Benchmade Furniture - About Style

About Style

When we started this project, this web site, my webmeister (Mistress Jane) and I had many long discussions about presentation. Her position is that those who surf the web have short attention spans and when confronted with blocks of text their fingers tend to drift toward the "home" button. She insists on the KISS principle, Keep It Simple Stupid.

I, conversely, believe that my customers are exceptional; that they take the investment in fine furniture seriously. That they want assurance that the guy they are buying from knows what he is talking about. They want to know that their purchase will always get the "oh-wow" response from friends and relatives rather than "That's nice", or worse "Why, Mrs. Southampton-Plimpton bought one just like it for her maid". So, we are inserting this exegesis to familiarize you with the terms I sprinkle freely throughout the following catalog. As a concession to Mistress Jane I agreed to include the following warning for the unwary.

CAUTION! The following is tedious and academic. Do not read without proper supervision. Do not operate equipment, machinery or vehicles while reading this text. Studies have indicated that alcohol may be an enhancement but use cautiously. Side effects include a feeling of empowerment and heightened sense of awareness. If symptoms persist consult your local librarian.

Enough silliness. What follows in a discussion of the major trends in American furniture, by period, from the Pilgrims up to the decades before the Civil War. The major periods are as follows:

The Puritan Century......1620-1690
William and Mary.........1690-1720
Queen Anne...............1720-1750
Chippendale..............1750-1775

American Revolution
Hepplewhite..............1785-1820
Sheraton.................1790-1830
American Empire..........1820-1840

Shaker (Classic).........1815-1850

The Puritan Century 1620-1690
The period was dominated by Jocabean and Carolinean furniture styles from England. Medieval in character the choice of types was limited. Footless press cupboards and boxes were common. Wood turners made bed steads, spindle chairs and stools. Benches, table-chairs, slat back chairs and trestle tables round out the inventory. Pieces were undecorated or decorated in low carved relief. The overall proportion is one of mass that is almost architectural.

Shown below are a spindle chair and a carved frame and panel construction box:

William and Mary 1690-1720
The Glorious Revolution in England rid the country of the hated Scottish Stuart clan and replaced them with relatives from Holland. This brought about a sea change in English furniture design that was nothing short of dramatic. New concepts included large plain panels joined at the corners with dovetail joints. The use of hardwood burls and other fancy woods for decoration became common. Feet, ball and turnip turned, appeared on case pieces. Cabinets and cases were elevated off the floor on gracefully turned spiral and trumpet-turned legs. Molded cornices make their appearance. New types include the highboy, lowboy, day bed, slant front desk, and drop leaf and tavern tables. Teardrop handles are du rigor. The overall effect is proportionally balanced.

Shown below are a highboy, c 1700, teardrop pulls and chaste key estucheons:

Queen Anne 1720-1750
Queen Anne is Wm.&Mary refined. The caribole leg is introduced and is, with the highboy, the icon of the style. Short legs on case pieces are of the scrolled bracket pattern. Carving reappears in the form of delicate shells and sunbursts on drawers and front panels and the knee of the legs. New furniture types include the corner cupboard, sofa, gaming table, Windsor chair, and wing chair. Hardware is bat's wing and bail. The overall effect is that of light and effortless grace.

Shown below are a highboy, c 1730, a windsor chair, and bat wing pulls and key estucheons:

Chippendale 1750-1775
Thomas Chippendale lends his name to this style. For the first time mercantilists and entrepreneurs usurped the names of reigning monarchs for styles. His designs were broadcast throughout the empire in his book, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1754). Characteristically Chippendale absorbed the influences of the nationalities flowing into British ports. European designs played an important role but a major influence was China, a rage throughout the period in all of the graphic arts. Carving was continued from the Queen Anne in a more robust and overall application. For instance, the caribole leg, never as tall as earlier, became deeply carved ending in a ball and claw foot. Drawer handles are almost universally the willow and bail type. New styles include chest-on-chest, linen presses, tilt-top table, knee-hole desk, and sideboard table. The overall effect is that of great mass of the kind not seen since 1690.

Shown below are a highboy, c 1770, a chest with ogee bracket feet, and willow pattern pulls and estucheons:

Hepplewhite 1785-1820
Restrained elegance is the term applied to the styling of George Hepplewhite. Like his predecessor he broadcast his designs in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide (1788). The styles are based on straight perpendicular lines, horizontal curves and the imaginative and, often, elaborate use of contrasting inlay and veneers. Like the caribole leg of earlier times the slender tapered leg is the icon of the Hepplewhite style. Large case pieces have delicate out-turned French bracket feet. The use of inlay supplanting Chippendale's carving appears as simple string inlay on drawer borders to intricate fans, festoons, urns and swags of contrasting woods. Inhabitants of the newly formed American republic were particularly fond of eagle motifs, both, as inlay and as ornament on the stamped oval handle escutcheons. New styles include sideboard, two- and three-part dining tables, demi-lune card table, tambour desk, breakfront secretary and field bed. The latter ensured the English officer a good night's sleep while pressing Welsh and Irish conscripts in the conquest of an empire. The overall effect is the return of lightness and grace and the reduction of mass.

