Here is a better picture of the detail on the chairs

Your set was made in the 1920s, hundreds of thousands of sets like this were sold thru the Sears and Roebucks' catalogs and other outlets. You could often purchase large matching sets, with buffets, china hutches, corner cabinets, end tables, coffee tables, dressers, blanket chests, etc. -all that you could pick and choose to make a matching suite for your needs and budget.

I have always called this "style" eclectic, because the designers were rarely concerned with period details and piled on gobbley-gook in all kinds of trim over a kind or influenced-by silhouette.

I have heard it called "Renaissance Revival" by dealers who don't seem to know better or want to associate a grand period of design with the stuff they are hoping to unload. Renaissance Revival is actually a term applied to a style of Victorian furniture.

The catalogs would often name the individual pieces with a nod to some sort of inspiration, if you could find the exact piece in an old catalog, it would be interesting to know what 'style' it was marketed as.

Though the pieces are machine made, and much of the carving applied rather than carved, they are often made from sold wood and are consequently quite sturdy.

You piece does seem to have a Tudor or Renaissance influence in the overall shape and form, albeit with much extra details we wouldn't find in that period of furniture.

This post was edited by Lilylore on Sun, Nov 16, 14 at 17:35

1920s style, loosely called "Baronial" in the catalogues. The BIG bulbous things on the legs are the signature of the style. And the heavy carvings.

If the set is still solid, it's good furniture,

Grand Rapids' finest hour. The double-dose of gadrooning shows how overdone the designer was trying to intentionally make it.(forgive the split infinitive) This should have been at the top of the pricelist in the Sears Catalog of 1925. Don't they still refer to this revival mishmash as _Jacobethan_?
Casey

The Tudor (1485-1603) and Jacobean (1567-1625) periods overlap, but the designers of this type of furniture in the 1920s rarely stuck to style, often incorporating Louis XV marquetry or baroque curls in a piece that otherwise would be Jacobean in influence. I always looked at the term 'Baronial' to be more of a description of the piece rather than the style. Like the word 'large' describes the piece and not a design trend. The term Baronial is associated with the Robber Barons of the late 19th century who had a penchant for large Renaissance Revival pieces, which I am sure influenced the popularity of these pieces even though they were made over 20 years later. Sort of like the Art Deco suites you still find at Rent-to-own shops.

But, sombreuil_mongrel, you are right. Dealers often call this type of piece, 1920s Jacobean, or even Jacobean Revival, though the term 'revival' might be misleading and a tad pretentious. But I have seen these pieces in the 1920s eclectic style that had a heavy Spanish influence with barleycorn legs or a more modest french country splat but still piled-on with the double-dose of gadrooning, discordant appliques and random carvings or marquetry,

Jacobethan, a contraction of Jacobean + Elizabethan.

Jacobethan - the illegitimate offspring of Jacob + Elizabeth

A totally made-up style name for a fake style :)

They piled on every bit of decor they could glue or carve.