A History of English Furniture: The age of walnut

A History of English Furniture: The age of walnut
Author: Percy Macquoid
Publisher:
Total Pages: 324
Release: 1905
Genre: Furniture
ISBN:

In the arrangement of this work, it will be found that the subject has been divided into four periods. The first, dating from 1500 to 1660, comprising furniture that can be attributed to the Renaissance and its evolution from the Gothic, may be termed 'The age of oak'. The second, from 1660 to 1720, where the change is varied by the Restoration and Dutch influence, followed by a distinctly assertive English spirit, may be called 'The age of walnut'. The third period, where the introduction from France of fesh ideas in design clearly marked another change, lasting from 1720 to 1770, which we call 'The age of mahogany'; and the fourth, from 1770 to 1820, inspired by an affectation for all things classical, combined with a curiously unbalanced taste, can best be described as 'The composite age.' -- Preface, v.1.

Fraud, Fakery and False Business

Fraud, Fakery and False Business
Author: Abigail Harrison Moore
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2011-09-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1441168486

In 1922, Adolphe Shrager having made his fortune during the First World War, approached the London dealer Basil Dighton for advice on purchasing antique furniture. Dighton sold him about five hundred items but shortly afterwards Shrager discovered that one of his 'collector's pieces' was judged to be a fake and grossly over-priced, and he sued. The trial, held in early 1923, became a cause celebre, but it can be viewed as a case study of a much wider set of social and cultural concerns: the fact that Shrager lost both the first trial and the appeal, despite demonstrating on numerous occasions that he had a clear case against Dighton, raises questions of race, prejudice and class, where the establishment closed ranks against Shrager, the nouveau riche Jew and alleged war profiteer. This book - the first on the Shrager Dighton case - is the result of the author's original archival research.

The Ideas in Things

The Ideas in Things
Author: Elaine Freedgood
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2010-10-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0226261638

Presents an analysis of nineteenth-century English fiction, focusing on objects found in three Victorian novels, arguing that these items have meanings the modern reader does not understand, but were clear to the Victorian reader.