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Style does not run in a straight line even though we may want it to`. Connecting the dots from one style to the next is a measure of understanding not just design but the moment. Take, for example, the rococo style which was designed to mask the utility of an object and turn it into an art object. That requires a good imagination when it comes to making something that is supposed to be functional. A chair, for example, needs to be comfortable and designed specifically for how it is going to be used. Dining chairs, for example, are largely perches and not really meant to be leaned back in. So the back of a dining chair could be stylistically played with in ways that the back of a library chair could not. As it happens, some of the most successful and original dining chair designs of the rococo period were chinoiserie inspired. Indeed, a good craftsman/designer would often slip in a little "Gothick", chinoiserie and rococo all in one chair to be fully a la mode. This sort of thing was a great hit with members of the beau monde because the pretensions of the style were self-evident.
The rococo style is particularly interesting as a point of study because it is so different. But if you look closely at English rococo, you will see that much of it is baroque with a few added bits such as c-scrolls and s-scrolls, a canopy, rocks and possibly a kitchen sink--this was largely done on mirror and painting frames. The sky was the limit on what could go on a frame but what is most interesting is that almost every frame ended up symmetrically aligned, left side to right side--something French rococo seldom did. In the end, you might say, save for a relatively small group of English pieces, that English rococo was a reaction to the strait laced frames of the baroque era, jettisoning tropes such as the pediment for such frilliness as rocaille, and lots of scrolls and vegetation--the artistic carver was given reign whereas heretofore Palladian frames had been primarily a geometric exercise, albeit with a mindfulness of proportion.
The frivolity of the rococo did not last long, nor did Chinoiserie nor the "Gothick" style. I would suggest that there was a sense of seriousness that started to penetrate the English psyche, particularly after bailing out of the 7 Years War in 1763 and recognizing, all of a sudden, that England had become a world power. The English decorative arts responded with gusto and became relevant because Britain was relevant. But there was more to it than that as manufacturers like Josiah Wedgwood and Matthew Boulton needed to work in a style of some sort and the new more serious style was the old style--classicism. The inspiration was, of course, ancient Rome, but that wasn't all as Athens, Egypt and even the Middle East all became design fodder for the new sophisticated and worldly British, soon-to-be owners of a worldwide Empire. This was definitely not a straight line--design-wise--it was a re-invention and one that also had various iterations over the course of its dominance which lasted a good seventy years. (Rococo, at least in furniture, lasted roughly twenty.)
Working in the decorative arts in the latter part of the 18th century must have been in some small way, nerve wracking. How do you stay relevant when a ship from China, for example, brings quantities of panels of Chinese lacquer to the British market that everybody is clamoring to own? It's another design side step that initiates all kinds of imitations. Make no mistake, just because classicism was dominant in the decorative arts, it did not mean that makers of furniture and housewares weren't searching for ways to capitalize on secondary trends or even find new ones. Top furniture makers, by the end of the 18th century had seen numerous changes in what was marketable--Robert Adam's furniture of the 1760-85 period fell out of favor to be replaced by austere classicism coupled with a nativism in the materials used to create this furniture. (British oak, in particular, was used extensively, but so, too, was sycamore, holly, boxwood, maple and walnut.) All the straight lines of stylistic change get squiggly, particularly as the market expands and more customers have more input to what they want. It's a fascinatingly complex story and I can't say I'm even close to fully comprehending all the branches it has.
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