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European Home Decorating Style Guide
English and Italian home decorating style guides
provide you with approximate dates and major motifs, furniture developments and
common materials used by period. At the bottom is a dictionary for foreign
terms.
English Historic Styles and Periods
| Period |
Dates |
Characteristics |
Furniture |
Materials/Color |
| Gothic |
1189-1377 |
Pointed-arch shapes progressing from
plain to more ornamental. Designs from nature, religious themes,
geometric Romanesque and Celtic sources |
Dresser (base topped with shelves),
buffet to display silver, plates. Guilds established guidelines and
access to skills. |
Oak, wrought iron, leather, brightly
painted furniture |
| Renaissance |
Tudor (Henry VIII) 1500-11588
Elizabethan 1558-1603 |
Tudor motifs include lions, monstrous
animals, winged dragons, Ionic columns with female heads, religious
figures, linenfold replaced by shell. |
chests, tables, beds (canopy or tester
with fabric), sideboard, cupboard, high tables covered with fabric for
display, refectory table, armchairs |
oak, inlaid boxwood, stone marquetry |
| Renaissance |
Jacobean 1603-1649
Cromwellian 1649-1660 |
pearls, vases, balusters, St. Andrew's
cross, star, cornucopia |
Drawers added to cupboards and
sideboards, armchairs, gate-leg table (table expands with drop leafs and
hinged legs) |
Turkeywork (woven embroidered
upholstery with flora motif), leather upholstered seats, damask and
brocade for beds, oak, carved wood, inlaid bone, mother-of-pearl,
tortoiseshell |
| Baroque |
Stuart 1660-1689
William & Mary 1689-1702
|
bun foot, scroll arm, |
chests and cabinets decorated with
scrolls and Chinese lacquered panels, round pedestal table, |
Petit-point, trimming to cover studs,
walnut, veneers using precious woods, olive wood, inlays, wood burls,
Chinese lacquers, Chinese style, leather, caning |
| Baroque |
Queen Anne 1702-1714 |
claw-and-ball feet, scroll arms,
bonnet top, shell, bat-type drawer pull, ogee bracket foot, classical
moldings on wall panels |
tallboy, card tables, kneehole desk,
tilt-top table, chairs with lower seat backs, stools, secretary, scriban,
lowboy, splat back chair, |
walnut, burl, Japanned panels gilt on
black, bronze, mirrors, glass, petit-point embroidery, leather |
| Rococo |
Georgian 1714-1750
Chippendale 1718-1779 |
claw-and-ball feet, seat backs with
arabesques, Chinese inspired, pagoda |
dressing table, wing chair covered in
fabric, settee, semicircular console, bookcases, dining table with leaf
extensions with tripod supports on copper rollers, side table, sofa
table, yoke back chair |
West Indian mahogany, lemonwood,
beech, maple, satinwood |
| 18th Century |
Robert & James Adam 1730-1794
Hepplewhite 1765-1786
Sheraton 1751-1806 |
|
furniture is delicate scale |
Walls painted in gray and blue with
white classic low-relief, satinwood, plaster ceilings painted white |
| 19th Century |
Regency 1810-1820
Greek Revival 1820-1830 |
dolphins, rope & cable, anchors,
acanthus leaves, Greek palmettes, dragons, serpents, birds, Chinese
parasols, imitation bamboo |
tables: dining, sofa, drum, breakfast,
quartet |
inlays of copper and tortoiseshell,
ebonized wood, gilt wood, |
| |
Victorian 1830-1900
Early: 1830-1860
Mid: 1860-1880
Late: 1880-1900 |
Liberty & Company designs |
upholstered armchairs with fringe,
deep-buttoned leather chairs, sofas and settees, tables, game tables,
nesting tables |
mahogany, walnut, walnut burl, beech,
ebony, laurel, linden, teak for marine, papier mâché, bamboo and rattan
for garden, industrial gilt, chased bronze, copper for table corners,
Chinese lacquers, japanning, marble inlays, leather, turkeywork,
upholstery of Persian carpets, quilted or printed velvet, printed silk
and damask, tassels, fringe |
Italian Historic Styles and Periods
| Period |
Dates |
Characteristics |
Furniture |
Materials/Color |
| Gothic |
1226-1400 |
Pointed-arch shapes progressing from
plain to more ornamental. Designs from nature, religious themes,
geometric Romanesque and Celtic sources |
Dresser (base topped with shelves),
buffet to display silver, plates. Guilds established guidelines and
access to skills. |
Oak, wrought iron, leather, brightly
painted furniture |
| Renaissance |
1407-1540 |
Styles based on Antiquity, development
of perspective, Marquetry and pietre dure, figures include putti,
lion heads, scrolls, caryatids |
Table
À L'Italienne (tabletop supported by
heavy carved supports usually scrolls or animal heads); Savonarola Chair
(first wooden curved X-frame chair with back cross piece); walnut chest
(used for benches and tables as well as storage); benches |
Walnut, ebony veneer, rosewood, pine,
ivory veneer, pewter, inlays of gold, ivory, mother-of-pearl, and
tortoise-shell, pietre dure and painted stone inlay, tinted wood
marquetry |
| Baroque |
1600-1670 |
Opulence with scroll shapes and
gilding. Architectural forms, putti, lion heads, chimera, eagle heads,
grotesques, slave busts, dragons |
pedestal tables with slave figure
support, tables with elaborate decoration, stipo, |
ebony, ivory veneer, tin wires,
tortoiseshell, gilt bronze, pietre dure, tromp-l'oeil,
|
| Rococo |
1700-1748
Venetian |
scrolls, acanthus leaves, lyre,
gadroons |
chests with pronounced curve facade,
studiola, desk, chairs with straight carved backs, sculpted gilt
wood or silvered wood consoles |
walnut, veneers, gilt and silvered
wood, scagliola, mother-of-pearl, shell, marble and wood tromp-l'oeil |
| 18th Century |
Neoclassicism 1748-1796 |
oval or medallion marquetry, Roman
urns, palmettes, wreathes, scallops, rosettes, garlands, beads, ribbons |
settees and sofas become more
comfortable, chests, consoles |
walnut, walnut burl, wood painted
cream, gray or sea green, gilt wood, caned seats, marble, gilt bronze |
| 19th Century |
1796-1830 |
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Design Dictionary
-
Burl: abnormal cell growth resulting from
tree damage. Very fragile, after harvesting, burl wood is dried at constant
temperature and humidity for 3 to 5 years before it can be shaped by skilled
artisans.
-
Cornucopia: Greek symbol of abundance
-
Intarsia: inlay
developed in Italy. Designs are carved out of the wood panel which are then
filled with strips of a different wood.
-
Marquetry: decorative veneer of wood, stone,
ivory, bone. Small shapes are arranged to form a pattern or scene. Developed
in Germany.
-
pietre dure:
hard stone inlay invented in Italy. Uffizi de Piertre Dure, a studio of
stoneworkers, was founded in 1588 to make "stone paintings."
-
Quartet tables: nesting tables designed
during the Regency period in Britain.
-
Scagliola:
material imitating marble made from lime, gypsum, powdered marble and sand
bound with water, glue and colors
-
Scriban: desk-bookcase
-
Sgraffito:
scraping off a paint layer to reveal a gold undercoat used on wood
furniture.
-
Stipo: cabinet
with many drawers in the top section supported by Atlas figures or
caryatids, the top decorated by architectural elements.
-
Studiola:
secretary
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