page_title: Rococo Revival
section_title: John Henry Belter and Rococo Revival furniture in America
hierarchical_section_title: Rococo Revival / John Henry Belter and Rococo Revival furniture in America
caption_attribution_description: English: Exhibit in the Brooklyn Museum - Brooklyn, New York, USA. This artwork is in the public domain because the artist died more than 70 years ago. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction.
context_page_description: The Rococo Revival style emerged in Second Empire France and then was adapted in England. Revival of the rococo style was seen all throughout Europe during the 19th century within a variety of artistic modes and expression including decorative objects of art, paintings, art prints, furniture, and interior design. In much of Europe and particularly in France, the original rococo was regarded as a national style, and to many, its reemergence recalled national tradition. Rococo revival epitomized grandeur and luxury in European style and was another expression of 19th century romanticism and the growing interest and fascination with natural landscape.
  During the later half of the nineteenth century, Rococo Revival was also fashionable in American furniture and interior design. John Henry Belter was considered the most prominent figure of rococo revival furniture making. Revival of the rococo style was not restricted to a specific time period or place, but occurred in several waves throughout the 19th century.
context_section_description: John Henry Belter (1804-1863) was a famous American cabinetmaker of the Rococo Revival era. His name was commonly used as a generic term for all Rococo Revival furniture. Rosewood from Brazil and East India were favored by mid 19th-century patrons of formal furniture. Rosewood is very dense and brittle, and so rosewood furniture is very fragile and known to break under pressure. Laminated woods were a solution to this problem in manufacturing furniture with complicated designs.
  As a result, Belter patented a process for making laminated furniture. Laminated wood consisted of a number of veneer sheets bound together with hot glue. The bounded sheets were then bent under steam pressure, pressed into molds, and then carved. The process produced stronger pieces of furniture that was less costly than traditional carving and allowed for mass production.
  Furniture made using this process was thinner and lighter than of made of solid wood and has the same resistance to breaking. Belter produced intricate designs without use of pierced carvings (which were traditionally used at the time).
  Belter’s approach to Rococo includes 17th-century motifs for decoration. Carvings on 18th-century Rococo furniture pieces were simpler than the revival pieces. Carvings on 19th-century revival pieces were distinguished by defined details and clarity of the carvings.
caption: Dresser by John Henry Belter, New York, c. 1855, rosewood, other woods, mirrored glass (Brooklyn Museum).
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-RX100", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DSC-RX100 v1.00", "Image DateTime": "2014:11:05 05:37:32", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "292", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "15710", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5014", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "3200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "3200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:10:30 12:51:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:10:30 12:51:14", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "207/1280", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "217/128", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "52/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3401", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4925", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "5472", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "3648", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "15562", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "28", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "d02905db230cf133ad84f8af2ce1774c", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[52/5, 371/10, 9/5, 49/10]"}