Antique Furniture Terms Explained
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- Ogee: An ornamental molding shaped like the letter S. Another name for cyma curve.
- Ormolu mount: Bronze decorative furniture mounts which are covered in fire gilt. Particularly popular during the Empire period.
- Ovolo: Rounded element or outline which breaks the square corner of a case piece or table. Seen on some Neoclassical furniture. Also used around drawer edges to lip over carcase fronts in walnut and early mahogany furniture up to c.1745.
- Oxbow front: Another term for reverse serpentine front.
- Oyster veneer: Oystershell veneering, or parquetry work, was produced by cutting the small branches of walnut, laburnum olive and other woods across the branch to give a conocentric ringed effect and laying these veneers in a decorative pattern. The form was introduced from Holland in the late seventeenth century.
