All lovers of antique furniture are sufficiently familiar with the name of Thomas Chippendale, but this name has been of late years used so carelessly that it has become a generic term for all the mahogany furniture of the first half of the Eighteenth Century, and the “Chippendale chair” that is recognized as typical is the one with a pierced and carved back and claw-and-ball foot. This is an erroneous interpretation of the Chippendale style. Chippendale was a cabinet-maker, and doubtless made furniture for his patrons in the old style that had been in vogue since 1714; but the tastes for the Chinese and Gothic, as well as the Louis XV. rock-and-shell work had already been formed, and Chippendale claims more originality than he is entitled to when he says: “In executing many of the Drawings, my Pencil has but faintly copied out those Images that my Fancy suggested.”

It is clear then that the only way to understand and define Chippendale is to go directly to his book, there to learn what kind of furniture he made and wanted to make. The first edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director was published in 1754. A third edition appeared in 1762, when some of the patterns of the first book were dropped and many new plates were added. The title-page of the latter shows very plainly that Chippendale had turned his attention to almost every object for household use.

“The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director being a large collection of the most elegant and useful designs of Household Furniture in the most Fashionable Taste, including a great variety of Chairs, Sofas, Beds and Couches; China-Tables, Dressing-Tables, Shaving-Tables, Bason-Stands and Tea-Kettle Stands; Frames for Marble Slabs, Bureau-Dressing-Tables and Commodes; Writing-Tables and Library-Tables; Library Book-Cases, Organ Cases for private Rooms or Churches, Desks and Bookcases; Dressing and Writing Tables with Book-Cases, Toilets, Cabinets and Cloaths-Presses; China Cases, China-Shelves, and Book-Shelves; Candle-Stands, Terms for Busts, Stands for China Jars and Pedestals; Cisterns for Water, Lanthorns and Chandeliers; Fire-Screens, Brackets, and Clock-cases; Pier-glasses and Table-Frames; Girandoles, Chimney-Pieces, and Picture Frames; Stove-Grates, Boarders, Frets, Chinese-Railing and Brass-Work for Furniture, and other Ornaments.... The whole comprehended in Two Hundred Copper Plates, neatly engraved, calculated to improve and refine the present taste, and suited to the Fancy and Circumstances of Persons in all degrees of Life.” He ends his Preface to both editions as follows: “Upon the whole, I have given no Design but what may be executed with Advantage by the Hands of a skilful Workman, though some of the Profession have been diligent enough to represent them (especially those after the Gothick and Chinese manner) as so many specious Drawings, impossible to be worked off by any mechanick whatsoever. I will not scruple to attribute this to Malice, Ignorance and Inability; and I am confident I can convince all Noblemen, Gentlemen, or others, who will honour me with their Commands, that every Design in the Book can be improved, both as to Beauty and Enrichment, in the Execution of it, by Their Most Obedient Servant, Thomas Chippendale.”

Our accurate knowledge of Chippendale and of his work outside his own book is very meagre. He was evidently at work during the reign of George I. and was probably busiest when he published his book of designs in 1754. An examination of the plates contained in this collection of drawings shows that Chippendale cared more about the carving and ornaments than the forms themselves. He does not seem to have been an inventor of a style. Sheraton shares this view. The latter writes in 1791:

“I have seen one (book of design) which seems to have been published before Chippendale’s. I infer this from the antique appearance of the furniture, for there is no date to it; but the title informs us that it was composed by a society of Cabinet-makers in London.

“Chippendale’s book seems to be next in order to this, but the former is without comparison to it, either as to size or real merit. Chippendale’s book has, it is true, given us the proportions of the Five Orders, and lines for two or three cases, which is all it pretends to relative to rules for drawing; and, as for the designs, themselves, they are now wholly antiquated and laid aside, though possessed of great merit, according to the times in which they were executed. After Chippendale’s work, there appeared, in the year sixty-five, a book of designs for chairs only, though it is called The Cabinet-Maker’s real Friend and Companion, as well as the Chair-maker’s. The succeeding publication to this seems to be Ince and Mayhew’s Book of Designs in Cabinet and Chair Work, with three plates containing some examples of foliage ornaments, intended for the young designer to copy from, but which can be of no service to any learner now, as they are such kind of ornaments as are wholly laid aside in the cabinet-branch, according to the present taste. The designs in cabinets and chairs are, of course, of the same cast, and therefore have suffered the same fate; yet, in justice to the word, it may be said to have been a book of merit in its day, though much inferior to Chippendale’s, which was a real original, as well as more extensive and masterly in its designs.”

Strange to say, the book Sheraton thinks the earlier, came out six years after Chippendale’s and contains designs that differ little in general form from those in the Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director.

