Illustrated FURNITURE Glossary

Lyre

A stringed instrument which appears in Greek decoration and was adapted in the Renaissance period, and in various forms in the 17th through the 19th century in France, England, and Germany.

The lyre was previously used by Adam, Sheraton, and Hepplewhite in 18th-centuryEnglish furniture.

A popular motif in the Empire period, and a particular favorite of the 19th-century American designer Duncan Phyfe.

Lyre-back chair: A Duncan Phyfe early-19th-century American chair. The splat was an open-carved lyre design.

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Examples from Buffalo:

• Illustration: Lyre trestle table - - Ansley Wilcox Mansion / Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site
  
  
• Lyre trestle table - Private collection, Buffalo, NY
  
  
• Tall clock - Private collection, Buffalo, NY
  
  
• Empire lyre clothes rack and umbrella stand - Boies-Lord House (Hamburg)
  
  
• Empire style lyre card table - Boies-Lord House (Hamburg)
  
  
• Prince & Company melodeon - Boies-Lord House (Hamburg)
  
  
• Steinway piano music support - River Lea
  
  
• Steinway piano - River Lea

Other examples:

• Charles-Honoré Lannuier Empire lyre trestle work table - Winterthur Museum
  
  
• Empire lyre sofa-table - Colonial Furniture in America
  
  
• Empire Phyfe style lyre music-rack - Colonial Furniture in America