Chapter II: Part 2

Many of the handsome tables were of a fashion that was continued through the succeeding reign, being of richly carved and gilded wood with hind’s feet or with term legs with or without stretchers. Some of them were enriched with gilded bronze, and incrustations and marquetry work of shell, copper and other metal. The tops, like those of the preceding reign, were frequently of marble or marquetry. They were also covered with a cloth and a _housse_ of leather, serge, tapestry, etc. The table-carpet, as a rule, reached to the floor and was garnished with a narrow or wide fringe. This was the _housse_, and above it was a second cloth (see Frontispiece). These table-coverings were either simple or rich, according to the purse or fancy of the owner. Cardinal Mazarin, for example, had four table-coverings of crimson damask flowered, bearing the arms of his Eminence; four of “red crimson” Turkey leather trimmed with gold fringe and gold tassels and lined with red taffeta, and a green flowered damask table-carpet with four sides, lined with green cloth and trimmed with gold fringe _à la Romaine_. One of the handsomest varieties of table appears as a full drawing on Plate II.

Although the console is known during the reigns of Henri II. and III., it is in the reign of Louis XIII. that the phrase _table en console_ appears in the inventories. The console was derived from the credence, and was even in its earliest form a large table with a marble top, jutting out like a bracket and serving to support a bust or vase. The three visible faces of the console were in the early days frequently supported with chimæras, fauns, etc. The word table was gradually dropped and the article was known as console.

A variety of table, known as the _guéridon_, was also popular. This is a small round table mounted on a stem or baluster that ends in three legs (Plate III., No. 2). It was made of various woods, sometimes of pear-wood stained black and sometimes painted. It was of great convenience. Sometimes it was used for cards; but more often it held a lamp, or candelabra, or a refreshment tray.

The chandeliers were usually of brass and hung from the centre of the room. Of course, candles were inserted in the arms. Candelabra and small candlesticks were also used to give light, and sconces were frequently attached to the walls. Pictures were framed and hung directly over the tapestries, as shown in the Frontispiece. Their frames differed but slightly from the frames of the mirrors, specimens of which appear on Plate II. as a full drawing and as No. 1. Another frame appropriate for either a picture or a mirror is seen on Plate IV., No. 3.

THE JACOBEAN PERIOD

THE JACOBEAN PERIOD

The Jacobean Period covers almost a century (1603–1690). In its earlier stages, therefore, it is still Elizabethan in spirit, and in its old age it is largely influenced by the taste of the dominant French court. During the reign of James I., the styles of furniture and interior decoration are still strongly Tudor in character, but the intimate connection with the Low Countries, and the friction with Spain and her Western possessions have their effect in making the wealthy classes of England thoroughly acquainted with the best products of Spanish, Dutch, and Flemish workmanship. The Tudor mixture of Gothic and Renaissance styles was gradually modified under the influence of Inigo Jones, “the English Palladio.” The political ties between England and the Low Countries, based on mutual interests of a mercantile and religious nature, were still further strengthened by dynastic alliances. In Norfolk and Suffolk, the population was largely composed of natives or descendants of natives of the Low Countries. Flemish and Dutch art and manufactures, therefore, were extremely influential in forming what is known as the Jacobean style.

This period covers, of course, a portion of the reigns of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV.; and much of the furniture fashionable in France at this period was imported into England; but with the exception of the wealthiest homes sumptuous articles are not common. There is, indeed, a massive set of superbly carved silver furniture at Knole, Sevenoaks, Kent, but such luxury is rare.

Oak and walnut are the woods chiefly used at this period, but we also find lime, cherry, and cypress (the latter especially for chests). Sometimes, as even happened in Tudor days, the carving was gilded, and, in many instances, we find the wood painted. Pear-wood stained black to imitate ebony is also popular. Mahogany is almost unknown in these days; but exotic woods are used in the construction of cabinets. Towards the end of the Seventeenth Century a great deal of ebony was imported, and even carved ebony furniture from India and Ceylon found its way into many rich English homes. Shakespeare gives us a hint of the generous use of rich articles from various parts of the world, showing what a cosmopolitan atmosphere a Tudor home presented:

Gremio says:

“_My house within the city
Is richly furnished with plate and gold;
Basins, and ewers, to lave her dainty hands;
My hangings all of Tyrian tapestry:
In ivory coffers I have stuff’d my crowns;
In cypress chests my arras counterpoints,
Costly apparel, tents, and canopies,
Fine linen, Turkey cushions boss’d with pearl,
Valance of Venice gold in needlework,
Pewter and brass, and all things that belong
To house or housekeeping._”[1]

It is not unfitting that we should first recall a few of the distinguishing features of Elizabethan ornament, so frequently met with in the Jacobean home.

The carving was characterized by bold and deep cuttings, leaving the design in high relief. The panels of the chests, cabinets, cupboards, beds, etc., present a rich variety of subject. Figures taken from Biblical or mythological lore, grotesque monsters, animals and floral forms are met with; and of the latter we particularly find the rose, vine, carnation, lily, marigold, sunflower and tulip predominating. A typical floral panel is shown on Plate X., No. 7. Then we often see a diaper pattern, and, occasionally, the “linen fold.”

The cornices of cabinets, bedsteads, etc., are often adorned with the “egg and tongue” pattern; and the backs of settees, cornices of overmantels, etc., are often enriched with rather grotesque dolphins, placed back to back, forming a kind of scroll the outline of which is shown on the table on Plate X., No. 2.

