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

Furniture Finishing

Duncan Phyffe original pieces are now regarded as heirlooms and the style is recognizable chiefly through chair backs showing lyre splats and diagonal cross bars, chair legs faced reversely in the Directoire manner, acanthus carving, lyre, collonade and pedestal table supports with three legs flaring outward. For ornamentation he relied on fancy veneers of mahogany combined in some cases with banding or inlay of satinwood or maple. Elsewhere appeared reeded or beaded moulding, fluting and brass drawer pulls and mounts for lion 's-paw table feet.

Modern reproductions favor his earlier designs of delicate outline and are executed in mahogany stained a light brown color, something on the order of Adam, finished in clear lacquer to reveal clearly the wood grain. Originals were French polished and show the mellow sherry wine tone of aged natural mahogany. As a style it is excellently suited to the average American interior where it is attaining a deserved popularity for the bedroom and dining room. It unites dignity and delicacy in a singularly happy degree, blending with simple or pretentious surroundings and harmonizing with all of the Georgian styles.

AMERICAN EMPIRE

The brilliance of the first Empire's military successes combined with a post-Revolutionary resentment of all things British to render French taste in furniture exceedingly popular in the young American republic. The flamboyancy of French Empire, however, was severely modified, with little of the elaborate carving and few of the profuse brass mounts, warlike emblems and marble pillars so essentially a part of the Napoleonic originals.

Often, and with no valid reason called '' Colonial,'' American Empire was characterized by clumsy lines, claw feet and ponderous scrolls. The sofa was a significant piece with curving ends, flaring legs ending in carved lion's paw or eagle's claw feet, a straight top rail turned back with carved eagle head ends. Bedsteads were of the gondola, sleigh or four post type, the latter showing the familiar pineapple finials. Tables were provided with drop or insertable leaves and square ends, supported at the centre by a plinth or pedestal with flaring legs spread out to massive lion feet. Sideboards' show scroll or pillar supports with a door at each end of the front and two in the middle. Later a popular fad called for a looking glass set in in the back rail.

Almost all American Empire was executed in mahogany, the matched veneers being laid over a pine base, although some pieces were turned out in curly maple and even rosewood. Carving was fairly profuse in the beginning as was inlay of brass, but except for fluting, little survived in the way of ornamentation with the invention of woodworking machinery. Drawer pulls consisted either of glass knobs or of a ring set in a lion's mouth. Caned settees were painted black and striped with gold.