Inwood Room

Inwood Room Object Descriptions

Inwood Room

Inwood Room

Inwood Room

Inwood Room

Inwood Room

Inwood Room

Inwood Room

Inwood Room

Inwood Room

Inwood Room

Inwood Room Glossary

Adam, Robert: (1728–1792) A Scottish architect and furniture designer between 1773 and 1795. After traveling to Italy and seeing Roman ruins, he

and his brothers facilitated a Neo-Classical style in England that sought to simplify Rococo—a style that coincided with the Louis XIV style in France. Adam’s furniture is characterized by: techniques such as gilding, marquetry, fluting and reeding; low-relief classic Greek and Roman ornament such as husks, vases, swags, urns, griffins, anthemions, and honeysuckles; woods including mahogany, satinwood, and rosewood; and furniture with straight, tapered, fluted legs.

Amphora: A large, two-handled, earthenware vessel with a narrow neck and an ovoid body, originally used in Greece for the storage of grain. Later adopted as a Neoclassical decorative motif.

Anthemion: Leafage resembling the flower of a honeysuckle. This design was used during the Adam period and the Regency period.

Appliqué or applied ornament: Carved or shaped decoration, usually wood or metal, glued or nailed to furniture.

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Apron: A wooden panel that connects the surface and legs of a table or chair. It is placed at right angles to the underside of a tabletop or seat of a chair, and extends between the top of the legs. Aprons are also used on bottoms of cabinets, chests, and other furnishings.

Ball foot: The foot of the leg is round.

Baroque: (circa 1620–1700) A period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, theater, and music. The style began around 1600 in Rome, Italy, and spread to most of Europe. Frequently seen motifs include C and S scrolls, claw-and-ball foot, heavy furniture, throne-like arm chairs, decorative legs and chairs, and carved decoration in high relief. The cabriole leg is introduced from France and joins with cloven, bun, and bracket feet.

Bead-and-reel moldings: The word moldings describes material, such as wood, plastic, or stone, featured in a decorative outline, usually in architecture and furniture. Bead-and-reel moldings are specifically carved to resemble spheres and cylinders, or beads and reels.

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Bellflower motif: An ornamental detail, carved or painted, resembling bell shaped flowers, usually arranged vertically.

Blanc de chine: The traditional European term for a type of white Chinese porcelain, made at Dehua in the Fujian province, otherwise known as Dehua porcelain.

Blind fret: Fretted decoration applied to the surface of solid wooden furniture.

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Bombé: French term for a swelling or bulging shape. Seen on 18th century English commodes with French tastes.

Cabriole leg: One of (usually) four vertical supports of a piece of furniture shaped in two curves. The upper arc is convex (bowing outward), while lower is concave (bowing inward), with the axes of the two curves in the same plane.

Candelabrum: (plural: candelabra) A large branched candlestick or holder for several candles or lamps.

Chamfered: In carpentry, cut away (a right-angled edge or corner) to make a symmetrical sloping edge.

Chasing: A metalwork technique where the metal is shaped from the front side which is the opposite of repoussé and the two techniques are often used together.

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Chinoiserie: French word referring to Chinese or in the Chinese taste or manner.

Chip-cut: Gouging off a small piece resembling a chip in glass.

Chippendale style: Refers to furniture that was not necessarily made by Thomas Chippendale, but made by a craftsman following the patterns from Chippendale’s book, which many craftsmen relied on at the time.

Chippendale, Thomas: (1718-1779) A London cabinet maker and furniture designer in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. Chippendale designs fall into three main styles: Gothic, Rococo, and Chinese. Gothic Chippendale incorporated pointed arches and ogee curves into the backs of chairs. The most elaborate Chippendale Rococo designs, carved and gilded, were those for mirror frames, girandoles, and console tables. His 1754 book of designs (many of the designs were his) is regarded as reflecting the London fashion for furniture for that period and was used by other cabinet makers outside London. This was the first style of furniture in England named after a cabinetmaker rather than a monarch.

Commode: A loosely defined type of chest or cabinet, usually low, and placed against a wall as a console, chest, bureau, etc.

Concertina movement: Folding mechanism used in card tables and dining tables for expansion. The back half of the frame or apron includes hinged parts that fold under the table when tucked away and which pull out to extend the table.

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Console table: A table supported by ornamented brackets, either movable or fixed against a wall; a table fixed to a wall with its top supported by consoles or front legs. Broadly a table designed to fit against a wall.

Corona: A crown-like structure.

Crest: The carved decoration on the top rail of a piece of furniture, such as a sofa, chair, or daybed.

C-scroll: An ornamental motif in the shape of a C, used chiefly on furniture.

