
the conservative and more commercially isolated north, stylistic
chdriges occurred more slowly; pieces were heavily formed and enriched
wit i massively carved figures and ornament. Gothic vestiges, such as
lintnfold ornament on cupboards, lingered well into the mid-16th
centiiry.
Application of classical architectural motifs to French furniture forms
in the first half of the 16th century created the bold, vigorous Francois I
sty e Tables carved with griffins and grotesques, beds with baluster posts
and) pictorial hangings and panelled chairs, benches, stools and cup
English oak armchair with panelled hack.
boards exhibited the initial ripples of Italian influence in their ornament
and form. In the second half of the century the integrated, mors in-
dependently French Henri II style developed, shaped largely by the
engravings of architecture and furniture executed by the designers
Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (c.1520- 1584) and Hugues Sambin
( 1520-r. 1601). Architectural details, fruit and foliage, caryatids and
lion, ram and eagle forms ornamented the heavily carved armoireS and
tables of this period. These also appeared on the characteristic Four-
doored cupboard in two stages, which was often carved with figure > and
crowned by a broken pediment.
Du Cerceau’s first book of architecture appeared in 1559 and s:rved
to establish his reputation firmly. He went on to publish several ather
books of engraved designs for silver, textiles and furniture as well as
architecture, drawing heavily on the silver designs of Hans Broiamer
and the engraved ornaments of Polidoro, Agostino Veneziane and
Perino del Vaga. He was the first French architect to publish furniture
designs in the Renaissance style and despite the fantastic and elat orate
style of many of his designs, several pieces of furniture still exist, pa rticu-
larly sideboards and cupboards which are clearly derived directly from
his book. Other pieces in which his influence is apparent omit someof his
more imaginative details.
It is not known whether Sambin ever actually made a piece of furniture
and his reputation seems to rest mainly on interior work for the Palais
de Justice in Dijon, notably a wooden screen which separates the chapel
from the Salle des Pas Perdu, as well as on his book Oeuvre de la di >ersite
des Termes, dont on use en Architecture. Some existing cabinets seem to
show the influence of Sambin particularly in the style of their term: igures
which exhibit the curious fantasy quality typical of Sambin.
The school of Fontainebleau combined the styles of du Cerceau,
Sambin and the Italian craftsmen imported by Francois I and Henri II
to decorate the palace of Fontainebleau in the Renaissance manner.
French furniture craftsmanship in the second half of the century
showed increasing mastery and refinement of the techniques of carving,
dovetailing and joinery.
Sep
24
Metalwork Antiques, Silver and Gold Items
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Domestic Metalwork
while the bits (the parts that move the wards in the lock) are cut with
such complication and precision that they look like gatherings of Gothic
lace. Later there was a tendency for the bows to be cast, but the iecora-
tion did not diminish.
Apart from locks and keys, the benchworker made many other objects,
including furniture fittings (hinges, bolts and key-escutcheons), nails
with ornamental heads, judas grilles (which were fitted to door; so the
householder could see who was knocking), door knockers, ca; kets (a
very beautiful group), sewing accessories, tableware, bag frame ,, seals,
candlesticks, lecterns, and even statuettes.
The benchworker’s tools were made as.beautifully as his products.
Hammers, vices, chisels, hacksaws, shears, tongs, small lathes an i many
others were as carefully wrought and as elegantly decorated as th; locks,
keys and other artefacts that came from their owners’ worksho ds.
The surface decoration of benchwork is finely conceived and ; pplied.
Some objects, such as jewelry (even finger rings were made) wer : gilded
all over. But the commonest decoration was by engraving, etching or,
especially in the earlier work, by sculpting. Fretwork and castings were
also used, the former being sometimes underlaid with leather, v:lvet or
cloth, when it is called marouflage. Some doorplates thus decor; ted are
at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England (early 16th cent lry).
One of the most attractive forms of surface decoration was dama-
scening, also used on fine armour. The name is taken from Dai nascus,
a centre for swordsmiths, where the craft originated; it was perhaps
introduced by such craftsmen into Spain during the Arab rule, wt ence its
use must have spread over Europe. It consists of making undercut
dovetailed grooves on the object to be decorated, filling them with silver,
gold or copper wire and hammering it so that it fills them out, and
becomes keyed in position.
Not all of the work was small scale. Large coffers with complicated
locks, for containing treasure or documents, were not uncommcn. Such
a specimen as the 16th century coffer in the Archaeological Museum,
Madrid, Spain, must have been almost impossible to penetrate without
a key. It is also superbly decorated, especially on the handles, lock
escutcheon and even on the actual mechanism of the lock.
Another large object is the wrought iron chandelier in the church of
Vreden, Westphalia, Germany (1489). This consists of a big rinj of fret-
work, around which are Gothic niches containing statuettes of saints,
in front of each of which is a little crown surrounding a candleholder.
