The antiques glossary - antique terms q covering everything from qing to queens ware and quimper.
Below you will find antique related words or antique terms q covering everything from qing to quilling, queens ware to
quimper and many more that you might find useful.
The list is not exhaustive but we will add to it as time goes by. The descriptions detailed are only intended to be relevant to how the word or term relates to antiques and although the same word may have other meanings in other contexts, we have not and do not intend to detail those meanings here. In some instances we have included pictures to enhance the meaning of the word or term and we have also indexed each word in order that you may link to the explanation when the word or term appears in other pages on the site.
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qingbai
(ceramic - chinese - porcelain)
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Chinese porcelain form the song dynasty (960-1279) referring
to the translucent misty-blue glaze. also known as yingqing.
Today wares are mostly bowls dug out of burial grounds.
Modern reproductions have been produced in hong kong and
taiwan.
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The last of the chinese dynasties consolidated in the
1680's under the emperor kangxi (1662-1722). Ended in
1911 and during it the famille rose and famille verte
palettes were established.
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Includes
the following periods :
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Shunzhi
(1644-61) - Kangxi (1662-1722) - Yongzheng (1723-35)
Qianlong (1736-95) - Jiaqing (1796-1820) - Daoguang (1821-50)
Xianfeng (1851-61) - Tongzhi (1862-74) - Guangxu (1875-1908)
Xuantong (1909-11) .
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quadrant
(scientific - navigational instrument
- altitude)
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An instrument used in navigation for measuring altitude,
made up of a quarter-circle of wood or metal marked with
a graded scale of angles. From the late 16thC quadrants
made of brass, or brass and mahogany, with a pivoted radius,
or index arm, came into use.
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quaich (silver
- scottish drinking vessel)
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A drinking vessel - The Quaich (pronounced "quake",
from the Gaelic word "cuach") is a uniquely
Scottish invention, having no apparent connection to any
other European drinking vessel. A traditional Scottish
drinking vessel to offer a guest a cup of welcome and
also as a farewell drink, usually a dram of whisky. Travellers
were known to carry a quaich with them
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 They
were used for whisky and brandy but there were some larger
quaichs used for ale. (The largest surviving examples
having capacity of about 1.5 pints). It is believed that
their ancestor was the scallop shell, in which drams of
whisky were taken in the Highlands and Islands. Like the
shells, quaichs were always wide and shallow. The distinctive
shape has been fixed for more than four hundred years.
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The
English and Colonial American counterpart of the Scottish
quaich is the porringer, made with a single handle. The
Sami and Norrland, Sweden, equivalents are the pahkakuppi
and the kåsa, which also have a single handle.
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The
Quaich has a rather unique history and is surrounded by
myth and mystique. In ancient times, during the Celtic
period, it is believed that Druids filled the quaich with
blood from the heart of sacrificed humans.
It
has a special place in the heart of all who know something
of its history and is a prized possession of many people
who have an association with Scotland. It is always
remembered in its traditional use as a visitor's welcome
or farewell cup by proud clan chiefs, worthy merchants
or humble crofters.
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daniel
quare, (clocks & watches
- clockmaker - repeater mechanism)
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(1649-1724) One of the most well renowned English clockmakers
of his time, as well as a maker of barometers and mathematical
instruments. His business prospered thanks to a wealthy,
high-ranking clientele. Almost all of Quare's elegant
barometers are of the column type: they are housed in
a wooden or ivory column resting on brass feet; at the
top is a glazed brass box displaying the barometric tube
and measurement scales.
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A
quarrel or bolt is the term for the ammunition used in
a crossbow. The name quarrel is derived from the French
carré, "square", referring to the fact
that they usually have square heads.
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A type of veneering using four pieces of wood with the
same grain pattern to form a surface. Each quarter has
a pattern that is a mirror image of the one alongside
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A set of four small tables, slightly decreasing in size
from one table to the next, so that they can be fitted
into each other to form a nest or used separately .
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quartz
(gemstone - amethyst - citrine
- cairngorm)
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The most common of stones, used for decoration since the
Classical period. When free from impurities, it is a colourless
rock crystal; other forms most commonly used as gemstones
since the 19thC include the amethyst in all shades of
violet, the cairngorm in yellow and brown, and the yellow
citrine which is often wrongly referred to as topaz.
