Antique Definitions K-P

A large cupboard in the Dutch style, usually with heavy overhanging cornice; often painted in grisaille

Kneehole:

The open space in the center front of a desk or chest of drawers, flanked by two rows of drawers.

Knotty Pine:

Pine wood with knots, usually avoided by colonial craftsmen.

Knuckle:

A carved pattern resembling knuckles often used as terminals on the arms of Chippendale and Windsor chairs.

Ladder-back Chair:

A type of chair, with horizontal back slats resembling the rungs of a ladder, found on early simple country furniture. Also may be called a slat back chair.

Lantern Clock:

A small, weight driven wall or bracket clock, usually brass and resembling a lantern, surmounted by a bell to sound the hours.

Lattice:

Cutout, crisscross design found in highboy pediments, chair backs, and other furniture forms.

Leaf:

A very thin sheet of metal, most likely gold-which would be called gold leaf, laid decoratively on wood or metal.

Limner:

Professional portrait painter.

Long Case Clock:

See Tall Case Clock

Lowboy:

The modern term for a from of dressing table with small drawers, mounted on legs, often matching a highboy.

Maiolica:

tin-glazed earthenware made in Italy, Portugal, and Spain during the Renaissance period.

Marbleize:

To paint wood or other material to the have the appearance of marble.

Marlborough Leg:

A leg of square section, ofte3n with a block foot, used for Chippendale chairs, tables, and other forms.

Marquetry:

Decorative inlay in which a pattern is formed of various woods or other materials before being glued to a groundwork.

Marriage:

Combination of unrelated furniture parts put into one piece of furniture

Martelé:

A line of silver products bade between 1891 and 1910 by Gorham & Company.

Matting:

An ornamental effect, particularly on silver, achieved by punching tiny dots close together in an area usually contrasted with an adjoining smooth area.

Micro Mosaic:

A 19th century Italian technique featuring tiny mosaics of colored glass that often depicted ancient ruins, local landscapes, or figures in national dress.

Modillion:

A ornamental bracket or block under a cornice.

Monteith:

A large bowl with a notched rim for chilling drinking glasses.

Multiples:

mass-produced works of art.

Nemadji Pottery:

Clay that was dug out of the Nemadji River by the arrowhead region in Minnesota. Company that had started in 1923 uses "Indian themes" for base stamping of their pottery.

Objects De Vertu:

Precious metals made into small decorative pieces.

Oriental Lacquer:

A decorative finish made of hard, waterproof varnish.

Oxbow Front:

A reverse curved front, concave in the center, convex at the ends, often found on Chippendale case pieces.

Pad Foot:

An oval-shaped foot used on cabrile legs; called a cushioned pad foot when it has a disc-shaped support or cushion underneath.

Palampore:

India painted cotton, or chintz wall hanging, or bed cover. See also Calico.

Parian:

A semi-matte biscuit porcelain often used to imitate marble statuary in the 19th century

Patina:

The color or finish achieved by the mellowing of the surface of woods and metals from age of use.

Pear-Drop Handle:

An example of furniture hardware, typical of the William and Mary period, distinguished by a patterned brass back plate and a pull shaped like a teardrop or pear.

Pembroke Table:

A rectangular drop leaf table usually having straight slender legs.

Piecrust Table:

A tripod table whose circular top has a scalloped, molded rim resembling a crimped piecrust.

Pilaster:

A flat attached pier treated architecturally as a column.

Planishing:

Light hammering of metal to produce a smooth surface.

Pitch:

thick distillation of black tar, used for weighting candlesticks and other items

Pontil Mark:

A mark on a piece of blown glass where it was attached to the pontil. Also may be called a punty mark. Pontil is an iron or steel rod that held the hot glass.

Plique:Á-Jour:

Enameling technique in which transparent, colored enamel is suspended within metal frames.

Porcelain:

A fine ware, distinguished by its hardness, translucency, and superior whiteness, made of clay (Kaolin) and stone (pentuntze), fired at extremely high temperatures.

Porringer:

A small shallow bowl with slightly domed bottom and tab handle

Pottery:

Earthenware made from clay and fired at a low temperatures.

Provenance:

A record of all previous ownership of a antique.

Punch:

also known as a Hallmark. The impression of a stamp in metal

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