Driscolls Antiques – Antique Furniture Blog

We have been approached by the THE HOME SHOW, a Channel 4 interior design program by Tiger aspect productions and have been asked if they can show one of our georgian desks on there show. above are the pictures that are being shown on the show and it is a Georgian antique mahogany desk. It has twin pedestals, has a solid mahogany rectangular moulded top above a central oak lined cock beaded drawer and large kneehole. They have the beautiful original handles. We are also sending pictures of other desks that may be shown on the program.

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Antique furniture Woods and patina.

Timber from coniferous trees is known as softwood, like pine while woods taken from deciduous trees is called hardwood like mahogany or oak. Antique furniture can be made from more common woods but many exotic timbers have been used over the centuries as well. The main timber of use over the years was mahogany or oak and pine was popular in construction. Some of the most popular woods for veneering and inlay were mahogany, oak or for finer verneering amboyna, a light brown East Indian wood with a speckled grain, kingwood, a purplish South American wood and satinwood, grown in both the West and East Indies.

Ash and oak was often used for country furniture and pine until the early 1900s was used for making frames or carcasses of furniture.

The term patina describes the layers of polish, dirt and grease that build up naturally on furniture over the years, particularly in carved decoration and crevices, and give it a rich look. Patina cannot be reproduced.

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Here are a few pictures of the outside and inside of our antique furniture warehouse. We have 6500 sq feet of quality antique furniture.

each isle is set up so you can browse around and view all our furniture at you pleasure.

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Nineteenth Century styles of antique furniture

In England Regency antique furniture styles remained largely neo classical, but chinoiserie, French and Gothic influences can also be seen. Napoleon’s ascendency meant that across Europe the Empire style was copies, and American furniture of the Federal period incorporated both French Epire and English Regency motifs. In the 1840s the Biedermeier style of antique furniture was popular in Austria, Germany and in France and a more simple Empire style was created, using light coloured woods. One of the main features of the 1800s furniture was the revival of older styles, such as Rococo, Greek and Gothic. Furniture began to be constructed from the help of machinery but this led to some designers and craftsmen toward more traditional methods of construction like the Arts and Crafts furniture movement, which emerged in Britain and America in the late 1800s. The Aesthetic movement in furniture was influenced by Japanese design and Art Nouveau, which was fashionable from the 1880s to 1914, looked to the past for inspiration or produced forward looking styles such as those of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and were usually seen with fine inlays.

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we have a very rare pair of edwardian bookcases for sale – see our website for details.

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Neo Classical style in antique furniture

In the late 1750s (mid Georgian period) the antique furniture styles returned to those of Greece and Rome, with geometrical forms replacing bombe shapes and with strictly classical ornamentation such as urns and rams heads. In England Robert Adams neo classical designs covered many aspects of interiors and furniture. Chippendale made furniture in this style, while in the late eighteenth century, Hepplewhite and Sheraton introduced a more lighter style of antique furniture.

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Baroque style in antique furniture

The antique furniture heavy baroque style originated in Italy and by the 1620s was spreading throughout Europe. Baroque antique furniture had an architectural feel, large wall mirrors had elaborate carved and scrolled frames and below them would be matching console tables sometimes with carved cherubs, mythical figures or birds.

Cabinets were usually decorated with mosaics, painted panels or lacquer and stood on highly ornate carved stands, the antique cabinet on stand was used to display the most valued prised possessions.

The French Baroque styles began to influence other European countries and French designs affected the style of english antique furniture which used the Baroque style in some of there designs.

Rococo style in antique furniture

The Rococo style in antique furniture followed the Baroque style, like the Rococo in Chippendale’s asymmetrical carvings.

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Renaissance style in Antique Furniture

The Renaissance style of antique furniture originated from Italy in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and most furniture was elaborately carved, often with architectural features and ornament which incorporated mythological creatures, cherubs, scrolls and the acanthus scroll.

These designs were copied by France and Spain. They copied the Renaissance style but added there own details and designs into the furniture. One Spanish piece of antique furniture to evolve was the antique chest on stand and this design of furniture was used for centuries after. Marble topped tables were very popular in England, but otherwise there was not a lot of Renaissance style furniture made, although some decorative motifs appeared in carving in the late Victorian periods.

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Medieval Style in Antique furniture

The Medieval court and nobles portable antique furniture as they moved around quite often. But some cupboards were built in, and seating was sometimes incorporated into the panelling of a room. Most large antique tables were of trestle form, which could be dismantled and stored or transported. There were not many antique chairs of the period, but the seating were mainly plank constructed benches or larger arm chairs.

Buffets with stepped shelves were used to display silver in great houses, while food and drink were served from simpler pieces. Chests for storage were important items. Flat topped chests (antique coffers) with raised feet usually formed part of the permanent furnishings and were also used to sit on but also were very good storage and easily transported. Richly decorated cupboards or armoires were also used for storage and Beds were status symbols, and were often had canopies with rich materials hung. The furniture was mainly made from oak and were of pegged construction.

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The History Of Antique Furniture

Over the course of many centuries antique furniture has evolved as not only very usable furniture but also a decorative art form. Its development shows how it was affected by social history, as changes in domestic living patterns have led to the demand for new types of antique furniture, for example the antique bureau in the 1700s onwards was extremely popular as it was the golden age of letter writing. The style and decoration of pieces of antique furniture reflected the age in which furniture was made, and furniture was mainly copied or adapted from the great designers such as George Hepplewhite.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the massive growth of the middle class, as a result of economic prosperity, led to a demand for fashionable quality antique furniture of the day. This meant that large quantities of furniture were produced, and lots of these pieces survived throughout the centuries so you can see good examples today.

English antique furniture designs, were very popular in many other European countries such as France, whose styles strongly influenced furniture design throughout Europe in the eighteenth century, they followed the English taste during the time of Louis XVI (1774-93).

The English influence spread also throughout the British colonies, like America where cabinet makers used English designs throughout the eighteenth century, but they also looked at French designs for inspiration during the Federal period, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Antique furniture is as popular today as it was when it was first made, and it is popular with collectors and non collectors because it is functional and because the pieces are built using quality timbers and also they hold value (unlike new furniture) and hopefully they will go up in value over time.

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