When I wrote words like “sofa” and “mirror” in my novel, it felt wrong. In my first draft, I made a note to check if those were the correct names for such items in the period. What should have been a short research project has since turned into a large one.
Prepare yourself for several posts about furnitue during the Regency. Today, I’m going to start with a bit of general information about what influenced the design and the characteristics of Regency furniture.
Neo-classicism
Furniture continued to be influenced by Neo-classicism, as it had been during the Georgian period. Georgian designers tried to copy features of neo-classical designs in their work, but Regency designers took it one step further and tried to reproduce the pieces of Greek and Roman furniture they saw in museums.
One source states that Regency furniture was all about bling, but most others argue it was more about elegant lines, rather than the rich and ornate carvings of earlier furniture. The Prince Regent (arguably a precursor of modern bling) was influential in furniture design, particularly with his pet project, Brighton Pavilion. One only has to take a glance to see that Brighton Pavilion was all about bling, but we cannot deny that the Prince’s choice of Arabic and Indian styles, and chinoiserie interiors, did influence furniture design.
Elegant Lines
Combining these influences, Regency furniture favoured simple, straight lines and unbroken surfaces. Ornamentation enhanced, rather than distracted, from the elegance of a piece. Mahogany continued to be the wood of choice, but inlays and accents in different woods, like ebony, or veneers, such as rosewood and zebra wood, were used to provide a striking contrast while still allowing for clean and smooth lines.
Metal accents and inlays, such as brass or bronze, added to the elegance of Regency furniture. Animal motifs were also popular, particularly lion’s heads on handles, and animal feet at the bottom of furniture legs.
The gothic style has always been popular in Britain and continued to be used in furniture, but international influences also rose in popularity. From the Orient, pagodas, dragon and bamboo motifs were incorporated into designs. Introducing Egyptian artefacts in museums led to the appearance of sphinxes, lions, and griffins.
Fabrics
Another popular feature of soft furnishings was the use of chintz. Sofas (yes, they were introduced in this period and were called such) and beds were hung and covered with the stiff patterned fabric that was imported from India. They made chintz from calico, a plain form of unbleached cotton, which was printed with floral patterns and glazed to make it stiff.
Some of the more famous designers of the time included cabinet makers George Seddon & Sons, who supplied gothic furniture for Windsor Castle between 1827 and 1833. Henry Holland favoured the Roman style and published Etchings of Ancient Ornamental Architecture in 1799, after sending a team of designers to Rome to collect ideas for furniture. Thomas Sheraton published his Cabinet Dictionary in 1803, which included Grecian couches and animal motifs. The following year he published The Cabinet Maker and Artists Encyclopaedia, which introduced the first Egyptian designs in English furniture. Thomas Hope was another designer with a fondness for Egyptian designs and was interested in reproducing ancient furniture using wood and bronze.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief introduction to the influences and charcteristics of Regency furniture design. Please comment below. In my next furniture blog, I will look at beds and mattresses.
All images are in the public domain and taken from Ackermann’s Repository, published between 1809 and 1829.
Very interesting looking forward to the beds and mattress