Derbyshire spar: A semi-precious mineral, a form of fluorite with bands of a purple-blue or yellowish color.

Directoire style: Directoire describes a period in the decorative arts, fashion, and especially furniture design, concurrent with the post-Revolution French Directory (November 2, 1795 through November 10, 1799). The style uses Neoclassical architectural forms, minimal carving, planar expanses of highly grained veneers, and applied decorative painting. It is a style transitional between Louis XVI and Empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directoire_style

Drip pan: A container for catching material that drips from above, such as candle wax.

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Egg-and-dart molding: An ornamental device carved as a molding consisting of alternating shapes resembling eggs and darts. This pattern was used in classical design and architecture.

Escutcheon: The metal plate surrounding a keyhole to protect the wood.

Festoon, garland, or swag: A decorative garland, fabric, chain of flowers, foliage, or fruit hanging in a drooping curve. Usage:"swags of holly and mistletoe"

Finial: A distinctive ornament at the top, end, or corner of an object.

Fire fender: A low, metal guard made of iron and/or brass, used to protect the rug or floor from flying embers or sparks from the fire.

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Fire place grate: a frame of iron bars to hold a fire.

Fluting: a groove or set of grooves forming a surface decoration.

Foliated: Decorated to resemble leaves.

Fretwork: Ornamental design in wood, typically openwork, done with a fretsaw.

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Frieze: Any decorative band at the top or beneath the cornice of an interior wall, a piece of furniture, etc.

Gadrooning: A carved edge of repetitive shapes usually convex curved form.

George II: Refers to furniture made during the years 1727 to 1760 during which George II reigned over the United Kingdom. During this period, mahogany replaced walnut as the fashionable wood. British designers, along with the rest of Europe, were being influenced by Rococo style. They were decorating English furniture with C-scrolls and foliage, asymmetrical curves, claw-and-ball feet, scroll feet, cabriole legs, cross-banded or feather-banded walnut veneer, lion masks, and molded cornices. The designs of Thomas Chippendale were popular during this time.

George III: Refers to furniture that was made between 1760 and 1820. George III (1738–1820) was the grandson of George II. He reigned over the United Kingdom from 1760 until 1811. The Neoclassical-inspired styles of the Adams brothers grew in popularity near the end of his reign or the late Georgian period.

George III style: George III style furniture may or may not have been made during the George III period. It may have been made later to look of the style.

Gilt/gilded: Decorated with a thin application of gold leaf or gold paint.

Girandole: An ornamental branched candlestick or lighting device often composed of several lights.

Gout/gouty stool: In old English furniture, a stool designed for the use of persons afflicted with gout. It was fitted with mechanism for raising and lowering the foot.

Greek key: A pattern of interlocking right-angled spirals.

Ground: A solid surface or the background of a two-dimensional image.

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Gueridon: A French side table with a circular top.

Guilloche: An architectural ornamentation resembling braided or interlaced ribbons.

Hoho bird: Mythical bird originating in Asian cultures.

Hoof feet, or cloven feet: A table or chair leg ending in the form of an animal’s cleft foot.

Hurricane shade: The name for a tall cylindrical or barrel-shaped glass dome placed around a candlestick to protect the flame from drafts.

Jardinière: A French word, from the feminine form of "gardener”; A flower box, a receptacle (usually a ceramic pot or urn), or more rarely a stand upon which, or into which, plants may be placed.

Latticework parquetry: Parquetry that resembles a lattice.

Laurel leaf/laurel wreath: Intertwining branches or leaves from a Laurel plant. In Greece, Apollo wore a Laurel wreath. In ancient Greece, olive wreaths were awarded to Olympic champions and in ancient Rome, wreaths were presented to victors of war.

Lion’s mask: A carved decoration popular in the early mahogany period, 1720-40, and again in the Regency period.

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Lobe: Typically each of two or more such parts divided by a fissure, and often projecting or hanging.

Marlborough leg: A straight, square, substantial furniture leg, usually plain, but sometimes fluted; typically terminates in a block foot, though can be footless as well; some versions are slightly tapered; typical of mid-18th century English and American furniture; often featured in later Chippendale styles, especially chairs, tables, sofas and bedsteads.

Marquetry: A term used to describe the addition of pieces of veneer to furniture or flooring to create a decorative pattern, design or picture which sits on the surface of the original structure. Patterns in marquetry may be random or structured or may be real images of such things as people, animals or items. In marquetry the veneers used may be wood, but are likely to include tortoiseshell, mother of pearl, pewter, brass, bone, and ivory. This is a method of decoration more commonly used in furnishings than flooring. Marquetry is sometimes confused with parquetry.

Medallion: A circular, oval, or square decoration inlaid, carved, or painted on a surface.

