Aalto, Alver - (Furniture Designer Finland) Hugo Alver Henrik Aalto (1899-1976) Finnish architect and designer famous for bent plywood furniture. He started designing furniture in 1929 and his first important design in the 1930, it was a convertible sofa bed that had a chromed tubular steel frame. He then designed a number of laminated birch wood chairs stools and tables. He enjoyed tackling special problems in furniture design and developed a durable stacking chair for kindergartens. He did not limit his talents to furniture he also worked in glass and made some of the earliest examples of 'free form' bowls. 

Aarnio, Eero - (Furniture Designer Finland) The Finnish designer Eero Aarnio was born in 1932, studied from 1954 to 1957 at the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki and started his own office as an interior and industrial designer in 1962. Eero Aarnio became Famous in 1966 for his Pop Art designed chairs. He designed the Ball Chair, the Bubble Chair and the Pastil Chair. They are among a few of his many designs. They are still manufactured today and you can even buy miniatures of these 1960s Mod creations. 

Aarnio, Eero

Abacus - (Architecture) In architecture an Abacus is the flat slab at the top of a capital. In classical orders it varies from a square form having unmolded sides in the Greek Doric, to thinner proportions and ovolo molding in the Greek Ionic, and to sides incurving and corners cut in Roman Ionic and Corinthian examples. In Romanesque work the abacus is heavier in proportion, projects less, and is generally molded and decorated. In Gothic work the form varies, appearing in square, circular, and octagonal forms with molded members.

Abacus

Abaquesne, Masseot - (Ceramics, Potter, French) Lived and worked at Rouen, France from 1526 until 1557. Famous for elaborately decorated pottery and paintings on tile.

Masseot Abaquesne

Abaquesne, Laurent - (Ceramics, Potter French) Son of Masseot Abaquesne took charge of his workshop and continued production until the end of the 16th Century

Laurent Abaquesne

'Abbasal Talwer - (Weapon, India)

'Abbasl - (Weapon, India)

Abbey, Richard - (Ceramics) Richard Abby was a Liverpool potter, apprenticed to Sadler & Green and founded the Herculaneum factory in 1793.

Acacia - (Wood) A decorative wood that shows a contrast between the pale yellow sapwood and the dark heartwood. The false-acacia or locust-tree (Robinia pseudo-acacia) was introduced into England during the seventeenth century.

Acacia

Acanthus Leaf - (Decoration) Ornament derived from the stylized foliage of the acanthus plant on Greek and Roman decoration, used as decoration on furniture, silver, and china during the Renaissance Period and it made a resurgence during the Victorian Era. It was favored by the Chippendale school.

Acanthus Leaf

Accessories - 1. (Decoration) 2. (Fine Art)

Accidental Rarity - (Coins)

Accordion - (Musical Instrument)

Achromatic Lens - (Scientific Instrument)

Acid Gilding - (Ceramics)

Acid-gold - (Decoration Ceramics) a type of dinnerware decoration in which the design is acid- etched into the body, then painted with liquid gold which is fired on and burnished.

Acid-gold

Acid-Polished - (Glass) Acid Polishing is a technique of dipping cut or other glass into a bath of hydrofluoric and sulfuric acid which leaves the glass with a smooth polished surface.

Acid-Polished

Acid-Stamped - (Glass, Mark) Acid Stamping is done after the glass piece has been annealed. A good example is using a device similar to a rubber stamp to apply a signature or trademark.

Acid-Stamped

Acorn Clock - (Clocks & Timepieces)

Acorn Knop - (Glass)

Acoustic Jar - (Ceramics)

Acroter - (Architecture)

 Adam, Robert (1728-92)

Afghan Stock - (Weapon)

Afikomen – (Judaica) The middle of three pieces of matzah on the seder plate at Passover. As part of a game, the children at the seder search for the afikomen, which is hidden by an adult before the meal begins.