Above all of this, in the centre, is a figure of the Virgin and Child s tanding
on a crescent moon, with rays of glory surrounding them. Above this
statuette is a hexagonal structure again decorated with fretwork i ind with
applied lettering; at each corner is a little spire, and the whole i in turn
surmounted by two more figures and further spires and at the apex is
yet another spire and a little coronet.
Benchwork was used also in Italy, where some of its finest products
were lanterns. Four, on the Strozzi Palace in Florence, are in the form of
hexagonal temples; they were made by Nicolo Grosso, called Caparra,
in 1500. Another, by the same craftsman, derived with variations from
the same design, is on the Guadagni Palace in the same city. This ilassical
detailing is completely of the Renaissance, yet the lanterns were made at
a tine when the Gothic style still prevailed in most other parts of Europe.
I forged ironwork was used for domestic utensils throughout this
period, but not much is left. The expensive items made in benchwork
would have received special care and therefore have had a greater chance
of survival. Nevertheless, some things remain, including items of furni-
ture. Such is the 16th century gilded wrought iron four-poster bed, pro-
bably of Sicilian make, now in the Bagatti Valsecchi House, Milan, Italy.
It is elaborately wrought with twisted uprights surmounted by bouquets
of f owers and with great pyramids of flowers at the foot and the head. An
extensive collection of similar beds is in the Sicilian Ethnographical
Ml scum near Palermo.
During the whole of this period bronze and brass continued in use.
Bronze cauldrons were cast, usually with legs, but sometimes without if
they were intended for hanging from a chimney crane. They usually
have two handles and are sometimes decorated with bands, either plain
or patterned. The design was probably developed from bronze-age
cauldrons made of riveted sheet-metal, such as had been used in the 8th
or 9th centuries B.C.
Skillets and posnets or pipkins of various designs were also made.
They were a kind of deep pan or saucepan with legs (usually three) and
wit i a long handle decorated with a pattern or with the name of the
owner or maker, or with a motto or text. There was a type without legs
for Use with a wrought iron stand. They were usually made of brass or
bel metal, and later were sometimes fitted with cast-iron handles. They
wete used as early as the 13th century, but were made as late as the 19th
cenjtury and were known in colonial America; there is one at Mount
Vennon, George Washington’s home.
Other cast bronze utensils made in the Middle Ages and soon after
Left: Some early ke)
Frankish, MerovingU
periods.
Right: Elaborately
front escritoire datink ft
century. Made of wa nut
panels of burr walnut
crossbanding.
Following pages: Cd\sket
Augsburg, c.1570.
decoration uses rock
Tie
semi-precious stones
s from the Roman,
and Carolingian
curved Spanish fall-
rrom the 16th
it has inset
with orangewood
made in
elaborate
Crystal and various
Left: Tiger ware jug will Elizabethan
silver gilt mounts. The bund at the neck is
chased with strapwork., dade in London
1566.
Right top: Aragoneseit astilian ewer and
basin in silver parcel gilt, late 16th
century.
Right below: A pair of
potted openwork bowls i tade in the reign
ofWan-li (1573-1619).
Domestic Metarvvork
A fine gold neck lure made by the Chimu
of South America and probably dated
from the 12th century.
included jugs, ewers, pestles and mortars and candlesticks, some >f them
elaborately decorated and of beautiful shape. But, as with other things,
they continued to be made for long afterwards, and even until the present
century. A Renaissance bronze ewer by Desiderio da Firenze is 01 tstand-
ing, with its richly moulded decorations of swags, masks, fruit and other
devices.
Laton was much used for memorial brasses, which originated in the
Low Countries at about the first quarter of the 13th century These
plates were engraved with an effigy or with emblems and inscr ptions.
Many brasses have been destroyed, especially on the Continent, but the
earliest extant example is at Verden, near Hanover, Germany; it com-
memorates Bishop Yso Wilpe, who died in 1231. Some of the brasses
in England were Continental work, like that of Thomas Pounder and
his wife at Ipswich, which is Flemish (1525). But the majority are English;
there are about 10,000 examples remaining in England, more in ft ct than
in all of the rest of Europe.
Meanwhile work in cast-iron had been progressing. It was used for
early ordnance, which had been made possible by the invention of gun-
powder in 1325. The ordnance was as dangerous to those who were
firing it as it was to the enemy, but its use persisted, and out of th< result-
ing cast-iron industry which developed in the Weald of Englard grew
the manufacture of domestic cast-iron work.
The cast-iron grave slab was one of the earliest products; it might have
been suggested by the memorial brass. One or two early examples still
remain. The oldest is in Burwash church, Sussex (mid-16th cfentury)
decorated with a cross and has, in Lombardic characters, the ins( ription
in relief: orate p. annema jhone collins (Pray for the soul of Joan
Collins). Another, much closer in design to brasses, is in Crcwhurst
church, Surrey; it is a memorial to Anne Forster (1591) and b:ars an
inscription, heraldry, figures and a representation of a shrouded corpse.
