Antique Furniture Terms Explained

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More furniture terms: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

B

• Bachelor chest: A low chest of drawers with folding top, introduced in the early 18th century during the Georgian period. The top, when open, was supported on runners and served as a writing board.
  
  

• Back plate: Furniture term for a plate attached to a drawer or door on which a handle or knob is mounted.
  
  

• Bahut: A French Gothic shallow oblong box with a hinged lid, often attached to a coffre or chest. The combined piece was called a "coffre à bahut" and was used in traveling, the immediate articles needed for the trip being placed in the bahut.

• Bail handle: Or "brass loop" was the principle type of handle in the first half of the 18th century, attached to a flat-shaped back plate.

• Ball-and-Claw: A design incorporating a ball clutched by a claw, much used as a foot on cabriole leg furniture from c.1710 and reproduced into the present day.

• Ball flower: Furniture term for an English Gothic motif, having three to four lobes with a ball in the hollow center.

• Balloon-back chair: A chair with a back shaped like a hot-air balloon, swelling at the top and tapering in near the seat.
  
  

• Ballroom chair: Furniture term for a slight and easily transportable type of chair used in ballrooms.

• Ball-turning: Turning in the form of a series of balls was a common design element in the 19th century. Objects decorated with these turnings were often termed "spool-turned" and are associated with the Elizabethan Revival.

• Baluster: Furniture term for a turned vertical post or pillar, often having a vase-or column shaped outline. Also known as a banister.
  
  

• Baluster-and-cup-turning: Common pattern of turning on 18th-century chair uprights and banisters in the form of a column with cup or U-shaped element below.

• Bamboo: The bamboo form as a leg or otherwise was popular during the influence of Eastern designs in 1740-1760, and again at the turn of the eighteenth into the nineteenth century. It took the form of clustered columns in mahogany furniture, with small double collars turned to look like bamboo joints, or, later, single columns so turned. In the Regency period actual bamboo reproduction was made in other woods (or even iron). Bamboo furniture itself tends to be a Victorian manufacture, since much bamboo furniture was produced in the late nineteenth century perhaps as a feature of the heyday of Empire.

• Banding: Used around the edges of tables or drawers for decorative effect, the art and proportion of the banding is vital to the success of the design. Straight banding is one which has been cut along the grain; crossbanding describes that where the wood has been cut across the grain. Very decorative effects were obtained by using different and exotic woods for cross-banding. Herring-bone or feather bandings were used in walnut furniture.

• Banc à ciel: Furniture term for a French Gothic bench with a canopy.

• Banc à dos: Furniture term for a French Gothic bench with a back.

• Bancelle: A French Gothic long and narrow bench, essentially a smaller variety of the "banc". Generally designed with a low back and side pieces, or simply with side pieces.

• Bancone: A 15th century Italian renaissance flat-top writing table. It had an oblong top which extended well beyond the deep frieze that was fitted with two drawers.

• Banister-back chair: The chair back is composed of a series of upright turned spindles which are topped by a curving crest rail. Banister-back chairs were made in the early 18th century.
  
  

• Banjo clock: An American mahogany wall clock, invented and patented by Simon Willard in 1802.
  
  

• Banqueta: Spanish Renaissance low stool of simple construction, usually with a rectangular wood seat. Occasionally the seat was covered with leather or velvet, fastened with decorative nails. The seat rested on trestle-end supports or on turned or carved legs.

• Barley-sugar twist: A form of turning often known as spiral twist very popular in the late seventeenth century.

• Baroque: Characterized by elaborate, flamboyant decoration and expansive forms, the Baroque style was fully developed by about 1620 in Italy. It was adapted and classicized during the Louis XIV period in France, and it was an indirect influence on the William and Mary and Queen Anne styles in England and America.

• Batwing brass: Escutcheon or drawer pull popular during the Queen Anne period which resembles the outline of a flying bat.
  
  

• Bas d'Armoire: A low cupboard generally designed with two or three doors and fashionable in the 18th century. Placed between two doors or windows.