African Mahogany - (Wood)

African Walnut - (Wood)

Afromosia - (Wood)

After – (Art Term) After is an art term that means a work of art may either be nearly identical to the other's work, or differ to some degree from it. When used in an artist's inscription, it means that that artwork was modeled on the work of another artist.

After-Cast - (Metal)

Afzelia - (Metal)

Agata - (Glass)

Agate - (Marbles)

Agate Glass - (Glass) See Calcedonio.

Aiguillette - (Jewelry, Military)

Aimery - (Furniture) A cupboard in a wall or piece of furniture; a safe for food; a press for clothing and other objects; a doored recess in a church for the storing of sacred utensils. (Also called ambry, aumbry.)

Air-trap, Air-lock - (Glass)  

Air-twist Glass Stems - (Glass) Air twist stems were an English glass-making development that dates from the 1730s and followed in the 1740s by the opaque white enamel twist. Air twist stems are made by incorporating bubbles of air into a gather or mass of hot glass, which is then quickly twisted and pulled, the elongated bubbles thus forming corkscrew air lines inside the stem. In later examples the stem was made separately, still on the principle of the extended air bubble, being cut from long lengths; later again, from about 1750, a molded process brought with it much greater uniformity in the spiral and allowed for compound twists of considerable variety. When it cools slightly the whole mass is taken out of the mould and reheated and covered with another coating of clear glass. This is drawn out and twisted until it reaches the required thickness.

Air-twist Glass Stems

Aitken, John - (Furniture Maker)

Akro Agate Glass - (Collectibles)

Alabama Coon Jigger - (Black Memorabilia, Toys)

Alabaster - (Materials)

Alabaster Glass - (Glass)

Alabastron  - (Glass, Greek)

Alabastrum  - (Glass, Latin) see Alabastron

Alamani - (Weapon)

A La Poulaine Solerets - (Armor)

Alarum - (Clocks)

Albarello Waisted, cylindrical drug jar.

Albers, Josef - (Artist, Designery

Albumens - (Photography)

Album Quilt - (Textiles)

Alchemy - (Metal)

Alcohol Colors - (Fine Art)

Alcora: (ceramics) A faience factory founded in this Spanish town in the Province of Valencia about 1727, the wares produced being in the style of Moustiers (q.v.) until the 1780's, when the factory turned to the manufacture of creamwares in the English manner.

Alcove Bed - (Furniture)

Aldegrever, Henrich   - (Furniture Maker)

Alden, John   - (Furniture Maker) 

Alder (Wood) Wood used in the eighteenth century for country furniture; white with pinkish tinge, usually marked with knots and curls.

Ale Glass  - (Glassware)

Alloy - (Metal) Combination of metals fused together; a base metal mixed with a precious one to make it workable, to harden it, to change its colors.

Alma-Tadema, Lawrence  - (Furniture Maker)

Almorrata  - (Glass, Spanish)

Amberina - (Glass) Translucent flint glass, often with air bubbles, shading red to amber.

Amphora - (Ceramics, Glass) Two-handled vessel used by the Greeks and Romans; tall, slender, narrow-necked used to carry oil and wine.

Anatolian Rugs: (Floor Coverings) Bright-coloured, often of silk, from Anatolian plateau; woollen warp with two to four coloured wool weft threads between knots; border of one to three stripes; coarse weave owing to fifty to seventy Ghiordiz knots to the square inch.

Anlace - (Weapon)

Anna Pottery - (Ceramics, Pottery, American) Known for utilitarian ware and pottery pigs the Anna Pottery operated in Anna, Illinois from 1859 to 1894. They became famous for their pig-shaped bottles and jugs. Usually the pigs have incised maps, insriptions, applied figures or references to places on them.