Another typical ornament is the swelling acorn-bulb. It appears on the legs of tables, posts of bedsteads, and supports of cabinets, cupboards, etc., as shown on Plate X., No. 2. A variety of this bulb occurs on Plate XI., No. 1, showing the black ebony balls connected by plain stretchers, or straining-rails. The bulb also appears, but somewhat smaller and connected by straight stretchers, on the table on Plate V. The baluster legs of the court cupboard on Plate X. exhibit another kind of swelling leg. This leg becomes slenderer until it dwindles into the type shown on Plate X., No. 1.

Other ornamental devices consist of interlaced bands, strapwork, shells, lyres, bell-flowers, the acanthus, arch panels, branches and leaves in large flowing designs, besides a great variety of mouldings, panels and pierced scrolls. Turned work is rapidly superseding carving, which, however, is never quite driven away.

The newest decoration is the “spindle” ornament which seems to have been introduced from England from the Low Countries about the middle of the Seventeenth Century. This was made of ebony, or of pear-wood stained black, turned, of course, cut in half and applied. Eggs and lozenges were likewise made, stained black and applied. These ornaments decorate the cabinet on Plate X., No. 1, and the “spindle” is shown separately as No. 4 on the same plate. The scroll is an excessively popular device: it not only occurs upon mouldings and cornices, but it also decorates the feet, frames of panels and straining-rails of chairs and settees.

During this period, the hall was the most important room in the house. Guests were always received here, and here meals were generally served. In the baronial homes, therefore, of past generations, the hall was used as both drawing-room and dining-room. The table was set on a daïs, or platform, and a screen cut off the entrance from the kitchen. At the other end of the hall was the minstrels’ gallery. In the course of time, a bay window was added at the dais end of the hall, which formed a private retiring-place for conversation while the table was being cleared. This paved the way for the small “privée parlour,” a little room built at the end, or side of the hall. The next addition was the “Great Chamber,” a larger room than the “parlour,” to which the lord of the household often retired, leaving the hall to his retainers and to such guests as were not of equal rank with himself. The “Great Chamber” was used as a bedroom by night and as a living-room by day. Here, of course, there was a sumptuous bed; and a bed with rich furniture also stood frequently in both parlour and hall.

The general impression of a Jacobean hall is elegance,—an elegance not merely derived from the dignified styles of the furniture contained in it; but from the rich tapestries and hangings, the warm panels, the comparatively low and beautifully ornamented ceiling, the stately mantel-piece, the cosy bay window and the bright wood fire crackling upon the great andirons.

Perhaps the first thing that attracts one’s attention is the lavish use of the panel. The doors are panelled, as well as the ceilings and wainscots,—a fashion very popular in the days of Elizabeth. In some instances, the room is panelled from floor to ceiling, and in others only the wainscot and doors are panelled, in which case the wall-space above the wainscot is completely covered with tapestry. Tapestry is often hung over the[2] panels also, as shown in our illustration (Plate V.). English people had been fond of tapestry ever since the days King Alfred, fully appreciating the beauty derived from

“_Hanging about the walls
Clothes of gold and halles
Arras[3] of rich arraye
Freshe as flowers in Maye._”

Tapestry, which had become something of a lost art during the Wars of the Roses, had been again brought into favour by Henry VIII., and a fresh interest is now given to it on account of the beautiful articles that are being made at the Mortlake factory established by James I.

Another hanging, not quite banished as yet, was “painted cloth,” canvas painted in tempera, or oil, with various devices, figures, mottoes, proverbs and wise sayings. Falstaff’s comparison “Slaves as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth,” shows us that Biblical subjects were represented. The saucy Beatrice of _Much Ado about Nothing_ admits that she took her witty answers from the painted cloth.[4]

Hangings of embossed leather from Spain, with figures in gold, silver, and various colours, were also used, especially in the adornment of the small rooms. Another novelty at this period was chintz, figured or flowered. In 1663, Pepys notes in his _Diary_: “Bought my wife a chint, that is a painted Indian calico for to line her new study.”

The latter must have been a kind of boudoir, or, possibly, a library. In some houses there was a special room set apart for books. These “studies” had been popular in England long before the time of Mrs. Pepys, since Leland describes one that was called “Paradise,” and which might be imitated with advantage in modern homes, especially where there is a restricted space for books. He writes:

“At Wressil Castle, Yorkshire, the seat of the Percies, there was one thing I liked exceedingly in one of the towers; that was a study called _Paradise_, wher was a closett in the middle of eight squares lattised about; and at the top of every square was a deske ledged to fit bookes on and cofers within them, and these seemed as joined hard to the top of this closett; and yet by pulling, one or al would come down briste high in rabattes, and serve for deskes to lay bookes on.”

In some houses, the ceiling is carved in elaborate fretwork, ornamented with bosses and pendants,—a practice afterwards imitated in plaster.

The windows are furnished with small diamond, or square, panes, and frequently in the centre of each window the armorial bearings of the family are displayed, as shown in Plate V. Sometimes these are encircled with floral, or other devices. The arms are also placed upon the chimney-piece. In the bay windows we always find a low-cushioned seat bountifully supplied with soft, movable cushions and pillows, covered with rich silks of bright hues, and often beautifully embroidered. Indeed the cushion[5] is one of the features of every room, being a necessity as well as a decorative accessory to the heavy chairs of the day.

The floor, of polished oak or inlaid wood, is occasionally enriched with a “foot carpet.” In many of the older houses, the floors are paved with tiles of various colours, or laid with chequer-work.

