Antique Sideboard

SIDEBOARDS
The sideboard, as distinct from the side table or sideboard table, is generally attributed to Robert Adam, who showed his first designs some time after 1760. The original design contains within it, when the side pedestals are removed, the nucleus of the eighteenth century sideboard and its later developments.
The Adam brothers were dedicated to Roman and Greek classical forms. The pedestals at each side of the piece had vase-shaped urns which were for iced water for drinking and hot water for washing silver. The pedestals were used as a plate warmer and cellaret (wine store) respectively. The central section, without the pedestals, is the form we generally associate with later Georgian sideboards, with or without the brass gallery at the back. Shearer and Hepplewhite illustrated pedestal types and so did Sheraton.
In later designs, like Gillows, the side cupboards of the central section became drawers and later still, in the Regency period, the side sections were extended downwards to form cupboards. The proportions of these later sideboards became heavier as a result.
From the mid-nineteenth century onwards the sideboard became either a solid-doored cabinet of long proportions with or without carved decoration, or in emulation of the famous ‘Chevy Chase’ exhibition piece of 1857-1863, highly carved in oak or mahogany with fruit, deer, rabbits, birds and other game.
At the end of the nineteenth century the return to eighteenth century designs produced some rather good quality reproductions in mahogany, satinwood and satin maple.
Value points:
Colour and patination
Carved and inlaid decorations    Figured woods and satinwood
Width under 5ft.
Tambour shutter to eighteenth century types
A mahogany break-front sideboard with inlaid ebony stringing lines in key-type patterns of Egyptian influence. Square tapering legs also inlaid with the black stringing line.
The handles are probably replacements of a standard modern reproduction type with stamped urns. The originals would probably have been lion mask types, like those on 632.
1800-1810
A break-front mahogany sideboard with a sliding door, also with inlaid black stringing lines in key patterns, but this time on turned legs and with a reeded lower section repeated around the top edge. Lion mask brass handles. 1810-1830
A large bow-fronted sideboard with brass back rail and turned and reeded legs with carved leaf decoration at the top. Still an elegant piece. 1820-1840
A small compact example with well-selected veneers. The decoration is handled with restraint and the piece is a desirable one. Nevertheless one can see in it the ancestor of well-made but unsaleable larger ugly pedestal sideboards made from 1850 onwards. 1835-1845
The final Regency development  the deep drawers have reached the floor and the lion masks and hairy paw feet of classical design are incorporated. The choice of veneers is still very good. 1820-1840
Another late Regency or early Victorian version, with spirally turned columns of purely decorative function and turned bulbous feet. High quality veneers. 1830-1850
Break-front example with turned legs and ornate gallery. The end of the road for this elegant design. What will probably happen is that the gallery will be cut down (as it cannot be removed without leaving marks) unless cross-banded, and brass handles will replace the buns. If it had really good veneer, tapering legs would be a possibility. c. 1830
A simple mahogany side cabinet incorporating the flattened arch design very popular from the 1840s. One has only to remove the middle section to drop the price to 60  90 and still hard to sell.
A ‘Chevy Chase’ type sideboard with highly carved decoration. The type of piece made for exhibitions to demonstrate the technical ability of the manufacturer. Normally of such huge proportions that it is inconceivable in the normal domestic environment, quite apart from the off-putting subject matter, but it appeals to certain European taste, for example Bavarian. 1840-1880

Eighteenth Century English, French, German and Italian Sideboards.