Neoclassical: (circa 1755–1805) Refers to western movements in the decorative visual arts, literature, theater, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the classical art of ancient Greece and ancient Rome. European Neoclassicism in the visual arts began around 1760 in opposition to the dominant Baroque and Rococo styles. Neoclassicism was born in Rome in the mid-18th century, but its popularity spread and, in architecture, it is still an influence today. The vertical, tapered leg seen in the first image is one of the characteristics of Neoclassical furnishing. Compare the marked difference of style in this leg to the cabriole leg of the petite commodes or the curves of the pad foot of the game table.

Ogee: Having a double continuous S curve.

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Ormolu: A gold-colored alloy of copper, zinc, and sometimes tin, cast into desired shapes and often gilded, used especially in the 18th century for decorating furniture and making ornaments.

Pad foot: A flattened disk-like foot often found under a cabriole leg. Sometimes a club foot resting on a disk is termed pad foot.

Parquetry: The creation of a design (often geometric) or image that is made using blocks or strips of wood. In parquetry, wood is used throughout the design, whereas, in marquetry, the added wood is an inlay into a larger piece of wood. Another characteristic of parquetry is that only wood is used, where as in marquetry, non-wood materials are sometimes used.

Pedestal table: A table with only one leg.

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Ram’s head/mask: Seen in Neoclassical furniture designs.

Re-entrant: (of an angle) Pointing inward.

Regency: (1812–1830) The Regency in the United Kingdom was a period when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son, the Prince of Wales, ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent. On the death of his father in 1820, the Prince Regent became King George IV. The term Regency era can refer to various dates with some given a longer period than the decade of the formal Regency which lasted 1811–1820. The period 1795 to 1837 (the latter part of the reign of George III and the reigns of his sons George IV, as Prince Regent and King, and William IV) is often attributed as the Regency era. This time is characterized by distinctive trends in British architecture, literature, fashions, politics, and culture. The Regency era formally ended in 1837 when Queen Victoria succeeded William IV.

Regent: A person appointed to administer a country because the monarch is a minor or is absent or incapacitated.

Rosette: A rose-like round ornament, sometimes divided into small segments or petals.

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Rococo: (1695–1760) An 18th-century Western artistic movement and style, affecting many aspects of the arts including painting, sculpture, architecture, interior design, decoration, literature, music, and theatre. When Louis XIV died in 1715, design became looser than the strict, formal and austere Baroque era. The new Rococo style, also called “Late Baroque,” was optimistic, light, feminine and exuberant; with shell, plant, and flower motifs; symmetrical S- and C-scrolls; and tufted furniture. Rococo was replaced by Neoclassicism.

Rouleau or bangchuiping vase: Bangchuiping literally means “wooden club," named for its cylindrical body, flat shoulders, and high neck, which imitate the form of a club with a handle. French scholars termed this vase "rouleau" or “roller” which places emphasis on its tall, roll-form body.

Sabre leg: Chair legs curved to resemble a saber. Both the Greeks and Romans used sabre and animal legs on chairs.

Sabot or ferrule: A metal cap or shoe at the end of a furniture leg.

Saddle seat: A scooped-out seat which resembles the contour of a saddle. The seat is convex from the sides and back to a raised central ridge.

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Scagliola: A technique for producing stucco columns, sculptures, other architectural elements that resemble inlays in marble and semi-precious stones. The scagliola technique came into fashion in 17th-century. Scagliola is a composite substance made from selenite, glue, and natural pigments, imitating marble and other hard stones. The combination of materials and technique provides a complex texture and richness of color not available in natural veined marbles.

Scrolled: Having an ornamental design or carving resembling a scroll of parchment.

Serpentine: Snakelike; The juxtaposition of a concave and convex form to create a sinuous line. Usually the center is convex and prominent.

Settee: A long upholstered seat for more than one person, typically with a back and arms.

Spire: A tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, typically a church tower.

S-scroll: An S curved design.

Stellate: Arranged in a radiating pattern like that of a star.

Stopped flute: A flute filled for part of its length by a convex molding.

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Swan-neck cresting: A type of broken pediment with two S-shaped curves.

Torchière (variations in spelling): A tall, ornamental, flat-topped stand traditionally used as a stand for a candlestick. Today, a standing floor lamp could be called a torchière if it lights the room (as opposed to task lighting.

Turned: Wood-turning is a form of woodworking that is used to create wooden objects on a lathe, a machine that turns the wood while a stationary tool is used to cut and shape it.

Upright: A post or rod fixed vertically, especially as a structural support.

Vitruvian scroll: A classical frieze ornament, made up of a series of wavelike scrolls.