Elizabethan style refers to the architecture, furniture and decorative arts of England during the reign of Elizabeth I from 1558 to 1603, a period when Renaissance ornament from Italy, France and the Low Countries was combined with native Gothic traditions. It is also used for the nineteenth-century revival of these forms.
Elizabethan furniture was made principally in oak, sometimes inlaid with holly, bog oak or fruitwood, and decorated with carved strapwork, lozenges, arcading, guilloche and heavy bulbous supports known as cup and cover. Typical forms include court cupboards, draw-leaf tables, joined chests, panelled beds and wainscot chairs. Great houses such as Hardwick Hall, Longleat and Burghley exemplify the architecture of the period, with large mullioned windows, long galleries and elaborate plasterwork. The Victorians revived the style enthusiastically from the 1830s, producing much carved oak furniture loosely described as Elizabethan, sometimes incorporating genuine earlier panels. Distinguishing original sixteenth-century work from later revival or reworked pieces requires careful examination of construction, tool marks, wear and colour. Authentic Elizabethan furniture is rare, while good Victorian revival pieces are more readily found.
