Homes Antiques

1

PORTRAIT IN A CARVED FRAME

The standout artwork in the room is this copy of La Poesia

(Poetry). The original portrait oil-painted in the late 1640s

by the baroque period Italian artist Carlo Dolci (1616–1686)

hangs in the Galleria Corsini Florence. The immaculate rendering

of hair and skin tones and the brilliance and intensity of the palette

• lapis lazuli blue and gold are prominent – are appropriately
  accompanied by a particularly splendid giltwood frame. The carved
  feather-like foliate motifs around its perimeter are usually referred to
  as either stiff leaf water leaf or hart’s tongue.

2

BLUE-AND-WHITE EARTHENWARE

Displayed on the mantelshelf beneath an oil-painted

landscape Evening on the Norfolk Broads by the German

artist Karl Heffner (1849–1925) are four tin-glazed

earthenware (faience) plates. Blue and white and primarily foliate-

patterned they date from the 18th century. Although gradually

supplanted by more refined yet also more durable porcelain and

creamware – the latter developed during the mid 18th century by

Josiah Wedgwood – their period charm especially in rural settings

remains resolutely undiminished.

3

PLEATED HIGH-BACK WING CHAIR

Resplendently reupholstered in a modern orange-red

open-weave fabric this wing armchair was made in the

early 19th century but is a variant of a long-winged

high-armed enclosed style that dates from the mid 18th century.

Raised on turned front legs and splayed sabre back legs all four in

mahogany and with their original brass castors the high-back body is

traditionally upholstered with deep pleats and without springs which

were not in widespread use until the Victorian era.

4

FLORAL UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR

Exceptionally deep and wide this armchair dates from

the mid 19th century. With its ‘overstuffed’ upholstery

it is symptomatic of a general shift of emphasis in the

requirements of seating during the Victorian age: one in which the

importance of comfort now superseded that of shape or form. The

chair has recently been re-covered with a replacement silk damask in

a deep rose-pink and gold which replicates the chair’s original

fabric covering.

5

OAK CHEST OF DRAWERS

Mid 18th-century Georgian this chest of drawers is a

form of furniture that emerged (from the storage chest)

in the 17th century and in terms of its basic construction

has remained essentially popular to this day. This example is in oak

(rather than mahogany veneered) is raised on bracket feet and

has a pair of short drawers over three graduated long drawers – all

lockable and all fitted with the ‘plain drop’ brass handles that were

particularly fashionable during the mid 18th century.

6

SIMPLE WOODEN STOOL

In the British Isles before the late 15th century stools were

slotted and held together with clout nails. But thereafter

‘joined’ stools gradually became prevalent after the more

robust pegged mortise and tenon joint was introduced from the

Continent. Although primarily employed for seating some examples

were also conceived to double up as small tables. Fashioned from

solid mahogany and featuring four H-stretchered legs and an oval

top with carved apron this table stool is in a style favoured from the

late 18th century through the 19th and into the later Arts and Crafts

revivals of the 20th century.

What makes this such

an inviting room

In her novel Sense and Sensibility (published in
1811) Jane Austen wrote: ‘I am excessively fond
of a cottage; there is always so much comfort so
much elegance about them.’ Quite so: in this
sitting room in a now-extended 18th-century
English country cottage creature comforts
abound. A log-burning stove and comfortably
plump seating reassuringly practical shelving
drawers and tables and intellectually and
emotionally stimulating decorative and fine art
are harmoniously blended in ample testament to
Austen’s prescription.

2

5

H&A SUMMER 2017 59

H&A LIFESTYLE: Homes