Queen Anne Chair
Encyclopedia
A Queen Anne style furniture is a style of furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

 design that developed during and around the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain (1702-1714). Queen Anne furniture is "somewhat smaller, lighter, and more comfortable than its predecessors," and examples in common use include "curving shapes, the cabriole leg
Cabriole leg
A cabriole leg is one of four vertical supports of a piece of furniture shaped in two curves; the upper arc is convex, while lower is concave; the upper curve always bows outward, while the lower curve bows inward. The axes of the two curves must lie within the same plane...

, cushion
Cushion
A cushion is a soft bag of some ornamental material, stuffed with wool, hair, feathers, polyester staple fiber, non-woven material, or even paper torn into fragments. It may be used for sitting or kneeling upon, or to soften the hardness or angularity of a chair or couch...

ed seats, wing-back chairs
Wing chair
A "wing chair" is an easy chair or club chair with "wings" mounted to the back of the chair typically but not always stretching down to the arm rest...

, and practical secretary desk
Secretary desk
A secretary desk is made of a base of wide drawers topped by a desk with a hinged desktop surface, which is in turn topped by a bookcase usually closed with a pair of doors, often made of glass...

-bookcase
Bookcase
A bookcase, or bookshelf, is a piece of furniture, almost always with horizontal shelves, used to store books. A bookcase consists of a unit including two or more shelves which may not all be used to contain books or other printed materials. Shelves may be fixed or adjustable to different positions...

 pieces." Other elements characterizing the style include pad feet and "an emphasis on line and form rather than ornament." In Britain, the style of Queen Anne's reign is frequently described as "late Baroque" rather than "Queen Anne," while in the United States the term "Queen Anne" describes decorative styles from the mid-1720s to around 1760, although Queen Anne reigned earlier.

The cabriole leg has been described as "the most recognizable element" of Queen Anne furniture.
Cabriole legs were influenced by the designs of the French cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle  and the Rococo style from the French court of Louis XV
.
But the intricate ornamentation of post-Restoration furniture was abandoned in favor more conservative designs, possibly under the influence of the simple and elegant lines of imported Chinese furniture
Chinese furniture
The forms of Chinese furniture evolved along three distinct lineages which dates back to 1000 BC, based on frame and panel, yoke and rack and bamboo construction techniques...

.

In addition to simple curvilinear lines and cabriole leg, Queen Anne chair
Chair
A chair is a stable, raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs are most often supported by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape depending on the criteria of the chair specifications. A chair without a back or...

s are characterized by vasiform splat
Splat (furniture)
A splat is the vertical central element of a chair back. Typically this element of a chair is of exposed wood design. The splat is an important element of furniture identification, since its design has a multitude of variations incorporating the themes of different furniture periods...

s and frequently featured a horseshoe
Horseshoe
A horseshoe, is a fabricated product, normally made of metal, although sometimes made partially or wholly of modern synthetic materials, designed to protect a horse's hoof from wear and tear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall...

 shape. Other important decorative elements included carved shell
Mollusc shell
The mollusc shell is typically a calcareous exoskeleton which encloses, supports and protects the soft parts of an animal in the phylum Mollusca, which includes snails, clams, tusk shells, and several other classes...

 and scroll motifs, often found on the crest and knees. Wingback chairs, variations on other Queen Anne-style chairs, are fully upholstered
Upholstery
Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word upholstery comes from the Middle English word upholder, which referred to a tradesman who held up his goods. The term is equally applicable to domestic,...

 with the exception of the exposed wood legs and have sides folded inward to keep heat contained within the chair. All four of the cabriole legs legs sit on padded feet. The shoulders of the back droop slightly to give a more feminine look to the style, in contrast to the squared shoulders of the masculine King George wingback chair.

The Queen Anne style was a continuation of the William and Mary
William and Mary
The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...

style of furniture design.
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