Vintage Gothic Oak Stools/Side Tables

• Quatrefoil - A stylised four-circle design, itself contained within a larger circle, with Gothic origins and often seen as window designs in ecclesiastical architecture. The use of the motif was popular in Gothic Revival furniture of the 19th century.
• Gothic Style, Furniture - Gothic style furniture refers to pieces that are designed and crafted in the Gothic architectural and decorative style that was popular in Europe from the 12th to the 16th centuries. This style of furniture is characterised by its elaborate and ornate details, as well as its use of dark and heavy woods, such as oak and walnut.
  
  Gothic style furniture often features intricate carvings and embellishments, including pointed arches, quatrefoils, and tracery. The style also frequently incorporates elements such as coats of arms, shields, and religious symbols. Gothic furniture often has a heavy and substantial appearance, and the pieces are often finished with a dark stain to accentuate the detailed carving and embellishments.
  
  The furniture items can be quite large and imposing, and they are often used as statement pieces in large rooms. Gothic furniture can be a striking and dramatic addition to any space, and it is often appreciated by those who have an interest in medieval and historical design.
• Oak - Native to Europe and England, oak has been used for joinery, furniture and building since the beginning of the medieval civilisation. It is a pale yellow in colour when freshly cut and darkens with age to a mid brown colour.
  
  Oak as a furniture timber was superceded by walnut in the 17th century, and in the 18th century by mahogany,
  
  Semi-fossilised bog oak is black in colour, and is found in peat bogs where the trees have fallen and been preserved from decay by the bog. It is used for jewellery and small carved trinkets.
  
  Pollard oak is taken from an oak that has been regularly pollarded, that is the upper branches have been removed at the top of the trunk, result that new branches would appear, and over time the top would become ball-like. . When harvested and sawn, the timber displays a continuous surface of knotty circles. The timber was scarce and expensive and was used in more expensive pieces of furniture in the Regency and Victorian periods.
• Turning - Any part of a piece of furniture that has been turned and shaped with chisels on a lathe. Turned sections include legs, columns, feet, finials, pedestals, stretchers, spindles etc. There have been many varieties and fashions over the centuries: baluster, melon, barley-sugar, bobbin, cotton-reel, rope-twist, and so on. Split turning implies a turned section that has been cut in half lengthwise and applied to a cabinet front as a false decorative support.
• Pierced Decoration - Ornamental woodwork with part of the background cut through and removed to produce an open-work pattern.
• Trestle Table - The medieval table was usually a loose board, placed on removeable folding supports called trestles. In the 16th century, trestles fixed to the top of the table were introduced at each end of the frame, each resting on a broad base or foot, often connected and supported by one or two stretchers.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• stools, material - oak 125