| Some of these products had different origins. | | | | and seventeenth centuries. They consist of open |
| Commode, Console table, cradles, cupboards and | | | | shelves with supports at the corners; the front ones |
| wardrobes, davenport, desks is some of the types of | | | | carved. Hall or livery cupboards were made during the |
| furniture that we are going to discuss in this page. | | | | same years, and have doors to the upper and lower |
| Commode | | | | parts. For many years there has been confusion |
| This is a French word describing a type of chest of | | | | between court and livery cupboards, but at the |
| drawers made in that country. In England, it was | | | | moment of writing the above descriptions are the |
| applied in the eighteenth century to pieces of furniture | | | | accepted ones. |
| designed in the style of Louis XV or Louis XVI, and | | | | Corner cupboards of three-cornered shape and with |
| fitted with drawers or with doors to form a cupboard. | | | | flat or bowed fronts, were made in the eighteenth |
| Such pieces were highly decorated with carving, | | | | century. They exist in oak, walnut, mahogany and pine; |
| marquetry, lacquer or inlay, and would have had pride | | | | the latter painted or lacquered. Many are decorated |
| of place in the most important room of a house. | | | | with inlay, but rare specimens have carved and gilt |
| Console Tables | | | | ornament. |
| Tables made for fixing against a wall and having no | | | | Davenports |
| legs at the back. They came into fashion early in the | | | | First made at the end of the eighteenth century, the |
| eighteenth century, and were made often in pairs. | | | | davenport is a small desk. It has a sloping-top, which is |
| Cradles | | | | hinged, and a series of drawers down one side. They |
| These small beds for children were usually made to | | | | were made in both rosewood and mahogany; early |
| swing; achieved either by mounting them on rockers, or | | | | examples have short square legs, later ones are |
| suspending them in a framework. Early ones of oak | | | | turned. |
| are rare, but eighteenth-century specimens made of | | | | Desks |
| mahogany are sometimes to be seen. | | | | Like the davenport, above, a desk is a piece of |
| Cupboards and Wardrobes | | | | furniture with a sloping-top for writing. Sixteenth- and |
| Cupboards for the storage of clothes and linen were | | | | seventeenth century examples were small, portable |
| made from the fifteenth century onwards; until the late | | | | sloping-top boxes, which would contain pen, ink and |
| seventeenth century they were usually of oak and | | | | paper and provide for their use. Some early |
| with the doors divided into panels. They are rare, as | | | | eighteenth-century examples were fitted with stands, |
| are the walnut ones made about 1700. Mahogany | | | | but in Victorian times the original box-type returned to |
| cupboards and wardrobes are more plentiful, but being | | | | favor. These latter were of mahogany or rosewood |
| large in size they are not greatly in demand for use in | | | | and bound with brass. Nowadays the term desk is |
| the smaller rooms of present-day homes. The | | | | applied to almost any piece of furniture at which writing |
| eighteenth-century wardrobe often had the upper part | | | | can be done, including what was once called a writing |
| with sliding shelves enclosed within doors, and the | | | | table. These have a leather-covered top and tiers of |
| lower part with drawers. In this form it is called today a | | | | drawers below, often with a central kneehole recess |
| Gentleman's Wardrobe, and in many instances the | | | | for comfort. Large, double-sided versions of this type |
| insides of the drawers and the upper shelves have | | | | are called partner's desks. |
| been removed to make hanging-space for clothes. In | | | | Most of this furniture is made with the woods like the |
| the later years of the century, the mahogany | | | | walnuts, the mahogany, the oak, the rosewoods, etc. |
| cupboards were inlaid, and others were veneered with | | | | They are painted, lacquered, or only polished. |
| satinwood or made of pine and painted. | | | | Decorations with the flowers and other writings on the |
| Court cupboards of oak were made in the sixteenth | | | | legs or corners give them a distinct looks. |