Furniture Glossary

ADAM STYLE - British neoclassical style that predominated from about 1760 to 1790. It was established by advertisement architect Robert Adam and his brother, James. A reaction to the more fanciful rococo style of the 1750s, it is characterized by slender, graceful lines, refined shapes, and restrained ornamentation.

ARMCHAIR - Seating that has both a backrest and armrests (see bergère and fauteuil).

ARMOIRE - Tall, upright cupboard or wardrobe that does not contain drawers and may or may not contain shelves. It closes with a door or doors at the front.

ART DECO - Derived from an historic Paris exposition in 1925 that celebrated the marriage of art and industry in denunciation of Art Nouveau. It introduced simple, streamlined forms that were majestically interpreted in exotic woods and materials. American designers of the 1930s took this look further, using asymmetry, arcs, sleek lines, and geometric shapes not only in furniture, but also in architecture and a wide range of household objects.

ART NOUVEAU - Style based, literally, on the "new art" of Europe in about 1875. Flowing, nearly freeform shapes from nature were carved and painted on furniture. An elongated, slightly curved line that ends in a more abrupt, nearly whiplike second curve is its most characteristic design.

ARTS AND CRAFTS - Both a furniture style and a movement that emerged in England toward the end of the 19th century in reaction to the excesses of the Victorian era and the Gay Nineties. It glorified craftsmanship in deliberately simple shapes with exposed joinery and spare ornamentation. William Morris and John Ruskin were among its proponents in England. Based on their beliefs and designs, Gustav Stickley pioneered a similar movement in America, before it waned with the onset of World War I.

BALL-AND-CLAW FOOT - Carved-foot motif that depicts a crane's claw gripping a ball or an egg. While it is most associated with 18th-century English and American furniture, it originated in China as a dragon's claw clutching either a crystal ball or a pearl or other jewel.

BALUSTER - Small turned, square, or flat column that supports a rail; also used to form chair backs.

BAROQUE - Name given to the 17th-century exaggerated style that originated in Rome. Massive and heavily decorated, it is an extension of ornamental Renaissance style and is characterized by a lack of restraint manifested in large, irregular, even fantastic curves, twisted columns, elaborate scrolls, and oversize moldings.

BASSINET - Bed for a baby, originally basket shaped.

BENTWOOD - Wood that is bent while wet into curved chair parts. Michael Thonet (1796 - 1871) of Vienna is the best-known producer of bentwood furniture and a pioneer in mass production. Bentwood is not related to molded plywood, a 20th-century innovation.

BERGÈRE - Armchair in which the sides, from the seat to the armrests, as well as the seat and back, are upholstered.

BIEDERMEIER - A furniture style of German derivation in the first half of the 19th century and named after "Papa Biedermeier," a cartoon character that represented the well-to-do, uncultured middle class. The furniture is often plain and blocklike in form and borrows freely from many styles, particularly French Empire, adding strength and comfort at the expense of grace and refinement.

BLOCK FOOT - The square end of an untapered leg.

BOMBÉ - Chest or commode with a bulge or swollen, convex shape on the front and sides.

BUFFET - Sideboard or "dresser" for the dining room, designed to hold platters and serving dishes.

CABRIOLE - Curved shape that resembles the leg of an animal, such as a goat ("cabriole" in Spanish). Its double curve turns in at the "knee" and flares out at the foot. It came into widespread use in the late seventeenth century.

CAMEL BACK - Triple-curved chairback frame with a raised central curve. A pierced-shield design, such as honeysuckle or anthemion, spans the back from the seat to the high curve.

CAMPAIGN FURNITURE - Portable furniture that folds, collapses, or is made of flat components that can be assembled or disassembled. It also often has handles. Initiated for military use, it is most associated with colonialism.

CARD TABLE - Folding table that originated in late-17th-century England to accommodate the nobility's passion for gambling.

CHAISE LONGUE - Literally, "long chair," a sofa or daybed with an upholstered back, designed for reclining. Today it is usually a single piece, but early versions encompassed a bergère with a large stool or two armchairs and a center stool.

CHANNEL BACK - A chair back with grooves or fluting as decoration.

CHESTERFIELD - Overstuffed couch or sofa with upholstered ends and no exposed wood. Back and arms are usually of one continuous curve.

CHEST-ON-CHEST - Chests of drawers in two sections, one on top of the other.