• Basin stand: Washing stand particularly popular in America during the Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Sheraton period. The principal variety was a mahogany circular tripod. It had a molded basin ring on three scrolled supports joined by a shelf containing two narrow drawers and often surmounted by a covered urn to hold the soap. When the washing stand was closed it resembled a small bedside table.
  
  

• Bauhaus: click for more

• Bead Mould: Used for two types of moulding: either a small plain moulding of semi-circular section or one in the form of a string of beads.

• Beechwood: see beech

• Bed steps: In the Sheraton style, these mahogany bed steps generally consisted three steps. The upper tread was hinged and opened to well which was often fitted with a wash basin and a soap cup. Sometimes the bed steps were designed with a drawer under the middle tread, and rested on four short tapered cylindrical legs.

• Bentwood furniture: Highly curved furniture of wood bent through the use of steam and pressure. Used by Samuel Gragg of Boston but later popularized by Michael Thonet (1796-1871) in Austria-Hungary. Made in large quantities in America.

• Bergère: An armchair, originally with upholstered sides, based on French prototypes and perfected during the Louis XV style, had a rounded back, closed arms, and a loose seat cushion. Now a furniture term used to describe a chair with cane woven sides and back, usually post-1800 in date.

• Bergè confessional: Designed with shallow wings and a higher back.

• Bergè en Gondole: Had an arched horseshoe-shaped back continuing to form the arms. The back and sides were rounded about the seat and were upholstered as one unit (gondola-shaped).

• Bellflower: Furniture term for a hanging motif, consisting of several three- or five-petaled flowers, used during the first phase of Neoclassicism. Generally inlaid, it is sometimes called the husk motif.

• Bersouère Frame of a latter type cradle used since medieval times.

• Bibliothèque: Or French bookcase, became popular since the 18th century.
  
  

• Biedermeier: Derived from the name of a political caricature appearing in a German newspaper, who typified a well-to-do middle-class man without culture. Biedermeier furniture, which was in vogue from around 1815-1825 to about 1860, was always commonplace and a potpourri of some Sheraton, Regency, Directoire and Empire features.

• Bilbao mirror: Originally shipped from Spain, and produced in America, this mirror had a rectangular upright wooden frame, that was entirely covered with various colored pieces of marble.

• Bilsted: Wood of the American sweet gum tree, and frequently used as a substitute for mahogany because of its pronounced resemblance. Much used in the Revolutionary War period when mahogany from the West Indies was not available.

• Bird cage clock: An English 17th century weight driven clock. Enclosed with a metal (brass) case, and where hung against the wall or set upon a wall bracket with the chains and weights exposed and hanging down. Also known as the "lantern" clock.

• Bird-cage support: Furniture term for the section of a tilt-top table, consisting of two blocks separated by columns located between the top and the pedestal, which allows the top of the table to tilt and pivot. Popular in the Chippendale period.
  
  

• Blackamoor: In France this candlestand was called "guéridon" since the early stand (17th century) was in the form of a young negro (name given to a young Moor brought from Africa to work as a servant). The Moor in his costume was made either of painted and gilded carved wood or of bronze, and held a candleholder in either of his hands. Sometimes he supported a small top on his head with his raised hands.

• Blind Fret: Fretwork glued or carved upon a solid surface, Used in mahogany furniture as a frieze under top mouldings and on canted corners.

• Block: Furniture term for a section of wood used for support in furniture. Rounded or triangular corner blocks support slip seats in chairs, and glue blocks are used for support in case pieces with drawers.

• Block-front: Piece visually divided into three vertical sections: The center section is concave, and the sections on each side are convex. Popular in the 18th century in America (New England).

• Block-and-spindle stretcher: Furniture term for a 18th century chair stretcher, combining baluster or other turned elements with blocks.

• Block-and-vase turning: Combination of square and vase-shaped sections. Pattern of turnings associated with the William and Mary period.

• Blocked foot: Furniture term for a rectangular terminus found on some Marlborough legs.

