60 
House b" Garden 
A mahogany oval toilet 
mirror inlaid with satinwood. 
The outline, mounts and 
keyhold are characteristic of 
Sheraton designs. From the 
Metropolitan MMewn of Art 
THE FURNITURE of THOMAS SHERATON 
This Late i8th Century Furniture Genius Created 
Many Designs Which Injiuence the Best Work of Today 
T homas sheraton seems 
to have been an eccentric 
genius. We dislike to think of him 
as living in “chronic poverty”, but 
we catch this sort of glimpse of the 
man when he writes: “I can assure 
the reader, though I am thus em¬ 
ployed in racking my invemion to 
design fine and pleasing cabinet¬ 
work, I can be well content to sit 
upon a wooden-bottom chair, pro¬ 
vided I can but have com¬ 
mon food and raiment, 
wherewith to pass through 
life in peace.” 
We catch glimpses of him 
as engaged in religious de¬ 
bate, as writer, artist, math¬ 
ematician and mechanic; 
and this versatility is re¬ 
flected in his designs for 
desks, cabinets and other 
articles having an astonish¬ 
ing complexity of secret 
drawers, springs and various 
contrivances. One of Shera¬ 
ton’s characteristic marks 
was the use of graduated or 
tapering flutes and reeds. 
The habit of graduating 
this type of detail is one of 
In the top row are shown an ornamental foot from 
Sheraton’s book, an oval handle-and a simpler foot. 
In the middle a mount and, below, a handle with 
floral back plate and a simple knob 
One of Shera¬ 
ton’s chair leg 
designs 
■ A table leg de¬ 
signed by Shera¬ 
ton 
the most beautiful features of 
Sheraton’s work and happens to be 
one cf the features which make the 
accurate reproduction of his pieces 
quite costly today. 
Born in 1751 and living on until 
1806, Sheraton belonged to the late 
18th Century. Though influenced 
by the Adam Brothers, and even 
more by Louis XVIth models, 
Sheraton’s style is individual. His 
chairs are a valuable con¬ 
tribution to furniture mak¬ 
ing, being the forerunners 
of many modern designs. 
One hundred and forty 
cabinet-makers subscribed 
to his books of furniture 
patterns; by no means, 
however, were all the de¬ 
signs in these books exe¬ 
cuted, nor was it ever 
desirable that they should 
be, so wild and imaginary 
are they. Sheraton’s sander 
designs were followed not 
only in England but on the 
Continent and in America. 
Duncan Phyfe in New York 
made liberal use of his 
{Continued on page 94 ) 
An arm for a drawing room chair, 
selected from a number of Sheraton 
designs 
An 18th Century mahogany wash- 
stand in Sheraton style, showing the 
slender effect 
A Sherat 07 i chair arm with small 
upholstered pad and receding curved 
support 
