The Queen Anne period is interesting on account of the favour in which it has been held of late years, particularly by a class that knows nothing at all about it. Queen Anne furniture, Queen Anne silver, Queen Anne cottages have been in great demand, in England particularly. When, however, the student asks the Queen Anne devotee for a list of objects that may fitly be included in an interior of that style, he usually meets with a bewildering jumble. Charles II. oak-framed cane chairs jostle others with cabriole legs and jar-shaped splats made of mahogany; marquetry escritoires, spindle-legged walnut tables, Frisian clocks, brass fenders, steel fire-irons and four-posted bedsteads are all brought together to produce the proper contemporary flavour. The result is certainly unsatisfactory for the searcher after truth.

Looking only at the manifest transitional features of the beginning and end of this short period, some scoffers have even gone so far as to deny that there is any Queen Anne style at all, but this is an extreme and unjustifiable view. The Queen Anne period, short as it was, possessed special characteristics.

First let us recall the dates. The easy-going lady who succeeded Dutch William occupied the throne for only twelve years, dying in 1714,—one year before Louis XIV. At this date, therefore, we are on the threshold of the Regency, the characteristics of which in decorative art are already established. For the beginnings of the Queen Anne style, moreover, we must revert to a date prior to her actual succession. This date is 1690, when the Glorious Revolution placed the Prince of Orange on the throne of England. William used England as a weapon of defence of the Netherlands against the aggression of Louis XIV., and on her accession Anne carried on his policy. England, therefore, from 1690 to the fall of Marlborough in 1711, might almost be regarded as a Dutch province. Considering the close dynastic, political, mercantile and religious ties between the two countries, it would be strange if Dutch taste did not predominate in England. It was a Dutch taste, however, tempered with French art. The French forced the highest development of the Louis XIV. style on England and the Low Countries by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. In consequence of that edict, many thousands of the best workmen in the French arts and crafts were forced to go into exile, taking refuge in England, Germany and Holland. There they were welcomed by their co-religionists, and their labours had a great and immediate influence on the native styles. The artist who exerted the greatest influence in forming the Queen Anne style was Daniel Marot, who left France in 1686 and went to Holland. There he found immediate employment in the service of the Stadtholder, and when the latter became King of England in 1690, he appointed Marot his chief architect and master of works. Till his death in about 1718, Marot designed the interior decorations and furniture for many mansions and palaces in England and Holland. The names of many joiners, carvers and goldsmiths (who at that day designed many minor pieces of furniture) are to be found in the lists of Huguenot refugees in London. In that city, French artists and designers found ready employment. Among others we find J. B. Monnoyer (Baptiste), who died in London in 1699. Samuel Gribelin also found much encouragement in England. He had published three books of ornamental design before 1700. Thus, what the French call “le style refugiÉ,” crossed the Channel.

Traffic with the Far East, however, was probably a more important factor in the formation of the Queen Anne style than any other influence. The Oriental taste had reached Amsterdam and London before Paris felt it. Throughout the Seventeenth Century, the English and Dutch East Indiamen poured porcelain, lacquer, and other products of Oriental art into their respective capitals, and even the bitter trade rivalry between the two did not arouse the French from their indifference till the arrival of the Siamese embassy in 1690. Long before this, however, Mazarin had tried to bring Oriental goods into favour. The daughter of Gaston d’OrlÉans, La Grande Mademoiselle, notes in her diary (1658), that the Cardinal “took the two queens (Anne of Austria and Henrietta, wife of Charles I. of England), the princess (Henrietta’s daughter) and myself, into a gallery that was full of all imaginable kinds of stone-work, jewelry, and all the beautiful things that came from China, crystal chandeliers, mirrors, tables, cabinets of all kinds, silver plate, etc.” All these Oriental wares were given away by the magnificent Cardinal in a lottery in which every guest drew a prize.

Twenty-five years later, the same adventurous lady who wrote the above had a quarrel with her unrecognized husband, the Comte de Lauzan. To patch up peace, he sent her from England a cargo of Chinese wares.

