A new chronology for English walnut - veneered furniture 1670 - 1740

Magazine Antiques, June, 2002 by Adam Bowett

At first glance the introduction of lapped dovetails for veneered furniture is curious because it entails more work for no perceptible advantage. The answer may lie in the introduction of edge moldings for drawers around 1730. Whereas a flush-faced drawer could be made with either through or lapped dovetails, those with an edge molding had to be made with lapped dovetails so that the rabbet cut for the molding would not cut into the dovetails as well. Whether this interpretation is correct is a moot point, but the timing is suggestive, for the genend use of lapped dovetails coincides with a period of change in drawer and molding design.

Between about 1725 and 1735 at least four different types of moldings for cases and drawer edges were commonly used on Londonmade furniture: half round, double bead, cock bead, and ovolo. In many cases different types of moldings were used by the same workshop. Coxed and Woster used the half round, double bead, and cock bead (the latter on cases and drawers). The early work of Belchier included double -bead, cock-bead (on cases and drawers), and ovolo moldings. With such variety it made sense to adopt a drawer construction that allowed for all options.

Compared to these important but small scale changes, the introduction of the bracket foot heralded a major change in the outward appearance of English case furniture. The conventional bun, or ball, foot first seen in the 1660s persisted well into the 1720s, and for a few years it was not uncommon for both bracket and ball feet to appear at once (see P1. VI). In the late 1720s bracket feet began to be used alone, the earliest known example being the miniature chest dated 1728 shown in Plate VIII. By 1730 this foot had become the norm for fashionable case furniture. Between 1730 and 1740 the short-lived third phase of English cabinetwork combined second-phase case construction, drawers with cock-bead or ovolo moldings, and bracket feet (see P1.IX).

Two further changes introduced in the 1720s affected the outward appearance of desks and desks-and-bookcases. The first was the introduction of an ovolo molding around the edge of the slant front. Prior to this, the slant front was level with the sides of the case, with a half-round or double-bead molding applied either to the case or the slope itself. During the 1720s the slant front was raised above the sides and finished with an ovolo molding that overlapped the case. This type of construction became general, but not universal, after 1730. The other change was the manner of inserting and retaining the mirrors in the bookcase doors. Until at least the middle of the 1720s the mirrors were flush with or slightly above the face of the doors. They were retained by a bold quarter- or half-round molding applied to the face of the doors (see Pls. IV, VI, VII). Beginning about 1730 the mirrors were sunk below the face of the doors and retained by a discrete ovolo molding (see P1. IX). This change is often associate d with the discarding of other early features such as ball feet and prominent waist moldings.