18th Century Furniture Piece Analysis

The eighteenth century is represented by a variety of furniture styles. The eighteenth century represents the period of making cabinets. The artists who specialized in furniture were highly trained to ensure that they can create various designs of furniture that different suite interest. Diverse furniture designs were made in the 18th century (Martin, 2017). Frick Collection provides the great art collections in the furniture in the eighteenth century. The arts are present in Henry's mansion in the New York City. The 18th-century furniture styles include Queen Anne, William, and Mary, Sheraton, Adam, and Chippendale among others (Liu, Cionca & Timar, 2015). A visit to Frick's collection helps in the identification of the various pieces of art in the 18th century. The furniture in the 18th century was more finished and highly sophisticated in design. France contributed the styles in the early half of the 18th century while the latter half furniture was influenced by England. The furniture designs greatly influenced the appearance of the cabinet. This paper analysis the furniture designs in the 18th century taking into consideration the artworks in the Frick collection. Frick was one of the most influential American industrialists and housed various sculptures, western paintings and decorative arts that show the various furniture designs that were present in the 18th century (Gray, 2014). He had about sixteen permanent galleries that indicated the origin of every piece of art and the periods that they were famous. Frick rarely exposed his interests concerning the paintings and his first interest concerning artwork was known in the 1880s (Gray, 2014). Frick's house, the mansion, and the works serve as a great monument of the American art today. Majority of the art paintings concerning the furniture in the 18th century serve as great decoration in America. Hepplewhite was among the furniture in the 18th century. Hepplewhite was introduced and popular between 1780 and 1810. The style is known to be similar to the Thomas Sheraton styles and is neoclassic. The Hepplewhite furniture uses unique materials. Thence, it is made of more than one type of wood. Mahogany is the type of wood that makes the bulk of it, and it composed its base. Maple and the satinwoods were also used in making the Hepplewhite furniture. Hepplewhite furniture is characterized by straight legs. The furniture is made of heavy pieces that enabled it to hold various objects. The furniture was tapered arrow or rectangular. Their legs were sometimes shaped to meet the classical columns designs (Gray, 2014). Since they have the shapes of most of the household items, the Hepplewhite was used in the making of sofas and chairs. The common denotation of the Hepplewhite was that it was H shaped. Hepplewhite chairs had a variety of designs that included the feathers and ribbons. The most common design of the Hepplewhite chair is the side-back rest. Chippendale is also among the types of chairs that were popular in the 18th century. The name originated from, Thomas Chippendale, the man who made such chair for the first time. The most expensive of the Chippendale furniture was made from the mahogany (Gray, 2014). The less expensive pieces were made from maple and Cherry. The chairs had rounded ball legs that are a strain. Chippendale furniture has straight backs and a flat center. Chippendale designs include tables, stools, and chairs. The designs can be made from various materials depending on the costs that the owner wishes to incur (Gray, 2014). Georgian chair was also among the popular furniture designs in the 18th century. The chairs were made of mahogany from the previous Walnuts. Mahogany was preferred since they were more durable. The chairs were named after the reign of the Kings of Britain in the 18th century. The chair designs were influenced by the Italian arts. The chair had straight legs and is characterized by very many decorations. Another popular furniture design in the 18th century was the Queen Anne design (Liu, Cionca & Timar, 2015). The chair was made from walnuts and cherry. It had no backrests; had straight legs and that are rounded at the ends. The chair was named after Queen Anne. The furniture had been associated with flowers. The furniture had curved tops and cabriole legs (Liu, Cionca & Timar, 2015). The exact period in which the furniture was made was has been hard toe stablished. However, is believed that it was present in the eighteenth century when the reign of Queen Anne is established. William and Mary's design is also furniture design that was present in the late 17th century and early 18th century. The chair was made under the influence of the Dutch. The design was named after kin William and his wife Mary (Liu, Cionca & Timar, 2015). The chair design traces back to the Baroque period. It has a scroll designed legs that are rounded at the bottom. The chairs had a characteristic dark color. Maple and walnuts were the major materials used to make the furniture. The chairs had armrests and were quite expensive to make. It was made of leather on the backrest and the bottom.

References

Gray, M. (2014, September). The Frick Collection criticised over expansion plans. In Apollo (Vol. 180, No. 623, pp. 36-37). Apollo Magazine Ltd.. Liu, X. Y., Cionca, M., & Timar, M. C. (2015). A comparative study of 17th century Ming and western European chairs. Eur J Sci Theol, 11(1), 253-262. Martin, M. (Ed.). (2017). Architectural space in eighteenth-century Europe: constructing identities and interiors. Routledge.

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