It cannot fail to strike any one who examines Chippendale’s designs carefully that he was beyond everything else a carver and a decorator. Although he was most particular about proportion and joinery, he took the greatest delight in ornamentation, caring far more for his ornate carving and swags of drapery than for his wood, or his materials. Indeed, he nearly always desires his handsome pieces to be gilded, or painted, or japanned; and he says nothing whatever about textiles, although his beds and sofas with canopies are so dependent upon festoons and curtains for their effect. The covers upon his “French chairs” often exhibit Chinese subjects, flowers, Æsop’s fables, or the gallant Watteau-like scenes; and we may conclude that the printed silks and satins of the day were too familiar to need any detailed description.

Ornate as his designs are, it will be noticed in the above Preface that Chippendale thinks further “enrichment” will add to the beauty of every design.

It will also be noticed that the descriptions of his plates contain very few references to mahogany. He far prefers furniture made of soft wood japanned in any colour, with the ornamental parts heavily gilt, and carved and gilt frames, to sombre walnut or mahogany. Rosewood he likes very much, but brightens it with gilt ornaments. Chippendale’s taste is very gay, even fantastic, and a room furnished and decorated by him must have been exceedingly brilliant.

Many of his plates were engraved by M. Darly, who lived in Paris in the first half of the Eighteenth Century; and some people think that Darly is responsible for all of Chippendale’s designs.

Whether Chippendale was ever in Paris or not, makes little difference: he knew the contemporary designs and he was saturated with the flavour of the Louis XV. taste. For instance, he was so familiar with Meissonier, that he quietly appropriated some of his designs and issued them in his book with little change as his own conceptions, without a word of acknowledgment. One of these, Chippendale labels “French chair,” but this is really a chair designed by Meissonier for Madame de Brezenval in 1735, the only change being a little extra carving. Another theft of Chippendale’s is a “sofa for a grand apartment.” The original was a canapÉ designed by Meissonier for the Grand Marshal of Poland, also in 1735. Chippendale put cushions upon the arms and added a little more carving,—and described it as follows:

“A Design of a Sofa for a grand Apartment, and will require Great Care in the Execution, to make the several Parts come in such a Manner that all the Ornaments join without the least Fault; and if the Embossments all along are rightly managed, and gilt with burnished Gold, the whole will have a noble appearance. The carving at the Top is the Emblem of Watchfulness, Assiduity and Rest. The Pillows and Cushions must not be omitted, though they are not in the Design. The dimensions are 9 feet long without the scrolls; the broadest part of the Seat from Front to Back 2 feet 6 inches; the Height of the Back from the Seat, 3 feet, 6 inches, and the Height of the Seat 1 foot 2 inches without Casters. I would advise the workman to make a model of it at large before he begins to execute it.” The massive frame is carved with shells, and on the top rail in a cloud is seated a Cupid with his arm in the strap of a buckler. Two large birds are carved below him on either side in the centre of the sweeping curves and near them are bunches of flowers. The arms are carved, and upholstered in a silk or damask the pattern of which is a combination of flowers and large scrolls. One of the arms ends in a grotesque head,—a kind of gnome with a long peaked beard.

Neither does Chippendale scruple to avail himself of one of Meissonier’s trophies consisting of a hunting-horn, stag’s head, gun and net, designed for the King’s portrait and the Royal Hunt; and Meissonier’s Livre de LÉgumes and Livre d’Ornements have been attentively studied for the shell-work, fountains, balconies, balustrades, swags of bell-flowers and laurel, colonnades, flowers, acanthus leaves, fruits, animals, birds, human beings, dripping water, cascades, feathers, flags, scrolls, musical instruments, fragmentary peristyle effects, implements, weapons, vegetables, icicles and spiky effects.

The japanning and lacquering that Chippendale so frequently recommends is doubtless inspired by the Vernis Martin; and all the gilded ornaments, handles, shoes for legs of his pieces, from the French or moulu work.

Let us first examine the beds. We find “Dome Beds,” “Canopy Beds,” “Gothic beds,” “Chinese Beds,” “Field” and “Tent Beds,” and “Couch” and “Sofa Beds,” besides numerous designs for “Bed Posts” and “Cornices.” His four-post bedsteads are, as a rule, 7 feet, 6 inches high; 6 feet, 4 inches high; and 5 feet wide. The canopy is generally surmounted by a carved cornice furnished with an intricate arrangement of laths and pulleys by which the curtains are drawn up. As the curtains and valances are sometimes required to fall in symmetrical festoons and loops when drawn up, the mechanical devices require detailed description. In one “Gothic Bed with a drapery curtain,” the four posts of which are “made into eight cants and indented,” has pullies fixed at each corner to draw up the curtains. This bed appears as No. 2 on Plate XXXVIII.

