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

Magazine Antiques, June, 2002 by Adam Bowett

Another form of case furniture popularly associated with Queen Anne or even William III (r. 1689-1702) is the chest-on-stand with turned legs--a type that is commonly found both in England and in colonial North America. The English examples are usually dated between 1690 and 1710 and the North American examples considerably later. The revised chronology suggests that the English dating is too early and that most examples are roughly contemporary with their American counterparts. (15) Such chests were even made for the royal palaces in the 1720s. In 1725 John Gumley (1691-c. 1727) and James Moore (d. 1726) supplied George I with "6 wallnuttree pillars & Balls for the frame of a Chest." (16)

While it would be unwise to argue an exact parallel between North American and English furniture styles, the relationship between them at this period was probably much closer than is commonly thought. The so-called transatlantic lag is largely the construct of old-style English connoisseurship, which relied almost entirely on personal taste and "expertise" rather than the evidence of documented pieces and systematic analyses of style and structure. Symonds was the first English furniture historian to exploit the potential of hard evidence, but his analysis was weakened by preconceived notions of style and date. He was also constrained by his role as a consultant to collectors and dealers, for there was strong commercial pressure to maintain the status quo. This tension between academic and commercial interests is still very much present in English furniture studies, but with the vastly greater body of documented and dated pieces now known to us, change is on the horizon.

                           First phase  Transitional  Second phase
                            1670-1710    1690-1710     1700-1730

Rabbeted flush                  *
bottom to drawer

Rabbeted raised bottom                       *          * (rare)
runners all around

Through dustboards              *            *

Side square and level           *            *
with drawer front

Desk slope flush with           *            *             *
carcass walls

Through-dovetail drawers        *            *             *

Ball feet                       *            *             *

Mirror plates projecting                     *             *
beyond bookcase doors

Nailed-up drawer bottom,                                   *
glued runners

Stepped dustboards,                                        *
narrow drawer blades

Ball and bracket feet

Drawer sides set down                                      *
and rounded

Desk slope raised with
lip molding

Mirror plates sunk
into bookcase doors

Drawers with lapped                                     * (rare)
dovetails

Cock-beaded or lip-molded
drawers

Bracket feet

Stepped dustboards,
thick drawer blades

                           Transitional  Third phase  Fourth phase
                            1720-1730     1730-1740    after 1735

Rabbeted flush
bottom to drawer

Rabbeted raised bottom       * (rare)     * (rare)      * (rare)
runners all around

Through dustboards

Side square and level
with drawer front

Desk slope flush with
carcass walls

Through-dovetail drawers        *

Ball feet                       *

Mirror plates projecting        *
beyond bookcase doors

Nailed-up drawer bottom,        *
glued runners

Stepped dustboards,             *             *
narrow drawer blades

Ball and bracket feet           *             *

Drawer sides set down           *             *            *
and rounded

Desk slope raised with          *             *            *
lip molding

Mirror plates sunk              *             *            *
into bookcase doors

Drawers with lapped             *             *            *
dovetails

Cock-beaded or lip-molded                     *            *
drawers

Bracket feet                                  *            *

Stepped dustboards,                                        *
thick drawer blades