The old and the new. We are returning to the lines of the best furniture of Colonial times, and now, as then, we are apt to combine 
many periods in one room 
The Season’s Furniture 
A RETURN TO THE INFORMAL STYLES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY—SUCCESSFUL 
REPRODUCTIONS OF OLD ENGLISH PIECES—COLONIAL FURNITURE IS HERE TO STAY 
by Katharine N. Birdsall 
T P 1 E reproductions of stately furniture of the early Italian 
and French days that have been used in our formal 
houses are fast disappearing in this age of informality, and the 
pendulum has begun its return swing, bringing us slowly but 
surely back to the styles used from the time of William and 
Mary of England to the end of the Seventeenth Century. 
The furniture of the Renais¬ 
sance has had its season of popu¬ 
larity with that of the Colonial 
period. The Colonial, however, 
is here to stay, and the old furni¬ 
ture of our great-grandfathers’ 
days is carefully preserved by the 
artisans and duplicated for those 
of us who have no furniture 
inheritances. 
By many people the period 
covering the full time between 
the years 1700 and 1800 is called 
the Georgian period. Properly, 
however, the Georgian period fol¬ 
lowed that of Queen Anne, about 
1714, beginning with the Chippen¬ 
dale period near the middle of 
the century, and ending with the 
Sheraton, about 1790. 
Italian and French pieces blend 
in very well with the earlier Eng¬ 
lish, and there is always demand 
for Louis XV and Louis XVI 
styles. In full bedroom sets these 
french styles are in high favor, 
but for other rooms single pieces 
only are used. 
The beauty of the woods used to-day is enhanced by master¬ 
ful polishing which brings out the exquisite markings and puts 
a wealth of color and warmth into the furniture. The most 
beautiful of all, though perhaps not susceptible of as high a 
polish as mahogany, is Circassian walnut. It is expensive be¬ 
cause the trees must be very old before the wood reaches the 
required state of perfection, and 
there is necessarily much waste in 
cutting out the many imperfec¬ 
tions of the old wood. Mahogany 
is in great demand because of the 
revival of period furniture. 
N T early every piece of the furni¬ 
ture we are now copying was 
mahogany — the light Georgian 
pieces and the heavy Colonial 
as well. Satinwood was largely 
used in the English designs at the 
end of the eighteenth century, and 
also white mahogany. These 
woods are both more expensive 
than mahogany, and are now used 
in the reproductions of the Adam 
Brothers and Louis XV and XVI 
designs, the white mahogany es¬ 
pecially being decorated with 
dainty hand painting. Walnut 
is used quite extensively in din¬ 
ing-room and library furniture. 
Mahogany for the bedroom is 
still most popular, and what oak 
is used is colored extremely dark 
to match the old English oak of 
Elizabethan days. 
Circassian walnut dressing table, copied from one of the 
period of William and Mary 
(225) 