Cast-iron grave slabs were made until the late 19th century, one! as late
as 1885 is in St Leonard’s churchyard, Bilston, Staffordshire.
Pewter
The earliest medieval pewter that has survived comes from the Gothic
period and much of it is ecclesiastical pewter. The use of pewier as a
substance suitable for chalices can be traced to the Synod of Rouen in
1074 at which the use of wood for chalices was forbidden but pewter
allowed where it was not possible to provide chalices of more v iluable
metals. The Council of Winchester adopted the same ruling in 1076.
However a century later the Council of Westminster instructed bishops
to consecrate only gold and silver vessels. Nevertheless necessity due to
poverty often prevailed and pewter continued to be used.
Sepulchral chalices of pewter were allowed however, indeed every
church was supposed to have two chalices - one consecrated for use,
the other for burial with the priest. Quite a large number of these have
been found over the years in graves at Chichester, Cheam, Gloucester,
Lincoln and Westminster to name but a few. The form of most (halices
of this period is similar - wide-mouthed, tazza-shaped with an atlendant
paten.
Other ecclesiastical pewter in use included large vessels for transporting
wine from the cellar to the sacristy and for the ceremonial washing
of the celebrant, and small burettes - pewter bottles for the wine and
water - which date from the 14th century. In England these were later
called cruets. Two surviving cruets from the 14th century were found in
the moats of Weoley and Ludlow castles. Both are hexagonal-shaped
wjith relief-cast panels showing religious scenes and the quality of work-
manship is high. Small pewter candlesticks were in use about the same
time as burettes, though larger ones as well as hanging candelabra were
still made of iron, brass or copper.
portable pewter benitiers - vessels for carrying holy water - resembled
small buckets and mention of them being used in several 14th and 15th
century French churches has been found. Caskets for the Eucharist,
incense boats and their spoons, font bowls and small bells were also
made in pewter. A pewter font of 13th century design has been found at
C if encester.
The pattern of use of household pewter was quite the reverse of
ecclesiastical pewter, for while the use of the latter reached its peak in
the 14th century and was declining by the 15th century, household
pewter re-emerged at the beginning of the 14th century and was in general
use at least by the upper classes by the 15th century.
The earliest mention of domestic pewter is of the export of a few
pitchers, dishes and salt-cellars from London in 1307. Until the 14th
century makers of pewter were probably general metalworkers rather
than specialists but by 1319 four pewterers are known to have been
working in London. In 1348 ordnances for the control of pewtering in
London were registered, indicating the extent of the growth of the
industry.
Sep
24
Medieval Antique Chinese Porcelain. chinese sung dynasty, yi dynasty
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
An exciting new range of enamel colours, fused to the surface of the
glaaje, were first successfully used during the reign of the Emperor Cheng
Hui (A.D. 1465-87). An underglaze-blue outline was sometimes used
together with delicate translucent colours, a style referred to as tou-ts’ai
(contrasted colour).
Yung Lo 1403
Hsuan-te 1426\35
Ceramics
Vase of the mei p ling type. Southern Sung
period (early 14th century).
The porcelain produced during this reign is considered to be the main
rival to that of Hsiian-te, showing a delicacy and refinement i lot seen
before. The shade of blue long used changed and became somewhat
paler and a new technique which has been called ‘outline and w; ish’ was
introduced. The reason, it seems, is that by 1434 the Chinese had eceived
the last consignment of imported cobalt and potters had to rel / on the
less satisfactory local ore, which was, however, easier to grind ; tnd pre-
pare. The more finely ground ore enabled the potter to ou line his
pattern first and then fill it in with a paler ‘wash’.
Early Korean Ceramics
Excavations have revealed that Korean potters were produc ng grey
stoneware vessels and figures for burial purposes during the Si la king-
dom (c.57 B.C.-A.D. 935), but it was in the reigns of the Koryo kings
(A.D. 918-1392) that many fine porcellanous stonewares were pi oduced,
with celadon glazes, which at times rivalled the best example s of the
Chinese Sung dynasty. Much originality was introduced, inclu ling the
then unique technique of inlaying black and white clays into :he grey
toned clay body, the whole being covered with a watery blue-green
celadon glaze.
The coarser wares of the Yi dynasty (1392-1910) still showe i a bold
originality, which is so much admired by today’s studio potte s. Iron-
brown and copper-reds were often applied to sturdy porcelain forms,
and these sometimes acquired a greater charm due to lack of tern >erature
control and the partial burning away of colours.