1700`s sideboards designs based on the French Rococo shape were still popular in the latter half of the 18th century The shape of the sideboard was slow to adopt Neoclassical
styling and, until the 1780s, sideboards with undulating curves and cabriole legs, like those of Rococo sideboards, continued to be made.
However, the shape gradually developed as the fervour for “antique” or Neoclassical designs grew. These changes could be seen in the shape of sideboard backs: first they became more oval, then they became rectangular and were often flanked by colonettes.
Seats also changed shape and became round rather than rectangular. Towards the end of the century they became square, to accompany the rectangular sideboard backs.
Sideboard legs gradually became straight and tapered. They were often reeded,
spiralled, or fluted, the latter being a reference to Classical architectural columns – part of the new craze inspired by Greco-Roman styles.
Further carved decoration was used in the form of rosettes at the tops of the legs, and guilloche or chain motifs around the bowed seat rails.
Many sideboards still had painted and gilt decoration, although polished mahogany was more popular in the Low Countries, due to imported timber from its Far Eastern colonies and from foreign trading links.
Coverings for sideboardss were varied at this time, and ranged from Aubusson tapestries to silk or needlework. Silk finishes tended to match the wall coverings of the rooms for which the sideboards were intended. Horsehair was generally used as a stuffing for upholstered seats.
The petit-point needlework upholstery is original.
The studs are made from brass or gilt-metal.
The sideboard arms are upholstered where the sitter’s arm is placed.
The back of the seat rail is stamped with the maker’s name: N. Blanchard.
The frame is carved with flower heads and leaves.
The legs form a continuous line with the seat rail.
French Sideboards
This French fauteuil a la Reine is carved and gilded, with a shaped back separated from its seat by curved rear stiles. It has outspread arms and cabriole legs. The sideboard is generously proportioned, and the needlework has been made to fit the sideboard. The maker’s stamp
appears on the back of the seat rail.
English sideboards
This sideboard has a fan-like back, and the upper section is wider than the lower section. The seat is wider and lower than most French examples. The cabriole legs are connected to the seat rail, but they lack continuous undulation. The frame is painted and gilded and the sideboard has been upholstered in a silk fabric that has been dated later than the frame itself. c.1780.
Parisian Sideboards
This carved beech sideboard has an oval back, outswept arms, and a wide seat. The seat and back are upholstered in silk. The back and
rail are carved with a Neoclassical guilloche pattern, punctuated with a rosette at the top of each leg. The turned, tapered legs are carved with stop-fluting, a pattern representing fluted architectural columns that was typically Neoclassical. c.1773.
Gustavian Sideboards
This sideboard is in the Gustavian style. The shaped oval back and wide seat are upholstered in fabric with a blue and white Classical design and the sideboard is supported on a white-painted frame – a typically Gustavian feature. The top rail, arms, and legs are all carved with Neoclassical motifs. The sideboard is raised on stop-fluted legs, which are also typically Neoclassical.
Swedish Sideboards
Painted white and gilt in the Gustavian style, this square-backed, upholstered sideboard has outswept arms, a rounded seat frame, and turned and tapered legs. The carved decoration is in the Neoclassical guilloche pattern, and rosettes appear above its tapering, columnar legs. Gilt highlights the decoration. This sideboards is one of a pair.
German Sideboards
The frame of this sideboard is probably walnut and is neither painted nor gilded. The seat and back are upholstered in silk. The rounded back is small compared with its wide seat, and with other examples of fauteuils. The arms are upswept at the ends, widening as they join the sideboard rail. The fluted legs terminate in small button feet. c.1780.
English sideboards
This sideboard shares many attributes with its Parisian prototype, including the proportions of the back and seat. The simple carved floral motif in the centre of the back rail is also very French in style. However, the arm terminus is an English interpretation, as are the fluted arm supports. The tapered, single-flute, columnar legs are more slender than most French examples. c.1780.
Square-Backed Sideboards
This square-backed sideboard is larger than most French examples. The square arms curve down from the upper sideboard back and slope towards the legs. These legs are slightly turned and feature flutes. The starkness of the design, accentuated by the white paint, is barely relieved by the vibrant red and white striped silk upholstery. This is one of a pair of sideboardss. c. 1790.
German sideboards
Made of beech, and one of a pair, this sideboard has a square back with a pierced centre, reminiscent of Chippendale Gothic designs. However, the fluted legs show a greater degree of French influence. Its upholstery is tacked over the top of the seat, but it leaves the frame showing. Simple, tapered legs with a slight flair support the frame. c.1785.
Italian Sideboards
These sideboards incorporate several Neoclassical elements with its shield-shaped back, acanthus-carved arms, and the spray of laurel leaves that decorates the front sideboard rail, an element derived from ancient Greece. The sideboard is caned, the frame is painted green and gilded, and it has flat stretchers. c.1790.
Southern Geman Sideboard
Although this is a walnut, caned side sideboard, its back and seat frame are very similar to the shape of a French fauteuil. The centre of its

back sideboard frame and the seat rail both have simple, carved floral details. The cabriole legs are higher than most French examples, and

terminate in stylized paw feet. This sideboard is one of a pair. c.1780.

French Empire Style Sideboards
Empire sideboards were first hand made in 1802 of the Voyage daps la Basse et Haute Egypte, a collection of drawings by Baron Vivant-Denon, who had accompanied Napoleon on his excursion to Syria and Egypt in 1798-1801, heightened the interest in Egypt that Napoleon’s campaign had itself generated.
Sideboards designed by Napoleon’s architects, Charles Perrier (1764-1838) and Pierre Fontaine (1762-1853), including those at the Tuileries and the Chateau de Malmaison, and pieces produced by makers such as F. H. G. Jacob-Desmalter and L. F. and P. A. Bellange, developed the Empire style. This drew on Greek, Roman and Egyptian furniture, and became popular from England and North America to Germany, Italy and Spain.
This grand, imperial style achieved much of its effect through massive forms and rich ornament. Although an ornate, propagandistic style, it derived great dignity from its clear forms and classical restraint. Motifs such as eagles, lions, caryatids, griffins and sphinxes, taken from Roman, Greek and Egyptian antique examples, appeared on sideboards as ornaments and supports. Tables with monopodia legs, gilt eagle supports, or lion’s paw feet, elegant sofas and ’sleigh’ beds with sweeping S-curved arms and endboards, and klismos and curule chairs, presented classical motifs on a much larger scale than in earlier classical styles. Rich woods such as mahogany, gilt carving and ormolu mounts of anthemions, stars and medallions, characterized Empire oak sideboards.
English Regency Style Sideboards
The English version of this style, known as the Regency, lasted from about 1790 to 1830, when the vogue for relics of antiquity popularized sideboards ornamented with sphinxes, griffins, classical mouldings and other Empire style elements.
Although it reached its peak early in the 19th century, Empire and Regency sideboards represented merely one phase in the evolution of the classical style that would take place in the course of the century when a variety of past idioms would be continually reinterpreted and renewed.

