Regency furniture

Regency Furniture – Prince George became Prince Regent from 1811 to 1820 due to his father’s, (George III) incapacity. During this period furniture and the decorative arts followed the earlier neoclassical Georgian style which had taken its inspiration from the ancients, but during the Regency it became the fashion to make exact copies of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman furniture.

In 1794 the designers of the architect Henry Holland were sent to Rome to collect classical objects and a collection of drawings of the items was subsequently published in 1799-1800. These provided ideas for furniture designers and craftsmen to copy which became the classical style of the Regency period.

The period mirrored the Empire Style in France which was strongly influenced by Napoleon I’s successful military campaigns in Egypt which had heightened interest in all things Egyptian and this influenced furniture making and the decorative arts in general.

Thomas Sheraton issued his ‘Cabinet Directory’ in 1803 and in 1804 and 1806 he published ‘The Cabinet Maker and Artist’s Encyclopedia’ both of which included designs for Grecian couches and chair legs that curved forwards in the ‘sabre’ design, a characteristic of the Regency period. The publications also contained the first Egyptian designs.

Thomas Hope published his ‘Household Furniture and Decoration’ in 1807 and this showed direct copies of ancient furniture which were made in wood and bronze. It also included designs for motifs such as winged lions and lion masks, the winged Sphinx, hocked animal legs, griffins, Egyptian gods and heads and lyres.

George Smith published his ‘The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide’ in 1808 and 1826 which contained designs more suitable for the mass market.

Key features of the furniture of the period include using brass inlays rather than the marquetry of the earlier period, sabre legs, cable twist, metal grilles and ormolu with furniture pieces becoming shorter to allow for the decoration of walls with paintings which became popular during the period. New furniture pieces also appeared such as the sofa bed. There is a great deal of brasswork and rosewood and zebrawood are used extensively for veneers as their colours are very striking. Mahogany was still the most popular wood for Regency dining room, library and bedroom furniture.

There was also a revival of Chinese and chinoiserie styles and ‘japanning’ (coating items in black and gold lacquer) also became popular. Gothic also made a comeback.

By 1826 George Smith was complaining about this eclecticism saying it was: “a melange or mixture of all the different styles associated together”