The Potters of Islam
Collectors of early Islamic pottery are few. Those decorathe wares
which are today available have in almost every instance bee l recon-
structed from fragments, often recovered from the sites of early rubbish
tips. There have been rare finds of pots buried for safety because of fear
from invaders, remaining unclaimed until recent years. Fragments of
Chinese imported wares, together with local wares which sho\’ a close
relationship, were excavated on the site of the Mesopotamia l city of
Samarra, occupied by the Abbasids in the mid-9th century.
The Islamic potter was soon to create more original styles ol decora-
tion, and although unable to locate the materials essential for tl e manu-
facture of porcelain, their fine earthenware provided ideal gro jnds for
beautifully applied designs in various coloured clay slips and metallic
oxides, including lustre.
The technique introduced by the Mesopotamian potter in the late 9th
century which was to have such influence in Europe, was the ap plication
of a glaze made both white and opaque by the addition of t n-oxide,
providing a white porcellanous surface, suitable to receive tb: limited
range of colours offered by the metallic oxides known at that time.
Colourful wares in this new style were created in the form ol Chinese
T’ang period pottery and Islamic metalwork.
The skill of these same Near Eastern potters in achieving a beautiful
‘mother-of-pearl’ lustre in a wide range of metallic tones can sti 1 be seen
today on many surviving wall-tiles in mosques and palaces, piinted in
a wide variety of geometrical, human or animal forms, the latter often
showing a Picasso-like quality in the simplicity of line.
Blue
Le-and-white wares are usually thought to have originated in China, . ^
where porcelain was being decorated with designs in underglaze-blue .
from about A.D. 1300, but this same cobalt was being used by the ^
Mesopotamian potter at a much earlier date, during the 9th century. g>
The Chinese are known to have obtained much of the cobalt used during
the Ming dynasty from Iran. Hwg-chih 1488
Many of the Persian wares made during the 17th century in the style
of Ming blue-and-white porcelains were used to fulfil orders placed by
Dutch traders, who were having difficulty trading with China during
the years of internal strife. Wares of this type were still being made
during the 19th century.
-1505
Until comparatively recently the term ‘Rhodian’ was wrongly applied
to a class of pottery made in 1 urkcv from the 15th century at Isnik in
Wes tern Anatolia. These same wares are often wrongly classed as ‘tin- cheng-hua
glazed’; they are actually made from a rather low-fired white siliceous
body, upon which the high-temperature metallic oxides are painted
under a thin transparent glaze. The earliest class, decorated with flowing
arabesques and flowers in cobalt blue, date from the last quarter of the
15lh century.
Spain and the Moors
Thej early influence of the Near Eastern potters was first seen in Europe
during the occupation of the southern regions of Spain by the Moors.
As ^arly as 1154 Arabic writers were telling of the fine ‘gold-coloured
pottery” which even at that early date was being exported to many
neighbouring countries. By the early 14th century lustrewares from
Malaga were reaching as far afield as England.
These early Hispano-Moresque wares showed clearly in their decora-
tion the influence of pottery formerly made at such centres as Rayy and
K a slum in Persia, and Raqqa in Syria, but in form the Spanish wares
were generally more robust in every respect. Many of the pieces were
decorated in both blue and ‘gold’ lustre, the blue being fired at the same
time! as the rather poor quality white tin-glaze. After firing, the fine thin
films of silver or copper oxides to form the lustre were applied, then
subjected to a final firing in a low-temperature reduction kiln.
Knowledge of the so-called ‘Malaga work’ was soon to spread to
neighbouring areas, including Granada and Maniscs, near Valencia.
(me of the best known and oft-i I lustra led examples of M anises workman-
ship is the fine large conical bowl in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London, decorated with a stylized Portuguese sailing ship, seemingly
riding upon the backs of four large fish. It is interesting to note that the
practice of painting upon the entire ground with what sometimes appears
to be quite irrelevant patterns is a device that was continued into the
17th century by the English Staffordshire potters when decorating their
“slip-trailed” dishes.
Hispano-Moresque tablewares were very popular with some of the
great Italian families, whose coal-ol-ai ms they often bore, usually upon
a tediously painted background of small leaves and flowers, sometimes
within a gadrooned pattern.
One of the most common shapes was the cylindrical drug-jar, with a
narrow ‘waist’, usually with an out-turned lip to retain a cord to hold a
Italian maiolica drug jar c.1475.
Ceramics
parchment-type cover, the so-called albarello. The form origii ated in
the Near East and was later made by almost every European country
engaged in the manufacture of tin-glazed wares for the us« of the
apothecary.
In 1492 the Moors were finally expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and
Isabella, but the production of Hispano-Moresque type potter
continue in southern Spain to the present day, when the wares
duced for the tourist trade. By 1500 the demand was for lighter and
more practical tablewares, and this resulted in the technique I f press-
moulding being introduced. This made possible the production of shapes
previously made only by silversmiths, including ewers, gob
salvers.