No. 3 on Plate XLVIII. is a favourite with Chippendale. It appears in his first edition as Plate XXXI. and in his third as Plate XXI. This is more than 6 feet high, over 6 feet long, and 5 feet, 6 inches wide. He says this “is a dome bed, the side of the dome and the cornice I have form’d into an elliptical form, to take off the seeming weight which a bed of this kind has when the cornice runs straight. There are four dragons going up from each corner; the curtains and vallens are all in drapery. The head-board has a small Chinese Temple with a joss, or Chinese God; on each side is a Chinese man at worship; the outside of the dome is intended to be japan’d and Mosaic work drawn upon it; the other ornaments to be gilt; but that is left to the will of those who shall please to have it executed.”

Of the full drawing on the same plate, Chippendale gives no description. The dimensions that he gives are 6 feet, 4 inches for the length; 7 feet, 6 inches for the height; and 5 feet for the width. The long and tightly rolled and covered bolster below the ornamental head-board is the style he required for all his beds. Pillows never appear. This bed, as well as the Dome Bed just described, is dated 1753. This bed can be greatly simplified by substituting for the carved cornice and headboard plain ones following the same general outlines covered with the same materials as the curtains, and plain feet may be covered with a deep valance that touches the floor. Chippendale himself suggests such treatment when his beds are thought too difficult of execution. However, he prefers the wood to show, as is natural to a carver, because in his ten very handsome designs for bed pillars he says “they are all designed with pedestals, which must certainly look better than Bases of stuff around the Bed, and the Pillars seem to be unsupported.”

Another bed has pillars “composed of reeds with a palm branch twisting round,” the pillars being 8 feet, 6 inches high; and the bedstead 6 feet, 7 inches long and 6 feet wide.

The “Field” or “Tent beds are heavily draped, but the curtains and festoons are made to take off, and the laths are hung with hinges for the convenience of folding up.”

Another, is a “Chinese Bed,” the “curtains and vallens are tied up in drapery, the tester is canted at each corner, which makes a sort of an elliptical ornament or arch, and if well executed will look very well.” Another bed “may be gilt, or covered with the same stuff as the curtains.”

Before dismissing the four-post beds, the question of cornices must be considered. Chippendale gives numerous designs for “Cornices for Beds or Windows.” These are carved and are supposed to be gilt, or painted, or japanned, brightened with gold. Such designs as the scroll and leaf are frequent, as shown in No. 1 on Plate XL. while other ornaments are the crown, the urn, the shell, the eagle, the draped urn, the grotesque dog or monkey’s head holding the ends of two garlands in his mouth, the long-tailed and open-beaked bird.

Turning now to the Canopy, Couch and Sofa beds, we find Chippendale describing a “Couch with Canopy. The Curtains must be made to draw up in Drapery, or to let down, when it is occasionally converted into a Bed. This sort of Couch is very fit for alcoves, or such deep Recesses as are often seen in large Apartments. It may also be placed at the end of a long gallery. If the Curtains and Valances are adorned with a large gold Fringe and Tassels, and the ornaments gilt with burnished gold, it will look very grand. The Crane at the top of the Canopy is the Emblem of Care and Watchfulness: which I think it not unbecoming in a place of rest. The length of the bed cannot be less than 6 feet in the clear, but may be more if required. The Breadth is 3 feet or more, in proportion to the length. The height may be determined by the place it is to stand in.”

Another “Couch bed,” he tells us, “was made for an alcove in Lord Pembroke’s house, at Whitehall.” This bed is a sofa of sweeping curve, three short cabriole legs supporting it in front. A stiff rolled bolster is placed at each end of the sofa crosswise. Four slender posts hold a canopy draped and decorated with a Chinese feeling, only tassels are used for ornaments instead of bells. The drapery is arranged in four symmetrical festoons, caught back gracefully at the sides and falling nearly to the short leg of the sofa. This was really a kind of lit de repos rather than a bed properly speaking; but there is one that can be used either as a sofa or a bed. He describes it as follows: “A Chinese Canopy with Curtains and Valances tied up in Drapery, and may be converted into a Bed by making the front part of the seat to draw forward, and the sides made to fold and turn in with strong iron hinges and a proper stretcher to keep out and support the sides when open. The curtains must be likewise made to come forward, and when let down will form a Tent.”

