SUBJECTS COVERED IN VOLUME ONE

Is there a Welsh style? Richard Bebb examines the way Welsh furniture has been studied, the cultural region of Wales and the development of the chair.

To establish provenance: research methods, combining artefactual and documentary evidence. The central role of the craftsman: timber, construction and trade organization. A study of different social levels: Gwydir Castle and Gelli farmhouse



 
The Medieval Court, manuscripts and bardic praise. Elementary furniture types; elaborate church screens; great turned chairs; chests, cradles, tables and buffets. The elusive Harri ap Gruffydd's cupboard.

The Court of Rhys ap Thomas. A native style of heraldic andpolychromed furniture and panelling. Advanced Renaissance tastes and Continental influences: standing bedsteads, court cupboards and drawleaf tables. A productive group of Pembrokeshire carvers.

Gentry patronage of 17th century craftsmen. Domestic developmentsand probate inventories. Fine carving and turning, and the 'Cromwellian' taste. Widespread production and even export of furniture. The distinctive cwpwrdd deuddarn and cwpwrdd tridarn and the emergence of the 'Welsh dresser'.

 

SUBJECTS COVERED IN VOLUME TWO



 

The proliferation and diversity of regional types: chests and cupboards for storage and display; joined and stick chairs and tables;dressers and longcase clocks. Design and decoration: flowing inlay, fretwork and panelling. The community of craftsmen. Diverging values: nonconformity, desks and preachers chairs.

Estate craftsmen, the rural community and the archetypal farmhouse interior.

Travellers accounts and artists impressions. Cross-influences: cabinet-makers, joiners and village wheelwrights. The diaries, notebooks and sketchbooks of furniture makers.

Some Welsh light on the development of furniture. Continuity and change: influences from outside with development and innovation from within.

The evolution of the dresser to its present position as the epitome of the Welsh tradition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

CONTENTS VOLUME ONE

INTRODUCTION

Can There be Development Within a Rural Society?
.... The Welsh Way of Life and the Peasant Artisan
.... Furniture Studies in Wales
.... English Furniture History - The Nobility and the 1660
.... .... Watershed
.... Centres of Innovation - Does Wales Have a Derivative
.... .... Culture?
.... Vernacular Furniture - 'For the Servants'
Is There a Welsh Style ?
.... Geographical Boundaries
.... The Culture Region
.... Gwerin and Uchelwyr
Regional and Historical Approaches
.... Problems of Regional Classification
.... A Welsh Furniture History
.... The Evolution of the Chair

 

CHAPTER ONE

One Establishing Provenance
.... Evidence Surrounding the Artefacts
.... Makers' Marks
.... Owners' Names, Heraldry and Dates
.... History of Ownership
.... Documents Relating to Specific Pieces
.... Fixed Woodwork
Evidence Provided by the Context
.... Architecture
.... Documents
.... Inventories
.... Travellers' Accounts
.... Autobiographies
.... Contemporary Illustrations
The Wood-Craftsman
.... Official, Commercial and Personal Documents
.... Trade Classification
.... Methods of Construction
.... Timber
Gwydir Castle and Gelli Farmhouse
.... The Wynns of Gwydir
.... The Jenkins Family of Gelli

 

CHAPTER TWO

Medieval Tales
An Early Carpentry Tradition
The Age of the Princes
Furniture-Making Crafts
European Contacts and Bardic Praise
The Domestic Setting
Church Screenwork
.... Carpentry Groups
.... Carving Techniques
The 'Uncouth and Whimsical' Turned Chair
Medieval Chests
A Cradle, Chest and Buffet from Monmouthshire
Cupboards, Chests and Tables
The Wardrobe of Adam and Eve
.... Harri ap Gruffudd
Workshop Centres

 

CHAPTER THREE

The Court of Rhys ap Thomas
.... 'A Solemn and Just Turnament'
.... Sir Rhys's Heraldic Furnishings
.... Church and Domestic Fixtures
Developments in the Tudor Home
.... Inventories
European Influences
.... Furniture Styles
.... Evidence of Imports
The Appeal to Ancestry
.... A Developing Native Style
Trade Organization
.... Location of Workshops
.... A Screen Group
.... Robert Wynn of Plasmawr
The Renaissance Gentleman
.... Sir Richard Clough
.... John Wynn of Gwydir
.... A Pembrokeshire Style
.... The Gregynog Panelling
'Remember Thy Beginnings'

