Glossary

Acanthus (Akanthos) Leaf: A carved or painted ornament that resembles the foliage of the acanthus. A classic design used by the greeks and Romans, it appears in Gothic art and architecture, and it was revived in the Renaissance. The acanthus leaf appears in the Corinthian and Composite capitals. The Greek design has pointed leaf edges, but the Roman version is rounded and broader with vigorous curves. In Byzantine and Romanesque decoration, the acanthus is stiffer and less delicate. It becomes rounded and more bulbous in the early Gothic period, then becomes bixarre with long thistle-like foliage in the late Gothic period. With the Renaissance, the acanthus and tendril motif reaches its highest degree of refinement and elegance.

Acorn: A turning that resembles the acorn (fruit of the oak tree). It was used as a finial, drop pendant, or furniture foot in the Jacobean furniture of early 17th Century England.

Alabaster: A fine-textured, compact variety of sulfate or lime or gypsum. A milky white or semi-translucent marble-like material used for ornaments and sculpture.

Anaglypta: The Greek work for "raised ornament". Raised ornaments have been made in gesso and plaster compounds. The molded pieces are then applied to walls ans ceilings to simulate a carved bas-releif effect. It is, in effect, similar to the Adam's Brothers 18th century technique of "composition ornament" or "carton-pierre".

Artifact: A simple object (as a tool or ornament) showing human workmanship or modification.

Art Glass: The broad and tolerant term which embraces a vast assortment of glass technique and colors, made from about 1880 to as late a period as the early 1930's.

Bellflower Ornament: A popular 18th Century carved motif used as a furniture and interior enrichment. The decoration is based on conventional bell-shaped flowers or catkins, used in continuous chain or swag or in graduated size as a pendant. It is similar to the "husk" design.

Cartouche: In architecture, usually a sculptured ornament in the form of a scroll unrolled, which often appears on cornices. The cartouche is frequently used as a field for inscriptions, and as an ornamental block in the cornices of house interiors. A conventionalized shield or oval. An ornate frame.

Chenille: From the French term for caterpillar. A woven yarn which has a pile protruding all around at right angles to the body thread. It was used for embroidery fringes and tassels. Chenille is also the name for fabrics woven from chenille yarns. The fabric has a plushlike surface. Chenille can be made of various fibers: cotton, silk, rayon, etc.

Chestnut: A soft wood with a coarse grain. It resembles oak, and can be used in its place when a quartered effect is not desired. Chestnut is unsuitable for fine details because the grain is coarse and it has marked annual rings. Certain cuts were used in late 18th Century England to imitate satinwood. One form of chestnut, Wormy Chestnut, is popular today.

Circassian Walnut: A highly figured veneer wood that is produced from twisted, gnarled and warped walnut trees grown in the dry areas of the black sea region of Europe.

Crystal: Name borrowed from that used to describe transparent quartz; denotes a clear and heavy color-free glass with a high lead content.

Cypress: A native to America, light-brown wood, adapted to all types of finishes. It is generally free from warping and twisting but is considered too weak for structural timber or flooring. In the Tudor Period it was used for storage chests. "Pecky Cypress" is popular today for paneling and wall finishes.

Damascus Work: A type of metal inlay work in patterns or arabesques. The design is incised in metal and then inlaid with other metals or wires cut to fit.

Dentil: One of a series of small projecting rectangular blocks in a cornice. It appears in Ionic and Corinthian cornices, and was used as a furnature and interior detail by Adam and Hepplewhite.

Egg and Dart: A molding decoration which resembles a continuous string of egg or ovoid forms seperated by dartlike or arrowhead points. "Egg and Tongue" and "Egg and Anchor" moldings are almost identical.

Facade: The principal front or face of a structure. The main view. It may also refer to the front of an architecturally designed piece of furniture.

Faience: French for pottery. Terra-cotta. A peasant type of glazed pottery originally made at Faenza, Italy. A glazed biscuit ware. It may by used as a facing for buildings or walls in the form of tiles or blocks. It is also used as a flooring material.

Favrile: A late 19th Century iridescent glass made by Louis C. Tiffany in a variety of delicate and decorative patterns, many in the Art Nouveau style.

Fumed Oak: A furniture finish of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The oak was stained with ammonia fumes, and the graining became more pronounced and deeper in color. Much of the mission-style furniture was produced in fumed oak as well as late English Victorian pieces.

Gilding: The art of ornamenting furniture, accesories, and architectural details with gold leaf or gold dust.

Gold Leaf: Also called Mosaic Gold or Dutch Gold. Originally, it was made in germany and was an amalgam of tin and copper. The bright, shiny, thin sheet is laid over the surface which has been made tacky by shellac, adhesive or gold size. The sheet adheres to the sized surface.

