Antique Furniture Terms Explained
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- Pad foot: A softly rounded foot which rests on a small disc, or platform. A popular terminal for the cabriole or straighter turned leg.
- Paintbrush foot: See Spanish foot.
- Palina: The deep surface shine or gloss produced by years of undislurbed polishing and rubbing.
- Palmette: Decorative motif in the shape of a fan, or palm leaf. Commonly found on Neo-Grec-style furniture.
- Parquetry: A geometric pattern of veneers, often oyste usually involving stringing and inlays. Contemporary marquetry.
- Patera: Round or oval motif, carved or painted on wood, often with segments radiating from the center. Popular ornament in the Federal style.
- Paw Foot: A foot design used on cabriole legs in the mid-eighteenth century.
- Pediment: In furniture, the section found on the tops of desk-bookcases and high chests corresponding to the triangular architectural projection above the portico of a classical building. See also Broken pediment; Latticework pediment.
- Pembroke table: Variant of the drop-leaf table, having two hinged rectangular leaves, four legs, and a single drawer. Popular Federal-period form. Also called a breakfast table.
- Piecrust top: A circular tabletop having scalloped edges that resembles the pressed crust of a pie. Found on tea tables and candlestands in the later eighteenth century.
- Piercing: Carved openwork, sometimes cut with a fretsaw.
- Pier table: Type of table originally designed to stand against a wall between two windows. Commonly associated with the Empire period.
- Pilaster: A flat, rectangular column which is used for ornamental rather than functional purposes. For instance, pilasters decorate the corners of some Chippendale-style high chests, chest-on-chests, and desks and bookcases.
- Pillar and scroll: Common name for the Late Classical period. Refers to the simple design elements employed to create such furniture.
- Pinwheel pattern: Radiating decorative motif in the form of a pinwheel.
- Plank chair: Simple form of a chair with boards forming the back and seat. The legs are composed of sticks stuck into the seat. In America, Germanic-inspired form.
- Plinth: The square base of a column; also used to describe the flat base support of a piece of furniture.
- Pointed arch: A decorative motif in the shape of a peaked arch. See Lancet arch.
- Press cupboard: A storage cupboard with shelves, commonly used to hold clothes, linen, and other articles. Similar to a court cupboard except that the press cupboard has an enclosed, rather than open, bottom.
- Prie dieu: A prayer chair, usually having a high back and a very low seat, for sitting or kneeling upon. The back often has an upholstered shelf at the top, used for an armrest or book stand.
- Prince of Wales feathers: A carved ornamental motif resembling three ostrich feathers, the symbol of the Prince of Wales.