CHINA CABINET - Cabinet with glass fronts, created to display and store fine china. The sides may or may not be of glass.

CHINOISERIE - an artistic style which reflects Chinese influence and is characterized through the use of elaborate decoration and intricate patterns. Its popularity peaked around the middle of the 18th century.

CHIPPENDALE - English rococo style of the mid-18th century, named after Thomas Chippendale. The graceful proportions and delicate decoration of this furniture were refined adaptations from late Baroque, rococo, Louis XV, and Georgian periods. Two variations, Chippendale Gothic and Chinese Chippendale, attest to the famous cabinetmaker's influence and ability to borrow styles.

COLONIAL - In America this style dominated from the earliest settlements to the Revolution of 1776. Here as elsewhere it represents styles that are rooted in mother countries but adapted to the materials and uses of the colonies, primarily Africa, India, the Americas, and the Caribbean.

COMMODE - Initially a French chest of drawers on legs; now loosely defined as any type of low chest containing doors or drawers.

CONSOLE - Term originally applied to a bracket that supported cornices or shelves and later used to describe tables that were affixed to a wall and supported with legs only at the front. Today it describes all types of tables used along a wall.

CREDENZA - Serving table with a cupboard below the surface. It originated in the 15th century; in the 16th century, an upper, recessed tier was added.

DAYBED - Any type of elongated seating, including the chaise longue, designed for resting rather than sleeping. It usually has a raised end.

DIRECTOIRE - Style of French furniture that spanned the end of the French Revolution and Napoleon's conquest in 1799. It is named for the Directory government that replaced Louis XVI and called for designs of smaller scale and less ostentation along with the elimination of regal references.

DROP LEAF - Hinged flap or panel that can be raised, then supported in order to increase the surface area of a table. The term now applies to such a table.

ELIZABETHAN - Large furniture of severe form and style that emerged initially during the reign of Elizabeth I in England from 1558 to 1603. It was revived in the 1820s and is characterized by heavy carving as well as massive size.

EMPIRE - Neoclassical style dictated by Napoleon in France between 1804 and 1815. It is based on imperial forms from Greece, Rome, and Egypt and was designed to draw parallels between Napoleon's realm and the great ancient empires. Furniture was consciously majestic, made of rich woods and metals, and decorated with emblems, including bees, crowns, laurel leaves, mythological figures, and the letter N.

ÉTAGÈRE - A series of open shelves supported by slender columns and used to display curios.

FAUTEUIL - Upholstered armchair, originally French, with open sides (see bergère). FEDERAL - American furniture style from 1780, following the Revolution, to 1830. It began by echoing and often amalgamating the neoclassical styles of such English masters as Adam, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton, and later took on influences from France. Duncan Phyfe is among its most notable craftsmen. It is refined and rectilinear, often with veneering and inlay. Brass feet and casters and brass-ring drawer and door pulls are common on casegoods.

GEORGIAN - Refers to furniture styles that evolved during the long reign of England's three Georges, I, II, and III, from 1714 to 1795. At first it retained earlier Queen Anne forms, with an increasing use of decoration and diverse ornamentation. Popular motifs were eagles' heads and claws, leaves, satyrs' masks, and lions' heads and claws.

GOTHIC - Late medieval furniture forms derived from the cathedrals of Europe. Heavy, large pieces were generously carved in architectural motifs. Chests banded with decorative wrought iron, large trestle tables, and such symbols of status as "beds of estate" and X-framed chairs are characteristic.

HEPPLEWHITE - Style named for cabinetmaker George Hepplewhite, whose furniture drawings were published after his death in 1786. They exemplified the Adam and neoclassical styles, but had slimmer, lighter lines and less angular shapes. Hepplewhite often used the Prince of Wales's feathers motif on chair backs.

HIGHBOY - Tall chest of drawers, usually consisting of two sections. An upper chest sits on either a tablelike structure or a lowboy with long legs. (See chest-on-chest).

INLAY - Design formed of contrasting woods, grains, metal, tortoiseshell, mother of pearl, or other material inserted to be flush with the furniture surface.

INTERNATIONAL STYLE - Modern, functional furniture developed in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. Its most important origin is Germany's Bauhaus, with such practitioners as Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Simple lines and an absence of decoration are its hallmarks. New materials, such as chrome and glass, along with factory production, signify its departure from earlier furniture traditions.

