94 
Sideboard of about 
1680-1700. Note the 
simply-turned and plain 
legs and panels geo¬ 
metrically outlined with 
mouldings 
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES 
IN JACOBEAN FURNITURE 
MR. AND MRS. G. GLEN GOULD 
Arm chair, about 1685-1689, 
of Restoration style with 
Italian Renaissance influence. 
Note high upholstered back 
with detached turned supports 
A carved 
bous table 
bul 
leg 
S THE phrase Italian Renais¬ 
sance is pronounced “trippingly 
on the tongue” with little con¬ 
ception of its significance, so furni¬ 
ture is often glibly described as Jaco¬ 
bean. In Jacobean we recognize Jaco¬ 
bus, the Latin for James, of England 
and Scotland, who names the period 
though it outlives his reign. 
When we look at Jacobean furni¬ 
ture we soon begin to see that there 
are three groups: the simple, the not 
so simple, and the ornate. Histori¬ 
cally the groups fall in this way. 
Early Stuart or Jacobean, 1603- 
1649. 
Cromwellian or 
during the Puritan 
Oliver Cromwell’s 
1649-1660, 
Late Stuart or Jacobean, Carolean—from Carolus, 
Latin for Charles, whose Restoration to the throne 
named the period, 1660-1688. 
The Tudor King Henry VIII brought Italian Ren¬ 
aissance models and workmen to England. Under 
Queen Elizabeth, his imperious daughter, native 
workmen followed these models, and when James 
I. came to the throne we find the Tudor and Eliza¬ 
bethan types still made by native workmen and so 
successfully that Jacobean furniture is considered 
the most characteristically English of any of the 
periods. Still it is not always easy to distinguish 
Jacobean from Italian Renaissance and Flemish 
furniture, so fashionable were these styles. 
The two distinctive types of Italian Renaissance 
are easily recognized in Jacobean furniture: the 
ornate models in the early and late Jacobean, and 
Commonwealth, 
government of 
Commonwealth, 
the plain forms during the puritanical 
regime of Cromwell who temporarily 
reversed the trend of fashion. The 
early types are sparingly used to-day. 
The Cromwellian and Restoration 
types are finely illustrated in these 
chairs from The Metropolitan Museum 
of Art, New York. 
These are the chief points which 
characterize Jacobean furniture: 
Construction: Large pieces have 
simple heavy structure with squat 
outlines for the low-ceilinged rooms 
of the time. Straight upright lines. 
Legs underbraced simply or with elab¬ 
orate carving. Supports often spiral. 
Restoration types resemble Louis XIII. 
Oak and walnut principally used. 
Ornament: Cut-in or flat carving, 
scroll-work, Italian Renaissance design. 
Strap-work patterns and panels geometrically out¬ 
lined with mouldings very characteristic. Applied 
ornament and inlay. Mounts become elaborated. 
Upholstery very splendid—leathers, velvets and em¬ 
broideries. Caning popular. 
Top: Straight on simple models, crested and 
carved on high-backed chairs. 
Back: Varied, flat or curved, straight or raked— 
inclined backward, caned or upholstered. Coarse 
caning in early period. 
Arm: Straight or curved, dipped or sloping, 
carved, scroll or spiral. 
Seat: Rectangular, plain, caned, upholstered, often 
quite high above the floor. 
Leg: Straight or curved, turned, bulbous and 
spiral. Flemish or 5 scroll popular. 
Foot: Square, ball, bun, Flemish scroll. 
Side chair about 1660-1675, 
of Restoration style with 
Italian Renaissance Influence. 
High back, caned and carved 
and carved underbracing. 
A typical de¬ 
sign of Jaco¬ 
bean chair 
foot 
Another Jaco¬ 
bean chair foot 
A turned Jacobean 
chair leg 
Characteristic 
Jacobean chair 
arm 
An elaborate 
Jacobean chair 
Pear drop found 
drawers 
on 
A typical draw¬ 
er-pull of the 
period 
Another type of yv-M js>.\ 
pear drop for wjj | j 
drawers ' v ~'' 
A characteristic 
key plate 
A hooped under¬ 
bracing of chair 
Arm chair of 1660-1683. A 
Cromwellian type showing in¬ 
fluence of plain Italian Ren¬ 
aissance models 
A chair back of 
the Yorkshire 
type 
An elaborate 
carved chair 
crest 
