Jacobean is a term used to cover all English style furniture from the reign of King James I to King James II. However, throughout this span of time Jacobean furniture showed markedly different influences. The earliest Jacobean furniture was influenced mainly by Elizabethan (1603 -1688) styled furniture. Commonwealth Style (1649-1660) marks the middle of the Jacobean Period, when the furniture was of simpler design and undecorated. The late Jacobean Period is that of the Carolean period, named for King Charles II. In this period the furniture was influenced by Flemish Baroque design.
Early English Jacobean furniture was widely copied by the colonial Americans, although the furniture was more primitive, due to the fact that there were fewer skilled furniture makers living in America at the time. In true patriotic form, American colonists renamed their Jacobean reproductions to that of Early American furniture.
Jacobean furniture was very sturdy, massive in size, notoriously uncomfortable, and made to last. The furniture pieces that were produced consisted mainly of chests, cupboards, trestle tables, wainscot chairs, and gate legged circular tables. Brewster and...