animal legs and claws

Victorian furniture, if studied carefully, often has a humorous aspect. The furniture legs just had to be decorative, and when cabinetmakers got bored with those French looking cabriole legs, they turned to paws of all sorts. George Hunzinger, for instance made some parlor suites in the 1860s and 1870s with hooved feet that made the pieces look like where about to gallop off at any moment. Furniture with bail-and-claw feet didn't appear until about the 1890s, after the Colonial Revival style made its patriotic appearance.