French Renaissance-style Gryphon Corner Chairs

• Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
• Rail - A term used by cabinet makers for the horizontal sections of the frame of an item such as a chair or settee which have a front rail, a back rail and two side rails, and also on a door or carcase, where the rails are joined to the vertical framings.
• Gryphon - A gryphon is a mythical beast with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion.
  
  This fictional character was devised by Lewis Carroll in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", written in 1865.
• Foliate - Decorated with leaves or leaf-like forms.
• Cresting - The decorative carving at the top of a piece of furniture, such as a sideboard back, a mirror, or a chair back.
• Griffin / Griffon / Gryphon - A griffin, also known as a griffon or gryphon, is a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. It is typically depicted as a powerful and majestic beast, with the body and legs of a lion and the head, wings, and talons of an eagle. The griffin is widely recognized as a symbol of strength, courage, and guardianship, and has been used in a variety of cultures throughout history.
  
  In ancient mythology, the griffin was often associated with the gods and was considered a symbol of divine power. In ancient Greece, for example, the griffin was associated with the sun god Helios, while in ancient Egypt, it was associated with the goddess Hathor. In medieval European heraldry, the griffin was used as a symbol of strength, valour, and protection, and was often featured on the coats of arms of noble families.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Pierced Decoration - Ornamental woodwork with part of the background cut through and removed to produce an open-work pattern.
• Baluster (furniture) - An architectural term for a column in a balustrade or staircase, often defined as a "vase shape". The shape is extensively used in furniture and decorative arts.
  
  In furniture, it is used to describe a chair or table leg turned in that form, or more usually as an inverted baluster, with the bulbous section to the top. Less commonly used to describe a chair back that has the outline of a baluster. A baluster may also be split and applied to the front of a cupboard for ornamentation.
  
  For ceramics and silver items it is often used to describe the shape of the whole item, rather than a part.
  
  In Georgian glassware, the shape is commonly seen in the stem of glasses.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• chairs, singles / pairs / threes, style or period
  • corner 62
  • French 949
• chairs, singles / pairs / threes, timber - oak 488