Vernis Martin – is a substitute for lustrous lacquer. It was used widely in the 18th century to decorate clocks, snuff boxes and brise fans. It was made by adding bronze or gold powder to green varnish to create the effect and the technique was perfected by the two French ‘Martin’ brothers hence the name […]
Tunbridge Ware describes a form of inlaid woodwork originating from the spa town of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The decoration is typically a mosaic of very small pieces of different coloured woods used to create a pictorial vignette. It was fashionable during the 18th and 19th centuries and examples can be seen in the […]
Tulipwood is a very dense high quality wood native to Brazil. It has a lovely pronounced figure and is used for furniture inlays or small turned items. As it is only available in small sizes it is not generally used for solid luxury furniture. Due to its distinctive figure, its use is subject to fashion.
Tortoiseshell or tortoise shell is derived from the shell of the hawksbill turtle which has become an endangered species due its use. Used for items such as sunglasses, combs, knitting needles and guitar picks, its use was banned in 1973. During the Victorian era, pique-worked jewellery made from tortoise shell inlaid with tiny gold or […]
A Teapoy – is a small three-legged table with an attached tea caddy box on the tripod base. The tea caddy was used to store loose leaf tea and the table often served as a small tea table. The word is not derived from ‘tea’ but from the Hindi phrase meaning ‘three-footed’. Teapoys came into […]
A Tallboy is furniture piece comprising a stack of drawers sometimes with a wardrobe on top. A Lowboy is a set of drawers of table-height designed to be a clothes chest. The tallboy traditionally has five, six or seven long drawers and two short ones. It became popular in the late 17th century and was […]
Sycamore is a tree with broad leaves and is native tree to the more temperate parts of Europe. It is likely it was introduced to the British Isles in the Middle Ages and is now considered a naturalised species. Mature trees can live for over 400 years and grow to 35 meters in height. The […]
A Sutherland table is a folding table that had a narrow top so that when its folded it does not take up much space. When folded out, its gate legged leaves form a small table. The earliest examples were usually made from mahogany, with later versions being veneered with either birdseye maple, burr walnut, yew […]
James Shoolbred was a retailer of furnishing textiles and carpets establishing his shop in Tottenham Court Road in London during the 1820s. By the 1880s the enterprise had expanded so much that they business had to move and became a early type of department store. The new store was extremely popular, mainly because it showed […]
Thomas Sheraton (1751 – 1806) was a renowned English cabinet maker and a leading exponent of Neoclassicism. His name became synonymous with a style of furniture that was characterised as a feminine refinement of the later Georgian styles. His work was the most influential source of inspiration for furniture in the latter part of the […]