Antique Bed

SOFAS, SETTEES, COUCHES, DAY-BEDS, CHAISES LONGUES AND SETTLES
17thC oak box settle.
Day-beds, jacobia sideboard couches and chaises longues were designed for lounging; sofas, george iv pedestal tray tables settees and settles for sitting. A sofa was fully upholstered, antique tables turned legs a settee padded only on the seat, geo. smith ii & thomas. hayter silver skewer and a settle all wood with loose cushions. Today the term couch also describes a sofa, imperial semi porcelain myott son co but originally meant a day-bed which, brass bed 1875 like its successor the chaise longue, art deco cupboard sideboard designs had one end higher than the other. In the 19thC sofas and chaises longues were often sold en suite with a pair of easy chairs and six side chairs.
Settles were made from about 1500, wootton collector’s desk furniture but surviving examples are mostly post-1600. Still produced by country makers in the 18th and even 19thC for farmhouses, library tables antique furniture inns; otherwise unfashionable.
Like an elongated wainscot chair (p. 5I) but usually (though not always) without the elaborate cresting and ear pieces. Panelled back, antique palais royal ewers’ often very high to exclude draughts. 18thC panelling often fielded. Considerable
regional variation in carving and turning of uprights. Holes or grooves for cords to support a mattress sometimes present in seat rails (see BEDS p. 23) but very often a solid wooden seat has been added above at a later date.
An alternative form has the base formed as a chest, wooden table with 6 sections, become side tables its hinged top providing the seat; occasionally there was a pair of deep drawers instead. Some had a projecting cupboard above, verde antico marble fluted pedestal in which hams were hung, 1920 art deco lamps paris france hence
the name ‘bacon settle’.
From about 1750 ‘hall settles’ were designed en suite with hall chairs but originally were a cross between a settle and a settee, antique breguet repeater watches with a panelled back, 18th century english furniture secret drawers but more sophisticated legs and stretchers.
Interest in settles was revived in the late 19thC by some arts and crafts designers. These could be pastiches of early models often with carved mottoes running around the top or in progressive style, dresser blog perhaps better described as high-sided armchairs than settles.
Settees, meissen porcelain asia four continents about 1710-1800: Double, antique bread table roll top drawer triple, antique towel stands or even quadruple, chair set rocking chair antique scroll work mahogany versions of standard wooden armchairs of the day (including Windsors), double-sided desk four drawers with outer arms only, louis majorelle and extra leg(s) in between. (For details see under relevant
chair headings.)
William & Mary double wing settee, duncan phyfe plain grecian about 1690.
Sofas, airship furniture and tables 1930’s made from about 1690 onwards: Pre-1750 examples, rene lalique porcelain lamps with nude women mostly in the form of a double wing chair (see p. 69), georgian rummer ovoid stars are rare. The following styles developed:
Chippendale: Straight, edwardian fall front bureau square legs (sometimes typically moulded or carved) with stretchers of modified H arrangement; tall, staffordshire fake or real? outward-scrolling arms and undulating backs with highest point in centre. Deep seats with loose seat cushions above the upholstery.
Hepplewhite: Turned tapering legs, tekke rug no stretchers and a carved show-wood seat rail (and often back frame too). May have additional padded rests above arms.
Regency: Double scroll ends, thin antique sideboard undulating back, ladies antique davenport desk straight and deep front seat rail and usually Grecian (sideward-facing sabre) legs. Some were boat shaped with inward- rather than outward-scrolling arms. Late Regency types often have a more pronounced scroll on arms, reproduction upholstered on three sides gustavian sofa back dipped in centre supporting bold
A, regency dining table with metal claw legs settle in art nouveau style, j. p. wileman porcelain about 1900; B, antique rectangular wall mirror inlaid wood with carved crown mahogany double-back settee, art deco table numbers about 1745-1750; C gilded settee in the style of Robert Adam, pinched hoop back windsor chair about 1770-1780; D, etched glass candleabra Victorian mahogany ottoman, semicircular table antique about 1870-1880; E, antique dresser, posts on front corners
Chippendale Mahogany sofa, thonet chair paint about 1760; F early-Victorian mahogany sofa, oak bed metal mattress support french about 1840; G, antique english creamware figures Victorian walnut sofa, pembroke tables 1800 about 1850-1860; H, timms and webb Victorian mahogany sofa, antique chairs vienna carving of anthemion or other classical motif, antique jacobean armchair and heavy turned legs.
Victorian: Typical rococo designs (see
CHAIRS, antique carved hardwood bedside commode stand UPHOLSTERED.
Short cabriole legs, victorian/edwardian inlaid mahogany breakfront kneehole desk naturalistic carving on show-wood frames, antique dining tables 1850-1880 deep-buttoned upholstery on back and arms. Some rather awkward, antique silver spoons and forks with spoon-back ends joined in centre by pierced carving. Open or closed arms. Later
designs squared-up with turned legs. Some with padded arms, italian renaissance writing cabinet and sometimes backs too, antique china yellow rim supported on pierced splats or rows of turned spindles.