Another of his designs is a “Chinese Sopha with a canopy over it, with its curtains and vallens all tied up in drapery. This design may be converted into a bed, by having the Sopha so made as to come forward, the curtains to draw to the front of the Sopha, and hang sloping, which will form a sort of a tent, and look very grand. The ornaments are designed for burnished gold.” Another “is a Chinese Sopha, intended for the same use as the former; the design is different from the other, and if well executed by an ingenious workman, it cannot fail of giving content.”

Another “Chinese sopha” is represented on Plate XLI., which is purely a sofa and not a bed. This has a pagoda-shaped canopy decorated with bells and the drapery arranged in formal festoons. At the back is a piece of silk ornamented in the style of Boucher, and the sofa, which is a French canapÉ, bears a design reminiscent of Watteau,—a “gallant scene” showing a lady in a large hat and flowing gown seated on a bank while her companion is a gentleman in a cocked hat.

Specific directions accompany four designs of Sofas. “When made large, they have a bolster and pillow at each End,” and Cushions at the Back, which may be laid down occasionally and form a mattress. The upper sofa is designed to have the Back Corners Circular, which must look well. The Sizes differ greatly; but commonly they are from 6 to 9 or 10 feet long; the Depth of the Seat from Front to Back from 2 feet, 3 inches, to 3 feet; and the Height of the Seat 1 foot 2 inches with casters. The scrolls are 18 to 19 inches high. Part of the carving may be left out, if required.

The chaise longue also appears, and of it the designer says: “This is what the French call ‘PÉchÉ Mortel.’ They are sometimes made to take asunder in the middle: one part makes a large easy chair and the other, a stool, and the feet join in the middle, which looks badly.” This, of course, is the duchesse, consisting of a fauteuil and a tabouret (see pages 208 and 209). Chippendale recommends for this a “thick mattress, 6 feet long in the clear; and 2 feet, 6 inches to 2 feet broad.”

Turning now to the chairs, a close examination will show almost double the number actually represented; because Chippendale often gives different motives for carving on the two sides of the special chair. He draws French chairs, Gothic chairs, Chinese chairs, Garden chairs, Hall chairs and his favourite “Ribband Back chairs.” The latter, one variety of which appears to the reader’s left on Plate XXXVIII., is one of “three Ribband-back Chairs, which, if I may speak without vanity, are the best I have ever seen (or perhaps have ever been made). The Chair on the left hand has been executed from this Design, which had an excellent effect, and gave satisfaction to all who saw it. I make no doubt but the other two will give the same content, if properly handled in the execution.”

The length of the front leg is 19 inches; the rail of the seat (upholstered with small nails touching one another) is 22¾ inches; the seat is 18 inches square; and the back from seat to top rail 22 or 23 inches high. “If the seats are covered with red morocco,” Chippendale assures us, “they will have a fine effect.”

Describing a series of eighteen chairs, Chippendale says these “are various designs of Chairs for patterns. The front feet are mostly different for the greater choice. The seats look best when stuffed over the rails and have a Brass Border neatly chased; but are most commonly done with Brass Nails, in one or two Rows; and sometimes the Nails are done to imitate Fretwork. They are usually covered with the same stuff as the Window Curtains. The Height of the Back seldom exceeds twenty-two inches above the Seats.”

Another set is thus described:

“Eight designs of French chairs, which may be executed to advantage. Some of them are intended to be open at the Back; which makes them very light, without having a bad effect.” (The Dimensions are the same as those given above, “only that the highest Part of the Back is 2 feet, 5 in.”) But sometimes these Dimensions vary according to the Bigness of the Rooms they are intended for. A skillful workman may also lessen the carving without any Prejudice to the Design. Both the Backs and Seats must be covered with Tapestry, or other sort of Needlework.

We also find:

“Four designs of French chairs with Elbows and for the greater Variety, the Feet and Elbows are different. The little moulding, round the Bottom of the Edge of the Rails, has a good Effect.” The Backs and Seats are stuffed, and covered with Spanish leather or Damask, etc., and nailed with Brass Nails. The seat is 27 Inches wide in front, 22 Inches from the Front to the Back and 23 Inches wide behind; the Height of the Back is 25 Inches, and the Height of the Seat 14½ including Casters.

The “French chair” is the fauteuil, and the designs of the covers as represented in his third edition show design, in the “Chinese taste,” flowers, birds, pagodas, balustrades, mandarins and jars, or designs from Æsop. For example, one dated 1759, shows the dog crossing the brook with a bone in his mouth.

Of “Six Designs of Chairs for Halls, Passages, or Summer Houses,” he says: “They may be made either of Mahogany or any other Wood, and painted, and have commonly wooden Seats. The Height of the Gothic Back is two Feet, four Inches, and the others one Foot, eleven Inches, and the Height of the Seat seventeen or eighteen Inches. If you divide the Height of the Backs in the Number of Inches given, you will have a Measure to take off the Breadth of the circular Parts of each Back. Arms, if required, may be put to these chairs.”

