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Elizabethan Furniture
By 1600 furniture and interior design had undergone significant changes compared with the start of the Tudor era. Furniture was now made in larger quantities and varieties with a higher degree of skill. This was partly due to changing house plans and sizes but also influenced by overseas styles, particularly Italianate style.
The following are characteristic of Elizabethan furniture and help to set it apart from other Tudor styles. If you are building a dolls house that towards the latter part of the Tudor era you might like to look for pieces based on or containing the following:-
- Increased choice of wood - Oak & Walnut. While most Elizabethan furniture was still made of oak some finer pieces were made of walnut. Walnut was a lighter, less sturdy wood. It was often inlaid inside other wood and walnut furniture was often found up in the gallery.
- Elizabethan Tables - oak was still used and still seen in the halls. Oak was practical wood that was longlasting and suitable for hard use. Walnut tables also existed for more occasional use.
- Elizabethan Influences - included Gothic, Renaissance, Dutch, German and Flemish styles. By 1600 a highly decorative and architectural style had developed to ornament the furniture of the well to do
- Decorative detailing included Strapwork, inlays, lozenge decoration, masks, carytids, fruit and flower motifs – grapes and vine leaves being particularly popular. Few surfaces were left unadorned
- Huge increase in home decoration and accessories for the upper and middle classes. This included tapestries, silk hangings, turkey work (knotted woollen pile,) brass, pewter and linens, needlework and embroidery, gold, silver, paintings and gilting on wall and ceiling
- Furniture did not experience the same “boom” as home furnishings. Drawers, dressing tables and so on were still relatively unknown. Mirrors were rare, extremely expensive and had to be imported from Venice. In the main, most rooms derived their style from the accessories rather than the furniture
- Braced joints, in large scale
- Feet shaped in square blocks
and legs turned in shapes of melons and bulbs
- Tree Of Life pattern in crewel work and rugs
Click here to find books of source material for a Tudor dolls house
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