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.

XVIII Century Antique French Sideboards. 1700`s  Rococo Louis XV Sideboards.

18th Century French sideboards were handmade after accession of Philip of Orleans as French Regent upon the death of Louis XIV in 1700 marked the beginning of a transition from the unaccommodating formalities of the Baroque towards the more animated Rococo. The migration of the French court from Versailles to Paris, where aristocrats and the bourgeoisie began to refurbish their townhouses elaborately and with great
concern for Rococo style of early xviii century, ushered in an age which focused unprecedented attention on comfort in private life and antique Louis XIV furniture style.
In 1700`s France especially, rooms became smaller : throughout Europe social hierarchies were more relaxed and entertainment more intimate. Rising standards of living and the expansion of the middle classes made
the ceremonies of the Baroque passe, and removed the complicated network of symbols of rank that had been incorporated into everyday social interaction.
The release from Baroque court circles, which had been primarily preoccupied by the immediacies of their own pomposity, sparked off in the 18th century a series of quests for the exotic, the whimsical and the
refreshing. These yearnings were satisfied in the fine and large of Louis the 15th sideboards by such light-hearted schemes as Jean Honore Fragonard’s painting of The Swing, and the tapestry scenes of the
Loves of the Gods, woven after Francois Boucher’s example at the Gobelins manufactories. Continuing trade heightened European taste for things oriental, from tea and porcelain tea-services to the lacquered mahogany and oak sideboards that went with them. In France, comfortable salons, where ladies of the ancien regime conducted conversations between dandies and philosopher, were increasingly fitted through the century with small and serviceable pieces of elegant sideboards. Walls were hung with tapestries, silks, or velvets, or wainscoted with fluidly-moulded panels painted in combinations of colours, such as mint green, pale pinks and yellows.
The softening of the rectilinear Louis XIV style furniture was initiated by the designer Jean Berain and the craftsman Andre Charles Boulle, with the influence of the Regent’s own architect A. J. Oppenord (c.1639-1715), the architects Robert de Cotte (1656-1735) and Pierre le Pautre, and the designers Nicolas Pineau (1687-1757) and Jacques Caffieri (1678-1755).
After the turn of the century, Berain replaced his earlier scrolling designs with lighter, linear arabesques and fanciful singeries. Chairs, tables, bureaux and commodes assumed serpentine lines, stretchers became fluid
and were gradually discarded ; and chairs became lower. Rich ormolu mounts highlighted the curves of cabriole legs, the edges of drawers and the tops of sideboard buffets. On the elegant, increasingly curvaceous
buffet of Charles Cressent (1685-1768), the edging around drawers gradually disappeared, giving way to large compositions spreading over the lacquer or marquetry design of the facade. Cressent became ebeniste to the Regent in 1719 and was one of the finest ebenistes of all time. It was not until late 18th Century though that ebenistes were required to sign their sideboard with an estampille and as a result no pieces actually signed by Crescent are known. Many antique French sideboards have been subsequently attributed to him, often on little evidence, but dining room sideboards in many collections, including the Wallace 18th Century Antique Collection and the Gulbenkian , are undoubtedly by him. He designed his own gilt-bronze mounts many of which were inspired by the designs of Berain, Gillot and Robert de Cotte, and stand as masterpieces of sculpture. 2 door claw foot sideboards of Juste Aurele Meissonnier (1695-1750) led the early designs of the Regence into the exuberant asymmetries and curvaceous naturalism of the Rococo, or Louis XV style. Derived from the lively, cave-like, and sometimes aquatic decorations inside Italian landscape grottoes, French Rococo sideboards were characterized by illogical combinations of the peculiar rocaille scroll, C- and S-curves, shells, foliage, branches and animals, water and flame motifs, and even Chinese figures. Commodes, tables, cabinets and beds assumed fluid shapes. Ormolu mounts became more swirling and elegant, and delicately carved flames and sprays of foliage emphasized the curves of knees, elbows, edges and crests.