Before the port L’Orient gained its name by its trade with that quarter of the world, Paris received its Chinese and Indian goods chiefly through London. Consignments from the distant Jesuit missions to their headquarters were largely instrumental in bringing Eastern art to the notice of the public. There is an entry in Evelyn’s Diary (March 22, 1664):

“One Tomson, a Jesuite shewed me such a collection of rarities, sent from ye Jesuites of Japan and China to their order at Paris, as a present to be received in their repository, but brought to London by the East India ships for them, as in my life I had not seen. The chiefe things were rhinoceros’s horns; glorious vests wrought and embroidered on cloth-of-gold, but with such lively colours, that for splendour and vividness we have nothing in Europe that approaches it ... fanns like those our ladies use, but much larger, and with long handles curiously carved and filled with Chinese characters; a sort of paper very broad, thin and fine like abortive parchment, and exquisitely polished, of an amber yellow, exceedingly glorious and pretty to looke on; several other sorts of paper, some written, other printed; prints of landskips, their idols, saints, pagods, of most ugly serpentine monstrous and hideous shapes, to which they paid devotion; pictures of men and countries rarely printed on a sort of gum’d calico transparent as glasse; flowers, trees, beasts, birds, etc., excellently wrought in a sort of sleve silk very naturall.”

In England, porcelain had been a comparatively rare luxury confined to the tables and closets of rich collectors until about 1630. Cromwell laid a heavy duty on it. China-shops under the Restoration became one of the favourite lounging-places of fops and curiosity hunters, and the appointments made there caused them to fall into bad repute. Later, emporiums of Oriental wares were known as India houses. Queen Mary while only the Princess of Orange in Holland, had developed quite a craze for porcelain and Indian goods of all kinds. When she became Queen of England, Sir Christopher Wren designed cabinets and shelves for her china in Hampton Court Palace.

Lord Nottingham in his news-letter descriptive of Queen Mary’s movements (1689) says: “Her majesty being disappointed of her second play, amused herself with other diversions. She dined at Mrs. Graden’s, the famous woman in the hall, that sells fine ribbons and headdresses. From thence she went to Mrs. Ferguson’s to de Vetts and other Indian houses.”

With such tastes in high places, it is not astonishing to find a popular furore for China and everything Oriental, spurious and real. This Chinese taste affected everything in architecture and interior decoration.

With regard to architecture, the ill-understood Gothic had fallen into very bad odour. John Evelyn’s opinion of it (1697) is worth quoting. He says: “A certain fantastical and licencious manner of building which we have since called Modern (or Gothic rather) congestions of heavy, dark, melancholy and monkish piles without any just proportion, use or beauty.... So when we meet with the greatest industry and expensive carving, full of fret and lamentable Imagery a judicious spectator is distracted and quite confounded.... Not that there is not something of solid and odly artificial too, after a sort; but then the universal and unreasonable thickness of the walls, clumsy buttresses, towers, sharp-pointed arches, doors and other apertures without proportion; nonsense insertions of various marbles impertinently placed; turrets and pinnacles thickset with Munkies and chimÆras and abundance of busy work and other incongruities dissipate and break the angles of the sight and so confound it that one cannot consider it with any steadiness.... Vast and gigantic buildings indeed but not worthy the name of architecture.”

Domestic architecture, however, was undergoing considerable changes under the new influences. These changes were in the direction of comfort and cosiness, to the sacrifice of grandeur and magnificence. Of course, novelty aroused opposition. Evelyn (1697) protests:

“As certain great masters invented certain new corbels, scrolls and modilions, which were brought into use; so their followers animated by their example (but with much less judgment) have presumed to introduce sundry baubles and trifling decorations (as they fancy) in their works.... And therefore, tho’ such devices and inventions may seem pretty in cabinet-work, tables, frames and other joyners-work for variety, to place china dishes upon; one would by no means encourage or admit them in great and noble buildings.”

The changes in domestic architecture are noticed by Du Bois, who issued a new and sumptuous edition of Palladio (the plates engraved by Picart) in 1715. Among other things he says:

“We see so many bungled houses and so oddly contrived that they seem to have been made only to be admired by ignorant men and to raise the laughter of those who are sensible of such imperfections. Most of them are like bird cages, by reason of the largeness and too great number of windows; or like prisons, because of the darkness of the rooms, passages and stairs. Some want the most essential part, I mean the Entablature or cornice; and though it be the best fence against the injuries of the weather, it is left out to save charges. In some other houses, the rooms are so small and strait, that one knows not where to place the most necessary furniture. Others, through the oddness of some new and insignificant ornaments, seem to exceed the wildest Gothic. It were an endless thing to enumerate all the absurdities which many of our builders introduce every day into their way of building.”