 

CHAPTER FOUR

The Homes of the Higher Gentry
.... Fashionable Tastes
.... Local Craftsmen
.... Carpentry at Erddig
Domestic Developments
Characteristics of 17th Century Style
Differing Religious Tastes
Probate Inventories
.... Caernarfonshire
.... The Southern Counties
.... Ports and Towns
.... The Market Towns of Denbighshire
Trade Organization
.... Joinery in Urban Centres
.... Chair-Making in the Conwy Valley
A Golden Age
.... The Cwpwrdd Tridarn
.... Emergence of the Dresser
The End of 'The Age of Oak'?

 

CONTENTS VOLUME TWO

CHAPTER FIVE

The Squire of Cwmbychan
The Country House
.... The Gentry and Local Craftsmen
.... The Anglesey Squires
.... The Servants' Quarters
The Archetypal Farmhouse Interior
.... Inventories
.... Contemporary Accounts
.... Social Economy and the Spread of Ideas
Features of 18th Century Furniture
Chairs and Tables - Urban Influence and Organic Development
Storage in Bedrooms
.... The Inlay Tradition
.... The West Wales Coffer - A Regional Study
Cupboards for Storage and Display
Cases for Longcase Clocks
.... The Owens and their Associates
.... Samuel Roberts and John Lloyd
The Potboard Dresser
Desks, Literacy and Cultural Diffusion
.... The Secretaire of Amy Skeel
.... Diverging Values
.... Chairs of Importance

 

CHAPTER SIX

An Image of Wales
The 19th Century Social Order
.... Where are the Estate Carpenters?
.... The Rural Community
The Theatre of Domestic Life'
.... The Cegin
.... The Parlour
.... The Bedroom
.... 'Y Stafell' - The Setting Up of a Home
The Influence of Urban Designs
.... Joseph Mathias and David Morley, Cabinet-Makers and
.... .... Burgesses
.... Thomas Jenkins, Cabinet-Maker and Engineer
.... William Griffith, Clock Casemaker
.... Developments in the Timber Trade
The Community of Craftsmen
.... James Griffiths, Joiner and David Davies, Wheelwright
.... Griffith Vaughan and John Evans, Farmers and Carpenters
.... John James, Joiner
.... David Peate, Carpenter and Wheelwright
.... Owen Thomas, Lip-Worker and William Rees, Turner
.... John Thomas and William Parry, Builders and Joiners

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

Industrial Towns and Valleys
.... Tavern and Library
.... 'Our Best Side'
.... 'The Pride of my Mother's Heart'
'The Art of Joiner and Cabinet Maker'
.... The Railway Age
.... Trade Directories
.... Reynolds and Wheeler - the Market Towns
.... William Beynon - Master Cabinet-Maker
.... William Thomas Cabinet
 ....The Urban Dresser;
Furniture Manufacturers and Brokers
.... Llanelli - 'A Great Sale of Furniture!'
.... Complete Home Furnishers - 'With Commendable Promptitude'
.... James Fuller, Wholesale Chair Manufacturer
The Re-Invention of the Bardic Chair
.... John Humphrey, Carpenter and Architect
.... David Jones, Carpenter and Carver
'He Sat at the Feet of Ruskin'
.... Thomas John - 'Artist Craftsman'
 .... John Thomas and Vicar Pritchard - Archaic Carving
.... David Cure and Ethel Ludford - The Welsh Industries ....
.... .... Association
.... William Llewellyn Morris - 'Renovating Old Carvings a .... .... .... .... .... ....Speciality'
'Vans Laden to the Gunwales'

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

Putting the Orthodox View to the Test
The Transmission of Ideas
.... Medieval Prototypes
.... The Emergence of a Distinct Tradition
.... 'Country' Furniture
.... The Limitations on Gentry Influences
.... The Initiators of Change
.... The Urban Environment
Development and Innovation from Within
.... Could Welsh Craftsmen Design?
.... The Craftsman-Customer Relationship in the Pre-Industrial
.... .... Period
The Evolution of the Welsh Dresser
.... 'Press Commonly Called Bwrdd Llestri'
.... 'Dresser and its Contince'
.... 'A Link Between a Family and its Past'
....  The 'Serving Base'
.... 'The Best Dressed Dresser'
.... Continuity and Change

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