JACOBEAN - Style of English furniture during the first half of the 17th century, named for King James I, who reigned from 1603 to 1625. Italianate carving, especially cupboards with arabesques, and the common use of upholstery typify the robust and comfortable style, which continued through the reign of Charles I, from 1625 to 1649.

KLISMOS - Ancient Greek chair form with saber-shaped legs, splayed at the front and back. The back legs continue up to support a shoulder-high, curved back.

LOUIS XIV - Baroque furniture that accompanied the reign of Louis XIV in France from 1643 to 1715 was a somewhat reserved version of that style, featuring modest rather than exaggerated curves. Furnishings and decoration reflected formal grandeur. Decorative motifs, often boldly carved, included beasts from mythology, garlands of fruit and flowers, animal forms, and the fleur-de-lis in particular.

LOUIS XV - The more feminine rococo style evolved during Louis XV's reign, from 1732 to 1774. It was exemplified by diminutive scale, rounded edges, flowing lines, and freeform ornamentation. Oriental lacquer and porcelain plaques were sometimes incorporated into veneers.

LOUIS XVI - Neoclassical style came to the fore during the reign of Louis XVI, from 1774 to 1792, and with this revival, furniture became more rectilinear and geometric. Cabriole legs, for example, gave way to cylindrical or square ones. Also in reaction to earlier rococo styles, decoration, though opulent, was restrained. Floral themes, for instance, were replaced by architectural motifs.

LOVE SEAT - Double chair or small sofa, originally associated with Queen Anne style.

LOWBOY - English low chest or table with drawers.

MARQUETRY - Inlay of contrasting wood, inserted flush with the furniture's surface.

MISSION - Simple, rectilinear furniture, primarily of oak, in which the construction techniques are often exposed. It represents America's version of the English Arts and Crafts movement and is principally associated with Gustav Stickley and the Roycroft Community of upstate New York in the early 20th century, from which it spread to other regions.

MODERNE - American style of furniture in the 1930's that derived from Europe's Art Deco and International Style. It is characterized by polished surfaces, sleek shapes, curves that contrast with straight lines, and asymmetry, and utilized new materials and manufacturing processes adapted from industrial design. The architecture of skyscrapers was also influential.

NEOCLASSICAL STYLE - Revivals of interest in ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian themes, which occurred during the Renaissance, Adam, and Empire eras, and especially in the late 18th century, when appetites for it were whetted by archeological discoveries.

NEO-GOTHIC - Revivals of aspects of Gothic detailing, which took place in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the former, circa 1745, references to Gothic arches and tracery were applied to rococo furniture. Later, Gothic ornamentation was added to neoclassical forms.

OTTOMAN - Upholstered bench or seat with no arms or back, named after the Turkish influence of the early 18th century.

PALLADIAN STYLE - Based on designs by mid-16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, which featured very large and dramatic pediments, cornices, and sculptural decorations of eagles, scallop shells, acanthus leaves, and other motifs, rendered in massive scale. Windows and columns in this style carry the name today.

PARQUETRY - Mosaic of wood pieces in a geometric pattern, such as herringbone.

PEMBROKE - Small rectangular drop-leaf table with a drawer, named after England's Earl of Pembroke, circa 1771.

PROVINCIAL - Furniture from the hinterlands that is inspired by designs from the major centers of a country but adapted to local materials, tastes, and ways of living. Location not only influenced alterations in design and materials, but also spawned useful pieces, such as the cobbler's bench, that were not needed by the cities' royals or nobles.

QUEEN ANNE - Style that arose in England during the reign of Queen Anne, from 1702 to 1714, in a break from French influences. Veneering in walnut was popular, and gentle, subtle curves added grace. This period marked the development of secretaries and china cupboards and a maturing of the cabriole leg, serpentine arms, and soft, rounded frames and shapes.

RÉCAMIER - Daybed shaped like a Roman reclining couch. It was named after Madame Récamier of Parisian society in the early 1800's and has a curved headboard and shorter curved footboard.

RÉGENCE STYLE - Spanned the transition between the death of Louis XIV in 1715 and the ascension of Louis XV in 1723, when France was ruled by a regent. The furniture style was a parallel transition from massive straight lines to graceful curves.

