FURNITURE POLISH 



3382 



FURNIVALL 



the master and mistress of the 

 house or by important guests, ordi- 

 nary people being seated on chests, 

 stools, benches, and settles, or on 

 the floor, as cushions were scat- 

 tered about everywhere. Many of 

 the settles had a long chest for 

 storage beneath the seat, and high 

 backs as a protection against 

 draughts ; they were of carved oak 

 and often inlaid. 



Chairs of X form were intro- 

 duced soon after 1500, covered in 

 leather, cloth, or velvet, and much 

 befringed, late English examples of 

 which are preserved at Knolo 

 Park. Fixed upholstery did not 

 exist in Great Britain until 1600, 

 and oak carved panel -back chairs 

 were the usual form of chair from 

 1430 to 1650, their use being con- 

 tinued longer in England than 

 in France. Almost all chairs were 

 made with arms until about 1600, 

 when fardingale chairs appeared, 

 as arms interfered with these huge 

 skirts, and at this same time the set- 

 tee and couch began to replace the 

 oak settle of Gothic times. The legs 

 to all these chairs and stools were 

 of straight, simple baluster shape. 

 English Tables 



Round and trestle tables were 

 in use from Saxon times until the 

 16th century, the former supported 

 on one or more legs, the latter with 

 solid, flat carved ends connected 

 by a long central stretcher ; about 

 1540, the oak " joyned " table made 

 its appearance, composed of a 

 long top resting on a frame, with 

 legs and stretchers morticed at the 

 corners ; the legs soon assumed a 

 bulbous shape headed by capitals, 

 the sides of the frame being carved 

 and often dated. These, used in the 

 great halls all through the 16th and 

 17th centuries, were also made with 

 extensiondraw-tops,and better and 

 smaller specimens were sometimes 

 inlaid. Fine examples of these are 

 preserved at Hardwick. Other im- 

 portant pieces of furniture in oak 

 were court cupboards, buffets, and 

 chests, the first being an evolution 

 from the double hutch of Gothic 

 times ; early specimens were elabo- 

 rately carved, becoming plainer as 

 the 17th century proceeded, and 

 examples are found dated as late 

 as 1720. 



About 1655 a great change took 

 place in all furniture ; France and 

 Holland introduced a twist into the 

 uprights on tables and chairs which 

 was soon copied in England, being 

 very suitable for the walnut wood 

 that had lately come into fashion ; 

 tall backed chairs became popular, 

 with caned backs and seats and 

 carved uprights, crestings, legs, 

 and stretchers ; theee were often 

 made in sets, with a day-bed to 

 match, the style lasting till about 



1700. Contemporaneously with 

 these, soft wood furniture, elabo- 



furniture of 1840, when 

 clumsy copies of previous styles 



rately carved and gilt, first made its were fabricated and all originality 

 appearance in England, emanating 

 from Italy and France, which even- 

 tually, under the direct influence of 

 Daniel Marot, who was attached to 

 the court of William III, led to 

 the introduction and development 

 of the cabriole leg. 



Upholstered Beds 



By 1660 the beds of the wealthy 

 were most elaborately and extra- 

 vagantly draped with embroidered 

 curtains and valances, and crested 

 with plumes ; in the next century 

 they sometimes attained a height 

 of 17 ft., and the fine carved oak 

 posts were discontinued, though 

 small plain oak beds still found 

 favour with the middle classes. The 

 English lacquer that accompanied 

 these upholstered beds was copied 

 from the Chinese and first intro- 

 duced here from Holland, the 

 fashion lasting for nearly 100 years. 

 By 1720, the cabriole leg was firmly 

 established, lending itself well to 

 the new hard wood, mahogany, and 

 was introduced whenever possible 

 on all furniture, particularly chairs, 

 the backs of which had become low 

 with hooped backs and with the 

 flat splats, which first brought 

 celebrity to Thomas Chippendale, 

 the inventor of their varied sub- 

 divisions. 



This master and his school pro- 

 duced every possible form of ma- 

 hogany furniture, always pre- 

 serving his own individuality, 

 even when deliberately adopting 

 French models ; having exhausted 

 all known motives, he finally allied 

 himself with Robert Adam, and 

 further influenced by Riesener and 

 Piranese, he executed numberless 

 pieces of inlaid satin wood and 

 mahogany furniture most light 

 and elegant in treatment. Hep- 

 plewhite and Sheraton continued 

 on these delicate lines, adding the 

 additional charm of painting to 

 their decorations. 



Towards the end of the 18th cen- 

 tury, a style known 

 as "Empire" 

 in France, arose, 

 founded on strictly 

 classical lines, but 

 it was represented 

 in England without 

 any of its original 

 charm, and with 

 coarse brassemboss- 

 ments and brass in- 

 lay on clumsy struc- 

 tures of mahogany 

 and rosewood; this, 

 drifting into the 

 heavy mahogany 



^frw , Furnival's Inn, London. View of the interior of the 



tics of George I Vcul- inn bef ore its demo iition 



in the pur- from Wilkinson's Londina llluslrata, 1819 



of design on furniture gradually 

 ceased. See Geffrye Museum ; also 

 Bureau, Dresser, etc., illus. 



Bibliography. Hist, of Domestic 

 Manners and Sentiments in England 

 during the Middle Ages, T. Wright, 

 1862 ; Manners and Customs of 

 Ancient Egyptians, Sir J. G. Wilkin- 

 son, rev. ed. 1878 ; History of 

 Furniture, A. Jacquemart, 1908 : 

 Old English Furniture, G. O. 

 Wheeler, 1909 ; Furniture Designs of 

 T. Chippendale, J. M. Bell, 1910 ; 

 Practical Book of Period Furniture, 

 Eberlein & MacC.lure, 1914. 



Furniture Polish. Liquid for 

 polishing furniture. It may be com- 

 posed of 1 oz. of beeswax, \ oz. 

 white wax, | oz. finely shredded 

 Castile soap, heated in a pint of 

 boiling water. When cold, J pint of 

 turpentine and \ pint of spirits are 

 mixed with the other ingredients. 



Furnival, BA.RON. English title 

 borne by several families since 

 1295. It was created when Thomas 

 de Furnivall was summoned to 

 Parliament in 1295, and was held 

 by his male descendants until the 

 4th baron died in 1383. Thomas 

 Neville and John Talbot in turn sat 

 in Parliament under this title, each 

 having married an heiress of the 

 barony. Talbot was made earl of 

 Shrewsbury, and until 1616 the 

 barony was held by the earls. In 

 1651, after a period of abeyance, it 

 came to a daughter of the 7th earl 

 of Shrewsbury, through her mar- 

 riage with Thomas, earl of Arundel, 

 and was linked for a time with the 

 dukedom of Norfolk. This union 

 lasted until 1777, when it again fell 

 into abeyance, to be revived for 

 Mary Frances Catherine Petre, a 

 daughter of the 14th baron Petre. 

 She was a descendant of the 9th 

 baron Petre and his wife, who be- 

 longed to the duke of Norfolk's 

 family. 



Furnivall, FREDERICK JAMES 

 (1825-1910). British philologist 

 and editor. Born at Eaham. Feb. 



