Glossary of Terms,
Antique Furniture
C
Cabriole Leg:
A cyma, or double curved leg, arching outward at the top, inward near the foot
which swings out again. It is used on Chippendale, Queen Anne, and Louis XV
furniture .
Campaign Furniture:
Military, portable utilities such as chairs, tables, beds, chests, desks, etc.
Often folding or separating into parts to facilitate carrying.
Canopy:
The frame or tester over a high four-poster bedstead, with or without its
covering material.
Cant:
Bevel or chamfer, as on an edge.
Carolean:
Referring to the period of Charles II, King of England 1660-1685.
Cartouche:
A carved ornament based upon an unrolled scroll, the central part of which is
often used as a field for painting devices or inscriptions.
Casters:
Small, swiveling rollers attached to the base or legs to facilitate moving a
piece of furniture, first used in the early 19th Century.
Cavetto:
Concave molding often found as an important member of the cornice.
Cellarette:
Liquor storage cabinet or deep drawer.
Chaise:
French for long chair, reclining chair with elongated seat.
Chamfer:
Groove, splayed, or beveled-off corner of a post or a molding.
Channel:
Groove or fluting cut into a surface as a decorative accent. In upholstery, term
applied to vertical tufting.
Chest:
A piece of furniture with stationary top and drawers and/or doors in front.
Originally a trunk-like box with a hinged lid.
Chest-on-chest:
A chest of drawers in two sections, the smaller on top the larger one.
Chesterfield:
Overstuffed couch or sofa with upholstered ends.
Cheval Glass:
A full-length swinging mirror hung between two posts anchored by a cross beam.
Smaller versions, often with drawers in base, are used atop chests or dressers.
Chevron:
V-shaped design for inlay and other decoration.
Chiffonier:
French term for a high narrow chest of drawers for the boudoir.
China Cabinet/Closet:
Cupboard, with glass sides and front. Used to store and display fine china. Term
often abbreviated to china.
Chinese Chippendale:
18th Century furniture style of the Chippendale School using Chinese motifs and
decoration.
Chinoiserie:
French term for the Chinese manner;
lacquered and/or painted decoration which grew out of Europe's mad love affair
with things Oriental between the 17th and 19th Centuries.
Cleat:
Strip of wood fastened to a flat surface to brace or strengthen or to prevent
warping.
Club Foot:
A term referring to poorly formed feet on Queen Anne furniture.
Clustered Columns:
Three or more small wooden columns clustered together to form a single support
used as bedposts, table legs, chair legs, etc.
Cocktail Table:
Low table, any shape, used in front of sofa or chair when serving cocktails;
otherwise, holds accessories.
Coffee Table:
A low table used in front of the sofa to hold a coffee service.
Coffer:
Hinged-top chest used as seat, table, or trunk for valuables.
Collar:
Molding around a leg.
Colonial:
Pre-Revolutionary period in American, dating back to furniture of the earliest
settlers.
Comb Back:
Windsor chair back in which several spindles extend above the main back,
resembling an old-fashioned high comb.
Commode:
Low, small chest generally used against a wall and fitted with drawers and
doors. Chippendale produced many fine designs and probably was the first to plan
the commode for the bedroom and clothing storage.
Console:
Originally a large bracket supporting a shelf, but in furniture parlance it
refers to any group consisting of a table or cabinet with a mirror hung above
it. Term loosely used for any wall table.
Contemporary:
Although literally "of our day" tern applied to middle-of-the-road, conservative
modern furniture;
simplified traditional;
terminology used by manufacturers and retailers alike attempting to appeal to
both modernists and traditionalists.
Core:
The foundation upon which veneer may be applied, usually poplar or similar
porous wood or chip board.
Corinthian:
Most elaborate of the Greek architectural orders;
columns whose capital consists of scrolls and acanthus leaves.
Corner Block:
A bracket used to reinforce the joints of chair seats and similar structures on
the inside.
Corner Cupboard:
Three-sided china cabinet designed to fit into a corner;
having curved or straighten front;
sometimes built-in.
Cornice:
The top horizontal molding of the column or piece of the furniture;
also applied to framework from which draperies are hung.
Couch:
An arm less. back less lounge or sofa for daytime resting;
generally with head rest at one end.
Countersink:
Conical boring in wood to receive a screw head so that the surface of the screw
is lower than the wood surface.
Cove:
A concave molding.
Credence, Credenza:
Origin probably religious, from credere, to believe. Small sideboard or buffet
used for carving or displaying plate.
Crinoline Stretcher:
Stretcher on Windsor chairs, the two front legs joined by a semicircular curve,
with short stretchers to the back legs. Also known as a cowhorn, spur, or
crescent stretcher.
Cross Banding:
Veneer banding in which the grain runs crosswise.
Cross Fire:
Regular mottled figure across the grain of the wood, yielding a brilliant
transparency, particularly in some mahogany, walnut, satinwood, and other
tropical woods.
Crotch:
V-shaped figure attained when veneer is cut from joint of tree trunk and limb.
Crown:
The carved top of an early chair, or a molding found at the top of a cabinet.
Cupboard:
Cabinet or box with doors;
for storage. The special types and names are numerous, springing from the
special uses and locations. Sometimes a cupboard is considered an architectural
feature only, the free-standing equivalent being a cabinet.
Curio Cabinet:
A case with glass door, panels, shelves;
used to display art objects.
Cyma:
From the Greek for wave- a simply double curve.
Cyma Recta:
The ogee molding.
Cyma Reversa:
The cyma recta reversed.