The changes in interior decoration that contributed to form the Queen Anne style were largely due to the requirements of the effective display and preservation of porcelain. The chimney-piece, especially, was affected. As early as 1691, D’Aviler says in his book on architecture: “The height of the cornice (of the chimney-pieces) should be raised six feet in order that the vases with which they are ornamented may not be knocked down.”

A glance through Marot’s book of designs will show a most lavish use of china as an integral part of interior decoration. He piles up his chimney-pieces with tier on tier on shelves loaded with porcelain of all shapes and sizes, arranged, however, with an eye to symmetry. Brackets up the walls, in the corners, and between the panels, all along the cornice, and over the door are loaded with cups, bowls, and vases. The panels themselves are sometimes painted with Chinese subjects, or covered with real Oriental painted or embroidered fabrics. A glance at Plate XVIII., the walls and chimney-piece of which are reproduced closely from one of Marot’s designs, will show one of the more formal Queen Anne rooms, properly decorated in accordance with the taste of the day. This is a modest specimen of this style of decoration. One of Marot’s plates shows more than 300 pieces of china on the chimney-piece alone. The china craze was rapidly increasing. Addison writes: “An old lady of fourscore shall be so busy in cleaning an Indian mandarin as her great-grand-daughter is in dressing her baby.” In 1711, also he gives the following description of a lady’s library:

“The very sound of a Lady’s Library gave me a great Curiosity to see it; and as it was some time before the Lady came to me, I had an opportunity of turning over a great many of her Books, which were ranged together in very beautiful Order. At the End of her Folios (which were very finely bound and gilt) were great jars of China, placed one above another in a very noble piece of Architecture. The Quartos were separated from the Octavos by a Pile of smaller Vessels which rose in a delightful Pyramid. The Octavos were bounded by Ten dishes of all Shapes, Colours and Sizes, which were so disposed on a wooden Frame, that they looked like one continued Pillar indented with the finest Strokes of Sculpture, and stained with the greatest variety of Dyes. That Part of the Library which was designed for the Reception of Plays and pamphlets and other loose Papers, was enclosed in a kind of Square consisting of one of the prettiest grotesque Works that I ever saw, and made up of Scaramouches, Lions, Monkies, Mandarines, Trees, Shells, and a thousand other odd Figures in China Ware. In the midst of the Room was a little Japan Table with a quire of gilt Paper upon it, and on the Paper a Silver Snuff-box made in the shape of a little Book. I found there were several Counterfeit Books upon the upper Shelves, which were carved in wood, and several only to fill up the number.”

As an example of the decorative use made of china by arranging it on brackets even above mirror or panel, the reader is referred to Plate XXIII., No. 2.

The Queen Anne room had its walls sometimes covered with tapestry and sometimes decorated with painted or carved panels. In accordance with the French and Dutch custom also, pictures were used with a conscious decorative effect. Sometimes they were hung on the tapestry, also, though not when the latter depicted a story of itself. In 1710, D’Aviler defines the word picture (tableau) as a subject of painting, usually in oil on canvas or wood, and contained in a frame or border. “Pictures greatly contribute to the decoration of the interior of buildings. The big ones figure in churches, drawing-rooms, galleries and other big places. Those of medium size called easel-pictures are placed in the spaces above the chimney-piece, above the doors and in the panels of the walls, or else on the tapestry against the walls. The small ones are symmetrically arranged in the chambers and cabinets of the curious.”

