DESIGN IN MIND
by Bill Stevenson
ANTIQUE CHAIRS ADD ELEGANCE TO ANY ROOM

In the nineteenth century the pendulum swung back from the finely built furniture of Hepplewhite and Sheraton into the massive Victorian furniture of the mid-nineteenth century. The more wood in a chair or cabinet, the heavier it became and this was considered to make it a fine piece of furniture. Thus we have the very heavy-looking furniture of the Victorian period which people tend to either love or hate with a passion.

Regency chairs became heavy in style. Henry Clay introduced fantastic work on chairs using paper mache, merely paper, pitch and oil, extremely ornate but not particularly comfortable.

The Georgian chairs were also quite ornate looking, lovely as an ornamental conversation piece to grace a room -- but not really utilitarian.

In the seventeenth century, during the reign of Charles II, cane was first introduced in England. The solid paneled back of the chair was replaced by either one or two cane panels; the seat was caned and covered with a cushion. The first of such chairs were usually made of walnut with spiral underframing sometimes referred to as barley-sugar twists. The same turning as that in the legs would be repeated in the uprights to the back of the chair. An oval back in these Charles II chairs is uncommon and makes them quite valuable.

Caning again became popular at the beginning of the nineteenth century, during the Regency period, when we see another type of chair produced. This was a type of library armchair, called a bergere, with a cane seat, cane back and cane sides. The bergere is very attractive because it is not an overpowering size.

Cane chairs are still popular in the twentieth century. Used mostly as dining room chairs, they are also used as decorator chairs for the living room, entrance foyer or bedroom.

The art of caning has become almost obsolete. We now see production caning in modern and reproduction furnishings. It also appears in cabinets found in todays marketplace. You will find that much of todays modern manufactured caning has been combined with upholstery. This adds a more comfortable dimension for todays lifestyle.