Annagrun - (Glass, German)

Annealing - (Metal, Glass)

Anneau - (Weapon)

Annoted Print - (Fine Art) Signed or Dated and Numbered Print

Annular-Ringed Clock - (Clocks)

Annulate - (Decoration)

Ansate - (Decoration)

Antedated - (Coins)

*Anthemion - (Decoration) Stylized honeysuckle flowers. Dates back to ancient Greece.  Its popularity in England lasted well into the Regency period.

Anti-Semitism - (Judaica) A term for anti-Jewish discrimination.

Antia - (Armor)

Antic Work - (Furniture)

Antimacasser - (Textiles)

*Antique - A man-made object which should be of manageable proportions, have decorative properties, be more than 100 years old, and which, by reason of its quality, beauty, rarity, antiquity, curiosity, or vogue, is sufficiently esteemed and/or coveted as to have value. In England an item is considered an Antique if it is 200 years old. In the orient and other ancient parts of the world it can be 200 to 500 years.

Antique Automobile - (Automobilia)

Antique Cut - (Jewelry)

Antiquity -

Antwerp Lace - (Textiles)

Aoble - (Weapon)

Aogai - (Japanese Lacquer) "Green Shell" Thinly sliced abalone shell used for inlay or sprinkling.

Aogal - (Orientalia)

A.O.P. - (Glass, Ceramics)

Apocryphal - (Silver, Pewter)

Apollo Harp - (Music)

Apostle Jug - (Ceramics)

Apostle Spoons - (Silver) Early spoons made in sets of 12, each one surmounted by a different apostle as a knop. Some sets of 13 were made to include the figure of the 'Master' (Christ). 1478 is the earliest hall-mark recorded.

Apostle Urn - (Ceramics)

Apothecary Chest - (Furniture, Household, Scientific Instrument) An Apothecary Chest is a short or tall chest with many small drawers .Original use was for the storage of herbs or medicine. Usually simple, with 6 to 40+ multiple small drawers configured in straight-lines, originally used by professional apothecaries. In England, they are referred to as a Flight of Drawers.

Apothecary Chest

Applewood - (Wood) Hard, fine-grained wood used for country furniture in the eighteenth century; it was also employed for inlay and veneer.

Applied Decoration - (Decoration, Glass)

Applied Handle - (Glass, Silver, Ceramics)

Applied Stem - (Glass)

Appliqué - (Textiles)

Approvals - (Stamps)

Apricot Glass - (Glass)

Arabesque - (Decoration, Glass) Ornament of capricious character: fanciful figures, monsters, fruit and flowers grouped or combined. Used in inlay and marquetry and sometimes in painted Georgian furniture.

Arbalest - (Weapons)

Arbor - (Clocks) Horological term for the shafts, axles or spindles of a clock.

Arbrier - (Weapons)

Arcade - (Furniture)

Arcanist - (Ceramics) Person knowing or claiming to know a secret, especially the secret of porcelain-making.

Arcanum - (Ceramics)

Architrave - (Furniture)

Argand Lamp - (Lamp, Glass Chimney)

Argent - (Heraldry)

Argentan Lace - (Textiles)

Argentella Lace (Textiles)

Argil - (Ceramics) Clay, especially potter's clay.

Argyle - (Tableware) A vessel, often of silver, for keeping gravy warm, the actual pot fitting inside an outer container which held hot water. Late Georgian.

Argy-Rousseau, Gabriel - (Glass)

