Furniture And Decorative Art Terms: The high point in American Furniture and Decorative Art Terms is con-idered by many authorities to have been reached in the highboys of the Chippendale period, dating 1760 to 1775, especially those of Philadelphia provenance. They were made some ten years or more after that Furniture and Decorative Art Terms form and its companion piece, the lowboy, went out of fashion in England. Since no designs for them were included in Chippendale's Director or kindred books, these American Chippendale highboys and lowboys typify the skill with which colonial craftsmen could take decorative details from other Furniture and Decorative Art Terms forms then current in England and evolve distinctive and decorative pieces for their American customers.
Americanization of English Furniture and Decorative Art Terms design was under way by or before 1675 and continued for a century and a half. In the process of adapting these designs to suit the simpler tastes and manner of living current in America, three distinct types of alteration took place. (1) The decorative treatment, usually carving, was simplified or sometimes the design of an entire piece materially altered. (2) Simple English provincial pieces were improved by American cabinetmakers and enhanced by refinements of line or by the addition of niceties in carved or turned decoration. (3) The form and decorative detail of pieces of Furniture and Decorative Art Terms already out of fashion (or never widely made) in England but which were popular in America were carried to a high point of design and craftsmanship. |
