Vargueño
A Vargueño is a Spanish drop-front writing cabinet dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, typically fitted with elaborately decorated small drawers and compartments behind the fall-front, often mounted on a separate stand or trestle base.
A Vargueño is a Spanish drop-front writing cabinet dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, typically fitted with elaborately decorated small drawers and compartments behind the fall-front, often mounted on a separate stand or trestle base.
Vaseline Glass is a colloquial name for pale yellow-green uranium glass, so called for its resemblance to petroleum jelly, popular from the Victorian era through the mid-20th century and identifiable by its fluorescence under ultraviolet light.
Veneer is a thin layer of fine wood, or other material, glued onto a cheaper wooden carcase to give the appearance of solid, often figured or exotic timber, a technique fundamental to fine cabinet-making since the 17th century.
Venetian Glass is glassware made on the island of Murano near Venice, renowned since the medieval period for techniques including latticino, millefiori and delicate hand-blown forms, and hugely influential on European decorative glass.
Verdigris is the green or blue-green patina that forms naturally on copper, brass and bronze through oxidation, often left intact on antique metalwork and garden ornaments as evidence of age, though it can also be applied artificially.
Vermeil is silver gilded with a layer of gold, a technique used since the 18th century for fine tableware and decorative silver, distinguished from solid gold pieces by its silver core and generally lower cost.
Vernis Martin is a French lacquer finish developed in the 18th century by the Martin brothers as a European imitation of Chinese and Japanese lacquer, used to decorate furniture, fans and small objects with painted scenes under a glossy varnish.
Églomisé (or Verre Églomisé) is a decorative technique in which gold leaf, silver leaf or painted decoration is applied to the reverse side of glass, creating richly reflective designs protected beneath the surface. Named after the eighteenth-century French decorator Jean-Baptiste Glomy, the technique has been
An Objet de Vertu is a small, finely crafted decorative object, such as a snuff box, vinaigrette or miniature case, typically made in precious metal or enamel and prized for its exceptional workmanship rather than practical use.
Victorian Style refers to the eclectic decorative styles produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), encompassing Gothic Revival, Rococo Revival and Aesthetic Movement influences, generally marked by ornate detailing and dark, heavily upholstered furniture.
A Vinaigrette is a small, hinged silver box with a perforated inner grille, holding a vinegar-soaked sponge, carried in the 18th and 19th centuries to mask unpleasant odours, and now collected for their fine engraving and enamel work.
Vitreous Enamel is powdered glass fused to a metal surface at high temperature to create a smooth, colourful, durable finish, used since antiquity on jewellery, boxes and decorative objects, and revived extensively in the Art Nouveau period.
A Vitrine is a glass-fronted display cabinet, often with glazed sides as well, used to exhibit porcelain, silver and other decorative objects, particularly popular in 19th-century French and English interiors.
A Volute is a spiral, scroll-shaped ornament, most associated with the capitals of Ionic columns, but also widely used decoratively on furniture arms, chair backs and staircase handrails.
Vulcanite, also known as ebonite, is hardened rubber developed in the 1840s, moulded into a dense black material used for jewellery, pen barrels and small decorative objects as a cheaper alternative to jet or ebony.