In the ordinary house, in the reign of Queen Anne, there was a strange jumble of the old and the new. The late Jacobean carved oak, or walnut, cane-bottom chair had not yet gone entirely out of use, but the new styles were varieties of the chair and stool on Plate XXI., Nos. 1 and 4. These were usually of walnut, but mahogany was just coming into fashion as a cabinet wood, and Queen Anne chairs with the frames made of that wood still exist. The characteristics of this chair consist of the cabriole leg, with and sometimes even without stretchers, the club foot, and solid curved splat which very frequently assumes the jar shape. Later in the period, the stretchers were discarded altogether. There was very little carving except on the spring of the knee. The claw-and-ball foot was rapidly coming into favour, and the tendency was constantly towards increased lightness of frame. Even where the characteristic square tapering leg of the Louis XIV. style is preserved, increased lightness is noticeable. The turned stretchers, both of chairs and settees, are shown on Plate XIX., Nos. 5, 6 and 7, and Plate XXI., Nos. 1, 4 and 10. Marot clung to the flat curved stretchers of the Louis XIV. style, and his chairs are very large and heavy. The reason of this is that he paid great attention to the upholstery, and his large and brilliant designs required a correspondingly large surface for adequate display. Many of his plates are devoted entirely to patterns for materials for upholstery, and the geometrical flower-bed is the apparent inspiration of much of his work of this nature. Some of Marot’s chairs and stools are shown on Plate XXI., Nos. 2, 3, 5, 8 and 9. The chairs on either side of the bed on Plate XXII. are also Marot’s. No. 7 on Plate No. XXI. shows the lighter form of frame of this class of chair. The settees, numbered 5, 6 and 7, on Plate XIX. should also be carefully studied as types of this style. They are taken from contemporary prints of court ladies. On one of them, Anne herself is sitting in the original. No. 6, Plate XXI., represents the top of a chair back which is very characteristic of the Marot school. One of the favourite ornaments of this period was the urn in some form or other. The acorn was also largely used for feet, and the flattened bulb was not entirely superseded. The effect produced by the above-mentioned detail is found in several other pieces of furniture of the day, clocks and mirrors particularly. The urn is seen in No. 5, Plate XXIII., and the effect is repeated in Nos. 1 and 6, Plate XX. Nos. 5 and 6 on that Plate also show the combination acorn and flattened bulb employed as feet. No. 6 also shows another decorative feature of the period in the heavy chutes of bell-flowers. The handsome clock, No. 6, Plate XX., from Marot’s design, shows many Louis XIV. features. The sun in splendour is noticeable and the winged cherub above the dial. The latter was made great use of in the Queen Anne style. The mascaron also was largely adopted. Another decorative feature which was carved on the centre lower rim of so many chests-of-drawers, and dressing-tables was the shell. The cabinet-makers were never tired of using the latter, and its constant appearance may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that it was the principal charge in the arms of the English company of cabinet-makers. It is seen on top of the mirror in No. 2, Plate XIX., and the mascaron is used to beautiful effect in the mirror No. 3 on the same plate. The mascaron appears as the chief ornament in No. 3, Plate XX. Strange to say, this is not a chair, as might be imagined, but a fire-back, as is also No. 4. The shape of this fire-back, however, is going to be that which will dominate in chair-backs in many styles and even to the present day holds its own. The chair No. 8, Plate XX., is transitional between Jacobean and Queen Anne. The couch (No. 9 of the same plate) is a fine example of the Queen Anne style with its scrolls, cabriole legs and stretchers. The winged effect of the scrolls connecting the legs is a very favourite feature of the day. This should be compared with the couch by Marot in Plate XVIII., which retains more of the Louis XIV. characteristics.

The bed on Plate XXII. is one of Marot’s designs and shows the Louis XIV. influence. The detail No. 3, on the same plate, exhibits another variety of head-board. No. 1 is a detail of a bed cornice and its drapery; and No. 2 shows the pattern of a valance. Specimens of lambrequin drapery, both for beds and windows, moreover, are shown in the details, Nos. 1 and 4 on Plate XIX.

Typical contents of a fashionable home in England during the reign of Queen Anne are to be gathered from the will and inventory of La Marquise de Gouvernet, a French Protestant refugee, who was naturalized at Westminster in 1691, and lived for thirty years in English aristocratic circles, dying in 1722. She was very wealthy, and occupied a distinguished position in London society. To her grandson and heir, she bequeathed an immense quantity of jewels, furniture, pictures and porcelain. The mere enumeration of the pieces of furniture affords a good idea of a stylish interior of the Queen Anne period.

One small calico bed, 3 foot wide and 8 foot high, for the country, being stitched with coloured flowers, with five armed chairs of the same.

One suit of chamber hangings of cloth, painted with Indian figures, nine pieces, 7 foot high.

One other suit of chamber hangings of cloth painted in the Indias, drawn in porticoes, eleven in number, 7 foot high, very old.

One suit of chamber hangings of white damask, pillows of coloured stuff fixed thereon.

One blue gauze Indian bed, worked with gold straw work, eight pieces of tapestry, and the chairs of the same, very old.

A furniture of Indian damask of four colours, with the bed, 4 foot wide, the door curtains, the window curtains and chairs of the same, all very old.

One bundle of borders of old gold and silver brecard, with coloured flowers embroidered thereon.

Two tapestry armed chairs.

Four pieces of blue damask hangings with borders of cross-stitch, and three chairs.