The most important architectural feature of the room, however, is the chimney-piece. The favourite Tudor chimney-piece and overmantel was a mass of rich carving, consisting of arch panels, mouldings, scrolls, coats-of-arms, flowers, vines, columns, and interlaced strapwork, supported by beautiful, or grotesque, terminal figures. Simpler styles are now being introduced in sympathy with the growing taste for Classic severity. The fire-place still remains large enough to admit of big logs, and the hearth is equipped with andirons, tongs, bellows, and sometimes a fender,—all of great artistic beauty. Behind the flames, there is usually an iron “chimney-back,” stamped with a decorative device, or, occasionally, the arms of the owner.

The illumination is obtained by means of lamps, lanterns and candlesticks. The latter are very ornate. Some of them are branched and hang from the ceiling. Others have sconce-arms and are placed on the walls. Tall standing candlesticks of metal are also used, and are moved about the room at pleasure. The illumination is also helped by means of small mirrors, with frames carved and gilt, or else made of ebony or olive-wood.

The furniture consists of one large table, several small round or oval tables, side tables, chairs, settee, couch, stools, a “court,” or “livery cupboard” (and sometimes both), a screen, cabinets, chests, and coffers; while the decorations are pictures, antlers, armour, vases and other ornaments of porcelain, gold, silver, or pewter, and table-clocks.

There has been much discussion regarding the “court cupboard” and the “livery cupboard,” mentioned above, but it is now generally accepted that the “court cupboard,” which may have derived its name from the French word _court_ (short), to distinguish it from the high standing cupboards, corresponded to the French _dressoir_, and was used for the display and keeping of plate, glass, etc., etc. The “livery cupboard,” on the other hand, still found in the farmers’ and labourers’ cottages in England, where it is sometimes called the “bread-and-cheese cupboard,” received its name from the French _livrer_ (to deliver) and was used both for service and as a receptacle for broken victuals. The difference between them is well defined in _Janua Linguarum_ (London, 1673), as follows: “Golden and gilded beakers, cruzes, great cups, chrystal glasses, cans, tankards and two ear’d pots are brought forth out of the cupboard and glass case; and being rins’d and rubb’d with a pot-brush are set on the livery cupboard.”

The “court cupboard” corresponded, in a measure, to the modern sideboard. It was a great feature at festivals and it rose in several receding stages or shelves, upon which the plate was displayed. The number of stages varied according to the rank of the master or mistress of the house. In _Les Honneurs de la Cour_, we learn that two steps were allowed to the wife of a baronet, three to a countess, four to a princess, and five to a queen.

At Cardinal Wolsey’s entertainment to the French Ambassadors at Hampton Court, Cavendish relates: “There was a cupboard for the time in length of the breadth of the nether end of the same chamber, six desks high, full of gilt plate, very sumptuous and of the newest fashions; and upon the nethermost desk garnished all with plate of clean gold were two great candlesticks of silver and gilt most curiously wrought.” When the same Ambassadors were entertained by Henry VIII. at Greenwich, there was a “cupborde seven stages high and thirteen feet long, set with standing cuppes, bolles, flaggons and great pottles all of fine golde, some garnished with one stone, and some with other stones and pearles.”

When Queen Elizabeth was entertained at Hatfield House (the present seat of the Salisburies) in 1556, and there was a great and rich “maskinge in the great halle at Hatfield,” at night “the cupboard in the halle was of twelve stages, mainlie furnished with garnish of gold and silver vessels and a banket of seventie dishes, and after a voide of spices and suttleties, with thirtie spice plates, all at the charges of Sir Thomas Pope.”

A good example of a “court cupboard” with five degrees of stages ornamented with plate is shown in a picture printed in _Laurea Austriaca_ (Frankfort, 1627), representing an entertainment given by King James I. of England to the Spanish Ambassadors during the negotiations for the marriage of the Prince of Wales to the Infanta of Spain. The stages rest upon a frame of turned baluster legs connected by straining-rails. Below the first stage there is a drawer. The “carpets” hang over the front of the cupboard instead of over the sides, as was more usual. This picture would seem to prove that an ordinary side table of the period might be converted into a court cupboard by simply placing the requisite number of shelves above it. However, in the inventory of Sir Thomas Kytson (1603) the following occurs: “At y^e Great Chamber Dore one little joined boarde w^t a fast frame to it, to sett on glassis. Itm, a thing like stayres to set plate on.”

In the early days, before the “livery cupboard” was brought from behind the screen into the hall, the “court cupboard” was removed from the lower end of the hall. The “livery cupboard” took its place. The “court cupboard” was then placed on the daïs, at the “Lord’s borde end,” or in a recess at the back of the high table. Sometimes it was placed in front of the bay window at the end of the daïs, where it acted as a kind of screen.

The “livery cupboard” was not only used for service, but for “liveries” of food and drink, served at night and in between meals. Smaller livery cupboards were sometimes found in the bedrooms, and these were usually furnished with doors and locks. As food was kept in them, the panels are frequently perforated for the sake of ventilation.

Occasionally, especially in later times, the uses of the “court” and “livery” cupboards were combined. Between these pieces of furniture, one difference long existed: a portion of the court cupboard was enclosed at a very early period, while the livery cupboard remained with its open shelves.

If we may believe the old inventories, there were many varieties of the cupboard, or many names for it. We find cupboard and chest-of-drawers, great cupboard, table and cupboard, table-cupboard, livery cupboard, side cupboard, press cupboard, sideboard cupboard, half-headed cupboard, standing cupboard, “cort” cupboard, etc., etc.

