86 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
March, 1911 
Forefathers 
By Esther Singleton 
Farly Georgian—Part Il. 
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England, the first part of the Eighteenth 
Century was dominated by the Anglo- 
Dutch taste, generally called Queen Anne. 
The general forms of Queen Anne fur- 
niture lasted till late in the century. For 
instance, the chair shown in Fig. 7 is of 
Dutch form, but has been subjected to 
the carving of later times. The card-table, Fig. 11, is also 
of Anglo-Dutch form, and is a model that was introduced 
at an early period, and lasted until late in the century. 
At such a table, which has never gone out of use, we pic- 
ture ladies in wide-spreading hoops of brocade and with 
enormous head-dresses intent upon their cards, with the 
flames of the candles that are standing at each of the four 
corners and illuminating their rouged faces and causing the 
jewels to sparkle. At such a table Belinda probably played 
her famous game of ombre, when she led to war her sable 
Matadores and ‘“‘Spadillio first, unconquerable Lord, led off 
two captive Trumps and swept the Board” before she lost 
her beautiful ringlet. 
The name of Chippendale has been so carelessly used 
to designate a whole period of furniture, including many 
designs and styles dating from the early Eighteenth Cen- 
tury to the dawn of the Nineteenth, that many persons have 
a very hazy idea of what “Chippendale furniture” really 
is; and much confusion has arisen because the greater num- 
ber of the pieces that were known to have been designed 
by Chippendale, or to have come from his workshop, differ 
from the designs that appear in the Gentleman’s and Cabi- 
net-Maker’s Director, the first edition of which was pub- 
lished in 1754, and the last in 1762. 
Another mystery that surrounded the name of Thomas 
Chippendale was his singularly long life and his great pro- 
ductivity; but recently the curtain has been lifted and re- 
search has revealed that there were three Thomas Chip- 
pendales, The first Thomas, a carver and cabinet-maker 
of Worcester, removed to London about 1727; but he was 
eclipsed by his son Thomas, the great Chippendale, who 
became of such importance as a designer, cabinet-maker. 
carver and general arbiter of taste that he was admitted 
toe the Society of Arts, that included such celebrities as 
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Horace Walpole, David Garrick 
and Edward Gibbon. In 1753 Chippendale was settled in 
st. Martin’s Lane, and in the next year he published the 
famous book of designs which exhibits the various styles 
in vogue during the middle of the Eighteenth Century and 
shows us what kind of furniture Chippendale made and 
preferred to make. Here we have two hundred plates 
“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 Bookcases, Organ 
Cases for Private Rooms or Churches; Desks and Book- 
cases; Dressing and Writing Tables with Bookcases; Toi- 
lets, Cabinets and Clothes Presses; China-Cases, China- 
shelves and Bookshelves; 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; Bor- 
ders, Frets, Chinese Railing and Brass-Work for Furniture 
and other Ornaments.” 
Chippendale’s tastes led him far away from the styles 
and fashions of the past, though he made furniture to order 
after old models still in vogue. The Anglo-Dutch style, 
which is conspicuously absent from his book, died hard, 
and the chair shown in Fig. 7, frequently termed a typical 
“Chippendale chair,’ with the pierced and carved back, 
cabriole legs and ball-and-claw feet, does not appear in 
his book. On the other hand, Figs. 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 
14 are taken from Chippendale models, with modifications. 
Fig. 8 shows the graceful bow-shaped top, known long be- 
fore Chippendale’s time, and the carved splat, Fig. 9, ex- 
hibits another but somewhat similar pattern in the splat, 
but the whole back is differently proportioned and the legs 
are in the French style. Fig. ro is a mixture of Gothic 
and of ‘‘Chinese.”’ The splat is Gothic, combined with the 
French C-shaped scroll, while the carving on the side-rails 
and legs is Chinese. Fig. 12 is Gothic and Chinese, and 
the legs are braced by stretchers; and Fig. 14 is the fan- 
tastic ‘‘Ribband Back;’’ and Fig, 13 is a variety of the ‘“‘four 