Nine chairs of tent-stitch, the ground of gold colour.

Two couches, the ground violet with figures. Bottoms of Hungarian Irish stitch chairs and two door curtains.

Two large Marselian quilts, and one Indian quilt, stitched in colour.

One Indian quilt, stitched in yellow silk, basses and pillows of the same, all old.

Two satin quilts.

One large India lackerd cabinet with figures.

One small ditto.

Two Indian lackerd boards, with varnished boxes and plates.

One table of Calambour wood, which encloses a toilette of the same wood, ornamented with gold, containing two dressing-boxes and looking-glass, one pin cushion, one powder box, and two brushes of the same.

Two ditto cabinets upon tables of the same.

One Indian quilt stitched with coloured flowers.

Six pieces of tent stitch with figures.

One cloth bed worked on both sides, containing twelve pieces.

The lining of a bed of gold mohair, the counterpane, the head cloth and the small valances.

One bundle of gold thread laces, very old.

Two pieces of cloth embroidered with silver and thirty-two pieces of Tent stitch.

Thirteen breadths of dove-coloured silk serge 2¾ yards high, embroidered in flowers with figures; 35 yards of the same in several pieces, some of them drawn.

One four-leaf screen of the same damask, with the furniture of four colours embroidered, and of the same embroidered damask sufficient to make another four leaves at least.

One twelve-leaf lackered Tonquin screen with figures.

One four-leaf folding low screen, tent stitch, with antique figures, and four pieces of the same work to add to it on occasion.

Two tables and two large stands of Calambour wood.

One small bureau of ditto wood, inlaid with rays of Prince’s metal and one scrutoire of the same.

One little table and one glass cupboard of Calambour wood.

One lackered Tonquin coffer with figures.

Two small glass cupboards.

Two large looking-glasses with green ebony frames, and two other large looking-glasses.

One bed of Spanish point, with festoons of gold and silver colour, fixed upon white damask, four curtain valances and bases of the same lined with white satin, the counterpane, headcloth and tester, embroidered, five arm-chairs and two door curtains of the same.

One suit of hangings, the ground white, half painted and half worked, containing five pieces, one piece without a border.

One brown damask bed with gold coloured flowers, ten armed chairs, one couch, one door curtain, eight chair bottoms and four pieces of hangings of the same.

Two carpets of India velvet, the ground with red flowers.

One small tapestry carpet with gold ground.

One Indian carpet with gold ground and coloured flowers.

One damask bed with a violet ground and flowers of gold straw-work and with colours with borders of velvet cut in Persian figures, six pieces of hangings belonging to the bed, whereof the middle are Persian carpets gold ground and the borders of gold coloured silk serge, on which are fixed the same figures with the bed, nine armed chairs, two door curtains, six borders, with figures and birds.

Eight curtains of white damask and twelve yards of white mohair.

30 silver plates weighing 531 oz.

1 large silver dish, 66 oz.

4 small do., 125 oz.

1 silver pan, 36 oz.

1 do. basin, one deep dish, 33 oz.

1 silver kettle and cover, 107 oz.

1 do. chafing-dish or lamp, 47 oz., 9 dwt.

1 do. water boiler, 42 oz., 10 dwt.

1 do. chocolate-pot, 24 oz.

1 do., do., 11 oz., 10 dwt.

1 do. sugar mustard and pepper castor, 41 oz.

2 silver salt-cellars.

12 forks and 12 spoons, 58 oz.

1 large soup-spoon, 10 oz., 10 dwt.

1 skimmer 7 oz., 19 dwt.

8 fruit knives, 8 forks and 8 spoons.

12 silver hafted knives, 22 oz.

2 German silver salvers, gilt, 21 oz., 7 dwt.

8 German silver salvers, gilt, 118 oz.

6 goblets and 3 vases of silver gilt, 78 oz., 15 dwt.

2 large salt sellars, 2 goblets, with covers of silver gilt, 91 oz.

1 silver teapott, gilt.

1 small silver skillet.

2 silver Indian teapotts, 30 oz.

2 pair silver branches, 138 oz.

1 pair Berlin silver candlesticks, 50 oz., 5 dwt.

3 pair small silver candlesticks, 26 oz.

2 pair silver candlesticks, gilt.

2 pair silver candlesticks, snuffers and snuff pan of same.

1 silver tea-table, 133 oz., 5 dwt.