Its use was universal, as it was an article of convenience, beauty and ceremony. On Plate X. a characteristic specimen of a Seventeenth Century “court cupboard” of oak is shown. This is preserved in the Vestry in Jamston Church, Nottinghamshire. The lower part would resemble the ordinary side table of the day, if the back supports were like the two turned baluster legs in the front. The long drawer with carved panels is appropriated for linen, or cutlery. The enclosed cupboard is cut in the form of half a hexagon,—a favourite device of the period for cupboards, and has three doors enriched with carved panels and mouldings. The top slab or “cupboard head” is supported by spirally turned columns. The proper way to adorn this piece of furniture is to place a cupboard cloth, or “carpet” (of damask with fringed ends, or a strip of the same material as the hangings of the room) upon the top, allowing the ends of the scarf to fall over the sides (but not the front), and then to arrange on it a few choice pieces of plate, or porcelain. It is interesting to compare this example with No. 8 and No. 1 on the same plate. No. 8 is a portion of a cupboard of later date. This has a “double head,” and under the first stage the ornament is a pendant, instead of a column or pillar. This stands on a ball foot, of an older form than the foot of No. 1 or No. 3. This example, moreover, has its lower portion enclosed with panelled doors. The earlier specimens of the “court cupboard” are generally (and often richly) carved. Sometimes the pillars have Ionic capitals, sometimes they are ornamented with the swelling bulb or acorn enriched with the acanthus leaf, as exhibited in No. 2, Plate X. The devices for the mouldings and panels open to the carver were innumerable. Towards the close of our period, cupboards were decorated with applied ornaments of ebony (or an imitation of it) in the form of eggs, spindles and lozenges, as shown in the cabinet No. 1 on Plate X.

The cabinet is a development of the enclosed cupboard. The characteristic cabinet of James I.’s time is adorned with pillars, arch panels and spindle ornaments. The specimen just referred to on Plate X., No. 1, has these decorations. It stands on a frame of six legs,—a frame that was also used for the lower part of the high case-of-drawers that was coming into fashion towards the end of our period.

The cabinet was always a handsome piece of furniture equipped with shelves, drawers, compartments, and doors,—a repository for jewels, documents and curios. It was sometimes defined as a set of boxes, or drawers for curiosities, and from it the _cabinet-maker_, “one whose business it is to make cabinets and the finer kind of joiner’s work,” took his name.

The cabinet was known in England at an early date. In 1550, we read of a “fayre large cabinett covered with crimson velvet with the King’s arms crowned.” In the Seventeenth Century, the cabinet was panelled and carved, adorned with turned pillars, pendants or swelling bulbs, or it was of the newer style with applied ornaments and turned supports. Frequently also an imported cabinet was to be seen in the English home of this century,—a beautiful specimen of Dutch marquetry, of Italian inlay, of Oriental lacquer, or, indeed, of Boulle work, to say nothing of the splendid examples of Flemish carving.

Some of these cabinets were very ornate specimens of workmanship. Inlay or marquetry was the leading feature of decoration for them. Natural flowers, birds, animals and foliage in bright colours, or in the colours of the exotic woods, undyed, were in use. Ivory and mother-of-pearl, as well as shell were also employed. Even before the days of William and Mary, when the Dutch marquetry became universally popular, there was much inlaid furniture.

In 1697, John Evelyn notes:

“Emblema, continued to this day by the Italians in their Pietra Comessa.... St. Lawrence at Florence, where the pavement and all the walls are most richly encrusted with all sorts of precious marbles, serpentine, porhirie, ophitis, achat, rants, coral, cornelian, lazuli, etc., of which one may number thirty sorts, cut and laid into a _fonds_ or ground of black marble (as our cabinet-makers do their variegated woods) in the shape of birds, flowers, landskips, grotesks, and other compartments.”

The above reference shows that the English cabinet-makers were accustomed to work in inlay.

One of the designs of marquetry that came into vogue in the Seventeenth Century was the “herring-bone” pattern. A clock made by Daniel Quare late in the Seventeenth Century, and preserved at Hampton Court Palace, has its case inlaid with a border of herring-bone pattern.

The characteristic table of Jacobean days is the “drawing-table,” a solid piece of furniture with massive legs, often carved, and connected with rails near the floor. The top is a large slab of oak and beneath it are two other slabs or leaves; when these are drawn out at each end, the large slab falls into the space they occupied, and the table is thus lengthened.

Another typical table, called either “round” or “oval,” is shown on Plate XI. This is an eight-legged table provided with flaps, or falling leaves, supported by legs that can be pulled forward. When not in use, they fold into the frame. Sometimes this variety of table has six instead of eight legs. A popular modern name for these is “the gate-legged” and “the thousand-legged tables.” Frequently the legs were turned spirally. There was another round, or oval table, whose falling leaf was supported by a bracket, shaped something like the wing of a butterfly, from which it has received the modern and popular name of “butterfly table.” The square table was also in use. The table was always covered with its “carpet”; indeed, in the inventories of the period, the “table and carpet” are often mentioned together.

On Plate XI. are three specimen table legs. No. 1 shows legs that are ornamented with a round globe, which like the round ball foot, is of ebony or wood stained black in imitation. The stretchers and rest of the frame are oak. Frequently the table leg was decorated with the carved bulb or acorn, as is shown in No. 2, Plate X. A similar leg to No. 1, Plate XI., occurs on the table in Plate V., but the stretchers here are different. No. 2 and No. 3 on Plate XI. are good types of the ornamentation of the period and their legs are also connected by stretchers. The latter would be used as side-tables or placed in the centre of a room.

The furniture of the parlour in the late Tudor period consisted of high-backed carved chairs, joined stools with cushions covered with rich material and fringed, foot-stools, turned chairs, “lyttle guilt chairs for the women,” high folding screens with many leaves, long, square and round tables with “carpets,” “conversation stools” with ornamented ends and backs, chests, cabinets, coffers and all the ornaments of the period. A wood fire gives warmth, and silver candelabra and sconces light to the room, while further comfort is added by the tapestries, curtains and innumerable cushions. Often, indeed, a bed occurs.

