Country house furniture describes the furniture made for, and used in, the great and lesser country houses of Britain and Ireland. It covers grand state room pieces such as giltwood pier tables and mirrors as well as the library tables, hall chairs, bookcases, dining furniture, bedroom suites and servants' hall furniture that equipped an entire estate.
The great age of country house furnishing ran from the late seventeenth to the late nineteenth century, when leading makers including Thomas Chippendale, Gillows of Lancaster and many London cabinetmakers supplied whole houses to the designs of architects and owners. Chippendale's commissions for Harewood House and Nostell Priory are among the best-documented examples. Pieces often bear crests, inventory marks or labels, and were made in quantity to suit large rooms. Furniture with a documented country house provenance carries extra appeal and value, especially when it can be traced to bills, inventories or photographs. Major dispersal sales in the twentieth century released much of this furniture onto the market. Today the term is also used more loosely for the relaxed mix of good-quality antiques, comfortable upholstery and practical pieces that defines the English country house look in interiors.