Jacobean Revival Architecture: Windows, gables, and chimneys are of distinctive forms. Windows are rectangular and are divided into rectangular lights by stone mullions; the windows, which may be very large, also have stone transoms. Bay windows are frequent features. Gables, which rise above the roof, either are of a steep-sided triangular form or have a silhouette composed of segmented curves and straight lines in combination. Roofs are ridged, or flat and parapeted, or hipped; in large buildings, towers and turrets may be crowned with curvilinear roofs ("Shapes" as they were formerly called). Chimneys are tall, with a separate shaft for each flue; the shafts are grouped in stacks or more typically, lined up in rows, with each shaft set diagonally to its neighbors. Doorways, usually round arched, may be enclosed within tabernacle frames; parapets, quoins, and ornament. A type of ornament peculiar to the style is strapwork, which consists of flat scrollwork that somewhat resembles (as the name implies) leather straps.

Luster: A thin metallic glaze used on pottery to produce an iridescent color. It was used on Persian ceramics, Majolica ware, and also on antique English and American ware.

Newel Post: A heavy upright post or turning at the end of the handrail of a stairway.

Obelisk: A tall, tapering column or structure, square, or rectangular in section, with a pyramid-shaped top. It is often used as a commermerative monument.

Overcurtain: Stationary draperies.

Pilaster: An engaged pier built as a part of a wall and acting as a support for a cornice, pediment, etc. A flat-faced vertical projection from a wall, sometimes with the proportions, details, and capital and base of a classic column. In furniture, the pilaster is a carved representation of the architectural feature, usually at the ends of a cabinet, chest, console table, etc., and it forms a support for an overhangeing table surface, shelf drawer, etc.

Pineapple: A decorative, carved, stylized finial resembling the fruit. It was often used as a terminal piece on bedposts, newel posts, in pediments over doorways, etc. In early 19th century America it was a symbol of wealth and prosperity.

Pomegranate: A decorative ornament based on the pomegranate fruit, which is apple shaped and has a hard rind and a pronounced crownlike ending. It was used in classic times as a symbol of fertility.

Portiere: A curtain or drapery over an arch or doorway, or used in place of a door. It si a means of separating one area from another, and providing privacy. In can also be used to separate an alcove from a room.

Rosettes: French for "little roses". A floral decorative dvice, usually a circle with petals developing out from a central point. The outer contour may be round, eliptic, or square. the rosette has been a popular motif since the gothic period. The rosette motif was favored by Adam and Hepplewhite.

Satinwood: A highly figured, close-grained, hard, and durable wood which is native to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and the East Indies. It is a light yellow to golden brown in color with a lusterous satin-like quality. It was a favorite wood in the Louis XV and Louis XVI periods, and it was also favored by Adam, Chippendale, and Sheraton for inlay and veneering. Hepplewhite used satinwood as a background for painted medalions.

Sconce: An ornamental wall bracket used to hold candles or electric bulbs. The word derives from abscondere, Latin for "to hide"; originally a sconce was a shield or protection for a flame, or lantern to protect a light.

Settee: A seating device which developed from settle. A long seat with a carved or upholstered back, arms, and a soft seat. It was originally designed to hold two or more persons, and usually matched the individual chairs of the period in contour and chair back decoration.

Spiral: A curve that wind around a fixzed point and does not backtrack on itself. Each whorl is a complete turn of the curve around the axis, and it may be on one plane, or in ascendingor conical shape like a shell. The spiral is the basis for the volutes of classic capitals, scrolls, or twisted rope turnings.

Strapwork: A carved wooden arabesque pattern having a flat stem of a sroll in section and/or an ornament which resembles a pattern cut from a sheet of leather. An interlaced pattern which resembles a crisscross folded or plaited design which might be created from strips of leather. Elizapethan an Jacobean carved-wood decorated panels with ribbon-like bands repeating and interlacing designs. In the Chippendale period, flat and sometimes elaborately carved strapwork was used for the splats of chairs.

Sugi Finish: A Japanese wood-finishing technique. The surface is charred and then rubbed with a wire brush to create a driftwood effect.

Tudor Rose: An English renaissance decorative motif which consisted of a conventional five-petal rose with a smaller rose set in its center. It was the roayl emblem of England, and symbolized the marriage of Henry VII of Lancaster (the red rose) to Elizabeth of York (the white rose).

Urn: A large decorative container of wood, metal, pottery, etc. In furniture, a large wooden vaselike container which was usually set on a pedastal on either side of a side table. This was characteristic of 18th century Adams designs and also of Hepplewhites's work. Urns were also used as decorative turnings at the cross points of stretchers in 16th and 17th century furniture designs.

Velour: French for a velvet fabric. A soft, closely woven, smooth fabric with a short thick pile.

Wainscot: A wood lining applied as paneling to interior walls. The paneling or lining may or may not continue up to the celing and the wainscot is made op of stiles and rails which form frames for large or small panels. The name "wainscot" refers to a superior grade of oak, close grained and without knot holes, which was originally used before the Tudor period in England.

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