Sheraton Rosewood Canterbury with Drawer and Castors

• Rosewood - A dense timber that varies in shade to very light brown to almost black. When rosewood is cut and sanded the colour of the timber will turn black, and after polishing and exposure to daylight, the surface will gradually lighten over time to light brown with black streaks.
  
  The name comes from the odour emanating from the timber when it is planed, sanded or cut.
  
  Rosewood was very popular for use in Victorian furniture in the second half of the 19th century, and at that time most of the rosewood was imported from Brazil. However it also grows in India and Indonesia.
  
  It is used in the sold for chairs and table legs, but for carcase furniture such as side cabinets and bookcases, and for table tops it is always used as a veneer.
• Thomas Sheraton - Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) was born in Stockton on Tees in the north of England. He was apprenticed to a local cabinetmaker and after working as a cabinetmaker, Sheraton moved to London about 1790. Although he described himself as a cabinet-maker, like Chippendale, no definite piece of furniture can be traced to him as maker. Nevertheless, he was immensely influential and in 1791-4 published his four volume book 'The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book'. The books were used as source of design by the furniture-making trade , who often simplified or modified the designs to suit their own preferences. Sheraton furniture is marked by restraint and sophistication, elegance and discretion, though he also found time to invent fanciful combination furniture.
• Castors - Wheels, fitted especially to chair legs, couches, tables and some smaller pieces of furniture, to enable them to be easily moved about. The earliest castors were of brass, with shanks fitting into the base of the leg, and the wheels often made of leather. In the late 18th century, brass 'bucket' or 'cup' castors were introduced, either rounded or square, fitting directly over the end of the leg and held in place with screws. The wheels were generally solid brass. Bucket/cup castors continued in use throughout the 19th century and indeed are still made today. In the later 19th century wheels were sometimes made of wood, china, either white or brown, and sometimes of steel.
• Provenance - A term used to describe the provable history of an antique or work of art, and thus an additional aid to verifying its authenticity. Provenance can have an inflating effect on the price of an item, particularly if the provenance relates to the early settlement of Australia, a famous person, or royalty. Less significant are previous sales of the item through an auction house or dealer.
• Turning - Any part of a piece of furniture that has been turned and shaped with chisels on a lathe. Turned sections include legs, columns, feet, finials, pedestals, stretchers, spindles etc. There have been many varieties and fashions over the centuries: baluster, melon, barley-sugar, bobbin, cotton-reel, rope-twist, and so on. Split turning implies a turned section that has been cut in half lengthwise and applied to a cabinet front as a false decorative support.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• music canterburies/cabinets 257