34 
House & Garden 
SPANISH WALL FURNITURE of the 18 th CENTURY 
The Influence of Other Continental Furniture Modes on the 
Product of Iberian Cabinet Makers 
HAROLD DONALDSON EBERLEIN and ABBOT McCLURE 
work was undertaken, even though the source 
of inspiration was obviously indicated. And 
it is this patently national quality, grafted upon 
each stock of foreign derivation, that gives 
18th Century Spanish furniture its peculiar 
piquancy and not a little of its charm. There 
is a certain undeniable fascination in finding 
pieces whose affinities are plainly Queen Anne 
or Sheraton, for instance, and yet “they are 
clothed in Spanish garb and speak Spanish.” 
It is this element of national quality that gives 
18th Century Spanish furniture its value to us 
in decorative practice and creates its applica¬ 
bility to certain situations that nothing else can 
quite so fully satisfy. It sometimes exhibits a 
robust, full-blooded gorgeousness and dash, re¬ 
flecting the passion, 
deeply rooted in the na¬ 
tional temperament, for 
colorful display and 
pomp; again, it dis¬ 
closes the most exqui¬ 
site delicacy and, in so 
doing, echoes to an¬ 
other and not less im¬ 
portant characteristic in 
the complex Iberian 
disposition. 
Throughout Europe, 
the 18th Century was a 
period when all the re¬ 
finements of furnishing 
had reached the highest 
point of elaborate de¬ 
velopment. Spain, with 
its innate love of luxury 
and inherent penchant 
for elegance, was not 
behind other countries 
in her taste for lavish 
household appoint¬ 
ments. In the Spanish 
wall furniture of the 
day, therefore, we find 
all the items that en¬ 
tered into the same 
category in other coun¬ 
tries, and one or two 
besides that were pe¬ 
culiar to Spanish usage. 
Oriental Influence 
{Below) Walnut pafz- 
rela with red shell inlaid 
panels and wood inlay 
arabesques. C. 1690 
Blue lacquer bureau 
bookcase, closed, 
with gold decora¬ 
tions. Circa 1715- 
1720 
In point of date, one 
of the earliest pieces 
illustrated is a small 
cabriole-legged wall or 
console table painted 
black and bearing, on 
the underframing, poly¬ 
chrome decorations con- 
siting o f foliage and 
flowers on a light 
ground, all executed in 
"the Chinese taste” but 
unmistakably the work 
Same lacquer book¬ 
case open, showing 
drawer arrange¬ 
ment. Courtesy of 
T raver 
N OT all 18th Century Spanish furniture is 
essentially Spanish. 
The Spanish furniture of an earlier date, 
whatever similarity to the mobiliary creations 
originating in other parts of Europe it may 
have exhibited, was, nevertheless, so over¬ 
whelmingly Spanish in its general character 
that there is no mistaking its identity. 
In the 18th Century, on the other hand, the 
channels of outside influences were so numer¬ 
ous and varied, and the outside influences them¬ 
selves were so potent and permeating that their 
successive effects upon Spanish furniture design 
produced a manifest cosmopolitanism. The 
fact of the matter was that the vigor of Iberian 
originality, so abundantly evident in preceding 
periods, had consider¬ 
ably abated. Spain was 
now, in her era of crea- 
t i v e impoverishment, 
she was borrowing back 
again in a diluted and 
altered condition what 
she had given. More¬ 
over, the trend of po¬ 
litical and economic 
circumstances, and the 
shifting of fashion cen¬ 
tres consequent on the 
growth of commerce 
and transportation fa¬ 
cilities, had opened the 
door to an increased 
influx of English and 
French ideas as well as 
to the actual importa¬ 
tion, to some extent, of 
furniture and other 
household equipment 
from those countries, an 
importation that pro¬ 
duced very visible ef¬ 
fects upon the handi¬ 
work of native Spanish 
artisans. The case of 
Spain, in the matter of 
furniture styles, was 
closely analogous to the 
state of affairs in Italy 
during the same period. 
A small marbled and 
gilt “Bilboa” mirror. 
Made about 1770. 
Courtesy of Trover 
Spanish Individuality 
But despite the man¬ 
ifest effects of outside 
influences and the 
aping of foreign fash¬ 
ions, Spanish individ¬ 
uality could not fail to 
assert itself any less 
than could Italian in¬ 
dividuality under like 
conditions. It imparted 
a strong bias of dis¬ 
tinctively national in¬ 
terpretation to whatever 
