Edwardian Rosewood Marquetry Mirror Back Sideboard

• Spindles - Short turned pieces, used as stretchers or back supports mainly in cottage chairs, couches and day beds. Turned shelf supports and the railings used in the backs and arms of day beds during the late 19th century are also referred to as spindles. Until the coming of the industrial age, spindles, like all turned pieces, were made by hand, and should show some slight variation. With the introduction of the factory lathe, spindles and turned legs became quite uniform and standard.
• 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.
• Marquetry - In marquetry inlay, contrasting woods, and other materials such as ivory, shell and metal are inlaid either as panels or in a single continuous sheet over the surface of the piece. The design may be straightforward, such as a shell pattern or a basket of flowers, or it may be infinitely complex, with swirling tendrils of leaves, flowers and foliage, such as one finds, for example, in the "seaweed" patterns on longcase clocks of the William and Mary and Queen Anne periods.
• Edwardian - The Edwardian period of English furniture and decorative arts design is named for Edward VII (1841 ? 1910) who was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India for the brief period from 1901 until his death in 1910. It follows the Victorian period, in turn was followed by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. In Australia, designs of this period are also known as being in the Federation style.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• display cabinets, period, age or style
  • 20th century 135
  • Edwardian crystal or display cabinet 222