Again, he gives “two designs of Chairs for Gardens and a long Seat.” One, considered “proper for Arbours,” has a branch for a leg, garden tools crossed form the back, which is surrounded by blades of grass bent in an oval form. The seat, which “may be placed in Walks or at the Ends of Avenues,” is 7 feet and has in the centre a leaf or shell. The second chair, “proper for grottoes,” is composed of two shells, one forming the back, the other the seat, the legs are dolphins standing on their tails, the cabriole leg formed by the arch of the dolphin’s neck.

Four plates give “a variety of new pattern chairs, which, if executed according to their designs, and by a skillful workman, will have a very good effect. The fore feet are all different for your better choice. If you think they are too much ornamented they can be omitted at pleasure. The proper dimensions of those chairs are 1 foot, 10 inches in the front; 1 foot, 5½ inches behind; and 1 foot 5 inches from the front of the back foot to the front rail; the back, 1 foot, 10½ inches high; the seat 1 foot, 5 inches high; but that is made lower according as the seat is to be stuffed.”

Two plates present “six new designs of Gothic Chairs; their feet are almost all different, and may be of use to those that are unacquainted with this sort of work. Most of the ornaments may be left out if required. The sizes are the same as in the preceding chairs, and may be lessened or enlarged, according to the fancy of the skillful artist.”

“Three Gothic chairs” “are suitable to a library and eating-parlours.”

“Nine Designs of Chairs after the Chinese Manner ... are very proper for a Lady’s Dressing-Room: especially if it is hung with India paper. They will likewise suit Chinese Temples. They have commonly Cane-Bottoms, with loose Cushions; but, if required, may have slipped Seats and Brass Nails.”

The backs and legs are of fret work. The seat is 19 inches deep, 17 inches long; the back, 20 inches high, and the legs from floor to seat, 17 inches, and those made of pierced fretwork are 2½ inches wide.

Three plates show “nine Chairs in the present Chinese manner, which I hope will improve that taste, or manner of work; it having yet never arrived to any perfection; doubtless it might be lost without seeing its beauty: as it admits of the greatest variety, I think it the most useful of any other. The sizes are all specified on the designs. The three last I hope will be well received, as there has been none like them yet made.”

The width of the square leg was 2½ inches, seat front rail, 1 foot, 10 inches; back of seat, 19 inches, depth, 17½; height of back, 19½ inches. Another leg, 1½ inches wide; 17 inches high; (or 2½ if carved in open-work fret) front seat rail, 22½ inches; back of seat, 19 inches; depth, 17 inches; height of back from seat, 20 inches.

Four plates give “eight different designs of French Elbow Chairs, of various patterns, which I hope will be of great use, if properly applied. Some of those chairs are design’d to be open below at the seat, which greatly lightens them, and has no ill effect. The common sizes are as follows: 2 foot, 3 inches in front, 1 foot, 11 inches over behind; 1 foot, 10 inches from the front of the back to the front of the seat rail. The seat is 1 foot, 2½ inches high; the height of the back, from the seat, is 2 feet, 3 inches; but those dimensions differ according as the rooms are larger, or smaller: the ornaments on the backs and seats are in imitation of tapestry, or needlework. The carving may be lessened by an ingenious workman without detriment to the Chair.”

The full drawing to the reader’s right on Plate XXXVIII. shows a Gothic chair. Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are typical chair backs, No. 5 being “Chinese,” as is plainly shown by its fret-work and mandarin hats. Nos. 3 and 4 are the legs of “Chinese chairs,” and No. 9 the leg of a “French chair.”

In not one of Chippendale’s drawings of chairs does the simple ball-and-claw foot occur. In one or two instances, however, there is a lion’s claw, or paw.

We find the straight, square leg; the straight leg carved with a chute of husks and resting on a square base; the cabriole leg, ending in a kind of scroll and resting upon a leaf; a leg resting upon a shell; a leg formed of a bunch of reeds wrapped with a ribbon; a leg ending in a hoof, with a ram’s head carved on the spring of the cabriole knee, a lion’s claw holding a very flat ball; and a leg upon which a curious sort of wingless dragon is crawling. (See Plate XXXVIII., No. 9.)

Another leg shows a dolphin’s tail gracefully carved upon a cabriole curve, while his head is used for the foot. In another chair the dolphin’s tail is used for the foot. Fret-work is used in the Gothic and Chinese designs.

