Tim and Belinda Chavasse
Thakeham Furniture Ltd
Golden Square
Petworth, West Sussex,
England GU28 0AP
01798 342 333
Welcome to our shop Thakeham Furniture in Petworth, West Sussex, UK. We are well-established antique dealers specialising in fine quality antique furniture. We stock English 18th century & 19th century antiques. We sell traditional Georgian furniture, Regency furniture, Victorian furniture and Edwardian furniture.
Dutch Marquetry Table
This demi-lune console table is a particularly good example of the fine, early Dutch marquetry from about 1780, with its foliate scrolls, butterflies and urns. Marquetry is the method of decorating the surface of furniture with a panel of veneers. The sheets of veneer are temporarily glued together into a “pack”, and cut with a fine saw, producing contrasting panels of identical design. Simple geometric marquetry designs are often called 'parquetry,' in reference to the similar patterning of parquet flooring. Woods used were usually the more exotic timbers such as ebony, rosewood or boxwood, and sometimes included ivory, tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl or fine metals. Some were dyed, and portions of the design, for example the leaves, were shaded by scorching the edges in hot sand. Marquetry should not be confused with inlay, in which pieces of wood are let in to the solid carcass. Marquetry was introduced into English furniture at the restoration of Charles II in 1660 by Dutch immigrant “inlayers”. At the end of the 17th Century, a new influx of French Huguenot craftsmen, known as “ebenistes”, popularised seaweed or “arabesque” marquetry. The technique was revived again around 1765, when formal neo-classical designs became popular in Adam and Sheraton style furniture. The Dutch were particularly skilled at marquetry, and in their own country soon developed a distinctive style of exotic foliate designs covering all surfaces of the piece, including legs. Typical of their style is the truncated leaf, where the tip seems to disappear as it curls. The Dutch continued to produce pieces in the style throughout the 19th century, but the quality of the craftsmanship deteriorated, with the designs becoming increasingly formulaic and mass produced
Our emphasis is on originality, good colour and patina. Thakeham Furniture was established by Tim and Belinda Chavasse in 1989, prior to which we were both trained and worked as antique restorers. We still have our own antiques workshop on the premises at Petworth, and all pieces are thoroughly checked over before being offered for sale in the showroom.
Thakeham Furniture are members of LAPADA [The London and Provincial Antique Dealers Association], so you can purchase with confidence, as we follow a strict code of practise.
Visit our UK antiques shop in Petworth ('antiques centre of the south') or browse our online antique furniture shop
Antiques in Petworth
Thakeham Furniture has been established in Petworth since 2002. Petworth has become, in recent years, the biggest antiques town in the South of England. It is a small, pretty market town boasting over thirty antique shops, all within easy walking distance. Petworth is only one hour from London.
Also we sell antique upholstered items such as sofas, chaise longues and arm chairs, and we also stock a certain number of antique clocks, mirrors and decorative items. In addition to our large stock of mahogany antique furniture we also have rosewood antique furniture and satinwood antique furniture. People looking for a range of antique country furniture will find antique oak furniture, walnut and fruitwood.
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