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Antique Sofas
Posted by Gill Jones on 16/11/2013
Antique Sofas. Who hasn’t hankered after a chaise longue to languish on of an evening? To lie dramatically in its plush velvet coverings and collapse on to it like an exhausted Countess. The chaise longue is a fine and elegant piece of furniture, it’s a bed, it’s a sofa, it’s a chair. It combines shapes and colours beautifully, which makes for a graceful and curvaceous piece of luxury.
The chaise longue comes from the French for ‘long chair,’ and it was a popular piece of furniture during the Rococo period where it first made its appearance. During this time, in the 18th century the Rococo period had great influence on all aspects of the arts including sculpture, painting, music, writing and interior design. The Rococo style itself developed in the early 18th century in response to the grand yet conservative Baroque period. While Baroque was grand Rococo was flamboyant, creating elegant and ornate pieces with furniture playing its part, taking on the dynamics of Rococo style with a vengeance.
Rococo separated itself from the lower orders, it was a class above them, it made no pretence to equality, it spelt decadence and luxury at every turn. Rococo was a byword for ostentation and flamboyance and it was evident everywhere you looked from the picture frames to the chairs and tables.
Today this style is still popular, especially the chaise longue, it’s a classic piece of furniture that compliments any room. It’s classic shape and look has been reinvented a million times from Le Corbusier to Ikea’s clean and crisp approach. If you’re a traditionalist then you might prefer earlier versions, predecessors of the more modern chaise longue. If you fancy yourself as more Marie Antoinette, languishing on a classic chaise longue rather than on a psychologists couch, then cast your net wide.
There are more modern replicas of this classically designed sofa, but you can’t really beat the original styles with their classic shape and colours. On www.antiques.co.uk there are many different examples of the chaise longue, either in sofa style or classic long chair. They can be from different periods following on from the 18th century, yet still retain their classic shape and design. There are some beautiful pieces available such as the Victorian inlaid walnut sofa settee couch. The stark white of the sofa against the walnut edging creates quite an effect.
Again we have another chaise longue, this time from the Georgian IV period; the lyre shaped end comes with mahogany edging and legs with a flat section that ends beautifully. A perfect piece that would look engaging in either the main living area or in any upstairs room including hallways and windows, it would make a perfect window seat.
Finally, a more flamboyant piece more in keeping with the period in which it was originally created, a Louis XV style sofa chaise longue complete with gilded legs and arms. It comes with needlepoint upholstery and is from the 19th or possibly early 20th century, its colour, style and overall condition is quite exquisite and takes any room to another level.
So you can take your chaise longue like you take your coffee; classic or plain, a chair or sofa. It’s up to you. They’re functional, yet they can sit pretty in any corner. They can be the side show or the main event, whatever you do with your chaise longue just enjoy it, after all that’s what they were created for.