Oak Coffer
An Oak Coffer is an early form of chest, typically plank-built with iron strapwork or simple panelled construction, used from the medieval period through the 17th century for storage and, when fitted with a lock, for securing valuables.
An Oak Coffer is an early form of chest, typically plank-built with iron strapwork or simple panelled construction, used from the medieval period through the 17th century for storage and, when fitted with a lock, for securing valuables.
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass, typically black, historically carved into tools, mirrors and ornamental objects by ancient civilisations and later collected as decorative material for carvings and jewellery.
An Occasional Table is a small, versatile table intended for informal, incidental use rather than a fixed purpose, encompassing forms such as side tables, lamp tables and nest of tables, especially popular from the Victorian period onward.
An Oculus is a circular window or opening, most famously associated with classical and Renaissance architecture, and a recurring decorative motif in Neoclassical furniture pediments and mirror frames.
Odiot is a distinguished French silversmithing house founded in 1690, celebrated for exceptional Empire and Neoclassical silverware supplied to European royal and aristocratic households.
An Ogee Arch is an arch formed from two S-shaped curves meeting at a point, associated with Gothic and Islamic architecture, and a recurring decorative profile in furniture mouldings and clock case pediments.
Ogee Moulding is a decorative profile combining a concave and convex curve in an S-shape, widely used to edge furniture drawer fronts, cornices and picture frames from the 17th century onward.
An Oil Lamp is a lighting device burning oil, typically through a wick drawing fuel from a reservoir, or font, the dominant form of domestic lighting before gas and electricity, ranging from simple utilitarian forms to elaborate Victorian parlour lamps.
Old Sheffield Plate is silver-fused copper, produced from the 1740s to the mid-19th century by fusing a layer of silver onto a copper base, a technique that predates electroplating and produced durable, relatively affordable silver-look tableware.
Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony quartz, typically black and white or brown and white, carved into cameos, boxes and decorative objects, and popular for clock cases and tabletops in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Opalescent Glass is glass that shifts between translucent and milky-white tones depending on the light passing through it, achieved through specific chemical treatments, and widely used in American Carnival and pressed glassware.
Opaline Glass is a semi-opaque, milky glass, often tinted in soft pastel colours, produced extensively in 19th-century France and used for vases, lamps and decorative objects prized for their gentle, translucent quality.
An Orangery is a grand, glazed garden building historically used to overwinter citrus trees, popular in 17th and 18th-century country houses, and a precursor to the Victorian conservatory.
An Oriel Window is a bay window projecting from an upper storey wall, supported on corbels or brackets, a feature of late medieval and Tudor architecture and widely revived in Victorian Gothic buildings.
Ormolu is finely cast and gilded bronze, historically mercury-gilded, used from the 17th century for furniture mounts, clock cases and decorative objects, prized for its rich colour and crisp, sculptural detail on fine French furniture.
An Ormolu Clock is a mantel clock cased in finely gilded cast bronze, often incorporating figural or architectural elements, a form especially associated with French clockmaking of the 18th and 19th centuries.
An Ormolu Mount is a decorative gilded bronze fitting applied to furniture, such as handles, escutcheons or corner mounts, both protecting vulnerable edges and adding rich ornament to fine French and Continental case furniture.
Orrefors is a Swedish glassworks founded in 1898, internationally celebrated from the 1910s onward for innovative engraved and Graal glass techniques and clean, modernist Scandinavian design.
F. & C. Osler was a prominent 19th-century Birmingham glassmaking firm celebrated for elaborate cut-glass chandeliers and even glass furniture, supplying grand interiors across Britain and the British Empire, including India's royal courts.
An Ottoman is an upholstered stool or low seat without a back or arms, often used as a footstool, originating from Turkish seating forms and adopted into European interiors from the 18th century, sometimes fitted with internal storage.
An Overmantel Mirror is a mirror designed to be mounted above a fireplace mantel, often framed in matching wood or gilt to complement the fire surround, a standard feature of formal reception rooms from the 18th century.
Owen Jones (1809-1874) was a highly influential Welsh architect and design theorist whose 1856 publication The Grammar of Ornament shaped Victorian decorative arts across textiles, wallpaper and ceramics through its systematic study of historic pattern.
Oxblood Glaze, or sang de boeuf, is a deep red copper-oxide glaze developed in Chinese ceramics, revived and refined by European studio potters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a technically demanding, prized finish.
Oyster Veneer is a decorative veneering technique using thin cross-sections cut from small tree branches, such as walnut or laburnum, arranged to display their concentric growth rings, popular in late 17th-century English furniture.
