archint: colonial period (interior design + furniture design)

The Colonial PeriodAlex Alcorcon, Dazeleen Cai, Cathy Calingasan

The Colonial Period Decorating Style: Practical, Eco-Friendly

Colonial architecture and home decor styles range from rustic to sophisticated and encompasses about 200 years. It includes a progression of styles from the simple basic and rough-hewn to the classic lines and finesse of Queen Anne style.

Early Colonial Years (16th and 17th Centuries)

Bare-bones and spartan, with low ceilings, rough wood beams, plain whitewashed walls and wide plank floors.

Simple in design with an emphasis on function

The Later Colonial Years

As time went by, a second storey or additional rooms may have been added on, but interiors remained simple, multipurpose and functional.

With the increasing financial wealth of the colonists, design began to catch up to European standards and styles.

American Colonial Interiors (The 18th Century) By the early 18th century, those who were prospering would

have had walls decorated with Mahogany paneling and imported wallpapers from France and China. They would also be able to afford larger windows with glass windows hung with draperies made of imported silk fabrics — usually panels and/or swags and cascades.

CharacteristicsThe simplicity created a light and airy interior with simple clean lines.

Whitewashed walls and sometimes stencils imitating borders, which were for the wealthier.

Characteristics

These simple interiors provided a good backdrop for collections.

Characteristics

Ceramics were popular and often displayed on a high shelf around the room.

Characteristics

Quilting was a popular hobby and the finished works were often hung on the wall, used as cushion covers, bed covers and displayed with pride.

Characteristics

Original fabrics and hand painted furniture inspired the interior colors prevalent.

Characteristics

Earthy tones, greens, browns, subtle blues and cool whites.

Characteristics

The early American Colonial furniture was originally made of softer timbers, pine, birch and maple, sometimes walnut and cherry.

Characteristics

Later American Colonial furniture used mortise and tenon and dovetail joints, the cyma recta shapes, turned shapes and legs the design was more refined but still continued the honest construction.

Characteristics

Motifs and Materials

– birds, flora and fauna

– Common themes included the pineapple (symbol for hospitality), weeping willow (symbolizing longevity), heart (love), and anchor (hope). Geometric designs and patterns that could be incorporated in weaving (stripes, plaids, checks, flame-stitch style) were also used.

– Blacksmiths provided iron tools, implements and decorative practical pieces such as candle holders in addition to horseshoes, nails, and similar items.

– Coopers provided wooden buckets and barrels.

– Clay was the basis for earthenware and bricks.

– Basketry and other items might have been woven by the colonists or obtained as gifts or from trade with Native Americans.

– The furniture was utilitarian and generally heavy and solid, with straight lines and little ornamentation.

– Chairs were either fiddle-back, ladderback, or spindle.

– Rustic plank top tables and benches and blanket chests were common.

– The later Colonial period saw a distinctly “American” style develop that was a typically less ornate combination of the features found in William and Mary, Queen Anne and Chippendale-style furniture.

– Eclectic style and interior decorating in that style needs to be handled with care so it does not become a mishmash.

American Colonial Interiors

– floors were planked wood, usually scrubbed pine, sometimes covered with rag rugs.

– Wallpapers were much too expensive for most people only the wealthy could really afford it

– The wealthy would could buy walls decorated with Mahogany paneling and imported wallpapers from France and China.

– The rich would also be able to afford larger windows with glass windows hung with draperies made of imported silk fabrics — usually panels and/or swags and cascades.

– The less fortunate would have a simple panel of cloth for curtains. It might have tabbed headings and be hung on a wood or simple iron pole or attached to a strip of wood lath that would be nailed onto the window frame. Shutters were also used

– As homes grew larger and more detailed, increased attention was paid to their interior decor as well. Chairs were upholstered or had cane seats and backs. Ladder back chairs typically had rush seats. Chairs in the William and Mary style featured decorative ornate carvings and turned legs with stretchers and ball feet. The upholstered wing chair dates to this period as well as a daybeds topped with a loose upholstered cushion.

– http://historic-period-home-decor.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-american-colonial-period-decorating.html

Furniture

Two stylistic categories of early colonial period

– the Seventeenth-Century style (1620–1690)

– the Early Baroque, or William and Mary, style (1690–1730)

The Seventeenth-Century style (1620–1690)

– the transmission into the New World of late medieval and Renaissance traditions by immigrant craftsmen

– furniture in this style is frequently made of straight oak members joined at right angles. It is sturdy and massive, with low, horizontal proportions. Since the outlines tend to be rigidly rectilinear, craftsmen imparted visual interest through abundant surface ornamentation in the form of low-relief carving, applied moldings and turnings, and paint

Two branches of the furniture-making trade

– Round/ Rectangular mortise-and-tenon joints

– Dovetailing

– Round mortise-and-tenon joints/ Rectangular mortise-and-tenon joint

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/will/hd_will.htm

– The upper section of this chest with drawers is constructed using the joiner's frame-and-panel method

– Since no glue or nails are used to secure the wooden panels in the frame, they are free to expand and contract in thickness and in width according to changes in temperature and humidity.

