Makers, Periods & Styles Library

Were a London printmakers founded in 1878 that produced high quality prints both for the artists themselves and of popular works at the time. Working from 1878 to around 1930, they used various printing methods including etchings, photogravures and photographs. Based in Tottenham Court Road in London, they also...

Louis-Pierre Deseine (1749–1822) was a French sculptor who is best known for producing portrait busts. Deiseine received his training in several workshops, most notably with Augustin Pajou (1730-1809) who was also a highly skilled portrait bust sculptor who had won the Prix de Rome at the age of 18. Deseine...

A Lowboy is an American term for a low table used as a vanity or dressing table that has one or two rows of drawers. It is called a lowboy to contrast with a tallboy or high chest of drawers. It was usually made from oak, mahogany or walnut, with the fronts of the drawers […]

Is an English silverware manufacturer and dealer. It started in 1889 when Pierre Levene set up shop in the Fulham Road as a jeweller and watch-maker that also sold silverware and other objets d’art. In 1926 they moved to the South Kensington premises of Pierre’s son Maurice who had set up his own shop...

Mahogany is one of the largest species of hardwood with many different varieties within it. It is rich reddish brown in colour and can range from being plain to having a vibrant and almost three dimensional effect figure. It has been a very popular timber for centuries being used in ship and house building,...

Cuban Mahogany – called the “Wood of Kings”, this type of mahogany wood was used for the planks of the Spanish Armada ships. It was one of the most valuable and prized woods from the late 16th century onwards with Thomas Sheraton, Thomas Chippendale and Duncan Phyfe all making furniture with it. Unfortunately...

Malacca wood is taken from one species of rattan palm native to the coast of Sumatra. With long, slender stems it was considered perfect for making walking sticks and canes. It is very lightweight and strong with a satin-like bark that has a natural gloss. The colour varies from blond through reddish amber to...

Is an opaque green banded copper carbonate mineral. The colour is given by the copper content. There is archeological evidence to show that it was mined and smelted for copper since at least 1,000 BCE. It has been used in a variety of ways since antiquity including being pulverised to create eye-shadow in ancient...

Was founded by a Protestant Huguenot family fleeing persecution in France in 1762 in North Hylton near Sunderland. The family prospered in a range of business interests including coal, shipping and timber. Not much is known about the early days of the pottery before it moved to Newcastle upon Tyne in 1817. There is...

The Maltese Cross is the cross symbols associated with the Knights Hospitaller (the Knights of Malta) and the Order of St. John since the middle ages. It is also the modern symbol of Amalfi, a province of Italy. The symbol is made up of four ‘’V’ shaped elements each joined at the vertex resulting in […]