Antique 18th Century Neo Classical and Adam Sideboards
Antique Neo Classical and Adam Sideboards
English Neo Classical sideboard. The satinwood and yew tambour shutter opens to reveal a fitted desk interior. Beneath this is a long drawer with a frieze. The scrolling foliage pattern, brass ring pulls, and etched
wyverns are all typical Neoclassical motifs. The sideboards has square, inlaid, tapering legs and brass feet on casters.
Neoclassical design lies in ancient Greece and Rome. It was initially inspired by architecture, as there were no examples of ancient sideboards until after the excavation of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the mid 18th
century Thus, early Neoclassical sideboards tends to use architectural motifs adhered to in standard sideboards forms, such as acanthus leaves, swags and foliage, guilloche bands, and scrolls. The use of these motifs was not new, as they were employed as ornament in both the Renaissance and Baroque periods. What was new was how the motifs were adapted, added to, and incorporated within the decorative schemes
encountered through travel on the Grand Tour and the discoveries made in ancient sites.
French Mahogany Wooden Sideboards
France was the first country to embrace mahogany sideboards, although it was not until late 1700`s that the final vestiges of Rococo were erased from the decorative library. The French furniture of taste, the Comte de Caylus (1692-1765), was instrumental in introducing Classicism, including Classical sideboards, to France, publishing in 1752 the first of seven volumes of Recueilk d’antiduites egyptiennes, etruscanes, grecques et romaines, in which he discussed and illustrated the tastes and styles of the ancient world.
Mahogany Neoclassical sideboards tends to be rectangular and lacks curves. This did not happen at once, as larger pieces often remained in stock after fashions had changed and cabinet-makers adapted the Rococo
forms by applying Neoclassical decoration. In this French transitional style, serpentine shapes were gradually straightened and cabriole legs evolved into turned or tapered legs. Chair backs were rectangular or oval with turned legs, often fluted in reference to Classical architectural columns.
Throughout the Neoclassical period, building booms influenced the production of furnishings. More palaces were built in Russia in the second half of the 18th century than in any other European country. These new
buildings, and refurbished older buildings, required new sideboards, as most of the existing pieces lacked sufficient pomp and majesty for Catherine the Great’s court. Most Russian sideboards was imported front Paris, as Russian taste tended to emulate French style. The German ebeniste, David Roentgen , made sideboards specifically For his Russian clientele that was far more flamboyant than French court sideboards.
Adam Style Sideboards.
The Neoclassical style in England — home to the innovative architecture of Robert Adam — adapted some French forms such as the commode and the “French chair”. Adam’s sideboards complemented the light colours used in his interiors and textiles, and painted decoration featured more than
Parisian gueridon Made of rosewood, kingwood, and sycamore, this table is inlaid with musical instruments and has a brass gallery.
in its French Counterparts. Greek vase paintings greatly influenced Adam, and lie often used painted panels in his work; these might be the central panel of a demi-lune or rectangular commode, or a centred rounded at the top of a pier glass flanked by carved maidens and urns. Thomas Chippendale also worked in the
Neoclassical style, producing a pair of rectangular pedestals with urns, a sideboard table, and wine cooler for the dining room at Hardwood House. For this commission he used circular inlaid medallions on the pedestals with carved swags and rams’ heads above, to match the other pieces.
The pattern books published by George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton simplified Adam’s sideboards designs for the mass market. Their designs were hugely influential, particularly in America. sideboards in this style is termed Federal style after the new US government and often features the official symbol of the American eagle. Swedish sideboards from this time is referred to as Gustavian after King Gustav III who admired the work of the French cabinet-makers so much that lie invited them to work in Sweden. When he could not afford to pay them, they returned home, but left their sideboards style as a lasting legacy. Danish sideboards was simpler and often made from darker woods. Decoration was limited to dentil moulding, the Greek key motif, and rosettes.
European sideboards fashion tended to fellow French or English Neoclassical taste in antique furniture: in Spain, the north was inspired by English styles, while in the south, Neo classical and Adam sideboards were dominant.
pink gold ring strun01
inizianello white gold and diamonds
gold turquoise ring giallo18ktperl ae
reversible mirror bench for goldsmiths
bliss pearl ring and beads
Tags: Adam Sideboards, Adam Style, Antique, Baroque, commode, English, French, french furniture, furniture, Mahogany, neo classical, Neoclassical, Renaissance, Rococo Sideboards, sideboard, Thomas Chippendale, Wooden