• Blunt-arrow foot: Furniture term for a tapered, cylindrical foot. One version was found on Philadelphia Windsor furniture.

• Blomwerk: Colorful floral marquetry seen on Dutch 17th-18th century cabinets.

• Boat bed: Empire style day bed (also called "lit bateau"). It was designed with ends of equal height which usually narrowed towards the top and rolled over. The side piece had a concave line that continued the curves from the head and the foot in an unbroken line. The lower line of the side piece was straight and close to the floor.

• Bobbin Turning: Turning of baluster in shape of bobbins, one on top of another.

• Bombé: This convex or "blown-out" shape was found on fronts and sides of cabinet furniture and was introduced around 1700.

• Bonheur du Jour: Furniture term for a very fashionable feminine bureau introduced late in the Louis XV style. It had a small oblong recessed superstructure designed with doors which were often of tambour construction and which opened to a series of small drawers and compartments. The top was usually surmounted with marble and a three-quarter pierced metal gallery. The table generally had either a hinged writing lid or a pull-out writing board and stood on four slender legs.

• Bonneti&egravere: A tall and narrow cupboard generally designed with a long panelled door. It was introduced in the Louis XIV style.

• Borne: French for the upholstered Victorian Ottoman seat. A round or oval seat with a cone-shaped or cylindrical-shaped back rest, the top of which very often served for the reception of a vase of flowers, a palm, or marble sculpture.

• Bouillotte table: A French Louis XVI circular marble top card table made of veneered mahogany. It had a pierced metal gallery over a panelled frieze which was fitted with two small drawers and two pull-out slides. It was mounted on four cylindrical and tapered legs that terminated in sabots.
  
  

• Boulle Work: Furniture term for a form of French Louis XIV marquetry. see: André Charles Boulle.

• Book inlay: Another name for fluted frieze. So called because it resembles the side view of a stack of books. Most often seen on New York and Newport furniture of the first period of Classicism.

• Boss: Furniture term for an applied three-dimensional ornament, usually round or oval, seen on 17th-century-style furniture such as court cupboards and Wethersfield chests.

• Boston chair: Leather upholstered chair made during the early 18th century. So called because the type was exported from Boston to other American cities in large numbers.

• Boston rocking armchair: Painted rocking chair with wide crest rail, splat, or spindles in back, and S-shaped rolled seat. First introduced during the early 19th century.

• Bow-front: In case furniture, a front which swells horizontally like a bow.

• Bow knot: Furniture term for a motif of a ribbon tied in a bow, found inlaid on furniture made during the first phase of Classicism, namely the Federal period.

• Box-form chair: Typical English Gothic chair made of oak and had a rectilinear box-form, with a high panelled back, sides and arms. The portion below the seat formed a box, with the seat being hinged to give access to the box.

• Bracket clock: An English table clock (around 1680). It had a square-fronted squat case with a domed top either of wood or pierced metal. The domed top was fitted with a small metal handle so it could be carried. The case was usually of ebony or walnut and decorated with elaborately pierced mounts of brass and mounted on small feet.

• Bracket leg: Or console leg has a scrolled-shaped profile, and was typical for the Louis XIV style.

• Bracket Furniture term for a curved element which physically and visually connects the leg with the seat rail or bottom rail of an object.

• Bracket foot: Simple foot, shaped like a bracket with a mitered corner, used on chests, bureaux and cabinets since c.1690. The outside bracket shape does not in fact support the weight of the piece which is taken on a wood block under the corner of the carcase on to which the shaped outside bracket fits. It can be plain, scrolled, or molded. Also called French foot.

• Brass Inlay: Brass inlay and stringing became popular in the late Georgian and Regency period 1800-1840. Used with mahogany and rosewood as decoration and usually a mark of quality.

• Brass mounts: Introduced after the Restauration style and was replacing the earlier wrought iron mounts.

