Close looks
Close looks
A close look requires no special knowledge and is no substitute for an expert appraisal. It is a way to slow down and notice the decisions makers took: why the back is exactly this high, what holds the seat in place, why the carver needed this particular leaf. Any piece will do, from a chair in a museum gallery to your grandmother's chest of drawers.
A piece of furniture readily answers questions if you ask them in order: what it is, what it is made of, how it is put together and what happened to it afterward.
How to examine a piece of furniture
Describe the silhouette
Step back and look at the piece as a whole: is it tall or squat, broad or slender, do straight lines or curves dominate?
A generic example: an armchair with curved legs and a wavy top rail leans toward rococo, while one with a strict rectangular back and straight legs leans toward neoclassicism.
Identify the material
Solid wood or veneer, which species, is there metal, caning or fabric? Look at the end grain and the edges: that is where a layer of veneer is easiest to spot.
Find the joints
Examine the places where the legs meet the seat rails and the back meets the seat. Tenons and dowels point to joinery, while metal brackets often indicate a later repair or serial production.
A generic example: screws on a bentwood chair are not necessarily a later repair; on such chairs they can be part of the original design, as with chair No. 14.
Examine the upholstery
Fabric or leather, nails, braid, tufting. Ask whether the upholstery is as old as the frame: it was often replaced, and new fabric can hide an old structure.
Read the ornament
Carving, marquetry, mounts, painted decoration. Ask yourself whether the ornament emphasizes the form or lives a life of its own.
Note the signs of age
Wear, repairs, holes from earlier hardware, variations in the color of the wood. Write them down rather than trying to fix them right away: they are part of the object's history.
Elements of a piece of furniture
| Element | What it is | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Silhouette | The overall outline of the piece and the relationship between its parts | Straight lines or curves, a light piece or a heavy one |
| Legs | The supports the piece stands on | Straight, turned, curved, bentwood or metal; are there stretchers between them? |
| Back | The support for the back on a chair, armchair or sofa | Height, angle, whether it is solid, open or upholstered |
| Seat | The surface you sit on | Hard, caned or upholstered; seat depth and height |
| Joints | Ways of fastening parts to one another | Tenons, wedges, dowels, screws, glue; are any joints loose? |
| Upholstery | The padding and its fabric or leather cover | Material, tufting, edge finishing, whether it dates from the same time as the frame |
| Hardware | Handles, hinges, locks, escutcheons, casters | Material and style, signs of replacement, holes from earlier fittings |
| Ornament | Carving, marquetry, gilding, painted decoration | Whether the ornament relates to the form, where it survives and where it is lost |
Read next
- Makers
The roles without which furniture is neither made nor preserved, plus three names from our timeline.
- Collections
Routes through the guide: by style, by craft, and a short path for first-time visitors.
- Events
The kinds of events devoted to furniture and interiors, and how to prepare for a museum or historic house tour.
Sources
- Reference works on the history of furniture and the decorative arts
- Museum catalogues and guides to furniture collections
Historical information is drawn from reference literature on the history of furniture and the decorative arts. Opening hours and visiting rules at museums, historic houses and workshops change, so please confirm them with each venue.