Illustrated Architecture Dictionary.................. Illustrated FURNITURE Glossary
Illustrated Architecture Dictionary.................. Illustrated
FURNITURE Glossary
Urn
Architecture
A vase of varying size and shape, usually having a footed base or pedestal
Found in cemeteries on monuments as a symbol of immortality (the storing of the vital organs was of extreme importance to the ancient Egyptians who believed that life would be restored through the vital organs placed in the urn).Found in Federal, Georgian Revival styles
See also: Cemetery Symbols Found in Forest Lawn Cemetery
FurnitureThe sideboard was a late eighteenth-century development and sprang from the table. It is said to have been originated by Robert Adam, who introduced the custom of placing a large wooden vaselike urn on a pedestal at each end of a side table. At first the urns contained the cutlery, but this was transferred to a drawer when urns went out of use. This was characteristic of the 18th-century Adam designs and also of Hepplewhite's work .
Urn shapes were also used as decorative turnings at the cross points of stretchers in 16th- and 17th-century furniture designs.
The urn and the vase were often set on the central pedestal in a bonnet top
One type of finial is a flaming urn ("urn and flame" or "flaming finial").
Examples from Buffalo:
- Illustration above: Sears House (fireplace frieze)
- 143 Linwood Avenue
- Forest Lawn Cemetery #2
- E. G. Spaulding family cenotaph at Forest Lawn
- Spaulding Veterans at Bunker hill cenotaph at Forest Lawn
- Knox House (drawing room)
- Knox House (music room)
- Mayflower Apartments (bas relief)
- Horace Reed House (fireplace frieze)
- Maltby House (fireplace frieze)
- Lockwood House (wall decoration)
- Furniture: Urn and flame, Lang Collection
- Furniture: Urn and flame, Chippendale highboy - Kittinger Furniture Company
- Furniture: Urn and flame, Federal corner cupboard - Private collection, Buffalo, NY
Other examples:
- Governor's Palace, Williamsburg, Va.
- French Renaissance urn - Fontainebleau Palace, France
- Palais Royal, Paris, France
- Yusupov Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Furniture: Urn and flame, Chippendale highboy - Winterthur Museum
- Furniture: Urn, Sheraton style secretary - MacKay Homestead, Genesee Country Village, & Museum
- Furniture: Urn and flame, Federal mirror - MacKay Homestead, Genesee Country Village, & Museum