1 silver bason on pedestal in form of stand, 79 oz., 8 dwt.

1 silver cistern pierced, supported by 4 dolphins.

1 small branched candlestick, silver gilt, 34 oz.

1 small German silver cistern, gilt, 33 oz.

2 Triangular German salt sellars, silver gilt.

1 small silver set half gilt, containing 3 small dishes, 4 plates, 1 goblet, 1 salt sellar, 1 knife, 1 spoon, and 1 fork of same, 58 oz., 2 dwt.

2 silver knobs for a grate and 5 handles for tongues fire shool, &c., and four hooks to support the fire shool, etc., all of silver.

1 German silver pott for broach and cover gilt.

1 small German barrell ornamented with silver.

1 silver clock.

2 greenish bottles with white flowers.

1 marble veind urn.

2 great beakes with serpents.

1 large beaker with colored flowers.

6 green goblets.

2 marble veind ditto.

1 large pott and cover and 2 small ones.

2 coruetts and covers.

2 coruetts without covers.

2 large coruetts.

3 large water pots.

2 bottles.

3 small bottles with colored flowers.

2 bottles, Phillimot with colored flowers.

1 pot, Phillimot and white.

8 urns.

1 large beaker.

2 small beakers.

2 beakers with figures.

2 bottles.

2 bottles of new China.

2 beakers of new China.

1 bottle all of one colour.

2 potts and covers of new China.

1 piece red china ware.

2 coruetts blew and white.

1 large dish.

2 Japan bowles.

2 green bottles.

2 coruetts and 2 beakers, blew and white.

4 green cupps.

2 small muggs.

1 small coffee colored urn with white flowers.

2 blew and white cisterns.

1 marble veind cisterns.

4 small marble veind cisterns.

1 large colored dish.

2 large green dishes.

17 green plates.

1 large blew and white dish.

6 dishes, white and colored.

11 plates, white and colored.

1 bowle of the same sort.

1 blew and white bason, dragons at the bottom.

1 large blew and white pott and cover.

1 large blew and white urns.

2 blew and white bottles.

2 yellow cupps.

1 large brown tea pott, covered with a lyon.

1 other large brown tea pott.

2 colored tea potts.

2 colored sollet dishes.

2 colored beakers with roses.

2 cupps and covers of the same.

1 bowle of the same with roses.

2 black urns with colored flowers.

2 mustard potts.

2 potts and covers.

2 large blew and white urns.

1 blew and white bowle.

1 colored Japand dish.

20 plates, the ground green with colored flowers.

2 beakers, the ground white with circles.

1 bowle, the ground white, with colored circles.

1 teapot, the ground white, with colored circles.

2 other tea potts.

4 salvers with vine blossoms.

6 green dishes.

The above inventory deserves most careful study, since it reveals so minutely the character of the objects that were to be found in the house of a noble lady who moved in the highest court circles during the reign of Queen Anne. The list of pictures that she left to her grandson has not been reproduced here; they were principally family portraits, and other pictures by the celebrated French painters of the early part of the reign of Louis XIV. These pictures, of course, had been brought over to England when the Marquise was exiled. Considering, however, that she had lived for thirty years in London till her death in 1722, the great bulk of the furniture in the above inventory must have been “Queen Anne.”

A study of the items, however, shows that some of them, especially those marked very old, were purely Louis XIV. Others, especially the chairs that matched the beds, were probably of the Marot school.

The Oriental goods are particularly noticeable, especially the lacquer screens and Indian stuffs. The china also shows that the Marquise followed the prevailing taste. It is to be noted that there is no mention of mahogany, and the wood that appears to be most in favour is the Calembour. This is otherwise known as eagle wood, a sweet-scented species of aloes that comes from the East.

The Dutch influence that prevailed during this period naturally resulted in marquetry coming into very high favour. The ordinary cabinet woods were inlaid in geometrical, floral and animal patterns with the warmer and more beautiful tints of the exotic woods. Complete pictures were often formed on broad surfaces, such as table tops, and narrower surfaces were also decorated in this manner. Plate XXIII., No. 7, shows a small chest-of-drawers, or dressing-table, of this period, with inlaid floral ornamentation on the legs. This dates from about the beginning of the Queen Anne period. Typical objects of this class, dating between 1690 and 1710, are described as follows:

