Series editors' preface - Wood Tools

28 Conservation of Furniture
possible and specialist chair or furniture-makers
could set up shop. The obvious conjunction
between raw materials and a market place
with water or steam power meant expansion as
the towns became regional centres of supply.
When the physical frontier had been reached,
another trend was noticed. The wealthy eastern
consumers were looking to the wild and
the rustic as a source of design inspiration and
purchased furniture made from cattle horns, or
established summer camps in the wilder parts
of the east. The Adirondacks were home to a
complete style of rustic furniture which to
some extent reflected the romantic vision of
the frontier and the ‘good life’.
One important American group who produced
a very particular ‘style’ of furniture were
the Shakers. A religious group, the Shakers
reached their peak in the 1840s. They lived in
communal groups in centres across the United
States. Shaker design follows simple traditions
that would have reflected the vernacular origins
of the group members. Although they
made for themselves and their own use, the
Mount Lebanon community also made furniture
for public sale. The practicality and simple
lifestyle encouraged furniture that was easily
stored and cleaned, that was functional and not
overtly decorative. Early furniture was painted,
but later the simple varnishing of plain wood
resulted in a functional and decorative surface.
The range of woods reflects their attitudes.
Hickory or oak for chair slats being easily
shaped; maple for door knobs as it is durable;
cherry for table tops as it dense and solid.
Many other slight differences such as the number
of slats, the seating method etc., can often
identify the workshops. The qualities of the
Shaker furniture are once again appreciated
both in the original models and in numerous
reproductions.
Functional types
1800–1830 The fashion for classical purity
was introduced from France by Henry Holland,
developed by Thomas Hope in his Household
Furniture and Interior Decoration of 1807, and
popularized in the trade by George Smith’s
Collection of Designs for Household Furniture
of 1808. Graeco-Roman ornament was precisely
reproduced and Grecian chairs, with
wide shoulder boards and sabre legs, became
fashionable. Two new types of table are asso-
Figure 1.19 Design for metamorphic library steps and
table from Sheraton’s Cabinet Maker’s and Upholsterer’s
Drawing Book (3rd edition), published in London in
1802
ciated with the early nineteenth century: the
centre pedestal table and the sofa table.
Smaller tables included quartetto table nests
and work tables with pouches. Small writing
tables abounded. There was also a return to
fashion of longer dining tables. Sideboards
gave way to large serving tables, and small
bookcases with wire trellis doors became a feature.
There were developments in the manufacture
of metal bedsteads and campaign
furniture and a craze for so-called patent furniture,
which was often able to be converted
from one use to another (Figure 1.19).
1840–1900 During this period two new chair
designs were introduced: the balloon-backed
dining or bedroom chair and the prie-dieu or
kneeling chair. Various other furniture types
were introduced including canterburies,