The Chinamania had by no means subsided in Chippendale’s day. The case or shelf full of choice bits of porcelain was to be met with in many rooms, and always in the lady’s boudoir and dressing-room. In Chippendale’s first book, a number of china cases, Chinese cases, Chinese hanging shelves and Chinese shelves standing on feet appear, and even one labelled “India cabinet” shows the same style of treatment, which is, of course, either fret-work or a conglomeration of pagodas, mandarin hats, Chinese figures, bells and turned-up edges mingled with leaves and scrolls and dripping water. In the first edition of Chippendale’s book (Plates CV., CVI., CVII., CVIII. and CIX.) are china cases. “The latter,” he says, “is a very neat china case upon a frame, with glass doors in the front and ends; betwixt the middle feet is a stretcher, with a little canopy which will hold a small figure. This design must be executed by the hands of an ingenious workman, and when neatly japann’d will appear very beautiful.” This is the china case that is shown on Plate XXXVIII., and is dated 1753. The glass doors are enriched with ornate vines thick with leaves and flowers and dripping water. The ornaments of the top and sides are decorated with little bells, and there is a generous use of fret-work. Plate CX. of the first edition also shows a “china case with glass doors;” and Plate CXI. another, of which Chippendale seems to be very proud. He says it is “not only the richest and most magnificent in the whole, but perhaps in all Europe. I had a particular pleasure in retouching and finishing this design, but should have much more in the execution of it, as I am confident I can make the work more beautiful and striking than the drawing. The proportion and harmony of the several parts will then be view’d with advantage and reflect mutual beauty upon each other. The ornaments will appear more natural and graceful, and the whole construction will be so much improv’d under the ingenious hand of a workman as to make it fit to adorn the most elegant apartment.”

China cases on which to place the china are most elaborately carved; one of these in the Chinese style “may be soft wood and japanned, or painted and partly gilt.” A china case very proper for a lady’s dressing-room may “be made of any soft wood and japanned any colour.”

Hanging shelves for china are shown in Nos. 3 and 4 on Plate XLII. The latter is confessedly “in the Chinese taste.” In some of his highly ornamental cabinets the ornaments are intended to conceal the joining. He says: “They may be brass or silver finely chased and put on, or they may be cut in filligree work in wood, brass or silver.”

Chippendale fills four plates with a variety of Chinese railings, “very proper for gardens and other places, and may be converted (by the ingenious workman) to other uses.”

It is not likely that any confessed admirer of the French would neglect the commode. Sometimes he labels them “buroe dressing tables,” “commode bureau tables” and “French commode tables.” This is what he calls one design, dated 1753, which appears on Plate XLII., which has drawers at the top and in the middle and doors at the ends. “The ornaments should be carved very light,” he remarks, and these are a delicate kind of fret-work below the three top drawers and a profuse display of dripping water with leaves in the ovals of the doors, while the bottom is ornamented with leaves and the feet are leafy scrolls. Nos. 6 and 7 (Plate XLI.), are also portions of French commode tables, the former has drawers at the side and is enriched with the rocaille work of which Chippendale was so fond and the favourite dripping water. No. 7 shows only the leg.

The lady’s dressing-table received much attention from Chippendale. As a rule, he made it of rosewood ornamented with rich brass-work, and further decorated it with festoons of drapery. One, dated 1761, is described as a kind of commode. On top was a glass that came forward on hinges, on either side was a cupboard plain or silvered (i. e. quick-silvered); inside were drawers and pigeon-holes. “Two have been made of rosewood, which have given entire satisfaction,” adds Chippendale. All the ornaments were gilt and the dressing-drawer was full of compartments for all the little trinkets that are so necessary to women.

A Toilet, or Dressing-Table, for a lady is described as follows: “The Dressing Drawer under the glass should be divided. On the top is a large looking-glass which comes to the front with joint hinges, and over it a compartment, and on each side, and parts with doors that represent drawers. The ornaments should be gilt in burnished gold, or the whole work may be japanned and the drapery may be silk damask with gold fringe and tassels.”

Another toilet for a lady’s dressing-room is thus described: “The glass, made to come forward with folding Hinges, is in a carved frame, and stands in a compartment that rests upon a plinth, between which are small drawers. The drapery is supported by Cupids, and the Petticoat goes behind the Feet of the Table, which looks better. The ornamental parts may be gilt in burnished gold or Japanned. A China case in the Chinese style, may be of soft wood and Japanned, or painted and partly gilt.” A china case “very proper for a lady’s dressing-room may be made of any soft wood and Japanned any colour.” Chippendale’s convenient shaving-tables, and basin-stands, dressing-boxes and all other furniture for the dressing-room with their folding glasses and compact arrangement of drawers and partitions, prove that many years before Sheraton’s time there was a demand in England for such articles. Clothes-presses, wardrobes, chests, etc., also show that in Chippendale’s book nearly every article of furniture for every kind of a room is to be found.