Arita - (Ceramics) Japanese porcelain made at Arita a City located in western Saga in the province of Hizen where porcelain has been manufactured since the first half of the sixteenth century. There are today more than 150 kilns active in the Arita region; many have been in operation for generations. Porcelain clay was first discovered in this area by the Korean potter Ri Sanpei in 1616 after which a stoneware and porcelain production started under the control by the feudal lord of Nabeshima. There are two well-known types of decoration, Imari and Kakiemon. The most typical forms are the square, octagonal, and hexagonal section vases, which were to be copied by European factories. Arita porcelains began to reach Europe in the second half of the seventeenth century. The potters Sakaida Kakiemon and Imaizumi Imaemon, contributed greatly to the improvement of Japanese enameled decoration aka-e which Arita is well-known for. The earliest Arita porcelains, circa 1620-40, imitated contemporary Chinese wares of the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as well as Korean stoneware. Colorful over-glazed porcelain wares made in Arita (Arita-yaki) were exported from the Imari port from the 1640's and onward. Arita wares were exported from the Imari port in the Edo period and are called "Ko Imari" meaning Old Imari. In the second half of the 17th century, Arita became increasingly important, producing blue and white, Imari, and Kakiemon porcelain for export to Europe. These were transported to the port of Imari, shipped to the Dutch trading center at Nagasaki and onward to Europe. Wares included garnitures for large vases, dishes, bowls, plates, ewers, figures, and animals. The trade reached its zenith c.1700, but with increasing competition from the Chinese kilns at Jingdezhen and changing tastes in Europe, Japan's export trade declined and by c.1740 had ceased altogether. Other important wares made in the Arita region include the fine porcelains of Hirado and Nabeshima.

Arita ware – (Japanese Ceramics) Generic term applied to porcelain produced in Arita a City located in western Saga in the province of Hizen where porcelain has been manufactured since the first half of the sixteenth century. Aritia ware consists of Imari, Kakiemon, Ko-Kutani, Hirado and Nabeshima-type wares.

Ark - 1. (Furniture) Medieval term for a chest with gabled or canted lid. 2. (Judaica) Located in the sanctuary. The ark is where the Torahs are kept when not being used.

Arkwright - (Furniture) The original term use for a person that made furniture. Also see joiner or cabinet maker

Armada Chest - (Furniture) Heavy iron coffer imported from Germany in the late seventeenth and throughout the eighteenth century. The Spanish Armada has nothing to do with this chest, which was the forerunner of the safe.

Armet - (Armor)

Armillary Sphere - (Scientific Instruments)

Arming Spurs - (Armor)

Arming Sword - (Weapon)

Armlet - (Weapon)

Armoire - (Furniture) A large cupboard usually enclosed by doors from top to base; parent of the wardrobe.

Armor - Protective clothing intended to be worn in battle. Mail (small, linked metal rings) was favoured until the early fifteenth century, when the full suit of plate armour came in; this heavy suit began to grow lighter and lighter during the sixteenth century, and though the helmet and the breast plate were considered useful even until the early eighteenth century, most armour from the late sixteenth century onwards was made for ceremonial purposes. (The helmet, of course, is still in use.)

The parts of a full suit of plate armour are as follows. Helm or Helmet comprising the skull (top and back), the visor (hinged, to protect eyes and upper face), the beaver (often hinged, to protect mouth and lower face). Gorget protects the neck and is often articulated. Pauldron covers the shoulder joint where body and arm-piece meet (also called Epauliere, whence epaulette derives). The upper arm is covered by the Rerebrace, the elbow by the Coudiere, the forearm by the Vambrace and the hand by the Gauntlet. The function of Breastplate and Backplate are obvious. Taces or Tassets are the metal strips that make a short skirt to protect the belly. The Guisse covers the thigh, the Genouillere covers the knee-cap, the Jamb covers the lower leg, and the flexible, long-toed shoe is a Solleret.

Armorial - (Heraldry)

Armorial China - (Ceramics) Chinese porcelain, usually services, painted with coats-of-arms, crests, or initials, made to order for the European market. An increasing amount of such wares were imported into England in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Some English factories, notably Worcester, made armorial china in the second half of the eighteenth century.

