Old English Furniture and its Surroundings

Everyone collects something nowadays: Old furniture, silver, china or glass, perhaps all of them ; and such collections are not only interesting in themselves, but often add much beauty to the homes of their owners.

In many cases, however, they are not seen to the best advantage, because they are only loo often arranged in a milieu which is totally unsuited for them, and thus not only is the general effect less good than it should be, but the beauty of the individual pieces is obscured.

Seventeenth century pewter on a Sheraton sideboard, Chippendale chairs with covers of printed linen copied from the design of Jacobean needlework hangings ; William and Mary stools covered with Louis Seize striped brocade are combinations which are not seldom seen among the belongings of collectors who should know better.

Fine pieces are, of course, fine anywhere, but when placed in their right environment new beauties show themselves, while others, though individually less beautiful, may be invaluable when filling their proper purpose in a well thought out scheme.

While it is hardly possible, indeed it is scarcely desirable, that the rooms inhabited by twentieth century folk should be replicas in every detail of those of bygone days, it is certainly useful to know exactly what was then used, in order that the modifications rendered necessary by our different ways of living may be of a sympathetic character. But information on many points is hard to find, and can only be obtained by consulting endless books dealing with different features, and original authorities, which, in many cases, are difficult of access, and it is hoped that in “Old English Furniture and its Surroundings,” artists, collectors, decorators, and others who have occasion to plan harmonious interiors in the styles of bygone days will find a convenient book of reference.

The period covered - from the Restoration of the Monarchy to the Regency - has been divided into four sections :

I The Restoration.
II The End of the Seventeenth Century and the Early Eighteenth.
III Early Georgian.
IV Late Georgian.

Each of these sections contains chapters dealing with Permanent Decoration, Furniture, Upholstery (including Wall and Floor Coverings), Table Appointments and Decorative Adjuncts. Obviously it would be impossible to treat all these subjects exhaustively in one volume; but as far as possible all essentials have been included.

The illustrations in a book of this kind are quite as important as the text, and great care has been taken in selecting them. Almost all may be considered as representing typical specimens of the style in vogue at their respective periods. Transition and unique pieces are extremely interesting and often very beautiful, but are less well suited for the present purpose than patterns which met with more general acceptance.

I acknowledge, with gratitude, the permission of the authorities of the Victoria and Albert Museum to make use of many of the admirable official photographs (which are distinguished by the initials V. and A.). Messrs. Debenham and Freebody, Messrs. Gill and Reigate, and Messrs. Warner, of Newgate Street, have been good enough to allow specimens in their possession to be photographed and the initials of the firm are affixed to their illustrations ; the remaining objects are in private collections.

English domestic architecture was in a state of transition during the last third of the seventeenth century. The influence of the Renaissance on building (so much more slowly felt here than on the Continent) was spreading beyond the somewhat narrow limits to which it had hitherto been confined, and the majority of important mansions were being built in the classical style, while for public buildings and churches, it was almost invariably adopted. At the same time, however, there were still being erected vast numbers of smaller houses which owed very much to the old Gothic tradition in their main design and construction, though in some points influenced by their larger contemporaries. The reason for this divergence is, no doubt, that while the principal buildings were designed by travelled and learned architects, who made elaborate and detailed plans, most of the humbler dwellings were carried out under the sole direction of master builders, who were first and foremost practical men, and were far more used to relying on their own experience and inherited tradition, than on ink and paper. Innovations were therefore introduced slowly, and rather grafted on to the old stock than transplanted wholesale. The results achieved are generally completely successful, and these more homely seventeenth century houses were equally suitable for their purpose as comfortable dwellings for the well-to-do middle classes, as were the more magnificent edifices in the purer Classical style for theirs, which was to serve as backgrounds for the display of the wealth and prosperity of the nobility.

The essential difference in the outward appearance of the simple dwellings of the late seventeenth century from those which had preceded them is their symmetrical arrangement. The front door is generally in the centre, with one or two windows on each side, and these and all other outstanding features such as dormers and chimneys, are arranged in pairs to balance one another. This was a point on which the greatest stress was laid by those who washed to follow the prevailing mode, and the fronts of old houses were often taken down and re-erected on modernized plans.

The number of medium-sized houses built and altered at the end of the seventeenth century was enormous, and may be accounted for by the change that was taking place in the position of the middle classes. The extremely rich mer- chants and traders had long enjoyed a dignified position in England, and mixed with the nobility on quite a different footing to their Continental compeers. Now, however, the vastly increased trade with the East swelled the ranks of those who, without being extremely wealthy, were in well-to-do circumstances, and a new standard of comfort, and indeed luxury, was set up, to which the ordinary prosperous citizen might well hope to attain. Even as Pepys hung his rooms with tapestry, dressed in velvet and set up his coach, so we know a host of his contemporaries (though "mute inglorious") did likewise, and built their convenient houses, commissioned their hangings and bought that charming furniture of walnut and oak which was so perfectly suited to the needs of its users and to its environment.

The extravagant splendour of the Court was not, of course, without its influence on those within its radius, but its more exotic vagaries were so expensive as to be impossible of attainment by lesser folk, and indeed they seem to have inspired in the more sober minded a feeling of contempt and dislike rather than any desire for imitation.