One of his shaving-tables has rigid, simple lines, very like Sheraton, with “a folding top and a glass to rise out with a spring catch.” “There are places for soap, razors, bottles,” and there is a device “to bring the glass forward when the gentleman is shaving.” With it is a bason stand with a glass to rise on the shaving table. Three other bason stands are merely frames for the bason to stand in.

The bookcase received a great deal of attention from Chippendale. The “Gothic Library Bookcase,” a good example of which is shown on Plate XXXIX., seems to be one of his favourite types. Others he describes as “a rich Gothic Library Book-Case, with Gothic columns fix’d upon the doors to open with them; the doors are different, but may be made alike if required. This design is perhaps one of the best of its kind and would give me great pleasure to see it executed, as I doubt not of its making an exceeding genteel and grand appearance. The upper doors are to be glazed.”

Again we have “a Desk and Book Case in the Chinese taste: the doors are intended for glass, and will look extremely well. The small columns on the canopy above the cornice project forwards. The fret-work at the bottom of the Book-Case is for two small drawers.” There is also “a small desk and Book Case in the Gothic taste.”

For these he gives numerous designs of trimmings for ornamental glass-doors, a specimen of which appears on Plate XLII., No. 2. Other bookcases were combinations of bookcases and writing-desks. Some of them he calls “bureau desk and bookcase.” Two examples of the desk and bookcase are shown as Nos. 2 and 3 on Plate XXXIX. One of these has many of the so-called “Gothic” characteristics, with its pinnacles and crockets, although the inverted C and shell-like scroll is in evidence, while the other is quite “Chinese,” with its fretwork and umbrella-shaped ornaments despite the dripping-water decoration upon the glass doors. Sometimes another combination appears of a dressing-table with a bookcase, and a table and bookcase is not uncommon either. A writing-table and bookcase for a lady has “the middle feet come out with the drawer, which hath a slider covered with green cloth or Spanish leather for writing upon.”

Chippendale designed convenient library furniture, the forms of which are solid and intended for comfort. His “buroe tables” usually consist of two square tiers of drawers hollowed out in the centre and covered by a large slab. Sometimes he makes a sweeping line as in No. 1 on Plate XXXIX. On the same Plate, No. 5 exhibits the knee-hole of another “buroe table” ornamented with a little carving. No. 5 on Plate XLI. shows one end of a “library table.” Other tables are described as follows:

“A Gothic Table with different feet, the one solid, the other cut thro.”

“A Gothic Writing-Table, with one long drawer at the top, doors at each end, drawers in the inside, and a recess for the knees.... The columns are fixed to the doors and open with them.... This table has been made more than once from this design, and has a better appearance when executed than in the drawing.”

“A Gothic Library Table, the corners canted, and a Gothic column is fixed at each corner; that fixed upon the doors, and opens with them.”

Another writing-table “hath a writing Drawer which draws out on one end and has Term feet to support it.” The top “rises with a double horse to stand to read or write upon.” Another plate shows a Library Table with circular doors at each corner.

A writing-table in the Gothic taste has a “recess for the knees, and the pillars are fixed to the Doors and open with them.”

“A Library table” has “drawers and doors on both sides with upright Partitions for Books and Drawers for Works.”

Of another Library table he says: “The ends form an oval with carved terms fixed to the Doors and which must be cut at the astragal, base mouldings to open with the Doors.”

Another writing-table has drawers in the under part, small drawers and “pigeon-holes” and a place for books in the upper. In another writing-table “half of the front feet come out with the Drawer,” and in one corner is a “quadrant drawer for ink and sand.”

Another has a “flap on hinges in the top that rises to write upon.”

Frames and brackets for marble slabs, picture frames and frames for looking-glasses, girandoles, sconces, etc., etc., appealed very naturally to the carver. The very charming bracket, No. 1 on Plate XLII. with its frets, its scrolls, shells, roses, and leaves, which was, of course, intended for gold leaf, is very simple when compared with the girandoles and mirrors, of which Chippendale has given so many examples. One frame for a marble slab (really a console table) he evidently likes. It is “supported by two piping Fauns, leaning against two vines, intermingled with foliage, etc. It will have a grand appearance,” he adds, “if executed with judgment and neatly gilt.” Æsop and mythology and Chinese subjects afford Chippendale plentiful suggestion for other consoles. The pier glass on Plate XLII. shows Chippendale when he is most himself. This is 44 inches high and 28 inches wide, and the frames fairly bristle with spiky tufts of grass, scrolls, leaves, flowers, dripping water and long-tailed, open-mouthed, excited birds, while at the top under a small canopy stands a Chinese holding a tray of fruit. The mirror is in three panels: a large central one with a smaller one on each side.

