Elizabethan and Jacobean furniture
Elizabethan and Jacobean furniture is the form the Renaissance took in England in furniture and ornament - a distinctive national interpretation of continental models made roughly from the reign of Elizabeth I to that of James I. Built mostly in oak by joiners, it favors heavy, architectural construction covered with carving, inlay and applied ornament drawn on pattern books of strapwork, heraldry and grotesque figures. Where Italian and French furniture of the period stayed close to classical models, English makers mixed them with native carpentry traditions, producing pieces of sturdy and sometimes restless inventiveness. Surviving examples - refectory tables, box settles, four-poster beds and great court cupboards - define the look of the Elizabethan and Jacobean great house.
Defining characteristics
- Solid oak construction in joined, framed-panel techniques
- Dense carving: strapwork, heraldic crests, grotesque figures and scrolled foliage
- Bulbous, cup-and-cover turned legs and stretchers on tables and beds
- Inlay and marquetry in contrasting woods, sometimes boxwood and bog oak
- Monumental court cupboards, refectory tables and carved four-poster beds
Example works
- The Great Bed of Ware — Unknown maker (c. 1590-1600)
Sources
- Elizabethan and Jacobean furniture - Wikipedia encyclopedia