Armorial Fan - 1.(Fashion Accessory)   2. (Heraldry)

Arms - 1. (Weapons) 2. (Heraldry)

Arm Stump - (Furniture)

Arm Support - (Furniture)

Arquebus - (Weapons) The term is loosely used but should be confined to the earliest (fifteenth and sixteenth century) long-arm gun fitted with matchlock and shoulder-butt; of German origin. (See Also Harquebus)

Arras - (Textiles) From the fourteenth to the sixteenth century Arras, in the Pas de Calais, France, was so famous for its tapestries that the name of the town was applied to a piece of tapestry regardless of where it was made.

Arrier Bras - (Armor)

Arrow Back - (Furniture) A type of chair back where the splats flare out like an arrow at the top and bottom

Art Deco – (Style, Design & Period) Fashionable style of the inter-war period (1918-39) which replaced Art Nouveau and co-existed with the Machine Age Style. It developed onto f the modernist, anti-historical elements in Art Nouveau but displayed less regard to refinement of craftsmanship and naturalistic ornament and much more to the demands of mechanized production and machine-like forms. Though its origins can be traced back to the first years of the century sit owes its name to the First major international exhibition of decorative arts to be held after the first World War – L’Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925. In it’s day it was called “Art Moderne” or “Jazz Moderne.” The term Art Deco was not coined until the 1960s.

Name people that influenced the movement

Ash - (Wood) A tough, elastic wood, white in color, veined with streaks in the direction of its growth; used chiefly for seat furniture.

Ashburton Goblet - (Glass)

Ashkenazi - (Judaica) In reference to Jewish People of European or Eastern European descent.

As Is - (Term)

As It Is and Where It Is - (Auctions)

Asisi - (Needlework Textiles)

Asparagus Tongs - (Flatware)

Aspergillum - (Religious Ware) Brush or rod for sprinkling holy water.

Astbury, John and Thomas - (Ceramics) John Astbury (died 1743), Staffordshire potter whose name is associated with a red earthenware with relief decoration in white clay, also with an improved white ware containing flint in its body. But this improvement is also attributed to John's son, Thomas, who in 1725 set up a factory at Fenton.

Astbury-type Ware - (Ceramics)

Astbury-Whieldon - (Ceramics)

Astragal - (Furniture) A small convex molding used between the capital and shaft of the classic order (with the exception of the Greek Doric), and in various positions in later architecture.

Astragal Glazing Bar - (Furniture) A bar containing the panes of glass of a window or of a glazed cupboard or bookcase.

Astragal Lamp - (Lighting)

Astragal Molding - (Furniture) Astragal Molding is a narrow molding that has a half-circle profile. Frequently used around drawer front edges. It is the same form as Torus Molding only in a small size. Also Known As Roundel Molding or Bead Molding.

Astrolabe - (Scientific Instrument) Early instrument for taking altitudes and for making astronomical measurements.

Asymmetrical – (Form) An item or article that is Asymmetrical has no balance or symmetry. Lacking symmetry between two or more like parts, not symmetrical. Irregular in shape or outline. Commonly used in the Rococo Style (Circa 1720 – 1760)

Atkin Brothers - (Silver, Silverplate, EPNS Maker) Marks used - H.A, HA Trademark - A hand grasping Prince of Wales Feathers. Henry Atkin set up as a spoon maker in 1841. He had three sons (Henry, Edward and Frank), who following his death took over the company. Atkin Brothers were a multi-product Sheffield company producing good quality items in silver and plate (the mark used on EPNS was HA EA FA), from 1853 to 1958. The firm had a retail outlet in London, where they also entered silver marks. The firm was acquired by C J Vander, in 1958. Flatware bearing their maker’s mark is generally Sheffield marked, well made and in the traditional patterns.

At-the-Fire - (Glass)

At-the-Flame - (Glass)

At-the-Lamp - (Glass)

A trois crayons - (Fine Art)

Attributed to - (Fine Art)

Aubusson - (Floor Coverings) Famous French centre for carpets and tapestries from the seventeenth century. The tapestries woven here were technically inferior to those of Beauvais and Gobelins; pastoral designs are notable, as are hunting scenes, religious subjects. Most of the Aubusson carpets one sees today are woven wool and without pile and are nineteenth-century products.

