Lane Furniture at BLACKLION

Furniture Glossary

Acanthus Leaf: popular Greek decorative motif adapted from the acanthus plant. Found in almost all classic design, notably the capital of Corinthian column.
Angel Bed: a bed with a canopy but no front support.
Antique Finish: an artificially created patina to give wood an aged look.
Applique: a French term for a design or motif which is cut out or applied to another surface as decoration.
Apron: the horizontal support below a table top or the seat rail of a chair, often carved or otherwise ornamented.
Armoire: French version of the wardrobe. A free standing closet, usually with shelves and / or a hanging rod.
Arts & Crafts: a British furniture style emphasizing traditional woods, simple lines, and minimal decoration. Widely influentional giving rise to Mission style in the United States.

Bachelor's Chest: a small chest of drawers, usually 24 to 36 inches wide by 30 to 36 inches tall.
Banding: a narrow strip of inlaid veneer often used a a border on table tops and drawer fronts and usually of a contasting color to the rest of the piece.
Batting: sheets or rolls of cotton used for padding upholstered furniture.
Bergere: comfortable French arm chair with upholstered back and sides and squab cushions, Popular in Louis XIV and Louis XV periods.
Block Front Chest: a chest composed of a concave center panel flanked by two convex panels.
Bombe: An outward swelling surface such as a drawer on a case piece.
Bonnet Top: a rounded, bonnet-shaped crown on a highboy, secretary, china cabinet, etc., prevalent in 17th and 18th century English and American furniture.
Boston Rocker: an American rocker (19th Century) with curved seat, spindle back, and a wide top rail.
Break Front: a bookcase or china cabinet made of three sections, the center one projecting forward beyond the two end sections. In bookcases, the lower part of the center section often has a desk.
Brocades: a woven fabric with a raised pattern that resembles embroidery
Buffet: a functional cupboard, usually the bottom part of a china cabinet.
Bun Foot: a flattened ball, or bun shape, with a slender ankle above. Popular in William and Mary period. It may be wood or upholstered.
Burl: knot on a tree that creates beautiful swirled patterns when used as a veneer.
Button Tufting: an upholstery technique in which fabric is stitched down through the padding in tufted knots, often in a pattern, and then decorated with buttons.

Cabriole: a bowed leg that curves into a tapered foot. A Queen Anne leg is a cabriole leg, but so is a curved French leg.
Camel Back Sofa: an 18th century English and American design featuring a serpentine back that sweeps from the arms up to a curve in the center. Is somethimes reversed to curve downward in the center.
Cane: split rattan, often used to cover chair seats and backs.
Canopy Bed: a bed with a fabric roof over it, originally a symbol of rank and privilege. Today the canopy may be a wrought iron or wood frame with no draperies.
Case Piece: any furniture not associated with upholstery and fabric.
Chaise: a arm chair for reclining or stretching out.
Chest of Drawers: chests of various heights and more narrow than a dresser, housing a stack of drawers.
Chest-on-chest: a case piece composed of one chest of drawers atop another wider chest of drawers.
Chesterfield: a large, heavily upholstered sofa with scrolled arms that form a single continuous curve with the back.
Cheval mirror: a full-length, free-standing mirror mounted witin a rectangular frame and designed to tilt for optimum viewing angles.
Chiffonier: a tall narrow chest of drawers.
China Cabinet: a display cabinet, usually with glass sides and front, used to exhibit fine china collections.
Chintz: printed cotton fabric with a glazed, high sheen.
Chippendale: this furniture style features delicate carved ornamentation on cabriole legs and chair backs, as well as on secretaries and other case pieces.
Claw and Ball Foot: the base of a leg, depicting a talon, or an animal's paw, grasping a ball.
Club Foot: a turned foot, resembling a club: usually applied to cabriole leg.
Console Table: generally refers to any table intended to be placed against a wall.
Credenza: a serving table with 3 doors below, much like a buffet. Has evolved to be used in offices providing additional work surface and storage.
Cupboard: a case piece with shelves and one or two doors, usually for storing household goods.
Curl Veneer: taken from the part of a tree where a branch sprouts from the trunk, this veneer has a curling, V-shaped grain.
Cyma Curve: a distinctive 'S' shaped curve incorporated into Queen Anne furniture.