The middle of the 15th century saw Seville as the centre for an
ing ceramic technique which again originated in the Near East. Coloured
tin-glazes were kept from intermingling by first incising the design into
the prepared clay form, the outline was then filled with a prepaiation of
manganese and grease which acted as a barrier between the a lours, a
procedure known as cuerda-seca (dry-cord).
The Moorish Influence in Italy
The popularity of Hispano-Moresque wares in Italy in the 15thj century
soon led to them being imitated there. The imported wares were brought
to Italy via Majorca and so became known as Majorcan ware or i laiolica.
The first known use of the word is in a manuscript of 1454. Italy had had
its own tin-glazed earthenware as early as the 11 th century, but s urviving
examples from that date are very primitive, painted primarily in brown,
yellow and green on a poor quality white ground.
Italian maiolica was at the peak of production from the late years of
the 15th century until the middle of the 16th century. Italy hac already
established a superiority over the Western world in the art of fr :sco and
tempera painting, an art confined primarily to the adornment of c (lurches.
The humble potter was soon to treat his pottery as an artist did; canvas,
introducing forms which were to offer wide scope to his biush and
palette. Indeed, it has been acknowledged that the colourful painted
maiolica gave a much truer record of the art Of the period than many
better known Italian paintings, which over the centuries had suffered
damage and been subjected to considerable restoration.
From about 1450 Florence had become a major centre of the
pottery
industry, producing fine bold forms decorated in a rich paiettie, some-
times referred to as ’severe’, due to their similarity to metal shapes. A
much more common class of ware being made in Florence at his time
was again being made for the apothecary. The large drug-pots d ;corated
in a thickly applied dark blue with a purple outline are often re erred to
as ‘oak-leaf jars, due to their having painted backgrounds of highly
stylized leaves, somewhat similar to those of the oak. The broad strap-
like handles to these larger drug-jars often displayed the bad^e of the
hospital for which they were made.
The last quarter of the 15th century saw Faenza as the major centre
for the manufacture of Italian maiolica, having in turn great nfluence
upon the productions of such other areas of distribution as Siena and
Deruta. The painting on the early Faenza wares was usually very
distinctive, consisting of strong deep blues, purples, drab orange, with
bright yellows and greens. The occasional use of heraldic arms or dated
signatures of painters sometimes enables a precise date to be given, such
as on the service made for Matthias C’orvmus, King of Hungary, whose
arms are coupled with those of Beatrice of Naples, his bride of 1476.
Some of the most beautiful painted maiolica was made at the Cafag-
gioi pottery near Florence, a workshop catering exclusively for the needs
of the household of Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, a member of a younger
branch of the family. Similar fine painting in the so-called istoriato style
is seen on the wares produced at Casteldurante, in the Duchy of Urbino,
painted in many instances by Nicolo Pellipario, whose signature on
warps made at other centres indicates his nomadic travels.
Sep
24
History of Antiques in Medieval Europe. Medieval Furniture
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Pre 1500
Above all the Renaissance was a time of change in man’s attitude
towards himself and the world around him. He gradually turned away
from the supernatural world, its values and ideas, to a concern with the
natural world. For the first time the world was being viewed without the
spectacles of religion - it was being humanized in fact. The art of the
Renaissance was a celebration of the natural world and of man himself.
T(ie traditions on which the Renaissance was to base its new synthesis
were those of classical culture which were now being rediscovered 100
years after the fall of the Roman Empire. The particular achievements
will be reviewed from the vantage point of the 16th century by which
time all of Europe had fallen under its influence.
furniture
The network of spectacular Gothic cathedrals that sprinkled the 15th
century European landscape with towers, pinnacles, statuary and spires
manifested the wealth and strength of the main force of internationalism
in the Middle Ages, the Christian Church. Commerce also united
European societies, but although mercantile exchange, ecclesiastical
splendour and courtly extravagance all helped shape interior styles in
thsrlate medieval period, they in no way provided the degree of domestic
comfort taken for granted today.
throughout Europe, common houses generally consisted of a single
room only, and their stark furnishings revealed a low standard of living.
Even in rich aristocratic establishments, interiors were likely to be more
shpwy than comfortable. European nobility constantly moved among
their various estates and as they travelled they took with them the sparse
furnishings. The dominant features of late medieval furniture were
necessarily those of adaptability and easy transport.
This furniture reflected in miniature the Gothic architectural style.
This was possibly connected to Arabic sources and was related to the
earlier northern Romanesque style of the 9th and 10th centuries.
