Rectangular Tall Boy with Griffins and Fluted Legs
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- Veneers - Veneers are thin sheets of well-figured timber that are glued under pressure to the surface of a cheaper timber for decorative effect, and then used in the making of carcase furniture.
Early veneers were saw-cut so were relatively thick, (up to 2 mm) but is was realised that saw cutting was wasteful, as timber to the equivilent of the thickness of the saw was lot on each cut.
A more efficient method was devised to slice the timber, either horizontally with a knife, or in a rotary lathe.
Flame veneer, commonly found in mahogany or cedar furniture, is cut from the junction of the branches and main trunk. So-called fiddleback veneers, where the grain is crossed by a series of pronounced darker lines, is usually cut from the outer sections of the tree trunk.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, and in much of the walnut marquetry furniture made during the latter part of the 19th century, the veneer was laid in quarters, each of the same grain, so that one half of the surface was the mirror image of the other.
The use of veneer allows many other decorative effects to be employed, including stringing, feather banding, cross banding, and inlaid decorative panels in the piece. The carcase over which veneer is laid is usually of cheaper timber such as pine, oak or, sometimes in Australia during the first half of the 19th century, red cedar.
The important thing to remember about veneers is that prior to about 1850 they were cut by hand, and were consequently quite thick - ranging up to about 2mm deep.
From the mid-19th century veneers were cut by machines and were almost wafer-thin. This is a critical point when trying to judge the approximate age of veneered furniture. - Herringbone Pattern in Furniture - The herringbone pattern is a popular decorative pattern used in furniture, created by inlaying small rectangular pieces of veneer in a zig-zag pattern, similar to the pattern found in the herringbone link used in jewellery. The pieces of veneer are cut at a 45-degree angle to create the distinctive V-shape, and are arranged in a way that creates a seamless, interlocking pattern.
The herringbone pattern in veneer can be used in a variety of ways in furniture design. It is commonly used on table tops, cabinet doors, and other flat surfaces, where it can add visual interest and texture to the piece. It can also be used on curved surfaces, such as the front of a chest of drawers or the top of a curved console table, where it can create a dramatic and eye-catching effect. - Fluting - A form of decoration found on many pieces of furniture, as well as ceramics, silver and clocks, in which round-bottomed grooves, of varying width and depth, are let into columns, pilasters, legs. As a general rule, flutes are cut in the vertical, though they may follow a turned leg in a spiral pattern. In cross-section, they may be described as a series of 'U' shapes, rising and narrowing at each end of the groove. Fluting is the opposite of reeding, with which fluting is often associated.
- Graduated Drawers - A bank of drawers, where the top drawer has the least depth, and the depth of the each drawer is greater than the drawer above.
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