Get The Regency Look For Less

The Real Deal, $13,500
English Regency rosewood table with gilt accents, available at Gary Elam Antiques, 1025 Slocum. 214-747-4767.

Style Solutions
These great finds will help you get the Regency look for less.

$4,299, Regency dining table with dusty gold leaf accents, available at Robb & Stucky Interiors, 7240 N. Dallas Pkwy. Plano. 972-403-3000.

The Regency period of architecture and decorative arts is one of the highest notes of British design. While most date it from 1790 – 1830, its namesake, the would-be king George IV was only technically regent from 1811-1820. He became regent after his father, George III sunk more deeply into mental illness before his death in 1830. Regency looks abound today in a full-price spread from inexpensive reproductions to highly priced originals. The style appeared toward the end of English neoclassicism, made famous by architect/designers such as William Kent, Thomas Chippendale, and Robert Adam. Regency forms are curvaceous and richly ornamented, but with an almost feminine fluidity absent in the traditionally beefier work of Kent, Chippendale, and Adam. You can quickly recognize Regency style for its employment of classical motifs such as lyre shapes, cavorting nymphs, and sphinxes. Also look for Japanned pieces in lacquered black, red, or green with gilt painted designs. Popular woods were exotic imports from Colonies such as rosewood and mahogany. Brass appears in details such as hairy pawed sabots on table or chair legs. And light-hued fruitwood marquetry set into the dark woods is another hallmark of Regency style. A good resource is Regency Furniture by Frances Collard (Antique Collectors Club, 1985).

– KAREN EUBANK