Posts Tagged ‘ornamentation’

Antique American Silver Styles POST RENAISSANCE (1650-1690) When the first silversmiths crossed the ocean around 1650 they took the style of the late Renaissance with them from Europe. People such as John Hull and Robert Sanderson were immigrants from England and started making in the English style until the Puritans stuck a spoke in the wheel. Silver destined for Protestant homes and churches needed to be simple and practical. A puritanical hybrid style arose that blended simplicity with post Renaissance that retained as much of the Renaissance as possible. EARLY BAROQUE (1690-1720) Early Baroque is a heavy style with large proportions, solid arched forms, with florid three dimensional details. The Dutchman Jurian Blanck of New York was one of the first to experiment with Baroque. Jeremiah Dummer of ...

American Antique Chairs Chairs Chairs are often the most characteristic example of a given style era and therefore further space is devoted to them here than other pieces of furniture. Furthermore so many chairs have been made that more have survived than other antiques. Few seats were made with backs before the middle of the seventeenth century. Most people sat on stools, benches, or chests. The few chairs with backs and armrests were much like a throne. Often these chairs had a raised knob on the end of the armrest which helped give the person seated in it additional authority and power. Only the head of the household and very important guests were allowed to sit in such a chair. Of the three principal ...

Antique American Furniture and Silver Design Reform (1870-1915) Design Reform was a counter to the unbridled ornamentation of the other styles that were fashionable at the time. Design Reform followed two parallel courses. One direction was inspired by Japanese art and the other by the Arts and Craft Movement which modernised Gothic. The magic word of Design reform was simplicity. The Arts and Crafts Movement also wished to bring back hand made crafts and rejected machine production. Wooden dowels, pegs, and screws are widely used in making these pieces which helps to make them difficult to restore. Shaker Style A great deal was produced in this style between 1820 and 1870. Furniture is still being made in Shaker style. Although this style clearly left its ...

American Antiques: American Antiques Styles and Periods American antiques Those who decide to collect American antiques need to consider a number of points. Will they only collect pieces from the United States or does the interest include the rest of North America, including native American, Mexican, and Spanish objects. This chapter deals with antiques that originated in the United States and have a western cultural background. These are objects from what is now the USA belonging to immigrants and their descendants of between 1620 and 1900. The objects must have been made after Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. Canadian and imported antiques are not included and the same is true of pieces of native American origin. The majority of America styles bear a ...