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The
physical properties of quartz are such that when an electric
current is passed through a precision-cut piece of quartz
it pulsates regularly. This is used in clocks and watches
in place of mechanical escapements to regulate the driving
force of an electric battery, resulting in much greater
accuracy.
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The
first quartz clock movement was invented by W.A. Morrison
of the Bell Laboratories in 1929.
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quartz
glass (glass - art glass
- crackle effect - frederick carder)
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The trade name for crackled-effect art glass developed
by the English designer Frederick carder for the steuben
glassworks in the USA.
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A
gather of molten glass was dipped into cold water, which
created a fine network of cracks on the outer surface.
The glass was then reheated to fuse the cracks and rolled
over powdered glass. The whole was then covered in clear
coloured glass. Sometimes the outer surface was treated
with acid to give a satin finish.
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queen anne
(style - british - architecture & furniture)
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An early 18thC British design style that developed principally
during the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14). In the late
19thC, a version known as Queen Anne Revival emerged in
architecture and reproduction furniture
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The
Queen Anne Style of British architecture in the 1870s
(the industrial age) was popularised by George Devey and
the better-known Richard Norman Shaw (1831–1912).
Norman Shaw published a book of architectural sketches
as early as 1858, and his evocative pen-and-ink drawings
began to appear in trade journals and artistic magazines
in the 1870s. American commercial builders were quick
to pick up the style.
The
British Victorian version of the style is closer in
empathy to the arts and
crafts movement than its American counterpart. Its
historic precedents were broad: it combined fine brickwork,
often in a warmer, softer finish than the Victorians
were characteristically using, varied with terra-cotta
panels, or tile-hung upper stories, with crisply painted
white woodwork, or blond limestone detailing: oriel
windows, often stacked one above another, corner towers,
asymmetrical fronts and picturesque massing, Flemish
mannerist sunken panels of strapwork, deeply shadowed
entrances, broad porches, in a domesticated free Renaissance
style.
Queen
Anne Style buildings in America came into vogue in the
1880s, replacing the French-derived Second Empire as
the "style of the moment." The popularity
of high Queen Anne Style waned in the early 1900s, but
some elements, such as the wraparound front porch, continued
to be found on buildings into the 1920s.
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A type of wedgwood ceramic named so after a gift of a
tea set to Queen Charlotte, consort of George III, produced
the appointment of Wedgwood as Potter to Her Majesty in
1765.
Wedgwood
immediately named his range of cream coloured tableware
Queen's Ware. Wedgwood knew the demand for the product
that graced the Queen's table would fully establish
his successful factory as the top of the market
By
1775 Wedgwood's Queen's ware was being imitated all over
Europe as the Continental potteries reacted to his virtual
monopoly in high quality earthenware. In France the imitation
wares were known as faience anglaise and this superior
product replaced the traditional tin-glazed eathernware
in the European potteries. By the end of the century the
traditional wares were only produced at Delft and in small
provincial French potteries.
The Queen's ware body
was used primarily for tableware but was occasionally
employed in the production of decorative works as well.
In about 1850 Wedgwood introduced a range of embossed
Queen's ware. Similar in design and decoration to the
Jasper ware range with raised designs in contrasting
colours, it became quite popular for ornamental vases,
candlesticks and dresser pieces as well as tableware.
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quilling
(decorative technique - paper filigree)
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Quilling or Paper Filigree is an art form that involves
the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and
glued together to create decorative designs.
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During
the Renaissance, French and Italian nuns and monks used
quilling to decorate book covers and religious items.
The paper most commonly used was strips of paper trimmed
from the gilded edges of books. These gilded paper strips
were then rolled to create the quilled shapes. Quilling
often imitated the original ironwork of the day.
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The
name quilling is said to be derived from the fact that
the nuns and monks originally used feather quills as their
tool to roll the paper.
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quimper
(ceramics - french pottery)
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A fench pottery company; pronounced kem-pair situated
in brittany in north-west france.
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Quimper
pottery began in 1690 with the arrival of Jean-Baptiste
Bousquet. Bousquet started a factory in the section of
Quimper known as Loc-Maria where he specialised in the
production of tablewares and clay pipes.
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The
name quilling is said to be derived from the fact that
the nuns and monks originally used feather quills as their
tool to roll the paper.
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