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Sabot: Derived from the French word for hoof, it's a cast brass or ormolu foot mount used on furniture in the French taste.

Scroll foot: A foot that scrolls outwards, and then back onto itself. (See Inscrolled foot and Outscrolled foot). [picture]

Scalloped: A term used to describe decoration composed of a series of concave depressions, resembling a scallop shell, with a lobed or foiled edge. Mostly used on the rims of silver and earthenware vessels, it also applies to any shell-like decoration or ornament. [picture]

Secretaire: This is a form of writing desk which resembles a chest of drawers, but in which the top "drawer" and/or a flap or brushing-slide pulls out to provide the writing surface. This surface may also take the form of a simple top surface on the chest beneath, or it may have a flat-front flap, or fall-front to provide the writing surface. See also bureau.

Secretary: The US name for a secretaire.

Serpentine: The name given to a bulbous double-curved outline (wavy!), composed of a convex curve flanked by two concave curves, derived form the shape associated with snakes, applied, for instance, to the sinuous shape used in a horizontal plane on better furniture of the Rococo Period (see Bombe).

Sheffield Plate: The first thing to say is that Sheffield Plate is emphatically not electro-plated silver, in any way, shape or form. Sheffield Plate is rolled sheet silver which sandwiches an internal layer or sheet of copper, to which it is fused. The process was accidentally discovered in 1742 by Thomas Boulsover in Sheffield, and domestic articles were made using the technique from the 1750s until about the 1850s. It was recognised by the Sheffield Assay Office in 1784, after which date articles were stamped accordingly, and was being made there and elsewhere (Birmingham was a big producer) by the 1760s. By 1800 a wide range of articles were being produced in large quantites and a variety of styles, in many English towns. It was also copied abroad, notably France, Russia and Poland. The invention/development of "British Plate" in the 1840s brought production to an end, and in turn British Plate was superseded by the much cheaper electro-plating developed in the mid-to-late C18th.

Sheffield Plate is very strong, and surviving pieces, and there are many, are generally in good condition. On the other hand, C19th silver plated ware can often be in poor condition, with worn off plate commonly evident.

Shoe, shoe-brace or shoe-piece: A shaped horizontal bar fitted at the bottom of the chair back, on the rail, and into which the splat is fitted. Used on many C18th chairs, it was often fitted over the upholstery and tacked through into the back rail.

Sofa: This is a long seat, which was developed from the French day-bed. They were almost always fully upholstered, and of a rounded appearance. Sprung upholstery didn't appear until about 1830.

Sofa table: First made in about 1790, and developed from the Pembroke table, this drop leaf table was designed to sit behind a sofa (hence its name, of course), and is long and thin, with two short drop-leaves at each end, and usually two drawers in the frieze. The best ones have two end-supports connected by a stretcher; the single pedestal type is much less desirable. [picture]

Soft-paste Porcelain: See Porcelain.

Spade foot: A square tapered foot, generally used in the late C18th on a tapered leg, usually found on chairs, tables and sideboards. Can also be called a thermed (or termed) foot, a term (pardon the pun) derived from the name for the stones used in antiquity to make boundaries, and which they resemble.

Spandrel: Usually associated with clocks, where spandrels decorate the four courners of a dial. On furniture, it's the triangular space formed between the curve of an arch and its square framing. Without the arch, the shape is that of a bracket.

Spanish foot: See Braganza.

Spelter: Spelter [metal] is an alloy composed chiefly of zinc. It was much used around the latter part of the C19th as a cheaper substitute for bronze, principally in cast decorative pieces, and was often painted or patinated to simulate ivory or bronze. It is very soft and malleable, but when cast tends to be crystalline and brittle, and which when broken shows a granular, silvery fracture plane. In many cases it was copper-plated before any other finish such as gold plating was applied and therefore a worn piece may look coppery. It as quite fragile if thin and there is no really satisfactory method of repair. In some cases such as figurines, a filler such as plaster may be added to give weight and strength. Spelter can often be detected by a scratch in an inconspicuous place showing a bright silver colour where otherwise one might expect bronze or copper.

Spindle: A slender turned baluster, often decoratively used in rows, such as can be seen in the back of (say) a Windsor chair.

Spiral twist: See barley twist.

Splint or splat: A vertical board, usually flat, and often with shaped sides and frequently pierced or carved, which is the central upright of a chair back, between the top and seat rails. Such a chair is known as a splat-back.

Splay: The angled taper of the sides of, for instance, a splay foot. When curved, this is termed flared.

Stile: A subsidiary vertical framing member of a muntin, or the outermost vertical section of a panelled construction.

Stop-fluting: Fluting where part of each channel is filled with a reed of wood or brass (see counter-fluting).

Straight-front: The front of a cabinet or chest that is flat and not recessed (see break-front).

Strapwork: Originally used in the mid C16th to mid C17th, and then revived in the late C18th, this is a symmetical and repeated carved ornament of flat, interlaced bands or ribbons, resembling plaited strips.

Stretcher: A horizontal strut connecting and bracing chair or table legs, sometimes used decoratively, such as a cross-stretcher or arched (Crinoline) stretcher.

Stringing: A thin decorative inlaid line of brass or contrasting wood, generally in veneer.

Stub-Tenon: A small tenon which does not go completely through the timber. See through-tenon.

Sutherland table: A form of dropleaf table which has a top that is so shallow as to be almost useless as a functional table, at least until the flaps are extended, and which typically sits atop end columns joined by a central stretcher. First recorded in about 1850, almost exactly 100 years after the similar Pembroke was first made, they were named after Harriet, the Duchess of Pembroke, and reached their height of popularity in the late C19th. [picture]

Swag: See Festoon.

Sweep-front: See Bow-front.

Swing-leg: A leg such as is used on a gateleg table, in which one side is hinged or more usually pivoted, and the other swings out to support the table leaf. In effect, it's another word for a gate-leg.

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