Furniture
One of the delights of antique furniture as with all practical antiques, is that it is a tangible link with the past. Sitting at a 1700´s desk, it is easy to imagine an earlier owner leaning on the same surface, struggling with an important letter. An ink stain on a well-rubbed edge adds to the sense of continuity. The way antique furniture carries the mantle of age is one of its appealing characteristics. Whilst ceramics and glass are little altered by the years, a piece of furniture changes in subtle ways, its timbers gradually shrink and mellow through handling, polishing and exposure. This slow maturing gives it a unique patina that cannot be matched – or reproduced – by the finest new pieces.
Biedermeier Furniture
The Beidermeier period was around 1815 to 1848.
The term Biedermeier is derived from the name of a political caricature appearing in a German newspaper, who typified a well-to-do middle-class man without culture. Biedermeier furniture, which was in vogue from around 1815 to about 1848, was always commonplace. The cabinetwork was a potpourri of some of the features, but not always the best ones, of Sheraton, Regency, Directoire and especially French Empire minus the bronze appliques.