Characterized by pointed ogival arches, cusps, tracery and stylized
fl£ me-like carving, the Gothic mode flourished in northern Europe from
the 13th to the 15th centuries. The imposing fabric of cathedrals, such
as Notre Dame, with sculpture and stained glass executed on a large
scale, provided a pictorial medium for presenting the Biblical text to a
world that lacked printing and literacy.
jEcclesiastical furniture followed this style, echoing on pews and
mjsericords such features as tracery, arcades and Biblical figures and
scenes. Domestic furniture shared the same ornament, and by the 15th
century also included the profile ‘romayne’ heads derived from Italian
Renaissance interpretations of Roman coins, and the Flemish-inspired
lir enfold panelling.
Gothic furniture was sparse. Chairs, chests and tables that date from
before the 15th century are rare; hangings were the real furnishings of
medieval interiors, and it was the collection of tapestries, velvets, silks
and leathers that dominated rooms with their presence and colour. These
materials, many produced in Italy and Spain, far outweighed the itatus
and worth of the wooden pieces they dwarfed. Sets of elaborate te ttiles,
called chambres in medieval French inventories, together with tietal-
work were the most ornate of the decorative arts. The rich wall fabrics
of the Coronation Room of Queen Jeanne of Burgundy wen: em-
broidered with 1,321 parrots and the ducal coat of arms. The poor1 >uild-
ing insulation that made these hangings necessary also popularizt d the
footstools that kept feet off cold floors. Also heavy tapestries almost
totally cloaked medieval beds.
Even in wealthier homes, rooms were not assigned exclusive functions,
and the few pieces of furniture that each house contained were moved
according to necessity. Life often centred around a large hall which
accommodated eating, entertainment and casual socializing. Such halls
generally included a long high table for the manor family; this table,
and the rows of tables set beneath it at right angles, were taken apart
into their component trestles and planks at the end of meals and removed
to make way for whatever activity was to follow.
Etiquette required that high tables, four-poster state beds, and pr ncely
seats be elevated on a dais. Canopies were hung above the same p ieces,
and even children’s cradles and press cupboards that displayed dollec-
tions of plate were similarly distinguished.
Tables were made of softwood and oak as well as stone and mirble.
Trestles were of two kinds: those with separate splayed legs arid the
column type which rose from a spreading base. Two surviving tal les of
the latter kind are at Penshurst Place in Kent. Each has three large ti estles
supporting an unattached board some 8 metres (27 ft) long. The trestles
are cruciform, wide at the top and bottom with a waisted centre. Fixed
tables were also in use and were known as dormies or dormant. /, type
of pedestal table is known to have been in use that had a round or hexa-
gonal top supported on cruciform or column pedestals. Library tables,
designed for individual use, had screw pedestals.
Few cradles have survived from the Middle Ages, but it is know l that
among the nobility at least, two cradles were used: a daytime oi state
cradle and a night cradle.
In addition to being easily dismantled, furniture of the late Middle
Ages tended to be plain and serviceable. The woods most often used
were oak, walnut and pine. Construction methods progressed from the
crude, hollowed-out tree trunk chests of early medieval England to
assemblages of wood planks and finally to the more durable pane-and-
frame construction introduced possibly in Flanders towards the end of
the 14th century.
The chest was the most common piece of furniture in the Middle Ages.
It was used to store bridal dowries, to transport belongings, to safeguard
valuables such as books and imported spices, as well as to sit on. Italian
Gothic chests were often gilt and were generally uncarved, being painted
with religious scenes. French chests were carved with Gothic arches,
tracery and figures. Those from Spain were often leather-covered, and
bound with iron. During the Renaissance, chests developed domec tops,
possibly to facilitate their fixture to animals when being transposed.
The next most common pieces of furniture after the chest were the
various forms of seating. The most usual style of stool had two pairs of
c lived or straight legs each pair of which crossed in the centre to form
a:i X; opposite legs were joined by horizontal beams or bars which sup-
p >rted a hide or cloth seat. These early stools were designed to be folded
but by the 15th century they were no longer portable, having developed
a high back. One stool common throughout Europe was the backstool.
Tins was a three-legged stool with a triangular rush or wood seat; one
of pie legs was extended up above the seat and given a short cross-bar
so forming a back - and headrest. They were still being made in the 17th
;entury.
Another 15th-century stool was the slab-ended stool made from a
ngth of plank, supported at either end by two vertical planks which had
their edges shaped like buttresses; a piece of wood in the shape of a
triefoil or Gothic arch, for example, was cut out of the base of each ‘leg’.
In general, Gothic interiors were equipped with few of the accoutre-
ments of easy living that the following centuries would introduce. The
sharp contrast between the minimally comfortable furniture that people
u£ed, and the ostentatious and expensive embellishments displayed in
trie rooms around, only began to diminish during the Renaissance.
