An Impressive Lineage: Traditional 18th Century Furniture Styles

The 18th century represents the birth of furniture design as a widely popular art form; a movement that leads to the influential designs of Queen Anne and Chippendale furniture. Due to the era’s growing business climate, an affluent new middle class is created and furniture craftsmen work with amazing productivity to meet the demands of popular taste. Changing attitudes (and economics) bring an end to the exaggerated fullness and scale of the 17th century (i.e. William and Mary and Louis XIV), and initiate a preference for furniture that’s lighter, easier to move and arrange into conversational groups. The 18th century is characterized by furniture designed to human, not heroic, scale with an eye-pleasing flowing line.

The Reign of Queen Anne
Named for England’s Queen Anne (1702-14) in the longstanding tradition of naming styles for an era’s reigning monarch, this pleasing style persists through the first quarter of the century. It is most noted for elements of comfort, grace and elegance, as well as curvilinear designs demonstrating sophistication and restraint.

Queen Anne furniture incorporates technical improvements — notably the corner block that improves stability without the need for stretcher bars between the legs — but just as craftsmen are perfecting their construction techniques, people begin demanding new types of furniture. The ways in which people live and entertain are changing, which means that furniture has to be designed for activities that didn’t previously exist. Small tables, for example, suddenly become popular due to the increasingly social nature of tea drinking. Cabinets are designed to accommodate people’s sudden interest in collecting china. And a type of desk called a secretary caters to the 18th century craze for letter writing.

The outstanding detail of Queen Anne furniture is the cabriole leg, and this carved, double-curved, tapering leg is dominant in 18th century design. This element, skillfully associated with other curves, such as the outline of seats and chair backs, gives this furniture style a sense of movement and energy. Another notable Queen Anne hallmark is the broken pediment top, especially on secretaries and high boys. This distinctive ornamental feature runs across the top of a piece, peaks in the center and is interrupted or “broken” by an opening, which often highlights a carved urn or flame. Carved decorations such as scallop shells and leaves are used minimally, and fine veneering (today’s looks generally use cherry) is favored.

Queen Anne pieces are moderate in size, beautifully proportioned and ornamented with charm. They reflect the growing prosperity and increasing degree of leisure and luxury that the expanding middle class enjoys, and the Queen Anne style’s dramatic simplicity is what makes it an enduring favorite and an applicable look for any decor. The style persists for a time after the monarch’s death, and in British North America the Queen Anne style remains influential for decades. But by 1725, English and European designers are returning to styles featuring elaborate carving due to the increasing popularity of mahogany: a very workable and handsome wood. Among the best “new” looks is one called Chippendale.

Chip off the Old Block
Chippendale takes its name from Thomas Chippendale, a London furniture maker, designer and author of the first pattern book devoted entirely to furniture design, The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker’s Director (1754). The majority of the Director’s 160 furniture design engravings are variations of already published work, but because Europe has never before seen such a thorough catalog of the prevailing types and styles, its influence spreads and much of the furniture of this period comes to be known as Chippendale. This is the first furniture style to be identified by the name of its creator rather than by the name of the reigning monarch at the time.

As a furniture designer, Chippendale is a master of adapting and modifying every notion of style, and his pieces carry a broad vocabulary of classical design, showing his unusual mastery of design and aesthetics. Chippendale furniture is principally mahogany and characteristics to look for include:

• A combination of solidity and grace: rectangular forms executed with pleasing lines and elaborate decoration, including decorative elements with a Chinese influence.
• Cabriole legs with ball-and-claw feet.
• Richly carved aprons and skirts.
• No stretchers or underbracing on cabriole-legged pieces, but carved stretchers connecting the legs on straight-legged pieces.
• Carved chair backs that flare outward at the top and wide upholstered seats.
• Highboys and other tall pieces that are remarkably well proportioned with broken pediments and rich carvings.
• The use of walnut and mahogany veneers, handled with great skill to exploit the grain.
• Intricately worked pierced back splats — such as graceful openwork of ribbons and scrolls — set into square-framed chair backs (in contrast to curvilinear backs of stylish Queen Anne-style chairs).
• Acanthus leaf and shell carvings.

Chippendale dies in 1779, but his style remains enduringly popular for centuries. Traditional furniture has an impressive “family tree,” including both Queen Anne and Chippendale styles to thank for beautiful, strong and graceful looks that are a pleasure to own. People who are drawn to traditional styles favor classic homes that are somewhat formal and yet wrapped in familiarity and calmness. Displayed among the rich, dark wood tones of traditional furniture are family photos and collectibles. On the table there might be an antique dictionary opened to a word needed for a crossword puzzle, snuggled into the sofa is a needlepoint pillow made by a dear friend and on the desk (or secretary) sits engraved stationery and a list of thank you notes to write. However you decorate, traditional furniture allows you to bring the influences of your past together with today’s trends. Bring your own style to these time-honored looks for a home that’s both classic and unique.