Screen

An article of furniture in many forms, intended to secure privacy or protection from draughts or heat. For the first-named purpose the screens were usually hinged frames of two or more sections of carved or otherwise decorated wood, but more often, for the sake of lightness, frames covered with tapestry, silk, leather, lacquer panels, etc. The fire screen was made to stand on the floor at a fixed height, and called a horse screen. The banner screen was usually of the tripod and pole type, and the banner itself, adjustable as to height, was made of various materials, framed or hanging loosely. Japanese screens are mentioned by Evelyn in 1683, but probably screens were used long before.

Scritoire

See Secretary.

Scroll

A name given, in speaking of furniture, to a large class of ornament, in the solid like the volute, and in the flat as in inlay or painting, with the spiral curve as the basis, such as the well-known C- and S-scrolls so popular in the rococo style, the paper scroll, the Flemish, the Vitruvian or wave scroll, etc.

S-Scroll

So called because it resembles the Roman capital letter "S," without the volutes at the ends. It is, in fact, a cyma, and was used in endless ways in the rococo period in France, and by Chippendale and his school in England. It is often broken or stepped in the centre.

Scroll Foot

A form derived from the French and introduced into England in the reign of William and Mary. Sometimes the scroll rolled under and backwards like the Spanish foot, at other times in a forward direction. Scroll feet were adopted by Chippendale for a time, but they were abandoned about the year 1770 in favour of "therm" or "spade" feet, or the taper legs without feet.

Scrolled Pediment

See Swan-neck Pediment.

Scrowled Chair

A chair made in Yorkshire about the middle of the seventeenth century. It might be described as a heavy high panel-back chair with a very bold top rail and cresting, above the stiles or uprights, partly supported by brackets attached to the outer sides of the stiles. It had flat-shaped arms fixed to the supports in front, baluster legs, and stretchers almost touching the floor.

Scrutoire

See Secretary.

Scutcheon

See Escutcheon.

Seat

That portion of a chair which is surrounded and supported by the seat-framing or rails. In Jacobean times the seat was of wood, often sunk a little below the surface of the framing to hold a squab or loose cushion. Seats were also made of leather and rushwork. Towards the end of that period cane was used and upholstery introduced. Early in the eighteenth century a loose upholstered seat was sometimes used which fitted into a rebate in the seat frame, and during the first quarter of that century the seat was rounded in front. The surface of the upholstered seat was at first convex, and afterwards it was sometimes made concave and called a "dropped-seat" or "dipped-seat." These types were repeated during the eighteenth century.