Much of the charm that pervades the great dark rooms of the Tudor and Jacobean Periods is due to the wood paneling on the walls. It 
was at this time that the beautiful “linen-fold” design was most widely used, together with much elaborate carving and strap-work. The 
furniture in this illustration is a jumble of odds and ends 
What the Period Styles Really Are 
III. THE DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERISTICS OF FURNITURE AND INTERIOR DECORA¬ 
TION IN ENGLAND FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES THROUGH THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE 
by Lucy Abbott Throop 
[Modern usage of furniture and fittings for the interiors of American homes would seem to indicate that we have but two available and distinct 
styles — “Colonial” and Craftsman or so-called “Mission.” For a long time the historic period styles were so ignorantly and tastelessly employed as to 
bring about a revulsion of feeling and their almost complete abandonment. There are signs that the pendulum is swinging back again now, and that a 
really sincere appreciation of the best that has been done in the past will reveal new possibilities for beauty in the homes of to-day. Miss Throop's se¬ 
ries of articles will aim to give an understanding of the period styles and how they may be intelligently used .— Editor.] 
T HE early history of furniture in all countries is very much 
the same—there is not any. We know about kings and 
queens, and war and sudden death, and fortresses and pyramids, 
but of that which the people used for furniture we know very 
little. Research has revealed the mention in old manuscripts 
once in a while of benches and chests, and the Bayeux tapestry 
and old seals show us that William the Conquerer and Richard 
Coeur de Lion sat on chairs, even if they were not very promis¬ 
ing ones, but at best it is all very vague. It is natural to suppose 
that the early Saxons had furniture of some kind, for, as the 
remains of Saxon metalwork show great skill, it is probable they 
had skill also in woodworking. 
In England, as in France, the first pieces of furniture that 
we can be sure of are chests and benches. They served all pur¬ 
poses apparently, for the family slept on them by night and 
used them for seats and tables by day. The bedding was kept 
in the chests, and when traveling had to be done all the family 
possessions were packed in them. There is an old chest at Stoke 
d’Abernon church, dating from the thirteenth century, that has 
a little carving on it, and another at Brampton church of the 
twelfth or thirteenth centuries that has iron decorations. Some 
chests show great freedom in the carving, St. George and the 
Dragon and other stories being carved in high relief. 
Nearly all the existing specimens of Gothic furniture are 
ecclesiastical, but there are a few that were evidently for house¬ 
hold use. These show distinctly the architectural treatment of 
design in the furniture. Chairs were not commonly used until 
the sixteenth century. Our distinguished ancestors decided that 
one chair in a house was enough, and that was for the master, 
while his family and friends sat on benches and chests. It is a 
long step in comfort and manners from the fifteenth to the 
twentieth centuries. Later the guest of honor was given the 
chair, and from that comes the saying that a speaker “takes the 
chair.” Gothic tables were probably supported by trestles, and 
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