Rosewood Hall Chair with Exotic Bird Carvings

• Finial - An architectural decoration, found on the upper parts of of an object. On furniture they are usually found on pediments, canopies and shelf supports. On smaller ceramic or silver items, such as spoons, they may decorate the top of the item itself, or the lid or cover where they provide a useful handle for removal.
  
  Finials have a variety of shapes and forms. They may be urn-shaped, baluster shaped round or spiral, but usually taper into an upper point. Many real life shapes may also be used as finials, such as pineapples, berries, pinecones, buds, lotus and acorns. Sometimes animals such as a lion are depicted, or fish and dolphins.
• Cane in Furniture Making - Cane, as used to make furniture is harvested from the ratan palm. The rattan palm is a type of climbing palm that is native to tropical regions of Asia and Africa. The stem of the rattan palm, also known as cane, is harvested, stripped of its skin, and then used to make a variety of furniture items. Rattan furniture is known for its durability, lightness and natural beauty. The cane is flexible yet strong and can be woven into various patterns, making it suitable for a wide range of furniture styles from traditional to modern. The furniture made from rattan cane is also known for its durability and resistance to extreme weather conditions. Popular items include chairs, tables, sofas, and cabinets. The natural colour of the cane can be preserved or it can be stained or painted for different looks.
• Stretcher - A horizontal rail which connects the legs of stools, chairs, tables and stands, to provide stabilisation of the legs. A stretcher table is any table with a stretcher base. The term is usually applied to substantial farmhouse tables, although many cabinetmaker's pieces, such as sofa tables, also have turned stretchers.
• Baluster (furniture) - An architectural term for a column in a balustrade or staircase, often defined as a "vase shape". The shape is extensively used in furniture and decorative arts.
  
  In furniture, it is used to describe a chair or table leg turned in that form, or more usually as an inverted baluster, with the bulbous section to the top. Less commonly used to describe a chair back that has the outline of a baluster. A baluster may also be split and applied to the front of a cupboard for ornamentation.
  
  For ceramics and silver items it is often used to describe the shape of the whole item, rather than a part.
  
  In Georgian glassware, the shape is commonly seen in the stem of glasses.
• Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
• Fluting - A form of decoration found on many pieces of furniture, as well as ceramics, silver and clocks, in which round-bottomed grooves, of varying width and depth, are let into columns, pilasters, legs. As a general rule, flutes are cut in the vertical, though they may follow a turned leg in a spiral pattern. In cross-section, they may be described as a series of 'U' shapes, rising and narrowing at each end of the groove. Fluting is the opposite of reeding, with which fluting is often associated.
• 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.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• Anglo-Indian - furniture, chairs 63
• Anglo-Indian Vizagapatam and sadeli boxes - sewing and other boxes 347
• chairs, singles / pairs / threes, style or period - hall 219
• chairs, singles / pairs / threes, timber - rosewood 110