Stitched-Up

A seat is said to be "stitched-up" when the upholstery is drawn over the front of the seat rails and attached to their lower edges. This method of upholstering seems to have been copied from the French towards the end of the seventeenth century. See Stuff-Over Seat.

Stool

A seat, of very ancient origin, for one person, without back or arms. In times up to the seventeenth century, when the chair was a seat of great dignity and when most of the company sat on benches, there was a good deal of etiquette about the use even of the stool. As side chairs became more usual in the Commonwealth and the Restoration periods, the stool was gradually superseded, and in the Queen Anne period it almost ceased to be made except for ornamental purposes, and, in a simple form, for the use of children.

Stopped Channel Fluting

An ornament of architectural origin, used as a decoration on furniture, friezes, etc., consisting of a series of equidistant concave flutes, with straight or rounded ends.

Straight Front

The front of a piece of furniture is said to be "straight" when not broken into different planes or curved, as, for instance, in the cases of a "broken front" or "kettle-front" (q.v.).

Straining

A word used to describe the practice in the time of William and Mary and Anne of tightly stretching or glueing upholstery to the whole of the woodwork as in the case of the stately beds so closely associated with the name of Daniel Marot.

Strapwork

An ornament of architectural origin, much in vogue among Elizabethan and Jacobean wood-carvers, chiefly for panellings, consisting of bands formed into various repeated designs and interlacings. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century, and especially in the Chippendale period, interlaced strap-work, sometimes quite flat and at others elaborately carved, was used with great effect for the splats of chairs.

Stringing

A narrow strip or band of coloured inlay, sometimes called a lining, which contrasts with the surrounding surface.

Stuart Period

See Periods.

Stucco

See Composition and Gesso.

Studs

A name given to the copper, brass, or gilt-headed nails used for decorative purposes on chests and other articles, and for securing the leather or upholstery on chairs, etc. The practice of studding furniture with nails was introduced into England in the early seventeenth century from Italy, Spain and Portugal, and the studs were sometimes an inch in diameter. The use of studs continued during the whole of the eighteenth century.

Stuff-Over Seat

A method of upholstering chairs with a fixed seat by drawing the covering material over the edges and fronts of the seat rails, and securing it by nails or otherwise along the bottom edges. The join was sometimes finished off with a galon or a small brass moulding. See Stitched-Up.

Stump Bedstead

A bedstead without posts supporting a cornice or tester.

Stump Foot

The leg of a piece of furniture which is carried down to the floor without the intervention of a foot of any kind, is said to have a "stump foot."