A pair of Louis XIV style ornately carved walnut elbow chairs,…
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A pair of Louis XIV style ornately carved walnut elbow chairs, each with pierced carved cresting padded back and arms on spiral turned legs with stretchers

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  • Barley Twist - The leg, and frequently other uprights such as columns, chair frames, spindles and stretchers, are turned in fairly wide and deep spirals, usually slightly rounded. Also known as the 'Jacobean twist' and common on the dark stained Jacobean Revival furniture of the 1930s and 40s.

    As a rule, the twists on opposite uprights should move in a contrary direction. Thus, if the spiral on a right side is clockwise, that on the left side should move in a counter-clockwise direction.

    This is also true of rope-twist or cable-twist turning, a nautical term that came into fashion after Nelson's victories over the French fleet. The essential difference is that with rope twists, the spirals are more finely turned on the lathe and placed closer together, than they are with barley-sugar turnings.
  • 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.
  • Pierced Decoration - Ornamental woodwork with part of the background cut through and removed to produce an open-work pattern.
  • Louis Xiv - Louis XIV (1638 ? 1715), known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, ruled through Cardinal Mazarin as chief minister from 1643 to 1661 and as monarch of the House of Bourbon and King of France and Navarre from 1661 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years is one of the longest in French and European history.
  • Turned Legs - are legs which have been turned on a lathe. In use from the 16th century, turned legs on tables, chairs and cabinets became more frequent until, by the 1830s, the Georgian square or tapered leg was rarely found except in country pieces.
  • Cresting - The decorative carving at the top of a piece of furniture, such as a sideboard back, a mirror, or a chair back.

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