Glossary of Terms,
Antique Furniture
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Acanthus: Classic Greek and Roman ornamentation based on conventionalized leaf of acanthus plant which grows in Asia Minor.
Acorn Turning: Ornament resembling an acorn; used as finials on chair and bed posts, as pendants, and as feet in table legs. Characteristic of Jacobean furniture.
Adam: Furniture designed the brothers Adam, Robert, and James, 18th Century English architects-designers, in the same Pompeian classicism that earmarked their houses. Slim, straight-line pieces were delicate and simple; ornamentation, rich, yet restrained. Early work was in mahogany; later in satinwood and hardwood with much painted decoration.
Adelphi: A trade name adopted by the Brothers Adam.
American Colonial: Any American furniture made or used in the Colonies before the Revolution. Early pieces, favored by the Puritans, were purely utilitarian; simplified, undecorated versions of Jacobean. Later furniture, reflecting growing prosperity, consisted of more decorative, refined designs based on English styles.
Antiques: A term loosely applied to all old furniture. It should be confined to periods ending with Sheraton's style in Europe and with Duncan Phyfe's in America.
Apothecary Chest: Simple, straight-lined chest with multismall drawers; originally used by professional apothecaries. Now offered in wide variety of sizes for small storage items.
Applique: A term given to applied ornament, such as carvings, turnings, lozenges, etc., which are tacked or glued to a surface rather than cut from the solid wood.
Apron: A narrow strip of wood, or shaped element, such as the horizontal cross member under a table top, chair seat, or lowboy.
Arabesque: A saracenic form of ornament, usually composed of naturalistic ornament twined about a rod or stem. Orginally as employed by Mohammedan designers, no animals were ever represented in an arabesque. The motifs were resticted to flowers, foliage, fruits, and figures of geometric design.
 Armoire: Tall wardrobe probably derivative of armor storage cabinets, often ornately carved or painted.
   Arm Pad: The upholstered part of a chair arm.
Arm Stump: The front vertical support of the arm of a chair.
Arrow Spindle: Flattened spindle suggesting an arrow, used in 18th Century English or Early American furniture ( backs of beds, chairs, settees)
Art Moderne: French term for the various schools of contempory design, used in America during the 1920's to label the earliest modern work.
Art Noveau: French for "new art". Term refers to late 19th Century style which sprang from a revived interest in the decorative arts; a style that broke away from cliches. Based on natural growing forms ( like curving, twisting trees trunks and branches); its formula was the whiplash curve.
Arts and Crafts Movement: A revival of interest in the decorative arts in England which began about 1875 and, by 1884, grew to a definite revolt against tasteless overmechanization. The ideal was the personal craftmanship in the Middle Ages. The mission style was essentially an offshoot of the movement in America. The furniture forms are simple and crude; in their joinery concepts, rudimentary.
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