~ B ~

Bail handle: The name given to an iron or brass loop handle which is suspended from a pommel at either end. Usually found on drawers, the bail handle and the pommel together form what most people would call the handle.

Ball foot: A ball-shaped foot, mainly late C17th.

Ball-and-claw foot: A carved decoration commonly found on cabriole legs from the early C18th, but used thereafter. [picture]

Baluster: A turned and shaped column, which swells out in the lower half, that's often used in the stem of a table. When the swelling is in the upper half, it's known as an inverted baluster. [picture]

Banding: An ornamental inlay, which is generally in contrasting wood, and laid either cross-grain or diagonally. It can often be found in other materials such as ivory, silver, pewter and brass. Can also be found in a herringbone pattern, which was popular on walnut furniture, from the early C18th.

Barley twist: The turning of a leg or column etc. resembling a screw thread (also known as spiral twist or barley sugar twist). [picture]

Baroque: Originating in Italy, this architectural and decorative style spread through Europe in the C17th. It is characterised by its exuberant grandeur and bold curvaceous forms, and sometimes tends towards heaviness and pomposity.

Beading: Another name for Astragal, it can also refer to a moulding of small repeated roundels like beads, which is properly called Pearling, and not to be confused with gadrooning. See also Cockbead.

Bearer: Used in the construction of furniture, this horizontal member is used to support another part, for instance the leaves of a dining table. (See loper).

Bevel: A surface or edge cut at an angle, particularly applies to a panel, and commonly seen on glass and mirrors. When at 45 degrees, it's known as a chamfer.

Birdcage: A device used under a table top to mount it on the pedestal, which allows it to rotate and tip up. It takes the form of four columns, hence its name.

Blind Fret: See Fret

Block foot: A cube-shaped foot, a solid block of wood, which is used generally with a square untapered leg.

Bobbin-turning: Repeated bell-turning, in the form of bobbins, one on top of the other. It looks a bit like a stick made of balls and was much used on C17th furniture, on legs and stretchers. [picture]

Bolection moulding: A raised and rebated moulding, projecting beyond the face of the frame into which it is inserted, and which was often used to cover a joint between two surfaces.

Bombe: A style common on Dutch furniture, and cabinet furniture of the Rococo period, this is characterised by the vertical swelling of concave and convex curves on the fronts and/or sides, giving a bulbous appearance. [picture]

Boss: An ornament, generally carved and most often circular, which applied over joints or used decoratively at the top of legs etc.

Boulle: Foliate and figural marquetry of tortoise-shell (which is actually almost always turtle-shell) and brass (and sometimes pewter, mother-of-pearl and ivory) made fashionable in France (but not invented) by the maitre ebiniste Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732). Boulle work is called premiere-partie is used when the ground is brass, and contra-partie when it is tortoise-shell; such pieces were often made in "pairs".

Bow-front: So called because of the bow-like appearance the slightly convex or segmental shape gives to the front of a cabinet or chest In the C18th, this was often referred to as 'sweep-front'.

Bracket foot: A flat two-piece (usually symmetrical) foot, used on cabinet furniture, set at a corner (usually the front) and shaped like a right-angled bracket. [picture]

Braganza: A fancy name for an Inscrolled foot, also known as a Knurled foot, and a Spanish foot.

Break-front: A term usually applied to cabinets, chests, bookcases etc. of which the ends are recessed in relation to the middle, therefore making the middle part protrude. Where the centre is recessed, the piece is known as a Reverse break-front. (Also known as a Wing bookcase). [picture]

British Plate: A nickel alloy which was used in the mid C19th as a substitute for silver, until it was superseded by the much cheaper electro-plating process. Pieces made in British Plate often carry fake hallmarks intended to make the item appear to be genuine silver.

Brushing slide: So called because one of its primary purposes was to provide a surface for brushing down clothes, this is a wooden slide found in some chests of drawers, whch pulls forward/slides out of a slot in the top, to provide extra working surface.

Buffet: This is a term loosely applied to any furniture composed of more than one tier, whether or not the resultant sections are enclosed. Some such furniture has specific and correct names. See Court cupboard, Press (cupboard) and Livery cupboard, for example. As with all these very early pieces, the terms are rather loose, and often the descriptions found in early inventories etc. are rather vague.

Bun foot: A C17th foot, similar to the ball foot also in use at the time, but where the "ball" appears to be slightly squashed. Quite often found on Victorian pine furniture. [picture]

Bureau: A piece of furniture, with drawers, performing the function of a desk. It has either a fall-front, which slopes at 45 degrees, a cylinder front, or a tambour front. [picture]

Burl: Another name for burr, principally used in the US.

Burr: A term usually applied to a type of veneer, or perhaps more properly the marks in the veneer itself. The veneer is cut from a knot or other protruding growth on the tree, and as a result displays highly attractive graining. Walnut is especially popular for this, and bird's eye maple is another, particularly well-known type of burr veneer.

Butt joint: A simple glue joint between two surfaces, joined with no overlap, tenons, or shoulders.

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