Kakiemon is a style of Japanese porcelain decoration developed in the 17th century, characterised by asymmetrical, delicate painted designs in orange-red, blue and yellow on a milky white ground, hugely influential on Meissen and other European factories.
Kangxi Porcelain refers to Chinese porcelain produced during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722), celebrated for technical refinement and a rich palette including the famille verte enamels, regarded as a golden age of Qing ceramics.
Kapok is a lightweight, silky natural fibre harvested from the seed pods of the kapok tree, used from the early 20th century as an upholstery stuffing before synthetic foams became widespread.
Kauri Pine is a fine, straight-grained softwood native to New Zealand, historically prized for furniture, panelling and shipbuilding, with antique kauri pieces valued for the timber's warm colour and now-restricted supply.
Kelmscott Press was a private printing press founded by William Morris in 1891, producing finely crafted illustrated books that became a touchstone of the Arts and Crafts book arts movement.
A Kerosene Lamp is an oil lamp burning refined kerosene through a wick, introduced in the mid-19th century as a brighter, cleaner-burning alternative to earlier whale oil lamps, and produced in countless decorative forms until electrification.
The Keswick School of Industrial Arts was an Arts and Crafts guild founded in the English Lake District in 1884, producing hand-crafted copper and silver metalwork in a distinctive hammered, naturalistic style.
A Kettle Stand is a small, often tripod-legged table designed to hold a tea kettle at a convenient height beside a fireplace or tea table, a popular Georgian furniture form associated with formal tea-drinking rituals.
A Kew Pattern Barometer is a mercury barometer design certified against the standard held at Kew Observatory in the 19th century, valued by collectors for its scientific accuracy and fine mahogany or oak casing.
A Key Escutcheon is a decorative metal plate surrounding a keyhole on furniture, protecting the wood from wear and adding ornamental detail, ranging from simple brass fittings to elaborate cast or engraved designs.
A Key-Wind Clock is a clock wound manually using a removable key inserted into the movement, the standard winding method before the development of keyless winding mechanisms in the later 19th century.
A Keystone is the central, wedge-shaped stone at the summit of an arch that locks the surrounding stones in place, often carved decoratively and a recurring motif in Georgian architectural ornament.
Kid Leather is a soft, fine-grained leather made from young goatskin, historically used for gloves, book bindings and upholstery detailing where suppleness and a smooth finish were required.
A Kidney Desk, or kidney table, is a writing desk or table with a distinctive curved, kidney-shaped top, a form popularised in the 18th and 19th centuries for its elegant silhouette and practical knee clearance.
A Kilim is a flat-woven, pileless rug or tapestry made across the Middle East, Central Asia and the Balkans, distinguished from knotted-pile carpets by its lighter weight and geometric, often tribal-influenced patterning.
A King Post is a central vertical timber in a roof truss, running from the ridge to the base of the truss, a key structural element in traditional timber-framed roof construction visible in exposed period roofs.
King's Pattern is a heavily ornamented silver flatware pattern featuring a shell and foliate scroll motif at the terminal, introduced in the early 19th century and remaining one of the most recognisable formal English cutlery patterns.
Kingwood is a dense Brazilian hardwood with striking violet-brown streaked figuring, prized since the 18th century for fine furniture veneers, crossbanding and marquetry, particularly in French and English cabinet work.
A Kist is the Scottish and northern English term for a plain wooden chest, historically used for storing linen, clothing or valuables, often constructed in oak or pine with simple panelled or plank sides.
A Kitchen Dresser is a tall piece of furniture combining open shelving above for displaying crockery with cupboards or drawers below for storage, a staple of the farmhouse kitchen since the 18th century.
A Kitchen Range is a cast-iron cooking stove built into a fireplace opening, combining an open fire with ovens and hotplates, the standard means of cooking and heating in British kitchens from the early 19th century until gas and electric ranges took over.
Kitchenalia is a collecting term for vintage and antique kitchen equipment and utensils, from enamel storage tins to mechanical gadgets, valued for nostalgic appeal and decorative use in period-style kitchens.
Knapped Flint is flint that has been split to expose a smooth, dark inner face, used decoratively in building facades, particularly characteristic of vernacular architecture in East Anglia and southern England.
A Kneehole Desk is a writing desk with banks of drawers on either side of a central recessed opening, allowing the user to sit close to the desk, a practical and enduringly popular form since the early 18th century.
A Knife Box is a lidded, often urn-shaped or sloped-front box designed to store cutlery upright, a fashionable sideboard accessory in Georgian dining rooms, typically made in fine veneered wood with silver or brass fittings.
A Knife Rest is a small table accessory, typically silver or glass, used to keep the blade of a used knife off the tablecloth between courses, a common feature of formal Victorian and Edwardian dining.
A Knole Sofa is a sofa with adjustable, hinged sides that can be lowered using cords and finials, based on a 17th-century original at Knole House in Kent, and widely reproduced as a statement upholstered piece.
Knotwork Decoration is ornamental interlaced line pattern, most associated with Celtic art, used decoratively on metalwork, manuscripts and, in revival forms, on Arts and Crafts furniture and jewellery.
Koa Wood is a richly figured Hawaiian hardwood, ranging from golden brown to deep red, traditionally used for furniture, canoes and musical instruments, and highly valued for its curl and chatoyant grain.
Korean Celadon is stoneware from the Goryeo dynasty prized for its soft jade-green glaze and inlaid decoration technique known as sanggam, considered among the finest achievements of East Asian ceramic art.
Kosta Boda is a Swedish glassworks tracing its origins to 1742, celebrated for bold, colourful studio-art glass and modern Scandinavian design from the mid-20th century onward.
KPM Berlin Porcelain is fine German porcelain produced by the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur since 1763, celebrated for exceptionally detailed painted plaques and tableware under royal Prussian patronage.
Kraak Porcelain is Chinese export porcelain of the late Ming dynasty, named after the Portuguese carracks that transported it to Europe, recognisable by its panelled blue-and-white decoration and thin, translucent body.
Kralik Glass is Bohemian art glass produced by the Kralik glassworks from the late 19th century, known for iridescent and organic Art Nouveau forms comparable to Loetz glass.
Kütahya Pottery is Turkish ceramic ware produced in the town of Kütahya since the 15th century, known for colourful floral decoration and figural tiles, forming an important complement to Iznik pottery production.
Kutani Ware is Japanese porcelain from the Kutani region, distinguished by bold overglaze enamel decoration in green, yellow, purple, red and blue, first produced in the 17th century and revived in the 19th century for export.
A Kylix is an ancient Greek shallow, two-handled drinking cup on a stemmed foot, typically decorated with black or red-figure painting, and a form widely reproduced in Neoclassical and Grand Tour-era decorative arts.