Audubon, John James - (Artist, Fine Art, Lithograph, United States) (1785 – 1851) John James Audubon was born in Santo Domingo (now Haiti), the illegitimate son of a French sea captain and plantation owner and his French mistress. He was raised by his stepmother, Mrs. Audubon, in Nantes, France. He took an interest in birds, nature, drawing, and music at a young age. In 1803, at the age of 18, he was sent to America, to escape conscription into the Emperor Napoleon’s army. He lived on the family-owned estate at Mill Grove, near Philadelphia, where he hunted, studied, and drew birds. This is where he met his wife, Lucy Bakewell. While he lived in Pennsylvania, he conducted the first known bird-banding experiment in North America, by tying strings around the legs of Eastern Phoebes; he learned that the birds returned to the very same nesting sites each year.
Audubon spent more than a decade in business, eventually he traveled down the Ohio River to the frontier in western Kentucky. He set up a dry-goods store in Henderson, Kentucky. He continued to draw birds as a hobby, amassing an impressive portfolio. Audubon and his wife Lucy had two sons Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse, and a daughter who died in infancy. Audubon was quite successful in business for a while, but hard times hit, and in 1819, he was briefly jailed for bankruptcy.
With no other prospects, Audubon set off to depict America’s avifauna, with nothing but his gun, artist’s materials, and a young assistant. He floated down the Mississippi river, living a rugged hand-to-mouth existence. Having left his wife and sons behind, Lucy earned money as a tutor to wealthy plantation families. In 1826, he sailed with his partly finished collection to England. "The American Woodsman" was literally an overnight success. His life-size, highly dramatic bird portraits, along with his embellished descriptions of wilderness life, hit just the right note at the height of the Continent’s Romantic era. Audubon found a printer for the Birds of America, first in Edinburgh, then London, and later collaborated with the Scottish ornithologist William MacGillivray on the Ornithological Biographies – life histories of each of the species in the work.
The last print was issued in 1838, by which time Audubon had achieved fame and a modest degree of comfort, traveled this country several more times in search of birds, and settled in New York City. He made one more trip out West in 1843, the basis for his final work of mammals, the Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, which was largely completed by his sons and the text of which was written by his long-time friend, the Lutheran pastor John Bachman (whose daughters married Audubon’s sons). Audubon spent his last years in senility and died at age 65. He is buried in the Trinity Cemetery at 155th Street and Broadway in New York City.

Audubon, John James

Auger Finial - (Furniture, Decorative) Is a decorative element that is twisted like and auger and is used to surmount stiles, bedposts and case furniture.

Auger Finial

Aunt Jemima - (Black Memorabilla)

Aurene - (Glass)

Austrian Ware - (Ceramics)

Authorized Coin - (Coins)

Autograph Quilt - (Textiles) Autograph Quilts first became popular in the mid-1800s. Indelible ink was available after 1840 and these quilts were inscribed with names and sometimes poetry. Many of the autograph quilts that we see today were signed by family and friends as a remembrance to people, to take with them when they moved out West. They are also called friendship quilts.

Autograph Quilt

Automata - (Toys)

Automatic Weapons - (Weapons) Date from the 1880's: the Spanish Orbea revolver of 1883, the Maxim machine-gun of 1884, the British Paulson revolver of 1886.

Automobillia - (Collectibles)

Autry, Gene - (Collectibles)

Avant-bras - (Armor)

Avant-garde - (Fine Art)

Avant La Lettre - (Fine Art Prints)

Ave Maria Lace - (Textiles)

Aventurine - (Glass, Lacquer) Translucent Venetian glass, its surface spangled with small pieces of metal, like gold, copper, chromic oxide or silver. Aventurine Glass is named after the mineral Aventurine. Also: a term applied to small fragments of gold wire sprinkled over the surface of lacquer.