18th Century English Furniture: The Norman Adams CollectionThe pieces in this book have passed through the hands of one of Britain's leading furniture dealers, Norman Adams. But it is far from being just a series of fine photographs for it concentrates principally on the British mahogany furniture of the eighteenth century, a period when British design and craftsmanship reached its pinnacle, a fact amply verified by the sustained demand for these fine pieces. Yet it is a period which curiously enough has, apart from some specialist work, been largely neglected by serious writers on the subject for many years. The book contains some 475 black and white and 56 colour photographs. The illustration of so many fine pieces, as well as unusual items, superbly photographed, would in itself have earned this book a place on the shelves of anyone seriously interested in the subject. But there is an added bonus. A firm like Norman Adams prospers by the skill of the selection in buying - a 'good eye' - and it is this essential facility, succinctly expressed in the captions to the pieces in this book, which will ensure its lasting reputation as an important work of reference. |
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acanthus Adam period armchair base bookcase boxwood bracket feet brass handles cabriole legs castors centre Cescinsky chair chinoiserie Chippendale period mahogany Circa 1785 Width Colour Plate commode concave corners crossbanded curve decoration Depth of seat desk drawer fronts early Sheraton period eighteenth century elegant escutcheons example fashion fluted foliage frieze frieze drawer George I period Height of back Height of seat Hepplewhite period mahogany illus Ince and Mayhew inlaid John Linnell kneehole marquetry mirror motif moulded Norman Adams original oval painted pair panels paterae patina Pembroke table period carved period walnut piece pierced Provenance rectangular reeded Regency period rococo rosewood round satinwood scrolls seat rails secretaire serpentine serpentine shaping shaped Sheraton period mahogany similar slender splayed square tapered legs stretcher stringing surface table Circa Temple Newsam Thomas Chippendale top edge tripod table tulipwood unusual veneered Width of seat wood writing table