A dressing-table veneered with walnut containing three drawers with brass handles has the faces of the drawers inlaid with boxwood and ebony. A band of inlay also ornaments the top. The four legs are cabriole with web feet. A dressing-table, contains two deep drawers and a central one with brass key-plates and handles. On the lower side the front is cut into three cusps with two pendants between them. A chest-of-drawers, veneered with walnut, contains two short drawers and three long ones, inlaid on their faces with narrow strips of sycamore and rosewood. Around the top is a deep cornice, below which is a deep rounded moulding forming the face of a drawer in front. The chest is placed on a stand, containing three drawers, upon short turned legs. The front is cut into cusps and curves on the lower side. Another chest-of-drawers veneered, contains three long drawers below and two small drawers above, and a shallow drawer in the stand upon which the chest rests. The chest is surmounted by a cornice and the stand by a moulding. The lower part is cut into three circular arches, with a decorative beading. The feet are four square piers resting upon turned discs. Each side is cut into a flat arch without beading. Another chest-of-drawers contains five drawers, with handles and key-plates of or moulu, the whole of walnut decorated with inlaid arabesque ornaments in oval medallions. A combination dressing-table and secretary with a swinging glass, the whole of walnut, decorated with beading and moulding. The dressing-table stands on four cabriole legs carved with a shell ornament. The looking-glass of walnut slightly carved and gilt, the glass bevelled at the edges.

Of cabinets, we may note a walnut cabinet supported on four spirally turned legs with curved stretchers, opening with two doors and furnished with brass lock-plates. A cabinet of oak standing on large turned feet. It has a flat top with a slightly overhanging moulded edge. At the top is a drawer and below it two doors shutting in six drawers. The drawers and doors are panelled and moulded, with turned ebonized handles in the centre of each panel. The sides of the cabinet are also panelled. A cabinet of various kinds of wood, on a stand of oak with four spirally turned legs and stretchers of the same. The outside doors veneered with pollard oak, the centre with hexagonal pieces of thorn acacia. Eleven drawers are enclosed within. The cornice is of pear-wood at the sides and walnut in front, the drawers at the top below the cornice are of burr walnut.

Two dressing-tables from engravings of the day are shown in Nos. 1 and 3, Plate XXIII. No. 1. is properly draped with the toilet, usually muslin, but often of richer material. On the same plate, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, are details both of simple and more ornate mirrors of this style. No. 5 is especially good with its carvings, gildings and inlaid leaf ornamentation. The glasses in the mirrors were gradually increasing in size as the manufacturers became more skillful. Nos. 2 and 3, Plate XIX., show two oval mirrors of different proportions. No. 3 is a specially fine example, as it shows so many of the contemporary decorative motives, including the mascaron, shell, chute, swag, scroll and wings.

The handles for cabinets, chests-of-drawers, etc., were of various shapes, but the brass drop-handle was the most usual. Its length for average drawers was two inches. The ordinary model is reproduced in No. 6, Plate XXIII.

The tables still retained the late Jacobean characteristics shown in No. 8, Plate XXIII. Far more common, however, were the so-called “thousand-legged” tables with round or square leaves and horse legs. The legs were becoming slimmer and still connected with the centre frame by stretchers close to the ground.

The display of china had developed a new piece of furniture. Dyche thus defines it in 1748: “Buffet, a handsome open cupboard or repository for plate, glasses, china, etc., which are put there either for ornament or convenience of serving the table,” and Chambers, 1751:

“Beaufait, Buffet, or Bufet, was anciently a little apartment separated from the rest of the room by slender wooden columns, for the disposing china and glassware, etc., also called a cabinet. It is now, properly, a large table in a dining-room, called also a sideboard, for the plate, glasses, bottles, basons, etc., to be placed, as well for the service of the table as for magnificence. The buffet, among the Italians, called credenza, within a balustrade, elbow-high.”

Sometimes the “beaufait” consisted of a tier of shelves built into a niche in the wall of the dining-room. Even in the Queen Anne period, however, the word was sometimes used to signify a table. Murray quotes (1718): “The plate was placed upon a table or buffett.” The word in the sense of sideboard as we know it to-day came from France. In 1710 D’Aviler says: “Bufet; in a vestibule or a dining-room, a large table with stages in the style of a credence upon which are displayed the vases, the basins, and the cristal as much for the service at the table as for magnificence. This Bufet, which the Italians calls credence, is with them usually placed in the great salon and closed in by a balustrade breast high. Those belonging to princes and cardinals stand under a daÏs of cloth.”