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Furniture periods for the unitiated
I have been scratching my head for a while wondering where to start figuring out the various periods of furniture design. I just came across a chart that I want to share a link to.
While the timeline might not be terribly useful in and of itself, assuming it is reasonably accurate, it should provide a great jumping off place to do some further research on wikipedia, google, amazon.com or even at your local library or museum.
Go ahead over and check it out.
Luke,
One of the best period furniture books I've seen is Jeffrey Greene's book American Furniture of the 18th Century: History, Technique and Structure. In addition to a discussion of the major time periods and their influence on furniture design of the time, there is a lot of great information on the tools and techniques of the time, instruction on key elements like cabriole legs, ball and claw feet and several other carvings and inlay techniques, and finally, some exploded drawings (no dimensions given, for a reason) of examples of key pieces from each period, from tea tables, to chairs, to bonnet top secretaries. I have read the entire book cover to cover several times and find myself reaching for it as a reference constantly. I highly recommend it.
Bob
Thanks for the heads up. I just put it on my Amazon wishlist. Any other suggestions are quite welcome.