Originally found in taverns, country kitchens, gardens and poorer homes, these basic but attractive chairs are now snapped up by collectors.

Amid fickle fashion, country chairs remained largely unchanged for some300 years. Best known and loved are hoop-backed Windsor chairs, which first emerged in the 18th century and were made in various regions. Other familiar styles include Mendlesham chairs, ladder-backs (or Lancashire chairs), stick-back chairs with a shaped top rail, and the equivalents on rockers. (more…)

Antique furniture is to be used and enjoyed as well as admired. Generations of owners leave their mark, adding to the character of pieces great and small.

One of the joys of antique furniture, as with all practical antiques, is that it is a tangible link with the past. Sitting at an 18th-century desk, it is easy to imagine an earlier owner leaning on the same surface, struggling with an important letter. An ink stain or a well-rubbed drawer edge adds to this sense of continuity. (more…)

Although a private room in the main, and a retreat from the bustle of the great chamber, this bedchamber of about 1600 still had a public to impress. A lady might work at her embroidery here, pursue religious studies, learn to play a musical instrument and talk with her closest friends. A gentleman would take guests to his bedchamber to talk business, play chess or backgammon, or have a meal.

This bedchamber is comfortable and yet grand, with an elaborate plasterwork ceiling and an ornate frieze above the panelled walls. A striking tapestry also enriches the room. The imposing bed is heavily carved on the oak headboard and on the posts that carry the tester or canopy. Ropes hold the mattress filled with rushes, wool, or feather and down. (more…)

Country-house life with the family was the ideal of Elizabethan and Jacobean gentlefolk. They could set themselves up with fine silver, rich textiles, lavish clothes and coveted goods from abroad.

A new kind of household had been established for people of power and influence by the mid-16th century.

No longer did they share a communal life with a motley assembly of officials, military supporters and other retainers. Now they lived in families in substantial homes on their country estates, some on lands that were previously owned by the Church, until they were seized after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 5536 and bestowed on supporters of the monarch as rewards for their loyalty. Some families had more than one estate. (more…)

All kinds of words are used to describe all kinds of cupboards. To start with it was called a “cup borde”, so obviously in its origins it was simply aboard or plank on which you kept the plate or pewter. The “Court” cupboard, as seen below, is shown in Tudor paintings with a carpet or piece of tapestry draped over the top shelf with a display of pewter and delftware dishes. The drinking cups and mugs were usually kept on the lower shelf. Some say they are so called from the French court for short, but many of these cupboards are large affairs, and there is just as much reason to believe that they are named after the manorial court held in the lord’s hall. (more…)

Nobody, I suppose, would want to put together a very big collection of screens; all the same in a sizable house, especially if there are lots of doors and draughts, one can find room for quite a few.

The aristocrats of this field, of course, are those attractive pole (one-leg) or cheval (two-legs) screens used to protect one’s face from a roaring fire, or to hide an empty fireplace in summertime. All kinds of decorations were given to these screens. Sometimes their original owners bought the pedestal and frame and themselves worked a panel in silk embroidery. As you can see from the pedestal this dates from the Chippendale era. (more…)