Shown below are a demilune table with tapered legs, a chest with french bracket feet, and stamped pulls and estucheons:

Sheraton 1790-1820
Sheraton is the third in the series of 18th Century design geniuses who lend their name to enduring styles. He, too, broadcast his work in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book (1791). Sheraton's early work also emphasized straight lines but he used slender turned and reeded legs. Delicate low relief carving is used instead of inlay but matched crotch and burl veneers are used to effect. Columns are often used to decorate the corners of cabinets, chests and even clock hoods. Later Sheraton work is influenced by the French Directoire style. New pieces include fancy painted chairs, pedestal tables; and mirrors are attached to chests of drawers for the first time. Hardware includes rectangular stamped plates, rosettes and lions heads. Sheraton shares much with Hepplewhite. They were contemporaries and copied from each other shamelessly. The overall general effect of early Sheraton is light but not as light as Hepplewhite and not as massive as Chippendale.

Shown below are a directoire chair, sheraton stamped plates, and lion's head pulls:

American Empire 1820-1840
American Empire is a continuation of French inspired Late Sheraton as seen in his Designs for Household Furniture (1812). Greek and Roman, and some Egyptian, motifs continue from the Directoire period. Pineapple and acanthus leaf carvings appear along with a more lavish use of matching crotch grain veneer. New pieces include sleigh bed, Grecian couch, Boston rocker and the Hitchcock chair. Mushroom shaped turned wooden knobs and pressed glass knobs make their first appearance. Mass is increased considerably and finally all pretense of lightness, grace and refinement is tanked in the following Victorian period.

Shown below are Empire metal and pressed glass knobs:

Shaker (Classic) 1815-1850
The popularization of things Shaker in the last decade has not been accompanied by an equal expansion of popular understanding. What follows is a thumbnail sketch of what the Shakers were and were not.

The Shakers are a uniquely American phenomenon. Millennial movements occurred throughout American history but the 'United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing' as the Shakers knew themselves is singular in its impact on American culture. Mother Ann Lee, their founder, stressed simplicity in living. Her motto was "Hands to work, hearts to God" and her followers pursued this mission with single-minded determination. Mother Ann died in 1784, the year the meetinghouse was built at Mt. Lebanon, NY. By 1826, eighteen more communities had been established throughout New England and the Ohio River Valley in Ohio and Kentucky. Most of these grew into handsome, prosperous self-sustaining communities. The products of their industry affected the believer and worldly alike. Every carpenter can thank Sister Tabitha Babbitt of the Harvard community for inventing the circular saw blade in 1810. A Lions Club fund-raiser wouldn't be the same without the flat sewn broom. The discussion of their other many contributions is simply too involved for the space available and any book on Shaker crafts will touch on these.

Shaker society was organized around the family. The Shakers, who were celibate, drew converts from all strata of society and were organized into economic or work units called families. One to five families formed a community and two communities formed a bishopric. Converted cabinetmakers came equipped with worldly knowledge of the prevailing styles and masters established themselves in the dominant community in each bishopric. The influence of the masters, an institutional apprentice system and long communal history resulted in the cabinetry of each bishopric evolving distinguishing characteristics from others. Thus, there is no Shaker style but Shaker tradition encompassing several styles. The evolution of the Shaker tradition is more complicated than I make out, but the historical record is obscured . Many communities were dispersed and sold off in the early 20th Century before records could be preserved, so these data are lost. Some communities were moved to sister communities. These collections, along with the work of early secular collectors and museums, form the corpus of our knowledge of Shaker cabinetmaking.

The Shaker ethic demanded unadorned simplicity in all aspects of life but Shaker craftsmen still produced beautiful timeless pieces of elegance and grace, yet, the discerning eye can still detect the genesis of the various Shaker traditions. Hepplewhite inspired tapered legs appear on the Alfred table and the french foot became the cut foot of Mt. Lebanon case pieces. Sheraton influence can be seen in the delicate turned legs on the Enfield table. Chippendale appears in the bracket feet on the base of Canterbury case pieces. The Harvard arch finds reflection in English Regency (Empire) design. The Ohio and Kentucky bishoprics were the most willing to adopt wordly styles. The Hepplewhite inspiration in some case pieces is more copy than distillation and in others the strong corner posts with turned feet below shows a definite Empire pedigree. Country craftsmen throughout the East interpreted high-style furniture with similar results but the Shakers did them one better. The significance of Shaker design is this: it's the best of the best in country craftsmanship, collections were kept together for us to study as traditions rather than isolated objects, and it has inspired imitation, such as, Arts and Crafts movement, the German Bauhaus and Danish Modern style.

The Shaker pieces included in this catalog are identified with one of several communities. You will notice that Mt. Lebanon, NY is represented by more examples than the other communities. This is one whose furniture inventory was saved in 1947 by moving it to Hancock, Mass., and then to Canterbury, NH in 1957. The community identification used here is based on one of these factors: 1) a design characteristic exclusively or predominantly used at the community, or, 2) a design characteristic that originated at a particular community, or, 3) a design characteristic common to all or many communities but most highly refined at a particular one.

Style innovation was most often found on the bases of case pieces. Mt. Lebanon was distinctive for its cut foot base, Harvard for its arch, Canterbury for its ogee foot. The western communities of Mt. Pleasant and Union Village on the Ohio River copied Hepplewhite skirts faithfully interpreted Empire with strong corner posts and turned feet. The ubiquitous tapered leg of the Shaker table is identified with Alfred, sister community to Sabbath Day Lake, Maine, where an early example was found. Slender turned small table legs were identified with Enfield, NH.

More information on origins is contained in the discussions in the catalog. There are many books on the Shakers and their crafts; The Complete Book of Shaker Furniture, printed by Abrams is probably the most comprehensive. The Shaker tradition is explored there better then I can summarize it here.

Shown below are several different base styles. From left to right, they are: Mt. Lebanon, Harvard, Canterbury, Hepplewhite inspired, and Empire inspired.