THE WALNUT OUR NATIONAL TREE? 



467 



WALNUT ARMCHAIR OF ENGLISH MAKE, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 

 (PERIOD OF CHARLES II) 



walnut. This is also true of the delicate models 

 of Sheraton, who was a designer and publisher 

 of engravings rather than a furniture maker. 

 Possibly this explains his development of beauty 

 along lines of form and proportion rather than 

 by accentuated oddity and intricate carving. 



In these facts we have an unusual evidence of 

 the basic superiority of walnut as a cabinet wood. 

 All through the centuries it has been the truest 

 medium of expression for what successive per- 

 iods have deemed most beautiful and worthy in 

 furniture design. From the massiveness of 

 Flemish, the elegance of Italian and French, and 

 the balanced beauty of eighteenth century Eng- 

 lish, walnut by its inherent qualities has been 

 the one cabinet wood that fulfilled all demands. 

 The Victorian Age developed no really new 

 styles in furniture. It was generally of plain, 

 indiscriminate style with sombre upholstery on 

 mahogany wood which was inartistic in coloring 

 and crude in form and finish. 



A revival of art came later and with it a revival 

 of the classic styles in furniture, principally 

 through those old pieces made of walnut which 

 throughout the years had shown no deteriora- 

 tion in physical qualities and had, with age, 

 grown more beautiful in color. 



The very earliest American furniture was that 

 brought from England, Holland, France or 



consistency of line. Their furniture was smaller truly Spain, and was of course of the style and wood prevail- 



refined in size and proportion the backs and legs of ing in these respective countries at the time. This 



chairs were harmonious in design, and beauty ^ 



was expressed in form rather than by bulk. 

 Thomas Chippendale began his career as a 



maker of walnut furniture and developed the 



reputation of choosing only the best material for 



his work. The famous Kateshill walnut chair 



was made by Chippendale. He also used walnut 



in his beautiful mantel clocks. - 

 Robert Adam was an architect who designed 



furniture to harmonize with architecture or in- 

 terior decorations, and his furniture was largely 



made to meet special requirements, although so 



distinctive was his style, modeling along the 



general lines of the Louis XVI styles, that his 



impress has been the inspiration for generations 



of later designers. Some of his finest work 



was done in walnut. 



Heppelwhite established a wide reputation as 



a furniture designer and builder. It might be said 



that his work marks the transition from Chip- 

 pendale to the classics of Adam and Sheraton. 



He particularly reduced the size of pieces and 



introduced the more feminine lines of grace and 



beauty. It is an interesting historical fact that 



f he famous sideboards commonly attributed to 



Heppelwhite were really designed by Shearer. w V 



The finest of Heppelwhite designs are best re- 



. . . , , ... .- , EXCELLENTLY PROPORTIONED WALNUT CHAIR WITH VELVET UP- 



produced in dark, straight gram, unfigured holstery. style, william and mary, 1689-1702 