The Jacobean parlour differed but little; indeed, in some houses this exact room survived; but the new styles were gradually driving out the heavy chairs and cabinets for the lighter varieties with turned frames and cane webbing or their upholstered backs and seats; and the old carving was being rapidly supplanted by the newer decoration of the black mouldings and applied ornaments. The high-backed and richly carved settle had to give place to the “couch and squab,” a handsome specimen of which appears on Plate VIII. This is also called a settee or a “_chaise longue_.” Our particular example is composed of a walnut frame covered with cane, upon which are placed a mattress or long cushion and a round bolster, both of which are covered with green silk damask bordered with a narrow fringe. The back, resembling the back of a chair, is enclosed in an ornamental frame of scroll-work, somewhat similar to that of No. 1 on the same plate, and turned side pillars. The top rail is surmounted by a pedimental scroll with a crown in the middle. The six legs have projecting knees and feet connected lengthwise by ornamental rails upon which scrolls and crowns are carved. This piece of furniture dates from 1660.

We have noted that the bed was generally met with in every room in the house. There were, however, separate bedrooms even in the Tudor age. Shakespeare’s description of Imogen’s apartment gives a very charming picture of a rich sleeping-room of the time:

“_First her bed-chamber
(Where I confess I slept not; but profess,
Had that was well worth watching,) it was hang’d
With tapestry of silk and silver; the story,
Proud Cleopatra when she met her Roman,
And Cnydus swell’d above the banks, or for
The press of boats or pride; a piece of work
So bravely done, so rich, that it did strive
In workmanship, and value; which I wonder’d,
Could be so rarely and exactly wrought,
Since the true life on’t was...._

_The chimney
Is south the chamber; and the chimney-piece,
Chaste Dian bathing: never saw I figures
So likely to report themselves; the cutter
Was as another Nature dumb; outwent her,
Motion and breath left out...._

_The roof o’ the chamber
With golden cherubins is fretted: her andirons
(I had forgot them) were two winking Cupids
Of silver, each on one foot standing, nicely
Depending on their brands._”[6]

It is interesting to compare the above with the room that was prepared for the reception of James I. at Knole, Sevenoaks, Kent, which is still intact. The walls are covered with tapestry depicting the story of Nebuchadnezzar. The state bed, which cost £8,000, is richly ornamented and has a canopy top, while its furniture is of gold and silver tissue, lined with rose-coloured satin, and embroidered and fringed with gold and silver. The chairs and stools in the room are covered to correspond with the hangings and other furniture of the bed.

Another room in the same house, known as the “Venetian Bedroom,” because the Venetian ambassador, Nicolo Molino, slept there, contains a fine state bed, said to have been arranged for the entertainment of James II. The canopy and headboard are carved and gilt and surmounted by the royal arms. The hangings and other furniture are of green cut velvet lined with lutestring,[7] and the chairs and stools in the room are similarly upholstered.

Another room at Knole, known as the “Spangled Bedroom,” on account of its ceiling, is hung with tapestry and contains a handsome bed which is represented on Plate IX. The stools and chairs in this room are covered with crimson silk embroidered in the same pattern as the bed-furniture.

The massive Elizabethan “four-posted” bed died hard. Although in many homes the new styles were being introduced, the “beddes of tymbre” were treasured and still formed objects of special bequests. Oliver Cromwell’s bed, which is still in existence, is similar in general style to the “Great Bed of Ware,”[8] which was so large that it could hold twelve persons. In 1598, Paul Hentzer, visiting Windsor, notes the beds belonging to princes of preceding reigns measured 11 feet square and were covered with quilts shining with gold and silver.

The large Tudor bed was the richest piece of furniture. Apart from the sheets of finest linen, the soft and handsome blankets, the counterpane of marvellous needlework, the quilts of silk and rugs of fur, and the curtains of tapestry, samite, silk or velvet, it was a mass of superb carving luxuriantly expressed upon headboard, canopy, tester, columns, and panels. The columns were often carved to represent the “four gospellers,” or evangelists, and angels: which explain the old rhyme:

“_Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
Bless the bed that I sleep on;
Two angels at my head,
Two angels round my bed,
Two to watch, and two to pray,
And two to carry my soul away._”

One of the popular decorations of the columns was the acorn-shaped central bulb on the posts, and the arch panel on the headboard. Even the under side of the canopy is formed of carved panels. On either side of the headboard, the terminal figures of men or women or angels were not merely decorative, but formed supports for looping back the curtains. Many of these carved oak bedsteads were imported from Flanders, especially those whose testers are carved with designs suggested by drapery or fringe. Under this great bed, which sometimes stood upon a low platform, the “trundle” or “truckle” bed was rolled.

“_In the best bed the Squire must lie,
And John in truckle bed hard by._”

The bed shown on Plate IX. is of the new style which lingered with a few changes far into the reign of Queen Anne. It is therefore a typical Jacobean or Stuart bed. The proportion is entirely different to that of the Tudor four-poster. The pillars, or supports, for the tester are taller, and the whole framework is of lighter build. This interesting specimen is still preserved at Knole, the home of the Sackvilles at Sevenoaks, Kent. Its hangings, tester, valance and counterpane are of crimson silk lined with satin and richly embroidered with gold and silver.

No. 1 on the same Plate shows the bed with light, spiral column that was also in use. The post is surmounted by an ornament, or knob, or bunch of feathers which, in France are called “_pomme_.”

This is the kind of bed which appears on Plate III., No. 3.

