There are four primary methods of furniture decoration in American cabinetmaking: carving, inlaying, painting and veneering. Beginning in the 17th century and continuing today, these four methods can be used individually or in any combination, including all four techniques to create the most elaborate pieces of furniture. Other decorating techniques include églomisé, gilding, inlaying, japanning and stenciling.

Carving  |  Églomisé  |  Gilding  |  Inlaying
Japanning  |  Painting  |  Stenciling  |  Veneering

Carving

Carving became prevalent in the Chippendale and Revival styles of the 19th century. Elaborately carved, pierced splats were common during the Chippendale and Federal periods, often with the familiar patterns of scrolls, diamonds, tassels, ruffles, and eagles.

The Classical period was known for its ornate carvings of Classical motifs such as lyres, harps, dolphins, caryatids, and lion's paw feet to name a few.

The most elaborate carving of furniture occurred during the Rococo period, which produced a style characterized by heavy looping scrolls, lush fruit and ornate foliage.

While many cabinetmakers and joiners did their own carving, the busy city of Philadelphia supported specialized carvers like Samuel Harding, the primary carver of the interior embellishments of Independence Hall during the 1750s.

Nicholas Bernard and Martin Jugiez were London-trained immigrant carvers in Philadelphia during the latter half of the 18th century. Their 'signature' work consisted of carved acanthus leaves with a deep, V-shaped central passage accented by a four-point punch. Also attributed to both carvers are shell-carved drawers with five stop-fluted lobes centering a carved rosette.

Another master carver of the 18th century was Samuel McIntire who worked in Salem, Massachusetts. Well-known for his hallmark motif of a carved basket of fruit, Samuel McIntire is also recognized for his expertly carved foliage and swags, and distinctive eight-star punch work.

Églomisé

Églomisé was extensively used during the Federal period and was achieved by decorating the reverse of a glass panel with painted and gilt embellishment.

These panels are most commonly found on mirrors, clocks, and furniture manufactured in the cities of Baltimore, Boston and New York. New York panels usually are more freely decorated compared to the examples from Boston and Baltimore. The decorative scenes on églomisé panels are numerous and often feature florals, country vignettes, landscapes, or seascapes.

Gilding

Since overlaying wood with gold leaf can be complicated, there are two different methods of gilding that can be used-water gilding and oil gilding. Water gilding is used on the best pieces because it can be burnished to a high luster. Oil gilding, which did not achieve the brilliance of water gilding, was often favored because it was resistant to dampness, less expensive, and simpler to apply.

Gilding was used quite extensively on every furniture type throughout the latter half of the 18th and 19th centuries. The gilder became a sought-after artisan from the 1750s onward, especially in the urban areas of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, where highly decorated and gilded furniture was in great demand.

Inlaying

Inlaying became a principal decorating technique in the late 18th century, at the same time when veneering became popular. Inlays provided points of interest and contrast in furniture design, especially with the pictorial inlays of shells, flowers, fans and eagles.

Pictorial motifs were not the exclusive forms of inlay. Geometric-patterned banding and stringing were also frequently used for contrast and simple ornamentation.

Essentially a mosaic constructed of small pieces of different kinds of woods, inlaying became a very popular mode of decoration from the Federal period on.

Japanning

Produced mainly in 18th-century Boston and New York, japanning became the inexpensive Western substitute for oriental lacquer.

In Boston, maple was usually used for case pieces and pine for clocks. The base paints were then applied directly over these fine-grained woods followed by a layer of whiting, a gesso-like substance, to raise figures. Gilding followed with metallic powders or leaf, painted in detail with lampblack and plain oil colors, and then varnished.

In New York way, a layer of whiting was placed on oak or coarse-grained woods to fill in the grains and produce a smooth surface.

Painting

Paint decoration was used to enhance an object's appeal. Objects made of lesser woods such as pine were painted to resemble richer, more exotic woods like mahogany. Paint decoration may also have helped improve the inferior quality of a wood, while at the same time it was also believed to be an important protection for furniture surfaces.

In the 17th century, painted furniture was quite popular because it offered easy and inexpensive decoration. Stains and oil-based paints were commonly used. While stains were readily available, paints had to be imported from England.

In 17th and 18th century furniture, black and red were the most commonly used colors on both plain-painted and paint-decorated furniture. Along with white lead paint, these colors were easy to obtain.

Geometric, floral, and faux-graining patterns were the most common elements in painted furniture throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The 18th century saw the popularity of japanning, a process which imitated Oriental lacquer to add an exotic touch.

There are a few examples of painted Queen Anne style furniture, but even fewer in the Chippendale style. Decorative painting had significantly declined with the popularity of the Queen Anne and Chippendale styles, which favored elaborate carving.

Years later, the Federal and Classical styles would resurrect painted furniture with the growing popularity of gilding, stenciling, and églomisé.

Stenciling

The 19th century and its many revival styles saw the introduction of a new decorative technique- stenciling, an American innovation that allowed faster decoration of repetitive designs such as running borders. When done freehand, stenciling was a time-consuming, very meticulous and therefore, highly expensive, process.

In the high style of the American Empire period, stenciled gilding was the single most decoration style for any type of furniture, from center tables to high chests-of-drawers.

Stencils were also frequently used to create faux-graining of superior woods, for instance, mahogany and rosewood, in order to cover inferior woods.

Stenciling became so popular that it moved beyond furniture to walls. It was easier and cheaper to use stenciling to decorate a wall than it was to apply wallpaper.

Veneering

Veneering was chiefly used to satisfy the demand for ornamented furniture and the limited supply of valuable woods.

This ornamental process was rarely seen in American furniture before the 18th century. In the William and Mary style, both burled walnut and ash veneer were used frequently on chests and high chests.

Veneering was occasionally used in the Queen Anne style and rarely in the Chippendale style, when carving became the vogue method of furniture decoration.

It was not until 1790 and the beginning of the Federal period that veneering and ornamental inlaying became the principal decorating methods of American furniture. The most widely used woods for veneering include crotch mahogany, rosewood, and walnut. Satinwood and figured birch were sometimes used in the coastal cities for contrast.

In early 18th century Boston, the most stylish high chests and dressing tables were either japanned or veneered in walnut.