August, 
1917 
39 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
ITALIAN WALL FURNITURE 
A Survey of a Feminine, Decadent Period 
* 
H. D. EBERLEIN and 
ABBOT McCLURE 
One of a pair of corner cabinets with 
quarter round fronts 071 stands. The door 
panel has been used for a pastoral scene 
in polychrome decoration. Circa 1745 
I RREPRESSIBLE exuberance may be 
considered one of the dominant charac¬ 
teristics of the 18th Century Italian fur¬ 
niture. And this exuberance, abundantly 
manifest both in variety of contour and also, 
to an even greater degree, in the wealth of 
decorative motifs and decorative processes 
employed for mobiliary embellishment, as¬ 
serts itself widely in furniture of every kind. 
The furniture of the 16th and 17th Cen¬ 
turies we may regard as the product of the 
heroic and virile period of design. It ex¬ 
hibits a logical and ordered sequence of 
Polychrome bedside table reflecting Louis 
Quinze influence. Cream ground , dark, 
blue bands and multi-colored floral mo¬ 
tifs. C. 1.G0. Courtesy of Cooper Institute 
The body color of these coi'ner cabinets 
is dull orange. The stiles and rails are 
e7nbellishecl with decorative floral 
bands. Courtesy of John Wanamaker 
style development and appears at its best in, 
indeed it requires, the length and breadth 
and height of the stately halls, galleries and 
salons for which it was first designed. 
The furniture of the 18th Century is 
wholly different in its genius. It is primar¬ 
ily urbane and richly wrought rather than 
strong in line or impressive from the dig¬ 
nity of vigorous conception, and in the pleni¬ 
tude of its decoration, it sometimes even 
falls into a saccharine redundance. It is, 
in the main, essentially pliable and feminine 
in character, in quite the same way as much 
There is decided French influence evident in this 18 th Century 
veneered chest of drawers. C. 1775 . Courtesy of Cooper Institute 
French influence is also seen in the coiitour of this figured veneer 
sla7it top secretary. Circa 1730 . Courtesy of John Wanamaker 