It will be noticed that there is no carving on this bed which depends for its elegance upon the richness of its furniture. At this period, green, yellow and crimson were the favourite colours for draping the bed. The materials chosen were silk damask, worsted damask, plain satin, silk, or serge, according to the wealth of the owner; and when it is remembered that the windows were hung with the same stuff, and the chairs, stools, cushions, table-carpets and cupboard cloth and cushions were of similar stuff, it will be admitted that a Jacobean bedroom is lacking neither in beauty nor richness.

The rich materials mentioned above were often embroidered in gold or silver as is the case in bed shown on Plate IX.

Striped silk was another favourite for the hangings of the bedroom. As a rule, when worsted materials were used, the curtains of both bed and windows were lined with silk. There was a great variety of silks, known variously as lutestring, paduasoy, tabby, taffetas, sarcenet, chaney, cheney or China, etc.; while the woollen goods included serge, darnick or dorneck, perpetuana, mohair, camoca or camak, camlet, say, serge, rateen, watchet, fustian, damask, and kitterminster or kidderminster, some of which were mixed with camel’s hair or threads of silk. There were also dimity, flowered chintz, and callimanco (a glazed linen), as well as Turkey-work and “wrought” (which, of course, was needlework). East India goods, such as printed calico and seersucker, were also used at the end of the period. White curtains for the bed are rarely employed.

The modern upholsterer will have no difficulty in finding suitable and equivalent materials for furnishing a Jacobean bed and bedroom.

The valance hanging from the tester, as shown on Plate IX., is adorned with fringe, as is also the stool that stands at the foot of the bed.

Beside the bed, there was always laid a narrow strip of carpet, or tapestry, or rug, always referred to as a “bedside carpet.”[9]

In the bedroom, we always find a large “trussing chest,” used as a receptacle for the bed clothes, and there may be another chest for the preservation of wearing apparel. The latter is more likely to be a chest-with-drawers, consisting of the chest proper, below which are two long drawers, appearing to the eye as four on account of the panels, mouldings and knobs. On lifting up the top, a deep well is revealed, at the side of which there is a “till,” or compartment, for small articles, trinkets, etc.

At first, the chest was decorated with carved panels and mouldings, and was usually rendered secure with a lock and great iron hinges that were extremely decorative. The date and the initials of the owner were carved upon it, as well as a fanciful motto or legend. At a later period, the chest was placed on a frame of short square legs. The next development was the addition of a long drawer below the chest. Another drawer was added, and another, until this piece of furniture gradually became, instead of a simple box or trunk, a “chest-of-drawers,” a “chest-with-drawers,” a “nest-of-drawers,” a “case-of-drawers,” a “press,” a “cupboard-press,” etc., etc. The bureau, or desk, or “screetore,” is another development; and, of course, the cabinet in its simplest form is nothing but a chest-of-drawers with shelves inside shut in by doors.

This development will be apparent by glancing at the chest-of-drawers, or case-of-drawers, on Plate X. This contains but four drawers, although at first sight it would seem that there were eight. The panels of these drawers are edged with a flat bevelled moulding stained black, and within that is a sunk panel, in the centre of which is the brass handle-plate. A moulding incised with cuts edges the top slab. The chest-of-drawers stands on four turned knobs or balls. A specimen handle and key-plate of the period appropriate for chest, chest-of-drawers, or cabinet are No. 5 and No. 6 on Plate X. The case-of-drawers is also found in the bedroom, where the other furniture includes a dressing-table and glass, tables, chairs and stools, very often a cupboard, sometimes a desk or “screetore,” and always plenty of cushions.

The “drawing-table,” of course, has no place in the bedroom; such a one as that shown on Plate XI., with either a square or round top is the most usual. Its “carpet” matches the hangings of the room. The cupboard, chairs, stools, and couch and desk do not differ from those already described. The dressing-table is merely a simple table covered with drapery, and upon it or above it stands or hangs a mirror, the frame of which in general design is like the one shown on Plate XI. In very rich homes, this is of solid silver, but more frequently it is carved and gilt, or made of olive-wood, or ebony. Sometimes it has merely a square and unornamented frame, and again the frame may be inlaid.

Turning now to the chairs, we find the heavy wooden chairs, such as are shown on Plate VII., Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, and No. 2 on Plate VIII., are giving place to newer forms. One of the most typical is the “low leather” chair, which we have already spoken of in the preceding chapter. This was generally covered with leather put on with large brass nails, and was sometimes also decorated with fringe. Genoa velvet, silk, serge, needlework, etc., were also used for covering this form of chair. A square straining-rail usually connects the legs close to the floor. It was popularly known as “the Cromwell,” and is shown on Plate V. and in the Frontispiece. Two good variants occur on Plate I., No. 3, and lower right-hand corner. Another typical chair, which is also reminiscent of Abraham Bosse, appears on Plate VII. This shape is frequently met with in the pictures of the old Dutch masters.

This particular specimen, which is preserved at Knole Park, is covered with rose-coloured velvet, divided into squares by means of a braid of mixed gold and silk threads, and adorned with a fringe of the same. The nails that fasten the material are copper-gilt, and a large quatrefoil ornament marks the intersection of the legs. The oval finials on the back are also decorated with copper-gilt nails. The woodwork is painted with red lacquer ornamented with a floral design in gold.