So, though for the Court favourites and the nobility there were mirror-hung rooms, silver furniture and other similar extravagances, the bulk of the household plenishings of this time are indicative of a cultured and refined taste in the people who ordered and used them.

The whole style of living began to conform much more nearly to modern ideas of comfort. The chief bedroom was still a meeting place where company was received, but the dining parlour and withdrawing-room were established and used as living rooms, and entrances were arranged into small outer halls or lobbies to the great increase of warmth in the house. Bathrooms were not unknown even in private houses, though they were most certainly an uncommon feature.

PANELLING - Some most delightful panelled rooms date from this time, and wainscot was a very usual method of covering the walls. The wood used was mainly oak, though the carvings were often executed in a softer material. Pictures, expecially portraits, were frequently framed in as part of the original decorative scheme, and not merely hung in the centre of a panelled space. This is a most satisfactory and beautiful feature, as the pictures take their places in the general plan, and do not, as is now frequently the case, strike a different and often a discordant note. The framing is often of very rich and beautiful carving, the most perfect of all in technique being the work of Grinling Gibbons. He preferred to work in lime wood, which was soft and showed off to perfection the multifarious detail with which he loved to crowd his compositions. Birds and cherubs, leaves and flowers, fruits and vegetables are all often included in the carving of one frame, and the same style is carried out in friezes and mirrors. But this very ornate decoration was mainly reserved for the houses of the nobility and ecclesiastical work; the simpler style of applied rectangular mouldings was still in vogue for those who did not aspire to follow close at the heels of the Court. In the immediate entourage of the King all kinds of freak fashions were the vogue, as is usually the case when people with more money than taste give the lead. Nell Gwyn's room, panelled throughout with looking-glass, has often been described, and the Duchess of Portland had one decorated in the same way. Here the King supped with the Moorish Ambassador, no doubt amusing himself much at His Excellency's amazement at viewing himself reflected a hundred times in the numerous sheets of glass. Other rooms were panelled with leaves from Chinese screens. The workmen, we are told, could not make head or tail of the Oriental conventional designs, and frequently inserted them upside down. White painted deal panelling was also just beginning to be used.

The typical arrangement of this period consists of dado and filling of rectangular design, and an ornamental cornice. The dado generally consisted of numerous small-sized panels, while those of the filling were much larger and ran down from the cornice to the dado as a rule, unbroken. The centre part of each panel was raised and sloped to the edge with a sharp bevel.

The STAIRWAYS leading to the upper storeys generally face the entrance doors in most houses of this period, and much skill and ingenuity is displayed in their design and construction. Even in the smaller houses there are points which show individuality and prove the thought and care which the old-time builders spent on their work.

There were two main kinds of stairways chiefly in use during the last third of the eighteenth century : those in which the space between the handrail and the stringing is filled with flowing ornament of foliated design and those in which this space is occupied by turned balusters. The former are magnificent in the stately mansions where they are almost invariably found, but they were not often copied on a reduced scale for the smaller houses, where the turned balusters were usual and more suitable to the rest of the building. For the less pretentious houses, the material was almost always oak, though elm and walnut were sometimes used. These last two woods are so liable to attack by worm that possibly they may have been used more frequently than one would imagine from the small number of examples that survive. The balusters were turned in an endless variety of patterns, all much lighter than those of Elizabethan and Jacobean times. The most characteristic imitate a twist. (This twist is open like a corkscrew, not like the rope or cord pattern which was used in late Georgian times.) On some stairways there are three of these balusters of differing patterns on each step, generally one twisted and the other two plain. The newels are seldom elaborately treated, the highly ornamental finials of an earlier date having gone out of fashion, though sometimes baskets of fruits and flowers richly carved in wood
their places with good effect.

The rail was usually rather plain, being broad and simply moulded. It was set rather low, and runs direct into the newel at an angle. On the wall side there was generally a panelled dado headed by a moulding of half section of the rail.

The balusters spring from a string, and this enables them to be comparatively slight without loss of strength.

The risers are generally shallow and the treads fairly broad, so that these stairs are easy to mount and have a handsome appearance, which the steeper staircases of a later date, rendered necessary in smaller houses by the higher rooms, do not attain. Modern ideas demand stair-carpets, so that it is very seldom that these staircases are seen in the condition which was intended by their builders.

The FLOORS were less covered than they are now% and where the owner could afford it considerable sums were spent in making them ornamental. The large halls and open courts were flagged or tiled or sometimes quarries of various coloured marbles were employed. The less important rooms were floored with wood, and oak was still the most usual for this purpose. The boards used were generally very thick and often far from even. In the more luxurious apartments parquet was the most admired flooring, carried out in various woods. In some cases a simple chequer of oak and walnut was used, but, like every other item of house construction and decoration, in the more splendid mansions an elaborate effect was aimed at, and numerous choice woods were pressed into the service. It is probable that these floors were always laid by foreign workmen, and were very expensive, so they are decidedly the exception rather than the rule.

The CEILINGS of this period vary much. Some of them are quite simple, while others are of very elaborate plaster work recalling the style of Grinling Gibbons' carving. The arrangement of the ornament is often very well thought out.

The value of plain spaces as complementary to the enrichments was thoroughly understood by the artist-craftsmen who specialized in this direction. In some of the large and magnificent houses erected by the nobility the ceilings were painted in the Italian style, but, of course, this was extremely expensive, and was only used for important rooms.