• Break-front secretary bookcase: Furniture term for a popular mahogany Chippendale secretary / bookcase. The central portion was frequently surmounted with either a broken or scrolled pediment centering a low plinth. The molded cornice and frieze were over four glazed doors which enclosed adjustable shelves. The underbody contained an arrangement of four cupboard doors surmounted by two lateral drawers and fall-front writing table. The drawers were fitted with brass bail handles.

• Brettstuhl: Furniture term meaning "board chair", that is, a traditional plank chair. Type of chair by some German immigrant groups during the 18th and 19th centuries.

• Brewster chair: Heavy and massive early American chair (around 1660). Belonged to William Brewster, 1560-1644, of the Plymouth Colony and it is said he brought the chair with him on the Mayflower. It had an open back with two rows of spindles in each row. Each open arm is also filled in with a row of four spindles. On one side beneath the seat are two rows of four spindles each extending to the floor. On the other sides are just single upper rows of four spindles each.

• Broken-arch pediment: Furniture term for a triangular or curved pediment in which the two ascending sides do not meet at the top, thus leaving a gap. The curved pediment takes the form of either a broken arch or a scroll. Most often seen on Queen Anne, Chippendale, and Federal-style furniture.

• Broken cabriole leg: Furniture term introduced around 1710. This form of cabriole leg had a break in the curve beneath the knee of the cabriole leg and the lower part was straight and flared out just above the foot. Frequently the broken cabriole leg was collard at the cleft, and designed with a claw-and-ball foot as an alternative to the club foot.

• Buffet Bas: A French Provincial panelled sideboard cupboard introduced late in the Louis XIV style. It had an oblong top over a frieze with two drawers whish were directly above the two panelled cupboard doors. It usually rested on a valanced and molded base curving into the short cabriole legs. The length of this buffet varied greatly, but was often finely carved with either Louis XV or Louis XVI motifs.

• Buffet à Deux Corps: This tall or "double-bodied" buffet was introduced in the Louis XIV period. It had a molded cornice over two panelled doors. The lower section, which usually projected slightly, was often fitted with two panelled cupboard doors, directly above where occasionally two drawers. As a rule the upper section was distinctly longer then the lower section. The costly examples were enriched with handsome carved detail. Popular in Normandy, Provence and Paris.

• Buffet à Glissant: Other name for Buffet-Crédance, referring to the sliding feature of its end panels.

• Buffet-Crédance: This French Provincial walnut buffet was made in two sections. The narrow and low panelled upper section was deeply recessed and was fitted with two sliding end panels, rather the doors, that flanked a center fixed panel. The projecting lower section was fitted with two shaped panelled cupboard doors. It was mounted on a valanced base curving into short cabriole legs. Sometimes the lower section had a row of drawers above the doors. As a rule it was finely carved and fitted with fret-pierced steel escutcheons and large buttress hinges.

• Buffet Vaisselier: A French Provincial dressoir consisted of a lower section fitted with two or three cupboard doors, two small drawers and rested on short cabriole legs. The upper section had a deeply recessed structure fitted with several rows of narrow open shelves. The shelves always had a back of solid wood, and each shelve was edged with either a small turned balustrade or a beading to secure the plates.

• Bulb: The bulging or bulbous turned part of supports or legs of early furniture of the oak period, i.e. before c.1650. Also seen in later seventeenth century walnut turning.

• Bulb foot: Furniture term for a slightly swollen foot which tapers at end. Commonly used on Neoclassical furniture.

• Bulbous support: A pronounced feature of Elizabethan furniture. This support was designed to represent a tall silver cup and cover, and was richly carved and gadrooned.

• Bun foot: Furniture term for a turned foot shaped like a flattened ball. Favored foot for such furniture as the kast and the schrank and often used on 17th-century and William and Mary-style case pieces. The spigot by which the bun foot was attached to the piece was often turned with a coarse worm thread which matched that of the socket (under the corner of the piece) into which it fitted.
  
  

• Bureau à Caisson Latéraux: A Louis XVI writing table with lateral compartments. It had an oblong top inset with a leather panel and rimmed with bronze doré, fitted with pull-out slides at each end also inset with leather panels. The front was designed with five to seven narrow drawers of equal depth. The long front center drawer was flanked by two or three rows of small lateral drawers. This arrangement provided ample space for the knees of the writer. The bureau stood on four tapered legs of either cylindrical or quadrangular form.

