Regency Furniture

Regency furniture is popularly defined as the furniture produced in the period 1790-1840 and this definition is followed here. These fifty years produced some of the most inventive and decorative furniture that has ever been made, for the end of the eighteenth century saw the move away from strict Palladian influence which produced the staid, respectable furniture beloved by generations of scholars, dealers and collectors. However, in the last fifty years the shortage of 'Georgian' furniture and the realisation that Regency furniture meets the decorative requirements of overseas buyers has led to a complete reappraisal of the production of these turbulent years. The story is complex and fascinating, both from the design as well as social aspects, and apart from Margaret Jourdain's pioneer work in 1948 there has been no standard text on what has now become one of the most expensive and least understood periods of English furniture. For the influences on Regency design and taste were legion: from She