Antique Bed

SOFAS, SETTEES, COUCHES, DAY-BEDS, CHAISES LONGUES AND SETTLES
17thC oak box settle.
Day-beds, couches and chaises longues were designed for lounging; sofas, settees and settles for sitting. A sofa was fully upholstered, a settee padded only on the seat, and a settle all wood with loose cushions. Today the term couch also describes a sofa, but originally meant a day-bed which, like its successor the chaise longue, 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, but surviving examples are mostly post-1600. Still produced by country makers in the 18th and even 19thC for farmhouses, inns; otherwise unfashionable.
Like an elongated wainscot chair (p. 5I) but usually (though not always) without the elaborate cresting and ear pieces. Panelled back, 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, its hinged top providing the seat; occasionally there was a pair of deep drawers instead. Some had a projecting cupboard above, in which hams were hung, 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, with a panelled back, 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, perhaps better described as high-sided armchairs than settles.
Settees, about 1710-1800: Double, triple, or even quadruple, versions of standard wooden armchairs of the day (including Windsors), with outer arms only, and extra leg(s) in between. (For details see under relevant
chair headings.)
William & Mary double wing settee, about 1690.
Sofas, made from about 1690 onwards: Pre-1750 examples, mostly in the form of a double wing chair (see p. 69), are rare. The following styles developed:
Chippendale: Straight, square legs (sometimes typically moulded or carved) with stretchers of modified H arrangement; tall, outward-scrolling arms and undulating backs with highest point in centre. Deep seats with loose seat cushions above the upholstery.
Hepplewhite: Turned tapering legs, 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, undulating back, 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, back dipped in centre supporting bold
A, settle in art nouveau style, about 1900; B, mahogany double-back settee, about 1745-1750; C gilded settee in the style of Robert Adam, about 1770-1780; D, Victorian mahogany ottoman, about 1870-1880; E,
Chippendale Mahogany sofa, about 1760; F early-Victorian mahogany sofa, about 1840; G, Victorian walnut sofa, about 1850-1860; H, Victorian mahogany sofa, carving of anthemion or other classical motif, and heavy turned legs.
Victorian: Typical rococo designs (see
CHAIRS, UPHOLSTERED.
Short cabriole legs, naturalistic carving on show-wood frames, deep-buttoned upholstery on back and arms. Some rather awkward, 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, and sometimes backs too, supported on pierced splats or rows of turned spindles.
Walnut, mahogany, satinwood; rosewood (with brass for inlay) during Regency. Oak (or elm, yew and other local woods) for settles; beech (or birch in the 19thC) when japanned, painted, gilded or stained, and for
under-frames.
Standard methods employed, see CHAIRS, P. 70.
Regency ‘Grecian’ legs can show tell-tale
ENGLISH VARIATIONS ON THE SOFA THEME
Love seats, about 1720 onwards: Like an extra wide chair and probably designed originally for ladies wearing exceptionally wide skirts. Not very common.
Duchesse sofas, 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, from about 1840: Two or three upholstered chairs joined together at opposing angles.
Ottomans, 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, and in ballrooms, picture galleries and so on.
Chesterfields, about 1860 onwards: (Forerunner of the conventional modern sofa with flat, scrolled or straight arms set lower than the back.) Continuous slightly scrolled arms and back of equal height.
Chesterfield sofa.
Short, stumpy turned feet (around 1900 sometimes square and tapering). Many made during 20thC too, more recently upholstered in leather (not previously employed). Check feet and underframes carefully for signs of
age.
Knole sofas: Really a modern phenomenon, most popular between the wars, but based on an early-17thC ‘couch’ at Knole in Kent. Rectangular box shape, arms hinging down from the seat frame to a comfortable angle and held in position by tasselled cords tied around large, fabric-covered finials. The frame is totally concealed by upholstery. (Adjustment of the original version is by ratchet.)
Day-beds, couches and chaises longues, though made during the Restoration and earlier 18thC, 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, 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, their joint with the seat frame suffering considerable strain. If cut incorrectly, with, rather than across, the grain, they can split.
Until the 1830s all pieces had loose seat cushions, though these are often omitted today. Remember that their presence makes a big difference to over-all appearance. Similarly, the bolster cushions which fitted neatly into the scrolled ends of Regency pieces are integral with, 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, mostly with carving (sometimes gilded); brass inlay during Regency, 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, 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, many equivalent in price to late Victorian versions of the latter.
Settles, despite their earlier date, cost about the same as settees, although rare bacon settles will fetch considerably more.
Original, usable upholstery considerably increases value.