Walnut, victorian bronze and brass tea caddy mahogany, par omerth dans la jungle clock satinwood; rosewood (with brass for inlay) during Regency. Oak (or elm, buckle vodka yew and other local woods) for settles; beech (or birch in the 19thC) when japanned, round breakfast tables painted, ebony amateur gilded or stained, empire round bail pulls and for
under-frames.
Standard methods employed, 18th english silver snuff see CHAIRS, ancient coffers and cupboards roe P. 70.
Regency ‘Grecian’ legs can show tell-tale
ENGLISH VARIATIONS ON THE SOFA THEME
Love seats, silver tureen 1880 to 1930 about 1720 onwards: Like an extra wide chair and probably designed originally for ladies wearing exceptionally wide skirts. Not very common.
Duchesse sofas, pot cupboard with lattice front about 1770 onwards: Two upholstered armchairs of tub shape set face to face with an intervening matching stool of equal depth and height. Very few survive intact.
Sociables, antique clocks 19th century catalog bracket german marble from about 1840: Two or three upholstered chairs joined together at opposing angles.
Ottomans, gaspard duiffo pruggard about 1850 onwards: A number of upholstered units which fit together to form a continuous circular seat. Used in very large drawing-rooms and halls, images of erleigh court and in ballrooms, marie antoinette kidney shaped table picture galleries and so on.
Chesterfields, ironstone staffordshire about 1860 onwards: (Forerunner of the conventional modern sofa with flat, refectory table stretcher square h 16th 17th scrolled or straight arms set lower than the back.) Continuous slightly scrolled arms and back of equal height.
Chesterfield sofa.
Short, acanthus leaves black and beige rug stumpy turned feet (around 1900 sometimes square and tapering). Many made during 20thC too, large antique dining folding table more recently upholstered in leather (not previously employed). Check feet and underframes carefully for signs of
age.
Knole sofas: Really a modern phenomenon, ladies desks most popular between the wars, octagon ottoman but based on an early-17thC ‘couch’ at Knole in Kent. Rectangular box shape, antique scottish oak extended table arms hinging down from the seat frame to a comfortable angle and held in position by tasselled cords tied around large, mahagony pie crust/tea two tier table lamp fabric-covered finials. The frame is totally concealed by upholstery. (Adjustment of the original version is by ratchet.)
Day-beds, 1920-1940 hepplewhite bedroom furniture 700 couches and chaises longues, 18th century english porcelain blue saucer though made during the Restoration and earlier 18thC, gilt italianate settee mostly date from the 1790s when the term chaise longue was introduced. Basically an asymmetrical sofa with one end
higher than the other and an undulating downward-curving back reaching to a point at least two-thirds along the seat, vintage chairs curved back but often meeting a lower foot rail. Particularly popular during the Regency when they resembled sofas and were sometimes called meridienne. Always with show-wood frame. Victorian examples similarly resembled sofas and can be with or without a raised foot end.
structural weakness, three drawer dresser 1870 their joint with the seat frame suffering considerable strain. If cut incorrectly, antique desk folding mahogany with, daniel marot and gravelot rather than across, english victorian walnut carved captain chairs the grain, silver punch ladle they can split.
Until the 1830s all pieces had loose seat cushions, swan neck french cabinet though these are often omitted today. Remember that their presence makes a big difference to over-all appearance. Similarly, dutch antique buffet sideboards the bolster cushions which fitted neatly into the scrolled ends of Regency pieces are integral with, pine chest of drawers 1800c and therefore essential to their design.
With any piece requiring extensive re-upholstery allow for possible repairs to the frame too: the upholstery may be holding it all together. Avoid any re-upholstered piece with even a slightly loose joint: it can only get
worse.
As for the chairs, antique furniture of netherland mostly with carving (sometimes gilded); brass inlay during Regency, antique tapestry deer hunting wood inlay occasionally in late-19thC.
Polish; French polish from about 1820. Sometimes japanned or gilding.
VALUES
Until recently prices dipped sharply for sofas and chaises longues later than around 1830, antique embossed silver jugs with only the best quality Victorian pieces making the higher grade. Now that date has moved on to about 1870.
18thC wooden-backed settees are considerably less popular than their upholstered counterparts, worcester feather moulded many equivalent in price to late Victorian versions of the latter.
Settles, louis xvi revival rosewood sofa 19c despite their earlier date, european clock and glass and dome and figurines and music cost about the same as settees, antique oak dining table with one pestal claw feet although rare bacon settles will fetch considerably more.
Original, walnut longcase fretwork patterns usable upholstery considerably increases value.