Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Illustrated Catalogue of a Notable Collection of Beautiful English Furniture of the XVII and XVIII Centuries
HE proper classification of furniture must be based upon a knowl edge of form, decoration and material, and the importance of their consideration is in the order named. It is essential that each should be considered in any classification, and it will be the object of this catalogue to place these elements distinctlv before the reader in the description of each specimen. The pieces difficult of classification are always those which mark the transition between two distinct styles and it is only by keeping these three elements in mind that a proper classification of such pieces can be made. Allowance must always be made in dating specimens for the fact that styles travel slowly and by the time a London design had reached an outlying point, it would long since have become old - fashioned. This probably accounts for manv pieces of early form but of late decoration. The furniture in this collection falls within three well defined groups, covering a period of about two hundred years, and this classi fication distinctly shows the foreign influences which were molding the English workmen. Writers on English furniture have quite gen erally fallen into the habit of classifying specimens after the French fashion, by the name of the sovereign under whom the style developed, such as Charles II, William and lviary, and Queen Anne. While in France such distinctions were proper and in the main accurate, in England no such classification can be made without causing confusion, for in the latter country the sovereigns have never been patrons of art, nor does the furniture represent any national art, strictly speak ing. For instance, the style called Queen Anne did not really come into favor until the reign of George II. The truth is, that the English artisan was not an originator, but an adapter, and this is not said by way of disparagement, for English adaptations of Continental styles were often superior to their prototypes, in that they developed a style along practical lines until it had become distinctly English. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
