Jacobean furniture is furniture made in England during the reign of James I, from 1603 to 1625, a name taken from Jacobus, the Latin form of James. The term is often extended more loosely to cover English oak furniture of the early to mid seventeenth century in general.
Jacobean pieces developed directly from Elizabethan forms and were mainly made of oak by joiners using pegged mortise and tenon construction. Typical items include court and press cupboards, joined stools, panelled chests and coffers, wainscot chairs, long refectory tables and early gateleg tables. Decoration was carved in shallow relief, featuring lunettes, strapwork, guilloche, arcading and stylised foliage, with bulbous turned supports becoming more restrained than in the previous century. Inlay in holly and bog oak was sometimes used. Genuine examples are prized for their rich, dark patina, honest wear to feet and stretchers, and signs of hand tools. The style was extensively revived in the nineteenth century and again in the early twentieth century, when Jacobean Revival dining suites and bureaux were produced in large numbers. Learning to distinguish period work from later copies and carved-up pieces is essential for collectors.