In the 15th century the Gothic style began to wane. The flamboyant
ahd perpendicular Gothic exhausted itself in its final stages. It gradually
gave way throughout Europe to Renaissance influences which had
originated about two centuries before in Italy, where the Gothic mode
hap never been completely established. There, a turn towards humanism
in ireligion in the 13th century transformed the medieval preoccupation
with religious salvation into a glorification of man and the world. Simul-
taneously, the papacy and the rigid feudal system declined favouring
aristocratic and mercantile families such as the Medici, Gonzaga and
Sforza, who embraced the new age of expansion, exploration and
unprecedented wealth.
The patronage fostered a revolution in European thought and art,
which originated in Florence. It fast spread to the rest of Italy and
gradually permeated northern Europe. Revived studies of classical
architecture, arts and literature revitalized antique principles, manifest
iri the corporeal realism of paintings such as Giotto di Bondone’s fresco
cycle at the Arena Chapel in Padua, and in the classical proportions of
buildings such as Filippo Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel at Santa Croce,
Florence.
The resurrection of classical architectural forms and concepts brought
with it a profusion of acanthus leaves, griffins, urns and other details
taJcen from ancient villas and temples, introducing a repertoire of motifs
that would appear on furniture for centuries to follow.
Rivalries of patronage and artistic display among aristocratic families
resulted in the building of expensive palaces and villas in Italy and else-
where. These villas disseminated the Renaissance style, attested to the
new social stability and demanded the production of new and finer
furnishings.
Early Renaissance interiors continued to be draped with brightly-
coloured textiles, but as the period progressed it saw the introduction of
Furniture
a variety of new furniture forms, which increased in abundance every-
where. At first, classical ornaments were merely added to traditional
Gothic furniture. Gradually, however, although the types of woods used
remained largely unchanged, Renaissance architecture, painti lg and
sculpture led to the application of classical architectural motifs and
naturalistically carved animals, figures and foliage. Italian and French
chests of the 15th and 16th centuries often combined elements »uch as
Gothic arcades and religious figures with classical columns and cornices.
Furnishings and interior decoration developed from the classic re-
straint of the early Renaissance to an increasing opulence during 1 he 15th
and 16th centuries. Walls were hung with cloths of gold, Italian silks and
velvets, imported oriental carpets, Spanish leathers, and ta vestries
woven with mythological and Biblical scenes. Artists such as Sandro
Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio frequently executed wall lrescoes
of allegories, hunting scenes, landscapes with birds and anim lis and
architectural views.
Wooden wainscoting, often with contrasting marble panels or ntarsia
(inlaying or marquetry) decorations, also covered room walls. C offered
and panelled ceilings, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s gold and azur: stellar
composition in the ballroom of the Castello at Milan, were colourfully
painted.
These interior schemes, opulent in themselves, contained col
of paintings, sculpture, silver and gold plate manuscripts, musica
ments and maiolica. Furniture was still scarce, but increasingly
Italian Renaissance woodworkers ornamented their walnut c ibinets,
beds, chairs and other pieces with rich carving and marquetry.
The Italian cassone, box-like and painted in earlier periods de /eloped
into an architecturally-schemed chest with strong cornice and base,
classical pilasters and panels, and ornaments of arches and refined
classical mouldings. Cassone were usually the most skilfully and elabor-
ately worked pieces of furniture of the period. Made in pairs by specialist
craftsmen, they were designed to hold a bride’s trousseau, though they
were also used for holding household items.
The cassapanca, a form of chair derived from a chest with b ick and
sides, eventually became the honoured seat of the head of an Italian
household. It was fitted with cushions and often raised on a dais as were
the carved or inlaid throne seats, with panel-backs and canopies, found
in patrician ceremonial apartments. Sgabello stools, with narrow
triangular backs, were carved and inlaid. The folding, easily-transported
X-shaped Savonarola chair was upholstered with leather or fabric.
Cabinets acquired the friezes, pediments and columns of Ren; lissance
architecture; their front panels were often inlaid with intarsia trompe
I’oeil scenes which themselves depicted open-doored cabinets w th con-
tents or architectural vistas revealed. Four-poster beds with can spies of
rich velvets, silks and tapestries were often gilt and raised on a dai >. Large
tables, with vase-shaped end supports joined by stretchers, were ft equent-
ly covered with tapestries or exquisite lace, as were the credenze or side-
boards, that developed during the 15th century.
Sep
15
Jugend Style Antique Glass
September 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1848-1934, of the
Corona, Long Island, glass-works in Am-
erica reintroduced the technique used on
the dromedary flasks of the 6th—8th
centuries A.D. Free-standing ‘cage’ decor-
ation, composed of heavy zig-zag threads
of glass attached to the main vessel, can be
seen on various Tiffany vases and cups
such as the one illustrated. This came to be
known also as ‘Dialreta’ work, but in true
Dialreta such as the Romans made, the
cages were under-cut rather than applied.