• Bureau à Cylindre: A Louis XVI style roll top desk generally veneered in mahogany. The surface was often delicately inlaid with marquetry combined with bronze mounts. Very often the surface was divided into rectangular panels. The narrow oblong top of the bureau was surmounted with a plateau of three small drawers, above which was a marble top and a three-quarter pierced metal gallery. The part beneath the solid roll top was fitted with five narrow drawers of equal depth. It was arranged with a long center drawer which was flanked by two rows of small lateral drawers. The bureau stood on four straight and tapering legs.

• Bureau à dos d'âne: A variant of the Bureau à pente and was also called "donkey's back" because the contour of the slanting front and back resembled to the device placed on a donkey's back for carrying articles. Occasionally at the back of these desks was a rising screen made of silk or India paper which served to protect the writer from any glaring light.

• Bureau à pente: A Louis XV bureau designed for feminine use. Distinctive for their beautiful marquetry or lacquer work combined with exquisitely chased bronze mounts. It had a narrow oblong top and hinged slant lid which opened to a fitted writing interior. The valanced frieze was fitted with a row of drawers and was mounted on four cabriole legs.

• Bureau dressing table: A Chippendale kneehole writing table either in walnut or mahogany. The top drawer was fitted with a hinged mirror and was divided into compartments for toilet articles, the top drawer was also provided with a writing board. Occasionally the hinged mirror was reversible and served the dual purpose of a book rest.

• Bureau du Roi: A celebrated cylinder desk, see "Bureau à Cylindre". Famous because the first example took nine years to complete, and is considered to be the greatest achievement in cabinet work of all time.

• Bureau Plat: A large writing table with a flat top, fashionable in the Louis XV furniture and used in the library. It was veneered in mahogany and enriched with gilded bronze mounts. The top of the table was covered with leather and edged with gilded bronze molding. This desk was often equipped with a "serre papiers" or paper holder which was placed at one end of the writing surface. This paper holder was either designed as a part of the table or made detachable, and had several lateral tiers of small shelves and pigeonholes which were sometimes fitted with small doors.

• Bureau Semainier: Similar to the bureau plat, but had a drawer for every day of the week and was in general use in the reign of Louis XIV. The kneehole form of writing table was designed with eight legs.

• Bureau-table: Chest of drawers with recessed area in the center with a locked storage area at the back. Made during the Chippendale period in America. Often referred to as a kneehole desk.

• Burgomaster chair: A characteristic chair first made of walnut in Holland about 1700, and was designed with a circular frame. It had a semi-circular arched back, usually with three oval panels, enriched with carved and pierced motifs, reflecting oriental influences. In general it had a caned compass seat, and the seat rails were sometimes carved, revolved on a central pivot. The six cabriole legs were connected with turned cross stretchers, resembling the pokes of a wheel.

• Burgundy: A French province, known for it's Burgundian Renaissance furniture. Characterized by its massive construction and a pronounced use of architectural detail in it's principal design. The carved motifs were vigorously and boldly executed in high relief as where the moldings, that were prominent and also richly carved.

• Burled wood: Tumorlike growth on a tree which, when sliced, provides a highly figured veneer. Use introduced during the William and Mary period. Burled walnut was the most common type.

• Butler's sideboard: Furniture term given to a variety of Sheraton style sideboards (also called Salem secretary) , and was surmounted with a recessed china cabinet, fitted with glazed doors. The center drawer in the projecting lower portion was designed with a fall-front writing flap, which opened to reveal a fitted writing interior. This writing compartment was used by the butler for his household accounts.

• Butterfly table: Small drop-leaf table with deep leaves supported by butterfly-shaped brackets. The legs and stretchers are generally turned.

• Button feet: Modern furniture term for small, flattened ball feet.

• Buttress-top table: See Turret-top table.

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