Martin Carlin

A French cabinet-maker and a founder and chaser of metal furniture mounts of the Louis XVI. period. Contemporary with such famous artists as Riesener, Gouthiere and Thomire, his work bears favourable comparison with theirs. Several pieces of his are to be found in the Wallace Collection and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Carlton Table

A writing-table on legs with a raised back and sides fitted with pigeon-holes and small drawers, a pen-tray and a socket for an ink-bottle. These tables, which appear to have been named in compliment to the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., who lived at Carlton House, were usually of mahogany or satin-wood, and were sometimes inlaid.

Carolean

This term is often used to denote the period between the years 1660 and 1688. It is alternatively called the Restoration, the late Stuart, or a part of the Jacobean period. See Period.

Carpets And Rugs

Woven fabrics for covering floors were known to the early Egyptians. A few Oriental rugs were imported into England as early as the fourteenth century. Cardinal Wolsey used many when furnishing Hampton Court, but they came into more general use in the time of Queen Elizabeth. They were made in France at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and in England at Axminster and Wilton in the time of Queen Anne. Later on in the eighteenth century Kidderminster became a centre for carpet-making.

Cartel Clock

A clock with a flat back for hanging on a wall. In the Louis XV. and Louis XVI. periods this type of clock, which was generally of gilded metal, was made in many graceful forms.

Cartonnier

A receptable for papers, from the French carton, a pasteboard box. Some of the cartonniers made by the great French mobiliary artists of the eighteenth century were of elegant form and were often elaborately decorated. They were sometimes made to stand conjoined to a writing-table of similar fashion.

Cartouch Or Cartouche

A carved ornament in the form of a scroll unrolled, forming a field for an inscription or design.

Carving

Carving is "in the round" when the object is detached from the ground ; also alto, mezzo, or basso relievo, when it is in high, medium or low relief, and cavo-relievo when it is not above the surface of the object decorated. When the carving is lightly engraved or scratched through the surface it is termed incised, and if more roughly treated, chipped, ploughed, or gouged. When the background is trimmed away to the edge of the design, it is termed "shaped," and when cut through, "pierced." See Wood Carving.

Caryatides

Statues of women employed as columns or pilasters. Statues of men used similarly are called Atlantes or Telamones.

William Casement

A minor designer of furniture working in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. He contributed plates to the "Cabinet makers' London Book of prices of designs of Cabinet Work," published in 1788 and 1793.

Casket

A box or miniature chest, originally intended for the safeguarding of trinkets, letters, or other valuables. Caskets have been made in a variety of materials, choice metals, ivory, wood, etc., and decorated in the most lavish manner. Specimens of English, French and German work of the thirteenth century onwards are to be found in the museums. As the French cassette, the casket was sometimes so elaborate as to assume an almost monumental form.