Here it is an applied decoration, a heavily
constructed lattice-work fused to the main
body of the vessel at numerous points, so
that it is attached to but stands out from
the original body of the vase. The open-
work is generally diamond-shaped. The
colours of this glassware are normally blue,
with gold-lustre lattice-work. The general
effect is too heavy to be pleasing, though
the decoration is technically interesting.
Adding: The Glass-maker’s Skill
dolphin beaker
Cologne, 4th teniury A.D. Ht. 130 mm (5-12 in.)
Blobs and Prunts: The use of blobs and
prunts as a form of applied decoration on
glassware dates from Roman times through
to the modern period. This dolphin beaker
in greenish glass shows a high degree of
excellence in the technique, even at such
an early date. Two rows of hollow prunts
have been drawn downwards so that they
resemble elephants’ trunks. The lower row
touches the foot ring, while the upper row
is finished off with fish-like tails to resem-
ble dolphins. The effect is enhanced by the
addition of blue glass to the upper row of
prunts, representing the dolphins’ mouths
and fins. The dolphin motif occurs in
glasses from Rome, Gaul and the Rhine-
land, mainly as a decoration, for few glasses
exist completely in the shape of the fish.
The Rhenish glass-workers made beakers
ornamented with many kinds of sea
creatures and snails, which all come under
the general heading of’dolphin’ beakers.
As early as 260 A.D., soon after the collapse
of the frontier fortifications, strong Ger-
man influence can be seen in Rheno-
Roman glass-making. This was to become
more pronounced at the end of the 4th
century A.I)., when the last remnants of
the Roman troops left the Rhine, and
Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis (Col-
ogne) at last became a Prankish town. The
blue and green blob decoration on the
colourless glass humpen or beaker illus-
trated shows an early example of this
German influence. The blobs consist of
coloured ovals and small points, and there
is a thin engraved line below the rim. In
shape the Humpen resembles the Kumme,
the early Germanic serving and drinking
bowl. The blobs are considered to be of
religious origin, put there to ward off evil
spirits. Another form of decoration found
on the vessels of this period is a zig-zag
frieze which has the same religious
significance as the blobs.
The oldest form of prunted Stangenglas
was found in the old quarter of Prague,
bricked up in the wall of a house called
‘Zur Stcinernen Jungfrau’. The two tall
glasses were of a very slender form,
decorated with trailing and curious small
prunting. The Stangenglas illustrated, one
of the two found, is in brownish glass,
heavily corroded, with 26 horizontal rows
of tiny, snake-like prunts, and two trailed
rings applied above and below the prunted
decoration. This type is the first of a series
of tall prunted glasses known variously as
Spechtergldser, Stangenglaser and Pass-
glaser. They were very popular in Germany
from the Gothic to the Baroque period,
and were depicted in contemporary art as
early as 1410. It is thought that the
technique of dropping molten blobs of
glass on to the body of a vessel was brought
to Europe through the influence of simi-
larly decorated wares imported from Syria
in the 14th century A.D.
covered beaker in green glass with prlnts
Germany, early 16th century A.D.
Ht. 248 mm (9*75 in.)
beaker in pale green glass with prunts
Northern Europe, mid-i6th century A.D.
lit. 105 mm (413 in.)
By the middle of the 15th century A.D. the
dropped-on spots of glass applied to the
vessel as decoration had become large
applied drops, broadly melted on and
drawn out to a point. The vessels so
decorated were known as Nuppenbecher,
Warzenbecher or Krautstrunk (cabbage-
stem) glasses. The Bohemian pastor Math-
esius, in a text of 1562, stated that the
prunts were applied so that the glasses
could be easily grasped by the clumsiest of
people. The German glass-makers also
sought by this mode of decoration to
produce a glass that glowed like some
precious stone. The green, blue and brown
tints in the forest glass are seen in all their
various shades in these vessels, from the
palest, most delicate hue to the rich,
glowing darkness found in the thicker
parts. No doubt the inspiration for these
glasses came from the gold and silver
goblets of the time, which they eventually
rivalled in value.
The shape of these prunted vessels of
northern Europe changed over the years.
The earliest vessels imitated the 14th-
century Syrian imports previously men-
tioned. They were sharply divided into a
cylindrical lower part and a funnel-shaped
upper part. In the 15th century the funnel
shape changed into the rounded lip of the
glass, imitating the current style in stone-
ware drinking vessels. During the early
Renaissance period the rim once more
became funnel-shaped and was marked off
by a circle of glass. The 16th and 17th
centuries saw the shape of the upper part
of the vessel changing into a rounded form,
culminating in the hemispherical bowl so
typical of the Romer. (It is thought that the
glass received this name because of the
admiration for Roman glass still felt in
Cologne in the late Middle Ages.) In effect,
the lip of the earlier vessels had been
transformed into a liquid-containing part.