Louis XIII Oak Sideboard with Leadlight Cupboard Doors

• 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.
• Leadlighting - The use of stained glass, held together with leaded strips, sometimes found in cabinet furniture. While stained glass is not uncommon in Victorian houses, it is unusual to find it in furniture before the end of the 19th century. It was favoured by cabinetmakers for sideboards and smaller pieces such as dinner trolleys, in the style of the Art Nouveau, and is often found in kitchen cabinets and display cabinets dating from the 1930s and 1940s.
• Barley Twist - The leg, and frequently other uprights such as columns, chair frames, spindles and stretchers, are turned in fairly wide and deep spirals, usually slightly rounded. Also known as the 'Jacobean twist' and common on the dark stained Jacobean Revival furniture of the 1930s and 40s.
  
  As a rule, the twists on opposite uprights should move in a contrary direction. Thus, if the spiral on a right side is clockwise, that on the left side should move in a counter-clockwise direction.
  
  This is also true of rope-twist or cable-twist turning, a nautical term that came into fashion after Nelson's victories over the French fleet. The essential difference is that with rope twists, the spirals are more finely turned on the lathe and placed closer together, than they are with barley-sugar turnings.
• 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.
• 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.
• Frieze - An architectural term denoting the flat, shaped or convex horizontal surface of furniture, between the architrave and the cornice, usually found on a cabinet or bookcase, or on desks and tables where it may include drawers, the area between the top and the legs. In ceramics, the term refers to the banding, of usually a repeating pattern, on the rims of plates and vases.
• Pediment - The uppermost section of a tall usually double-heightened piece of cabinet furniture, surmounting the cornice. The pediment can take a variety of forms derived from the architecture of classical antiquity. A broken pediment is of triangular shape, however, the two raised sides do not meet at the apex but are 'broken' the gap between them often ornamented with an urn or finial. Swan-neck pediments are of similar form, although the uprights are gracefully arched, resembling a swan's neck. They are often found, for example, on longcase clocks.
• 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.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• cabinets, material - oak 552
• cabinets, period or style - French 723
• sideboards - oak 130