The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Furniture Finishing

Bedsteads were still Tudor in design, but less massive and with slenderer posts. The "highboy" was introduced in the shape of a chest of drawers mounted on a six legged table of which the front and sides were provided with an apron. The "lowboy" was a similar article modified in size to show four legs, and two or three, instead of four, drawers. The '' tallboy " is a combination of the two whereby a smaller chest of drawers surmounts a wider set. Desks were devised with hinged fronts to drop down and provide a writing surface, the familiar secretary type with drawers below and a glass fronted bookcase at the top. A variety of light tables superseded the single ponderous refectory table of the Tudor age and, with double and roundabout chairs, grandfather clocks and mirrors, complete the interior picture.

Few styles of furniture are easier to recognise than William and Mary; the bell or inverted cup turning on chair and table legs was but one of a number of adaptations imported from Holland along with the Dutch cabinet makers of William's preeminently Dutch household. Attributable to Mary's personal love of the art and to the industry of French Huguenot refugees was the increased wealth of "petit point" upholstery, fine needlework pictorially executed with many colored yarns. The doubleor triple-backed settee was one of a number of upholstered pieces equipped with "squab" or movable cushions, narrowing toward the back.

Spiral turning and the ball or bun-shaped foot were carried over from the preceding period, connected by flat shaped "saltire" stretchers sometimes crossing in a curved X and surmounted at the intersection by a carved finial. Cabinet work was rectangular except for rounded single or double arches and aprons in more intricate Ogival shapes. All lines were relatively simple, purity of contour being regarded as more desirable than lavish carving and decoration. Chair backs were straight, arched and filled with caning or open work carving; arms flared outward and legs were turned in trumpet, octagonal or cup and bell designs, later in the cabriole shape.

With this period the dominance of walnut approached its peak although the ever-popular English oak found continued use along with pine, cedar, chestnut and beech. As carving declined turning and marquetry increased in vogue, the latter on the front of cabinets in an elaborate form known as "seawood;" simpler patterns were executed with boxwood and holly. The oriental taste derived from Holland manifested itself in gold designs of Chinese origin on backgrounds of black, rich blue, red and green imitation lacquer work. Legs and stretchers of chairs and settees were sometimes gilded or painted, often to hannonin with upholstery colors, and veneers were laid on both oak ami fir in plain and fancy markings. Metal cabinet fixtures consisted of drop drawer pulls, perforated hinges and scrolled key plates.