Many of the country towns were far behind London in the style of furniture, and this explains why some furniture that is dated 1670, for instance, seems to belong to an earlier time.  The famous silver furniture of Knole House, Seven-oaks, belongs to this time.  Evelyn mentions in his diary that the rooms of the Duchess of Portsmouth were full of “Japan cabinets and screens, pendule clocks, greate vases of wrought plate, tables, stands, chimney furniture, sconces, branches, baseras, etc., all of massive silver,” and later he mentions again her “massy pieces of plate, whole tables and stands of incredible value.”

In the reign of William and Mary, Dutch influence was naturally very pronounced, as William disliked everything English.  The English, being now well grounded in the knowledge of construction, took the Dutch ideas as a foundation and developed them along their own lines, until we have the late Queen Anne type made by Chippendale.

The change in the style of chairs was most marked and noticeable.  They were more open backed than in Charles’s time and had two uprights and a spoon-or fiddle-shaped splat to support the sitter’s back.  The chair backs took more the curve of the human figure, and the seats were broader in front than in the back; the cabriole legs were broad at the top and ended in claw or pad feet, and there were no straining-rails.  The shell was a common form of ornament, and all crowns and cherubs had disappeared.  Inlay and marquetry came to be generously used, but there had been many cabinets of Dutch marquetry brought to England even before the time of William and Mary.  Flower designs in dyed woods, shell, mother-of-pearl, and ivory were used.

The marquetry clocks made at this time are wonderful and characteristic examples of the work, and are among the finest clocks ever made for beauty of line and finish, and proportion.

Although marquetry and inlay have much in common there is one great difference between them, and they should not be used as synonymous terms.  In marquetry the entire surface of the article is covered with pieces of different colored woods cut very thin and glued on.  It is like a modern picture puzzle done with regard to the design.  In inlay, the design only is inlaid in the wood, leaving a much larger plain background.  Veneering is a thin layer of beautiful and often rare wood glued to a foundation of some cheaper kind.  The tall clocks and cabinets of William and Mary’s time and the wonderful work of Boulle in France are examples of marquetry, the fine furniture of Hepplewhite and Sheraton are masterly examples of inlay.

[Illustration:  Examples of line reproductions.  The lacquer chairs carry out the true feeling of the old with great skill.]

[Illustration:  A reproduction of a walnut chair with cane seat and back, of the William and Mary period.]

[Illustration:  Reproduction of chair showing the transition between the time of Charles II and William and Mary.  The carved strut remains but the back is lower and simpler.]