Terminology

 Acanthus Leaf:   Motif in furniture design, usually carved on knees of Chippendale cabriole legs and on pedestal bases of Empire tables.  Ball and Claw foot-   Carved to represent a bird's claw grasping a ball. Derived from the Chinese dragon's claw holding a crystal ball or jewel. Perhaps first adapted in Europe by the Dutch, it spread to England, from whence it was introduced to America about 1735. Enormously popular as the foot of American cabriole leg furniture in the Queen Anne and Chippendale, styles.  Block foot: Another name for the Marlborough foot  Bracket foot- Also called a console leg. One of the simplest of furniture feet shaped like a bracket, usually with a mitered corner.  Cabriole (KAB ree ole) leg: A curved leg with outcurved knee and incurved ankle. The name given to chair or table legs in the style of the first half of the 18th century: Queen Anne - usually with pad foot, Chippendale - commonly with claw-and-ball foot. The foot may be a club, a Ball-and-Claw, a paw or scroll, and there may be a carved ornament on the knee such as the scallop shell or Acanthus.  Chatoyant : having a changeable luster or color with an undulating narrow band of white light. In woodworking often used to describe the way the grain of highly figured wood seems to “dance” when shifted in position under light.  Chippendale, Thomas:   In 1754 he published the first of three editions of his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, a catalogue of English furniture design. This book is probably the major reason he is one of the world's best-known furniture makers. Prior to the publication of Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director in 1754, no cabinet maker had ever issued his designs comparable to the lavish volumes produced by professional architects. Chippendale's varied output included desks; mirror frames; hanging bookshelves; settees, with which he was especially successful; china cabinets and bookcases, frequently with fretted cornices and latticework glazed doors; and tables with delicately fretted galleries and distinctive cluster-column legs of Gothic  inspiration. Most of his work uses solid mahogany wood with elaborate hand carving.   Dovetail joint (dovetail)- is a joint technique most commonly used in woodworking joinery. Noted for its resistance to being pulled apart (tensile strength), the dovetail joint is commonly used to join the sides of a drawer to the front. A series of pins cut to extend from the end of one board interlock with a series of tails cut into the end of another board. The pins and tails have a trapezoidal shape. Once glued, a wooden dovetail joint requires no mechanical fasteners.  Federal style commonly used inlay patterns: Black diamond banding - Because some banding and stringing were imported, these are not always reliable clues as to origin.. Triangle - Associated with Massachusetts but occasionally seen in other areas. Stringing Shell Fluted frieze, or book inlay - Most often seen on Rhode Island or New York furniture. Banded pendant, or "icicle" inlay - Seen on some Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode island work. Patera  Ear of corn Bellflower or husk - Used in all regions, but Maryland bellflowers typically have long center petal. Bowknot Tassels Eagle - Illustrates interest in patriotic motifs during the Federal period.  Gadroon / godroon (ga DROON): An ornament composed chiefly of ovoid or more elongated bosses regularly repeated, side by side. A series of elongated egg or ovoid forms in a band. Popular on Chippendale  furniture made in New York and Philadelphia  Marlborough leg- A straight, sometimes fluted leg with a block as a foot that was used in the mid-18th-century English and American furniture  Mortise-and-Tenon - Technique for joining two pieces of wood; the mortise is a cavity, usually rectangular, and the tenon, a protruding end shaped to fit the cavity. A hole, usually square or rectangular, is chiseled into one member and a tongue shaped to fit this hole is chiseled into the other. A peg is then placed through both pieces to secure them together, forming the joint.  Patera: An ornamented feature, either circular or oval, which could be wood, ivory, metal, etc. It was normally carved, incised, inlaid or even painted.  Queen Anne Style: The Queen Anne style is characterized by delicacy, restrained decoration, and curvilinear forms. These curving lines are best seen in the cabriole leg, a new development of the period. Modeled after an animal's leg, the S-shaped cabriole leg gives furniture a more intimate, human quality than the massive turned legs of the William and Mary style. The cabriole leg is also extremely practical; the balance it achieves makes it possible to support heavy pieces of case furniture on slim legs, without the use of stretchers. Woods were richly finished and carved: walnut was most popular, along with cherry and maple; imported mahogany began to be favored toward 1750. An exotic foreign wood, mahogany, was introduced to America during the Queen Anne period. Of a rich brown hue and easily carved, it was an immediate favorite; however, because of its expense, most cabinetmakers continued to use native walnut and maple. The style relied heavily on beautiful woods and simple contours for its effect, and for that reason it found great favor with buyers of modest means. The emphasis was on quiet dignity, with no special tricks of turning or carving. Queen Anne furniture was lower and smaller in scale than that of previous styles, and it was markedly more comfortable. Richly polished wooden surfaces were either undecorated or embellished with simple shell- or fan-shaped carving.  Tapered leg-    Leg narrows from top to bottom. Often found on Federal  pieces.  Whorl foot / scrolled toe / scroll foot- A reverse scroll foot. An up- curved, carved foot done in scroll motif, terminating a cabriole leg. A flattened scroll at the end of a cabriole leg originated in the Louis XIV (Baroque) period.  Many of the drawings in Thomas Chippendale's Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director in 1754 feature whorl feet.  Trifid (TRY fid) foot- Alternative name: drake foot-  3-lobed endpiece of a Queen Anne cabriole leg. Derived from Irish furniture design.