All the styles shown on Plate I. are also known in England. A very characteristic chair is the “high backed” chair, known also to France and Flanders. It is very slender and upright. Examples are shown on Plates V. and VIII. The side-posts are either spiral, as in Plate V., or spindle, as shown in No. 1 and No. 6 on Plate VIII. The back panel and seat are of cane webbing, or stuffed and upholstered. The frame of the panel may be rounded as in No. 6 on Plate VIII., or square as No. 1 on the same plate. The top is usually carved in some kind of scroll-work. Sometimes the cane-webbing is framed with a simple moulding, as shown in No. 6. Plate VIII. and again it may have an ornate combination of scrolls and leaves, as shown in No. 1 on the same Plate. Stretchers render the legs firm. Sometimes there are two spiral front rails as shown on Plate V., but more frequently the rail is an elaborate arrangement of scrolls, as shown on the chair in the upper left hand corner on Plate VII. or on No. 4 and No. 5 on Plate VIII. The feet are often made of a large and somewhat clumsy scroll turned outward, as shown on No. 5, Plate VIII. Another variety occurs on the arm-chair above. Another species of foot is moulded into a kind of embryonic claw, known as “the Spanish foot.” The arm-chair on Plate VIII. is one of the richest productions of the age. It is elaborately carved and gilt. The border or frame surrounding the panel of the back is beautifully carved with the strawberry leaf, and Cupids and other figures enrich the top. The side supports of the back are spirally turned, ending in a decorative acorn (which is repeated in detail on No. 3). The seat and back are upholstered in red velvet. This valuable relic dates from 1660.

A simpler chair, also dating from 1660, occurs on Plate VII. This is of walnut. The side-supports are continuations of the back legs, the front legs curve outward, and the front rail is a series of scrolls. The back is surmounted by a carved and pierced pediment. The stuffed seat and back are covered with needlework on canvas.

Other typical seats of the day are shown on Plate VI., a settee or double chair, and stool, the frames of which are painted black. The back of the settee is very high with a curved or wavy top. The arms curve downward with a bold sweep. The four short legs, curving outwards, with projecting knees and feet, are connected by heavy straining-rails formed of heavy scrolls. Both settee and stool are upholstered in rich Mortlake tapestry of the age, representing sprays of flowers.

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Footnote 1:

_Taming of the Shrew_, Act II., Scene 1.

Footnote 2:

“The usual manner,” says Percy in his preface to the Northumberland
Household Book, “of hanging the rooms in the old castles, was only to
cover the naked stone walls with tapestry or arras, hung upon tenter
hooks from which they were easily taken down upon every removal.”
Afterwards it seems to have been hung on projecting frames leaving a
space between it and the wall, affording a convenient hiding-place. It
will be remembered that Hamlet killed Polonius behind the arras, where
the latter had concealed himself.

Footnote 3:

So called from the town of that name in Flanders.

Footnote 4:

“_Read what is written in the painted cloth
Do no man wron; be good unto the poor
Beware the mouse, the maggot and the moth
And ever have an eye unto the door._”

(Old Tract, 1601).

Footnote 5:

The cushion was in favour at an early date; it is mentioned in _Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight_, “Whyssynes upon quelde-poyntes” (1340
c); in the Will of Edward the Black Prince in Nichol’s _Royal Wills_,
“74 curtyns quissyns” (1361); Chaucer’s _Troylus_, “And down she sett
here by hym upon a quysshon gold y-bete” (1229); _Isumbras_, “Bryn a
chayere an a qwyschene” (1400); Wyclif, “Seetis of skynnes ethir
cuyschuns” (1388) Wyclif, _Ezek iii_, “Woo to hem that sewen tegider
cusshens” (1382); Mallory, “And there was laid a cusshyn of gold that
he should knele upon” (1470–85); and Berners, _Arth. Lyt. Bryt._,
“They set them down on cosshyns of sylke” (1530).

Footnote 6:

_Cymbeline_, Act II. Scene IV.

Footnote 7:

A heavy ribbed silk.

Footnote 8:

“Taunt him with the license of ink; if thou _thou’st_ him some thrice,
it shall not be amiss; and as many lies as will lie in thy sheet of
paper, although the sheet were big enough for the bed of Ware in
England, set ’em down.”—_Twelfth Night_, Act III, Scene II.

Footnote 9:

This name occurs as early as 1301.

LOUIS XIV. PERIOD

LOUIS XIV. PERIOD

The culminating period of the long reign of Louis XIV. (1643–1715) was reached at the Treaty of Nimeguen in 1678. From this time forward, France not only dominated Europe by force of arms, but also by her taste and achievements in art. Paris set the fashions for the whole Continent and for the Court of Charles II. across the Channel.

The “_Roi magnifique_,” now able to indulge every fancy and whim, makes the Palace of Versailles the symbol of the time. Although the architect Mansart began the improvements there in 1661, it was not until 1682 that the residence of the Court was fixed at Versailles. Then it became the expression of pomp, pleasure and magnificence. Magnificent Versailles, with its water-works, its statues, its groves, its gardens, its galleries, its pictures and its furnishings, cost the King a fortune. The furniture alone, not including either pictures or tapestries, amounted to 13,000,000 livres.

Anxious to exhibit a magnificence unknown since the days of Rome and Byzantium, the “Sun King” conceived the idea of entrusting the designing and manufacture of carpets, tapestries, furniture, plate, etc., etc., to artists of the first rank. His first plan was to gather around him a number of talented men, to each of whom he granted apartments in the Louvre; but he found that it would be well to subject all the various individual works to one guiding spirit and thus to create harmony. Therefore, in 1667, he established the “_Manufacture des Gobelins_,” with the painter, Le Brun, at its head. This manufactory of the crown became not only famous for the superb tapestry that bears its name, but for cabinet work (_ébénisterie_), goldsmith work (_orfèvrerie_), etc., etc., and was the special pride of Louis XIV., who, according to a contemporary:

“_Ne passe guère de semaine
Où toute sa cour il n’y mène._”

Among the famous artists and workers employed at the Gobelins, were the _ébéniste_ André Charles Boulle, the goldsmiths Claude Ballin and Delaunay, the painters and decorators Jean Bérain and Jean Lepautre, and the engravers La Barre, Viaucourt, Debonnaire, and Guillaume and Alexandre Loir. Nor must Colbert be forgotten, the great minister of finance who aided the King in founding this important establishment. Le Brun dominated all productions with his taste, which was that of Louis himself,—magnificent, splendid, heroic and pompous. Here were produced not only the furnishings for the homes of the wealthy, but those superb gifts that Louis lavished upon the ambassadors from foreign courts.

