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

Lacquer: Lacquer furniture was popular from an early date, being originally imported during the sixteenth century but becoming more popular during the seventeenth. By the late seventeenth century it was being produced in England, but the vogue seemed to die down to lesser proportions in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. Nevertheless lacquering continued to be used as decoration into the nineteenth century.

Lamb's-tongue carving: A softly-pointed tonguelike pendant which "hangs" from the front corners of some Chippendale-style case pieces.

Latticework pediment: In furniture, a decorative feature found on the tops of case pieces shaped in an openwork fret, or geometrical pattern of intersecting lines.

Library table: Relatively large, rectangular-topped table, sometimes with a wide stretcher base. Used for the reading and storage of books. Often has short leaves at the ends of the table rather than at the sides. Also called a sofa table.

Linenfold pattern: Carved ornament designed to resemble folded linen. It is found in medieval paneling and cupboards.

Lion Mask: A decoration of carved form popular in the early mahogany period, 1720-40, and again in the Regency period.

Lolling chair: Upholstered armchair with exposed wooded arms, tall back, and low, deep seat. Name comes from the word loll, meaning "to recline in an indolent manner". Martha Washington chair a later term.

Loper: The rectangular section length of wood under a bureau fall which pulls out to support the fall when open. Many a fall has been smashed off its hinges by people forgetting to pull out the lopers before opening the fall.

Lotus: One of the ancient Egyptian decorative motifs, repopularized in part by Napoleons Egyptian campaigns, and used to ornament furniture, silver, and ceramics.

Louis XVI style: Design style popular in France from the mid-1750s to the mid-1780s, approximately, and thus not strictly reflective of the reign of Louis XVI, which began in 1774. The style is simpler and plainer than the Louis XV Rococo style which preceded it. Straight, geometrical lines replaced the curved, elaborate Rococo forms, and Classical ornamentation was adopted at this time. Furniture in this style was also made in America in the 18th and 19th centuries, in the latter century as a Revival style.

Lowboy: A furniture term, probably of American origin, now used to describe a dressing table or side table usually on cabriole legs.

Lyre: Stringed instrument used during ancient times. A favored motif on Classical-style furniture.