Damask: a firm, glossy patterned fabric used for draperies and upholstered furniture.
Daybed: a narrow bed with back and ends of equal height, similar to a sofa.
Dentil Moulding: decorative moldings, consisting of blocks and spaces, and resembling teeth (hence, the name), appearing at the top of furniture.
Dhurrie Rug: flat woven wool, or cotton, rug with stylized East Indian motifs.
Distressed Finish: artificially produced to simulate the character marks of aging and use, such as small scratches or holes.
Dovetail: a type of quality joinery using interlocking wedges with alternating grooves to connect the front and sides of a drawer.
Down: feathers used to fill cushions of upholstery, which trap air to provide comfort
Dresser: a long, low chest of drawers about 36 inches high by 6 feet or wider.

Embossing: manufacturing technique which imitates carving by compressing the wood around what is to be raised, decorative area.
Empire: French style of the early 19th century usually made from mahogany and majestic in scale with carved motifs such as swans, chimeras, or foliage. Upholstery is over-stuffed and features strong shades of red, green, blue, yellow, and deep brown.
Escutcheon: shield around a keyhole in furniture

Fancy Faces: Veneers cut and spliced into an exotic pattern, usually used on doors, drawer fronts, and tops.
Fiberboard: a board made of compressed wood fibers and glue, used as an inexpensive substitute for a solid wood edge.
Filling: step in furniture finishing, where wood pores are filled with a substance, typically, finely ground soil), to cause the surface to be smoother, flatter, and more reflective when complete.
Finial a turned or carved vertical ornament adorning bedposts, pediments, or corners on case pieces. May include a pineapple, urn, flame, cluster of foliage, or other element.
Finish: a surface treatment that embellishes and protects. In wood, it can bring out the natural grain, protect from stains, and make the surface more glossy or matte. With fabrics, it produces a desired surface effect such as napping, embossing, waterproofing, or wrinkle resistance.
Fleur-de-lis: a decrotive design of three petals, with the center one erect and the other two bending outward. Originated in late medieval Europe. Became associated with French royalty during the rein of Louis XIV.
Flutes: a series of semi-circular ornamental grooves, which terminate before the end of a post or leg.
Fretwork: carved wood ornamentation consisting of short intersecting lines in geometric patterns resembling a lattice. A favored accent of Chippendale.

Gilding: coating with a thin layer of gold, or a substance resembling gold.
Glaze: a color development step in the furniture finishing process - properly hand- whipped and blended to highlighted grain characteristics of wood.
Greek Key: ornamental band of repeated small hook-shaped designs formed by short lines intersecting at right angles.
Grille: a lattice of wood or metal used to protect glass doors on secretaries, bookcases, and china cabinets.

Hand Distressing: Creating a marred surface, which lends an aged look to furniture.
Highboy: a tall 18th century American case piece with 4 or 5 drawers, a cornice or pediment crown, and a legged base.
Highlighting: finishing technique of removing colored finish materials in a pattern which enhances the natural grain patterns.

Inlay: decorative design created by embedding pieces of one material into another, usually fornming a flat palne, such as a table top.

Jacquard: fabric with a woven pattern, named after the man who invented the puch card loom used to weave it in the 1700s.

Lacquer: a clear, protective, cellulose-based material applied as top coats in furniture.
Ladder Back Chair: a chair whose back resembles a ladder with two or three horizontal slats between two upright posts.
Loveseat: a small upholstered sofa designed to seat two people.

Marquetry an inlay, generally of wood or ivory, arranged in a distinctive pattern.
Mission Style: an American furniture style of the early 20th century and an offshoot of the Arts & Crafts movement.
Morie fabric with a wavy pattern that resembles water on silk.

Occasional Table: refers to any small table such as cocktail or coffee tables, end tables, and sofa tables.
Ogee Bracket Foot: commonly used in Chippendale case goods, it wraps around two sides of the piece, and has a double cyma-curve shape.
Ottoman: low upholstered seat or bench with no back or arms used for seating one or more persons. Smaller versions are used as footstools.
Overlay: a decorative trim piece of wood applied to a flat surface.