Massive silver[10] furniture, which seems to have originated in Spain, and to have crossed the Pyrenees with Anne of Austria, the daughter of Philip III., became extremely popular at court and with those of Louis’s courtiers who could afford such a luxury. When Charles II. ascended the English throne, and brought with him from France all the styles of Louis XIV., silver furniture was introduced into the country, some of which is still preserved.

Doubtless the richness and beauty of these rare articles developed the taste for carved and gilded wood. Its use was not confined to the wealthy; in comparatively modest dwellings and hôtels the frames of the seats, mirrors, tables, consoles, etc., were carved elaborately and gilded. It is probably owing to this dazzling and glittering effect of gilded wood that has caused critics to refer to the preceding style of Louis XIII. as “sombre.” The luxury and splendours of the court penetrated to the middle classes, who adopted all the styles of the day. It was not long before great changes in interior decorations were sufficiently apparent to attract the notice of contemporary writers. La Bruyère speaks of the preceding reign when copper and pewter had not been supplanted by silver. The enormous and monumental chimney-piece which reached to the cornice, a typical example of which is shown in the frontispiece, was banished for the “_petite cheminée_,” or little chimney-piece. Mirrors now made at the Gobelin manufactory became far more common, having been brought within the reach of many who could not afford the hitherto unrivalled glasses made in Venice. The flags and tiles were now superseded by floors of inlaid woods, or parquetry, and the tapestries and embossed leather that adorned the walls in the preceding period were gradually succeeded by painted and gilt panels. There was a tendency everywhere for lighter hues. This taste had already reached high expression in the Marquise de Rambouillet, who astonished everyone with her “Blue Parlour,” which was decorated and draped in the colour of the sky.

It must not be imagined, however, that tapestry was rejected. The magnificent productions of the Gobelins reproducing in their bold colours the pictures of Le Brun, Van der Meulen, and others, made superb wall-decorations for the homes of the wealthy; and those who did not care for the hunting-scenes, war-scenes, mythological subjects, or allegories, could select Bérain’s fine “arabesques.” We notice, however, some new colours that were extremely popular. These were particularly the yellowish pink hue of dawn, called aurora, flame-colour, flesh-colour, and amaranth, a purplish red such as occurs in the common flowers, Love-lies-bleeding and Prince’s Feather. These colours occur chiefly in the sumptuous brocades and damasks from Lyons, Genoa and Flanders that were used to line the walls, for covering the seats, and draping the great beds.

The influence of Le Brun cannot be over-estimated. All the industries of the day that had any connection with art passed into his control. For at least twenty-five years, he regulated all the types and models, and was the arbiter and judge of the productions. He furnished designs for painters, sculptors, cabinet-makers, weavers, etc., etc. Let us in confirmation of this turn to the _Mercure de France_ for 1692; “Although I have mentioned,” says the writer, “many works, I have forgotten to speak of those large and superb cabinets that they make at the Gobelins from his designs and under his guidance; it would seem that all the arts have contributed something to them. Finally, M. Le Brun is so universal that all the arts work under him, and he even goes so far as to make designs for the locksmith. I have seen very cultivated strangers gazing at the locks and bolts of the doors and windows at Versailles and the Galerie d’Apollon at the Louvre as if they were _chefs-d’œuvre_, from whose beauty they could not tear themselves away.”

Colbert’s industrial system was founded upon the idea of useful luxury. Everything in common use had to be beautiful, and the result was that, although the taste was aristocratic, the result upon France was democratic. Silk and velvet, tapestry and rugs, vases of porphyry and porcelain, candelabra and andirons, clocks and articles of silver, rich cabinets and _armoires_, in fact, all kinds of useful and ornamental articles were soon to be found in middle-class houses as well as in the homes of the wealthy. A great progress was noted in the art of the dyer; the tapestries became brighter, with the famous Gobelin scarlet, Lyons black, Rouen blue, Tours green, the Nîmes yellow, etc.

To appreciate the general luxury of the day, let us recall the magnificent entertainment that Fouquet gave to Louis XIV. at the Castle of Vaux, when “he went so far as to cause to be placed in the room of each courtier of the King’s retinue a purse filled with gold to supply at the play those who had not enough, or none at all;” and the still more remarkable lottery that Cardinal Mazarin held in his palace in 1660 (the year before his death), for the benefit of the courtiers. The prizes given on this occasion consisted of precious stones, jewels, textiles, mirrors, tables, cabinets, and other furniture, crystal candelabra, silverware, gloves, ribbons and fans, valued altogether at half a million.

Again, when Louis received the Siamese Ambassador, he was seated on a throne of silver, and his costume was so heavy with gold and jewels that he was soon forced to remove it.

It was an age of jewels. Travellers brought home from the East many precious stones, particularly diamonds; Tavernier, for instance, made six voyages to India and Persia, and brought diamonds to the King. Chardin, merchant to the King, publishes his voyage to Persia. This contact with the East touches popular fancy, and the Persian, the Turk and the Hindu appear in court-ballets, and their art often inspires the art of the day, as may be noted in some of the arabesques of Jean Bérain.