The girandole was also subject to the most fantastic kind of carving, out of which the sconce arms emerged in graceful sweeps. One of great interest is carved with the fox and grapes from Æsop while another represents a piece of ruins intermingled with various ornaments, and another shows a squirrel eating nuts.

No sideboard nor buffet appears in any edition of Chippendale’s designs. He gives a number of sideboard-tables, however, which are long, heavy tables that stand on four legs. These he carves ornately in either the Gothic or Chinese style, and specimens are shown on Plate XLI., Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

“Chandeliers,” Chippendale says, “are generally made of glass and sometimes of brass. But if neatly done in wood and gilt in burnished gold, would look better and come much cheaper.”

A standing-candlestand appears on Plate XLI. This is delicately and gracefully carved in wreathing leaves and scrolls, blossoming flowers and dripping water. Other articles for illumination are “lanthorns” for halls, passages and staircases; some of them are square, some have six sides and others are egg-shaped. These he directs to be “made of brass cast from wooden moulds.”

The chimney-piece afforded Chippendale the greatest scope. He published many designs far more ornate than the one that appears in Plate XXXVII. Indeed, it is sometimes difficult to follow out all the details of carving bestowed upon them. One very ornate example, he says, “requires great care in the execution. The Imbossments must be very bold and the Foliage neatly laid down, and the whole properly relieved. The top may be gilt, as likewise some other ornamental parts.”

Grates, ornamental parts of grates of wrought brass and fire-screens also receive attention. The cornice, wall decorations, borders for paper-hangings, designs for frets that may be applied to various uses, patterns for “handles and escutcheons for brass-work” appear among all the miscellaneous articles. Chamber organs, book shelves, china shelves, terms for busts, stands for tall china vases and beakers and fire-screens are all included. Among the latter we may note that those that stand on four legs are commonly called “horse fire-screens.” Some of them slide up and down, others stand on the horse-leg, and others fold.

Clock-cases also appear; one is ornamented with Gothic columns, and one with a serpent running around the oval dial, “representing Time lasting to Eternity, and the Wings on the sides show how swiftly it flies away.” Table clock-cases also occur.

One of his handsome cisterns, or wine-coolers, which always stood beneath the sideboard table, was cut in the form of a shell supported by cherubs with tails that rose out of the grass. This was to be executed in “wood or marble and cut out of the solid.” The other designs “may be made in parts and joined with the Brass-work.” Tea-kettle stands of delicate proportions, tea-trays and tea-chests received much attention. Some of them had brass or silver ornaments and some were in the Gothic or Chinese taste. The breakfast table and the china table, intended both for use and the display of porcelain, are represented.

No. 1 on Plate XXXVII. is a breakfast table. Its height is 28 inches and its leaves 45 inches. Its carved straining-rails are interesting. No. 2 on the same plate is a china table, the straining-rail of which drips profusely with icicles or falling water.

From a careful study of the Gentleman’s and Cabinet-Maker’s Director we find that Chippendale’s favourite ornaments are the shell, the fret, the endive and acanthus leaves, the dolphin, the wyvern, the ram’s head holding swags, the squirrel, the crow, the fox, the long-tailed and long-billed bird, the dog, the lion, the masque, the quatrefoil, ribbons, flowers of various kinds, the spiky thorn, bells, the Chinese mandarin, the Chinese pagoda, the Chinese umbrella, the Chinese canopy with bells at the corners, the monkey’s head, the cockatrice, the pine cone, Cupids, satyrs, Bacchantes, boys blowing horns, the rising sun, the two c?, the eagle, the horn, violin, pipes, and the lion’s head. We also note an occasional use of the fluttering ribbon, attributes of music, poetry, hunting, emblems of war, the sea, the bull’s head, the serpent among flowers, the caduceus, and Venus rising from the sea in her shell.

In his Analysis of Beauty, Hogarth says: “There is scarce a room in any house whatever where one does not see the waving line employed in some way or other. How inelegant would the shape of our movables be without it! How very plain and unornamental the mouldings of cornices and chimney-pieces without the variety introduced by the ogee member, which is entirely composed of waving lines!”

The above was printed in 1753, just at the height of the Louis XV. period and the year before Chippendale published his designs. In a few years all that Hogarth so justly admired was destined to pass away, for, as we shall see in the following chapter, the reaction against the graceful and fantastic curve had already begun.