[Lace, Needlepoint, Point d’Argentan, French, XVIII Century Lace, Needlepoint, Point d’Alencon, French, XVIII Century Lace, Needlepoint, Rosepoint, Venetian, Early XVIII Century Bobbin Lace, Point d’Angleterre, Flemish, XVIII Century]
Lace, Needlepoint, Point d’Argentan, French, XVIII Century Lace, Needlepoint, Point d’Alencon, French, XVIII Century Lace, Needlepoint, Rosepoint, Venetian, Early XVIII Century Bobbin Lace, Point d’Angleterre, Flemish, XVIII Century
[Chair, Pearwood Venetian. Early XVIII Century]
Chair, Pearwood Venetian. Early XVIII Century
The hectic magnificence of life in XVIII century Venice finds its reflection, naturally enough, in the decorative arts of the time. Furniture less ornate than the lavishly carved chair illustrated on this page would have seemed out of place in the great gilded salons where human peacocks strutted in the bravery of brocade and rustling silk. As a general rule, Italian furniture of the Rococo Age is easily recognized by its prodigal indulgence in the spices, so to speak, of furniture designing. Rarely is a piece of Italian furniture of the elaborate character of this pearwood chair so successful in combining an almost excessive richness of carving with a fine feeling for proportions and harmonious ensemble. Indeed, it is not impossible that the chair is the work of a cabinet maker who may have come from France to Venice in the suite of some great nobleman.
Of the master craftsmen of England in the XVIII century none has achieved greater renown than Thomas Chippendale (1709-1779). Through the publication of his book of furniture designs in 1754 (later editions in 1759 and 1762) as well as by the example of his own cabinet work, he exerted a widespread influence. His various styles were imitated not only in England, but also in the American colonies. Consequently, not every “Chippendale” piece is from the master’s hands; on the contrary, well authenticated furniture by Chippendale himself, or by his own workmen, are great rarities. It is customary, however, to designate as “Chippendale” the work of his contemporaries and imitators who copied the styles which the master had popularized.
[Tripod Table, Mahogany, English, about 1760-1765]