Rule Joint

A draught or dust-proof hinged joint for screens, table flaps, etc., introduced in the Decorated Queen Anne period.

Rush-Seated Chair

The origin of this chair is exceedingly obscure. The domestic use of rushes goes back to a very early date ; baskets were made of them and they were often employed to strew floors. It would, therefore, be natural enough that when, in the second quarter of the seventeenth century, chairs began to be more common, this plentiful material should be used for the seats of the cheaper types. Since, however, rush seats are much more perishable than those of wood, few, if any, really old examples have come down to us. By the middle of the eighteenth century the rush-seated chair had become familiar, especially in farmhouses and country places, and has retained its popularity to the present day.

Saddle-Check

A name sometimes used by Hepple-white and others to describe a bedroom easy-chair of the "wing" or "forty-wink" type.

Safe

The present-day name for a large receptacle of great strength for the safe custody of valuables. Safes originated in the church coffers (the French coffres-forts) of which examples of Norman times still exist. Later on they were made of hard woods banded with iron, with locks of great complexity. It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that safes were made wholly of iron or steel.

Saltire

A word used in heraldry to describe two straight bands stretching diagonally across a shield. In furniture it is applied to cross-stretchers between the legs of chairs, tables, etc., also called X-shape stretchers. Saltire stretchers were of Italian origin, and came into fashion in England in the reign of William and Mary, and assumed many shapes. See Stretcher.

Samite

A heavy silk fabric of the Middle Ages interwoven with gold or embroidery and used for garments or upholstery. A cushion of the material was sometimes called a Samite.

Sampler

A small piece of embroidery worked by young ladies from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, for practice, or as a specimen of their skill.

Sand-Shaking

A method borrowed from the Dutch in the seventeenth century for shading or deepening the colour of pieces of wood inlay, by dipping them into hot sand.

Sandal Wood (Santalum)

A native tree of the East Indies and Pacific Islands. The wood was used more frequently for ornamental articles than for furniture.

Sarcophagus, Cellaret, Garde Du Vin, Or Wine Cooler

A kind of lead-lined tub, sometimes made in mahogany, ornamented with metal bands, lions' heads, etc., designed by the brothers Adam and later artists, to stand under a side-table or sideboard, and serve as a wine cooler. It was sometimes made with a lid.

Sash-Bars

Another name for the tracery or frames of windows and doors of cabinets, etc., in which panes of glass are set. When the sash-bars are very delicate they are sometimes called Astragals.

Satin

A silk fabric with a glossy surface on one side made in Europe from the Renaissance period. Probably it originated in China.