REGENCY - Neoclassical style of British furniture that was popular during the first four decades of the 19th century. It is named for the Prince of Wales, who, as regent, stepped in to rule from 1811 to 1820 because his father, King George III, went insane. It spawned adaptations and faithful reproductions of Greek and Roman furniture, such as the saber-legged Klismos chair, and coincided with Directoire and Empire styles in France.

ROCOCO - Style of 18th-century European furniture made of rich woods with elaborate scrollwork and curved forms. Its origins are from the Régence style of France, and its influence was widespread. It is considered a daintier, more refined version of earlier Baroque style.

SECRETARY - Slant-top desk on top of a chest of drawers that became popular in America and England during the 18th and 19th centuries.

SETTEE - An elongated armchair that accommodates two or more people. It was developed in the 17th century, was often upholstered, and predates the sofa.

SHAKER - Furniture designed and made by Shakers, an American religious, communal sect founded in the 19th century, that believed beauty derived from usefulness and impractical objects were sinful. The unadorned furniture features clean, spare, elegant lines, exemplified in the slim, tall, Shaker ladder-back chair.

SHERATON - British neoclassical style named after Thomas Sheraton, who published designs in the early 1700s that reinterpreted Adam style by diminishing ornamentation. Sheraton pieces are more delicate than Adam, yet more severe and linear than Hepplewhite. Many contain inlay, painted decoration, and bands of contrasting veneer. Openwork with urn, swag, or lyre motifs is characteristic of his chair backs.

SIDEBOARD - Table with a wide drawer at the center flanked by drawers or cupboards on the sides and made to be used against a dining room wall for storing and serving food.

SIDE CHAIR - Small-scale, armless chair, designed to stand against a wall when not in use.

SLEIGH BED - Bed with a high headboard and slightly lower footboard. It resembles the shape of a horse-drawn sleigh, and it was developed in America in the early 19th century.

SLIPPER CHAIR - High-backed, usually upholstered chair with short legs, developed in America in the 18th century for bedrooms.

SOFA - An extension of the armchair, less formal and longer than a settee. It was developed in the mid-18th century and became very popular by the early 1800s when it gained springs to aid comfort.

SOFA TABLE - Long, narrow table with drawers and drop-leaf ends, typically used to store and use gameboards.

SPINDLE - Slim length of turned wood, often used in a series for chair backs.

STICKLEY - Furniture designed and built by Gustav Stickley, who pioneered the American Arts and Crafts movement and promulgated its principals of clean, unadorned, durable furniture through publication of The Craftsman in 1901.

TAMBOUR DESK - Rolltop desk that is most notable for its use of a flexible, draw-down cover made of "tambours," a succession of narrow strips of flat wood glued to stiff cloth. The edges fit in grooves at the edges of the top frame of the desk, allowing the length of tambours to slide up and down.

VENEER - Thin sheet of fine wood or other material attached on top of and flush with an underlying layer that is usually of lesser quality, for decoration. As a verb: the act of adding this type of decoration. (See inlay, marquetry, and parquetry).

VICTORIAN - Style named for England's Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 to 1901, applied to English and American furniture of that time, particularly in the mid-years of her reign. That furniture takes its cue from and elaborates on rococo and Louis XV style, with exaggerated curves and size, lush upholstery (often in complicated curves and shapes), ellipses, spools, and carvings. Among its hallmarks is horsehair cushioning.

VITRINE - Cabinet with a glass door. The sides and top may also be of glass, and it is designed to store and display china and curios.

WARDROBE - Tall, upright cabinet with a door or doors. Designed for storing clothing, it sometimes also contains a chest of drawers.

WILLIAM & MARY - Named for the joint reign of England's King William III and Queen Mary II in the late 17th century, this style carried William's Dutch influence, particularly in floral marquetry and oyster veneer. It was elegant in scale and shape. In America, it represented a provincial or country American Baroque style.

WINDSOR CHAIR - Style of chair that originated near Windsor castle circa 1710 and is thought to have originated with wheel-makers. It has a bentwood back frame, usually with a chair back that has a pierced slat flanked by spindles. WING CHAIR - High-back easy chair with upholstered "wings" or panels that project from both sides of the back and curve down to upholstered arms.



Disclaimer: This glossary was created as part of my work with furniture in Jai Vilas Scindia Palace, Gwalior and has not since then been revised. Please cross check with books by scholars of the field. New research has come up since then. This was for my personal reference only.