Spindle-back armchair– Date: 1640–80

– Geography: Possibly made in Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Possibly made in Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States

– Culture: American

– Medium: Ash

– Dimensions: 44 3/4 x 23 1/2 x 15 3/4 in. (113.7 x 59.7 x 40 cm)

– Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, 1951

Joined armchair– Date: 1650–1700

– Geography: Made in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States


– Medium: Oak

– Dimensions: 36 1/2 x 23 x 16 3/4 in. (92.7 x 58.4 x 42.5 cm)

– Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of the American Wing and Sansbury-Mills Funds, Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Goelet Gift, Mrs. Muriel Gluck Gift, in honor of Virginia and Leonard Marx, and The Max H. Gluck Foundation Inc., The Virginia and Leonard Marx Foundation, and Mr. and Mrs. Eric Martin Wunsch Gifts, 1995

Chest with drawers– Maker: Workshop of Peter Blin (ca. 1675–1725)

– Geography: Made in Wethersfield, Connecticut, United States


– Medium: White oak, yellow pine, white cedar

– Dimensions: 39 7/8 x 48 x 21 1/4 in. (101.3 x 121.9 x 54 cm)

– Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. J. Woodhull Overton, 1966

– so-called “sunflower” chests that were produced in the Wethersfield area of Connecticut

– The carving on the panels resembles patterns for sixteenth-century embroideries.

Cabinet • Date: 1679• Geography: Made in Salem,

Massachusetts, United States• Culture: American• Medium: Red oak, white pine, black

walnut, red cedar, maple• Dimensions: 18 x 17 x 10 in. (45.7 x

43.2 x 25.4 cm)• Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage,

1909• The interior consists of ten small

drawers for the safekeeping of small valuables.

Box – Maker: Attributed to John Thurston (1607–1685)

– Geography: Possibly made in Medfield, Massachusetts, United States; Possibly made in Dedham, Massachusetts, United States


– Medium: White oak, red oak, yellow pine

– Dimensions: 9 1/2 x 26 5/8 x 15 1/2 in. (24.1 x 67.6 x 39.4 cm)

– Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1909

Cupboard– Date: 1670–1700

– Geography: Made in Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States; Made in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States


– Medium: Red oak, white pine, white cedar, red cedar, black walnut, soft maple

– Dimensions: 56 x 49 3/4 x 23 in. (142.2 x 126.4 x 58.4 cm)


– Accession Number: 50.20.3

Early Baroque, or William and Mary, style (1690–1730)

– The 1660 restoration of Charles II, who had been in exile in France, brought to England a new design sensibility based on the court fashions of Louis XIV. Known as the early Baroque, this style combined Continental and Asian influences

– in furniture forms that were at once richer and more curvilinear,

– until the reign of William and Mary (1689–1702) that the style spread throughout England and its colonies.

Dovetailing

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

High chest of drawers

– Date: 1700–1730

– Geography: Made in Boston, Massachusetts, United States


– Medium: Black walnut, maple, poplar, hickory, white pine


– Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Screven Lorillard, 1952

Banister-back chair– Date: 1715–35

– Geography: Possibly made in Massachusetts, United States; Possibly made in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States


– Medium: Maple

– Dimensions: 47 1/2 x 21 x 15 3/4 in. (120.7 x 53.3 x 40 cm)

– Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Screven Lorillard, 1952

Desk– Date: 1700–1730

– Geography: Made in Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Made in Massachusetts, United States


– Medium: Black walnut, ash, white pine, poplar

– Dimensions: 40 x 33 3/4 x 19 in. (101.6 x 85.7 x 48.3 cm)


Oval table with falling leaves– Date: 1715–40

– Geography: Probably made in Rhode Island, United States


– Medium: Soft maple, white pine


– Classification: Furniture


– Known as"gate-legs,

Easy chair– Date: 1715–30

– Geography: Probably made in Boston, Massachusetts, United States


– Medium: Soft maple, oak, black tupelo

– Dimensions: 49 1/4 x 33 x 37 in. (125.1 x 83.8 x 94 cm)


British Colonial Style Furniture

the Victorian era of the mid to late 19th century brought the solid and sturdy furniture designs of England and adapted them to the tropics. They adapted Asian and African motifs into those traditional designs in teak and mahony as well as rattan, leather, and animal prints.

http://www.museumfurniture.com/wood/

http://www.museumfurniture.com/wood/

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