Here at Remodelista, we often find ourselves asking things such as: Is that a French Provincial or Queen Anne–style chair in the corner of the living room we’re writing about?
Thus, our New Year’s resolution: Take a refresher course on the history of furniture, and learn a few tips and tricks to identify the main styles.
The living area of an early-18th-century weaver’s house on Fournier Street in London is filled with classic antiques.
This broad era of furniture spans from the 1600s to the early 1800s.
A Quick Guide to Classic Age Furniture
An Italian Renaissance Style Sgabello Chair in dark wood with carved detailing.
1. Renaissance Furniture
“From the Renaissance to the end of the 1600s, which includes the Baroque Age, we still deal with heavy shapes and dark wood: Think Jacobean in England, Italian Renaissance, and, in France, the first of the Louis XIII styles. Also Italian and German Baroque, Louis XIV, and William and Mary.”
Main styles:
Iconic look:
“Ornaments, curves, gold, brocades, exotic veneers, and colors. It’s a period of exuberance and ‘showing off,’ where over-the-top is de rigueur.”
A pair of Renaissance Style Carved Chairs from Germany, complete with scowling faces, from 1st Dibs.
Iconic pieces:
“Think beautiful seating, great armchairs, chests of drawers, and dining tables.”
Where to find it:
“For the real period pieces you will have to go to established antique dealers; go there even if your budget does not allow you to purchase, in order to train your eye and get references,” Pourny advises.
2. 18th-Century Furniture
An Eighteenth-Century Dutch Lowboy, available from antiques shop Puckhaber, has cabriole legs and fanciful floral veneers.
“The eighteenth century is probably the period that comes to mind when we talk about antique furniture with the most recognizable styles,” Pourny says.
Main styles:
The “tell” of Louis XV–style furniture: “cabriole legs, curved shapes, elegant lines and materials, bronze, veneers, carved floral elements. Basically everything that is not a straight line,” Pourny says.
Iconic look:
“Think Versailles and Les Liaisons Dangereuses.” For the style that arose in the same period among the non-noble classes, think “simple pieces with the same elegant lines.”
Iconic pieces:
Comfortable seats and “practical and elegant” dressers, Pourny says.
Where to find it:
“Local auctions for style pieces are your best bet for price,” Pourny says.
A typical Louis XVI Oval Back Armchair, this one from the 1930s and available from Chairish, has straighter lines than the more ornate styles that came before.
3. Louis XVI Furniture
“The second main style of the 1700s to the beginning of the 1800s: Louis XVI, often referred as neoclassical.”
Main styles:
Iconic look:
These styles were “inspired by straight, simple lines; a reaction to the exuberance of past styles. Think straight lines, pale monochromatic colors, Gustavian furniture.”
A Gustavian Sideboard from Puckhaber; note the pale tone and straight lines.
The best neoclassical pieces: “great dressers, perfect dining tables, large mirrors.”
Iconic piece(s):
“These pieces are pretty fashionable right now,” Pourny advises.
Where to find it:
How to use it:
Surprisingly, this style fits well into today’s aesthetic: “All those simple lines really find an echo in the way we live today, uncluttered, with off-whites and grays,” Pourny says.
The quintessential “brown furniture”: a Victorian Chest of Drawers, found via Puckhaber.
4. 19th-Century Furniture
Main styles:
“The age of Victorian furniture (‘brown furniture,’ as it is generally called); also the French Second Empire.”
“It’s the Gilded Age, the prosperous Industrial Revolution, the beginning of mass production: Think heavy lines, dark woods, over-the-top decoration sometimes.”
Iconic look:
Iconic pieces:
The number-one thing to look for?
Pourny says it’s a good time to find these pieces at a bargain.
Where to find it:
Think creatively: “Don’t be too much of a purist,” Pourny says.
How to use it:
“Brown furniture” is making a comeback in a modern context; as seen here, in Earthly and Ethereal: An Apartment Makeover by Studio Oink.