88 
House b‘ Garden 
An Irish Chippe>idale side-lahle, of mahogany, dating from about 
1750. This arid the other photographs are from the Metropolitan 
Museum of Art 
A chair in the Chinese manner 
of the Chippendales. Of ma¬ 
hogany with crimson brocade 
seat, ijpp-do 
THE CHIPPENDALES 
.4 carved mahogany ribbon- 
back Chippendale chair with 
dolphin head, feet, and uphol¬ 
stered seat 
T he Chippendales were cabinet-makers, 
father, son and grandson, the son the 
most famous of the three. They worked in 
the reigns of the Georges in England and 
excelled in all they touched, but their espe¬ 
cial glory is their wood carving. 
IMahogany came into general use in Eng¬ 
land about 1720 and reached its apotheosis 
with the Chippendales. Thomas Chippen¬ 
dale has been called by some “the high 
priest of mahogany”. We know from rec¬ 
ords that in later years the Chippendale 
shop worked with the architects, the Adam 
Brothers, on satinwood furniture made on 
classical lines. In fact, the Chippendales,in 
addition to being artists, were very enter¬ 
prising business men. Experts venture to 
suggest that some and perhaps much of 
this furniture thought to have been designed 
A brass mount and handle 
from a Chippendale piece 
A simple mount 
and handle 
The Gothic in¬ 
fluence is shown 
in this Chippen¬ 
dale chair back 
by Heppelwhite and Sheraton really came 
from the Chippendale shop. It is certain, 
however, that pieces designed by Adam were 
executed by Chippendale. 
The books of furniture designs published 
by Thomas Chippendale in 1750, issued os¬ 
tensibly to be a help for designers, but in 
reality serving as a catalog of his designs, 
show his versatility. The one exotic touch 
is the Chinese; but this was already current 
in England under William and Mary, when 
many a lacquered garden scene echoed the 
Both the late Chippendale and early Shera¬ 
ton styles are seen in this secretary, made 
about 1760-go 
verse of the i8th Century poet, Ch’en Hao- 
tzu: 
“If a home has not a garden and an old tree, 
I see not whence the everyday joys of life 
are to come.” 
This Chinese “taste” might be called the 
English cabinet-maker’s great venture into 
the exotic. In the design books of Chippen¬ 
dale and his contemporaries, you can find 
this style displayed. It is an odd mixture of 
flowers, shell, figures and curves and the 
“Chinese” part of the designs seems mainly 
evolved from the inner consciousness of the 
designers. 
The Chippendales worked in many styles. 
Gothic, Chinese, Early Georgian—resem¬ 
bling theDecorative Queen Anne, and French 
or classic; but they are best known by their 
{Continued on page 94 ) 
A brass mount, 
key plate 
A foot and bracket from a 
Chippendale secretary 
