Walnut dining tables and desks – a potted history of a wood rising in popularity.
A potted history of a wood rising in popularity amongst interior designers and antiques dealers.
In addition to its beauty, walnut furniture is known for its durability and longevity.
Darker grains of walnut furniture are emerging as an interest to antique buyers in 2024 and we have been coming across some lovely antique walnut furniture on our buying trips to France and Italy. Recent purchases include a French walnut serving table, a beautiful and elegant two-drawer Italian late 18th century desk and a 19th century walnut hall table from a property near Venice in Italy.
I think antique walnut furniture can work extremely well in a more contemporary living space as well as a traditional interior. I love mixing old with new and an antique walnut desk with a modern chair can work brilliantly in an interior. Similarly, a walnut dining table or serving table can sit very well in a more contemporary kitchen design. I am now hunting for more 18th and 19th century walnut pieces of furniture for my clients. The patina works well in many interior design schemes for homes as well as for hotel design.
The deep richness of walnut adds a luxurious and modern touch to interiors. Whether applied to kitchen cabinetry, feature walls, or statement furniture pieces, dark walnut tones create a sense of cosiness and sophistication.
Walnut has been used in furniture making since the Renaissance. Inventories from the great houses in the Elizabethan period indicate the best pieces of furniture were made from walnut. From the Restoration to the close of George II’s reign both varieties were used for veneers and construction.
As demand became greater, imported timber from Central Europe supplemented wood grown in the southern counties of England.
Archived London cabinet makers’ accounts refer to the wood used as ‘Grenoble wood’ or ‘French walnut-tree’. These highly prized woods from Europe produced a greater contrast of markings and figurations. The severe winter of 1709 destroyed the majority of walnut trees in Central Europe. The timber became so scarce in France that an embargo was introduced banning the export of walnut and prohibiting its use till 1720. To counterbalance the cessation of French supplies, England began importing from its colony in America the darker Virginia walnut. However, by the late 1720’s the ready supplies of mahogany were already tempting furniture-makers to abandon walnut.
Significantly these first few years of the 18th century saw many of the finest pieces of walnut veneered furniture made.
The walnut tree’s botanical name Juglans is taken from Roman mythology: it was believed that Jupiter fed on walnuts when he was on earth, and therefore the tree became known as the ‘royal nut of Jupiter.’
From the end of the 17th century, through to the middle of the 18th century, walnut was the most highly valued timber choice for furniture in England due to its exceptional variation in colour and grain.
Given the varying appearance of the timber, a clear hierarchy emerged in terms of the most desirable pieces. Much of it was grown in England, but the imported French variety was usually preferred because it was better marked.
The equally popular burr wood (marked with innumerable tiny dark curls) is found near burrs or lumps by clusters of knots. Tightly knotted burrs were highly valued for their rarity and beauty and were used as veneers that showed off their intricate patterns.
Figured timbers from the root or curl were also popular.
Although a certain amount of furniture was made from walnut in the solid piece, it was used mainly in the form of a very thin sheet-veneer. This was glued down on to the main carcass of the piece; the carcass usually being constructed of pinewood (deal) or oak.
The use of veneers enabled the craftsmen to select the best-marked portions and arrange them in patterns; a familiar form being known as ‘quartering’, where four successively cut rectangular pieces are laid on a surface so that their markings coincide evenly.