A quick quide to periods

The age and style of antiques is usually described in terms of reigning monarch or ruling house. This is fine for people with a detailed knowledge of the British or French history for example - but for people from abroad (or for those whose schooldays were a long time ago) it can become confusing.

Further problems arise when a designer like Adam or Hepplewhite gives his name to a wide range of items made in his particular style - and when styles and objects are imported from other parts of the world.

Here is a short guide to periods, a simple timeline to help you classify the millions objects for sale on markets. Bare in mind that is a list of British and French styles only, but they are the most usual in furniture and decorations on the market, and frankly could be most confusing.

Tudor                       1485 - 1603
Elizabethan             1558 - 1603 
Jacobean                1603 - 1688
Stuart                       1603 - 1714
Louis XIV                 1643 - 1715
Cromwellian           1649 - 1660
Mary and William   1689 - 1702
Queen Anne           1702 - 1714
Georgian                 1714 - 1820
T. Chippendale       1715 - 1762
Louis XV                  1723 - 1774
A. Hepplewhite       1727 - 1788
Adam                        1728 - 1792
T. Sheraton               1751 - 1806
Regency                   1800 - 1830
Empire                      1804 - 1815
Victorian                   1837 - 1901
Edwardian               1901 - 1910
Art Nouveau             1890 - 1910
Art Deco                    1920 - 1930