Restoration style


Restoration style

1. Post-Waterloo French Bourbon taste that continued Empire work wholesale except that it removed Napoleonic devices and rejected mahogany for lighter-colored woods.2. Spirited English furniture from the restoration of Charles II to the close of James II’s reign in 1688. The first to adapt continental baroque. Walnut supplanted oak. Fertile ornamentation brought in spiral turning, scrollwork, deep carving, gesso decoration, and floral marquetry. Caning, lacquering, and japanning were all new techniques. Numerous new forms appeared, such as the wing chair, the daybed, the slant-front bureau, in c. 1670, the scritoire writing cabinet, and small occasional tables.