Argitektoniese elemente en motiewe in Ou-Kaapse meubels

Abstract

Most international authors on the art of furniture making or furniture styles mention that architecture has influenced furniture and not the other way round. Although limited information on furniture and articles in daily use of the Classical era is reflected in murals and mosaic floors, no physical evidence of furniture remained, therefore designers of the early Renaissance mainly copied motifs from architecture. This trend continued over the following centuries, presenting architectural elements in varying degrees in furniture. Sometimes furniture resembled buildings in miniature form, and in other instances the architectural elements were applied subtly as decorations. In Old Cape furniture it was especially this last way in which the two art forms were being connected. Examples of architectural elements found in Old Cape furniture are the gable, the arch, the keystone, pilasters, balusters, the ogee and the trefoil.