HID: QUIZ 4 - American Colonial Period (1620-1730)

Colonial period

• most brought little furniture so furniture making became a very important trade

English Renaissance

• tudor style

• half timber construction

• Wood was the most available
  material

• plaster and brick infill used in England was not available yet in America

• climate discouraged exposed framing

• overlapping Shingles or Clapboards used

  
  

Salt Box

• The typical early colonial American house was simply an English medieval house with a wooden exterior

• small windows w/ leaded glass

• The shape of the house was common due to the wind and winter weather

• built on no no foundation

• no electricity, heating, plumbing

• Queen Anne’s tax on houses over 1 story heavily influenced the saltbox style because you were able to use the top floor as a full space

Cat Slide Roof

slanted roof on salt box homes

any roof on one side that extends down below the main eve height providing greater under the roof without an increase in the ridge height

17th Century

• reflects late medieval renaissance traditions

• furniture like chests were made of oak and constructed with straight members joined at right angles

• they’re sturdy, massive, low horizontal, proportions

• lots of surface ornamentation due to rigid rectilinear design

• horizontal proportions

• storage chests brought with colonists

Bun Foot

Searle & Dennis

• best documented furniture makers

• excessively intricate designs

Turned

• shaped wood w/ chisels and gouges white it’s turned on a lathe

• they were cheaper because of the speed in which it could be produced and the simple joints

Joined

• joined together straight wooden boards shaped w/ axes and saws

• smoothed with planes

• more complicated rectangular mortise and tenon joints that took more time to layout, saw and fit

Mortise & Tenon

• joint

• the technique in which pieces are joined

Finials

decorative top cap on back of chair

Spindles

vertical decorative element on back of chairs

stretchers

bars that hold chair legs together

Stile

bars that hold back of chair and finials

Ladder Back Chair

• also known as slat back chair

• has both turned and joined elements

• rush seat made of natural reed

• front legs and stile are turned

• horizontal spindles are joined

William & Mary

• baroque style combined various continental and Asian influences to create furniture forms that were richer, more curvilinear, w/ vertical proportions

• new furniture forms like dining tables, high chests, desks, and easy chairs

• focus on comfort and luxury

• thin sheets of wood were glued to front of things for more detailing

WM: Furniture

• broke away from solid horizontal massing and rectilinear outlines

• became more slender and vertically oriented w/ tall backs and gracefully turned posts and legs

Case Pieces

• lifted off the floor and precautious supported on delicately turned legs

• dovetailing

Dovetailing

• case sides and fronts that were fastened w/ interlocking joints that resemble the shape of a tail of a dove

• allowed for use of thinner boards and lent itself to lighter, more vertically oriented construction

Gate Leg

• folding table

• leaves supported by single or double winged legs(gates)

• bulky turnings on thick legs

• very practical in small houses

• the gate leg opens up to support the leaf that lifts up to extend the table

winged back easy chair

made for comfort

not a widespread style