Parsons: a 20th century furniture style asociated with a small square plastic occasional table. Also refers to upholstered armless fining chairs and skirtless rounded sofa rails.
Patina: rich, glossy color produced in wood and leather through age, wear, and repeated polishing. The affect can be created artificially.
Pediment: ornamental, typically triangular, crown on case goods.
Pedestal Table: a round or oval table top supported by a single base.
Pilaster: long section of a pillar or column set into or against furniture or a wall.
Pillow Top: seat cushion, arm, or mattress with an extra layer of cushioning added to its top.
Polyurethane: a synthetic material used as cushion material in upholstered furniture, available in varying degrees of density and softness.
Pouf: upholstered stool or backless seat, similar to an ottoman and usually round in shape. Often has deep button tufting and can have carved legs or a skirted base.

Queen Anne: name given to furniture styles popularized during the reign of England's Queen Anne (1702-1714), including the cabriole leg with spoon foot, shell carvings, and splat chair backs.

Rattan: a vine-like palm native to asia used for furniture, especially for caning and wicker because it is strong and easy to manipulate.
Reeding: a series of semi-circular, ornamental grooves, which run the length of the post or leg.
Reproduction: a faithful replication of antique furniture in form, workmanship, and ornamentation. Not a purposeful forgery in that pieces are marked as a reproduction with no intent to defraud.
Ring Pull: furniture hardware featuring a circular metal loop suspended from a back plate, sometimes in the form of a lion's head.
Rococo: a style noted for ornate, and asymmetrical designs - interpretations of shells and dripping water used in the Louis XIV and XV periods.
Rope Molding: convex molding designed with a series of indentions to resemble a length of rope.
Rush Seat: woven seat made from cylindrical stems of an aquatic family of rush plants. Originated in medieval times.

Saddle Seat: carved chair seat featuring a shallow depressed center with a slightly raised central ridge. Most comonly found on theWindsor chair.
Secretary: a slan-top desk with a chest base and a door hutch developed in the 17th and 18th centuries in England and America.
Serpentine: furniture or trim treatment formed by alternating convex and concave curves.
Settee: predecessor of the sofa, developed as an elongated arm chair, sometimes in wood but often upholstered in fabric or leather.
Shaker: a 19th century design form developed by the American religious group of the same name and based on the belief that "beauty rests on utility." Furniture has clean simple lines with no ornamentation and has remained popular since the 1860s.
Shoji Screens: standing Oriental screen, sometimes used as a room divider.
Sideboard: auxiliary dining room case piece used for serving with drawers and cupboards for storage.
Skirt: fabric applied along the bottom edge of upholstered pieces of furniture, which hides the legs.
Sleigh Bed: American Empire design from the early 19th century featuring a high scrolled headboard and slightly lower footboard.
Sofa Sleeper: convertible sofa with a spring-mounted sleeper unit concealed beneth the seat that folds out to form a bed. Available today in a variety of styles and sizes ranging from twin to queen.
Spade Foot: tapered design for the base of a leg, usually found Hepplewhite styling.
Splat: the center support panel at the back of a chair.
Spring Down: a cushion construction used in upholstery, which employs coil springs wrapped with polyurethane, and covered with down batting.
Staining: furniture finishing step of applying colored dyes which penetrate into the wood.
Stretcher: the supports under chairs and tables that are attached to the legs for strength.

Tapestry: a flat fabric, having needlepoint effects and containing many figures on a solid background.
Tight Seat: upholstered furniture which has the fabric pulled directly over the springs, with layer of padding in between, and padding over the springs
Transitional: furniture style in which design elements are toned down so that the piece may fit with a traditional or more contemporary décor.
Trestle Table: rable supported by centered legs conected by a horizontal beam. Originally designed for easy disassembly and movement.

Veneer: Thin slices of wood cut through the cross or vertical section of a log then glued together at right angles over a thick central core, resulting in a stronger piece of furniture that responds less to environmental changes. This process also produces a fairly identical grain that can be matched in various ways to create interesting surface patterns.

Wardrobe: s tall cupboard with a chest of drawers, originally called a "clothes press." Became known as the "wardrobe" in the 18th century when a rod was added for handing clothes and a mirror was often fitted to the interior or exterior of a door.
Webbing: the foundation, composed of interwoven strips of synthetic material, attached to the wood frame of upholstered furniture.
Welt: a fabric-covered cord, which is sewn into the seam as decorative trim.
Wing Chair: high-backed, upholstered easy chair with panels or wings projecting forward from the sides of the back and curving downward to meet the roll arms. The wings originally designed to protect a sitter from drafts, and the style has remained popular since its appearance in the late 17th century.

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