Hobbies Collecting Antiques

Know Your Furniture Leg Styles

illustration of furniture leg styles

The Spruce / Ellen Lindner 

Leg styles are key not only to the appearance and functionality of pieces, but they can also be used to successfully identify many types of antique furniture. Furniture legs can provide clues to when a piece was manufactured, especially when considering how they are used in conjunction with foot styles.

Learn more about a number of different examples of leg styles developed in both Europe and the United States from the Renaissance period to the Empire period. Links within each description lead to more information on styles, periods, and types of antique furniture.

  • 01 of 09

    Cabriole Leg

    Dressing table with Cabriole legs

    Los Angeles County Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons/CC0

    Cabriole refers to a popular furniture leg with the knee curving outward and the ankle curving inward terminating in an ornamental foot. It is commonly associated with Queen Anne and Chippendale styles of antique furniture along with and many reproduction pieces that combine various styles.

    When used with Chippendale furniture, the cabriole leg commonly terminates with a ball and claw foot. In Queen Anne examples, the pad foot was popular, but other foot styles were used with these legs as well.

  • 02 of 09

    Flemish Scroll Leg

    Flemish scroll leg example

    Pia's Antique Gallery on RubyLane.com

    This style of carved furniture leg is characterized by scrolls at the top and the bottom, often spiraling in opposite directions. It was developed in the second half of the 17th century and is featured in late Baroque furniture styles such as Restoration and William and Mary. It was also used in the work of Gerrit Jensen who designed pieces for King Charles II.

    These are also referenced as double scroll legs and S-scroll leg (a variation is when the section between the scrolls is curved).

  • 03 of 09

    Fluted Leg

    Fluted leg example

    Pia's Antique Gallery on RubyLane.com

    In this type of furniture leg, a series of rounded channels or grooves are carved vertically into a straight leg at regular intervals. The fluted leg was modeled after ancient Greek columns, and it flourished in the Neoclassical styles of the second half of the 18th century such as Hepplewhite along with 19th-century Classical Revival styles.

    It is similar to a reeded leg, except that fluted channels are concave (compared to convex or raised).

  • 04 of 09

    Marlborough Leg

    Chippendale Style Game Table with Marlborough Legs
    Silla Antiques on RubyLane.com

    This is a straight, square, substantial furniture leg that is usually plain, but sometimes has fluted carving. The Marlborough leg typically terminates in a block foot, though can be footless as well. Some versions are slightly tapered.

    These legs are typical of mid-18th century English and American furniture and are often featured in later Chippendale styles, especially chairs, tables (as shown here), sofas, and bedsteads.

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  • 05 of 09

    Reeded Leg

    Reeded legs on Rosewood game table

    Antiques on Hanover on RubyLane.com

    This type of furniture leg, in which a series of rounded ridges or grooves are carved vertically at regular intervals, is modeled after ancient Greek and Roman motifs. They flourished in the later Neoclassical, Regency, and Empire styles that developed around the turn of the 19th century. The reeded leg is often seen in Sheraton designs. These are similar to fluted legs, except that the reeds are convex (as opposed to concave).

    The popularity of reeded legs surpassed those of fluted legs as the 18th century gave way to the 19th century.

  • 06 of 09

    Saber Leg

    Pair of late 19th-century saber-leg side chairs
    VanBibber Antiques on RubyLane.com

    The saber style is a type of splayed furniture leg flaring out in a concave shape like a saber or curved sword. It can be round or squared and often gradually tapers. These are usually found on a chair, stool, or sofa.

    Dating from antiquity—examples have been found on Greek klismos chairs—it underwent a revival among late 18th-century designers such as Sheraton and flourished in Regency and Empire furniture. They are sometimes referenced as sabre legs or splayed legs as well.

  • 07 of 09

    Spider Leg

    Spider legs on a tilt-top table
    Silla Antiques on RubyLane.com

    Spider legs are delicate, thin curved legs, usually extending below a round table top in a group of three or four. They typically end in spade feet or no feet. Found on many late 18th-century and early 19th-century candlestands, tea tables, and other light, portable pieces.

    Spider legs can also be slim, straight legs found on gatefold tables. The thin supports enabling swinging out to expand the table easily. This variation dates from the early 18th century and often ends in pad feet. Both types of spider legs remain enduringly popular to the present.

  • 08 of 09

    Spiral Leg

    Spiral legs on Merklen Bros. walnut lamp table
    Staebel Antiques on RubyLane.com

    This extremely old style of furniture leg resembles a twisted rope. It is thought to have originated in India, and the style traveled westward across Europe in the mid-17th century to Portugal, Holland, and then England where it flourished from around 1660 to about 1703.

    These legs are especially characteristic of Restoration and William and Mary furniture, but they enjoyed a comeback 100 years later in late Empire and Federal pieces. It was revived yet again in the mid-19th century and used on many Victorian furniture pieces. Sprial legs are sometimes referenced as spiral-twist or barley-twist (especially in England).

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  • 09 of 09

    Trumpet Leg

    Victorian folding hall table with trumpet legs
    Antiques on Hanover on RubyLane.com

    This is a type of turned furniture leg, fairly thick with multiple curves, flares upward and outward from a narrow base to actually resemble an upturned trumpet. The top is often capped with a dome, and the end often terminates in a ball foot, bun foot, or Spanish foot.

    It is typical of Baroque styles, especially English Restoration and William and Mary, and usually appears in accent tables, highboys, and lowboys with the legs connected by a serpentine stretcher. These are also known as trumpet-turned legs.