HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 1911. 
until the latter part of Chippendale's life 
that he gave up his love of rococo curves 
and scrolls, dripping water effects, and 
his Chinese and Gothic styles. His early 
chairs had a Dutch feeling, and it is often 
only by ornamentaton that one can date 
them. 
The top of the Dutch chair had a 
flowing curve, the splat was first solid 
and plain, then carved, and later pierced in geometrical designs ; 
then came the curves that were used so much by Chippendale. 
The carving consisted of swags and pendants of fruit and flowers, 
shells, acanthus leaves, scrolls, eagle's heads, carved in relief on 
the surface. 
Dutch chairs were usually of walnut and some of the late 
ones were of mahogany. Mahogany was not used to any extent 
before T720, but at that time it began to be imported in large 
quantities, and its lightness and the ease with which it could be 
worked made it appropriate for the lighter style of furniture 
then coming into vogue. Chippendale began to make chairs 
with the curved top that is so characteristic of his work. The 
splat back was always used, in spite of the French, and its treat¬ 
ment is one of the most interesting things in the historv of Eng¬ 
lish furniture. It gave scope for great originality. Although, 
as I have said before, foreign influence was strong, the ideas 
were adapted and worked out by the great cabinet makers of the 
Georgian period with a vigor 
and beauty that made a distinct 
English style, and often went 
far, far ahead of the originals. 
The genius of Chippendale 
justly puts him in the front rank 
of cabinet-makers and his influ¬ 
ence was the foundation of 
much of the fine work done by 
many others during the 18th 
century. He used very little in¬ 
lay ; and carving, good propor¬ 
tions and good joinery seem to 
have interested him more than 
the beauty of the wood itself. 
He is often criticized for his ex¬ 
cessive rococo taste as dis¬ 
played in the plates of the 
“Gentleman’s and Cabinet-mak¬ 
er's Director," and in some of his finished 
work. Many of the designs in the “Di¬ 
rector" were probably never carried out, 
and some of them were probably added 
to by the soaring imaginations of the en¬ 
graver. This is true of all the bookjj pub¬ 
lished by the great cabinet-makers, and it 
always seems more fair to have their repu¬ 
tations rest on their finished work that 
has come down to us. 
Chippendale, of course, must bear the chief part of the 
charge of over-elaboration, and he frankly says that he thinks 
“much enrichment is necessary." He copied Meissonier’s designs 
and had a great love for gilding, but the display of rococo taste 
is not all in his work by any means. He early used the 
ogee curve and cabriole leg. the knees of which he carved with 
cartouches and leaves or other designs. The front rail of 
the chair also was often carved. In about 1760 or 1765 
he began to use the straight leg for his chairs. The different 
shapes of splats will often help in deciding the dates of their 
making. The curves shown in the diagram on another page 
are the merest suggestions of the outline of the splat, and they 
were carved most beautifully in many different designs. Ribbon- 
back chairs are dated about 1755 and show the adapted French 
influence. His Gothic and Chinese designs were made about 
1760-1770. Ladder-back chairs nearly always had straight legs, 
either plain or with double ogee 
curve and bead moldings, but 
there are a few examples of 
ladder-back and cabriole legs 
combined, although these are 
very rare. The chair settees of 
the Dutch time, with backs hav¬ 
ing the appearance of chairs 
side by side, were also made by 
Chippendale. “Love seats” were 
small settees. It was naively 
said that “they were too large 
for one and too small for two.” 
A large armchair that shows a 
decided difference in the man¬ 
ners of the early 18th century 
and the present day was called 
the “drunkard’s chair.” 
Lacquer was used a great 
By courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 
A particularly graceful corner-cupboard and 
chair of the Chippendale school 
A Sheraton desk with rolling 
doors and characteristic oval 
handles 
To Hepplewhite is due credit 
for the introduction of the 
urn-shaped knife-boxes 
A sturdy corner chair of the Chippendale 
period 
A Chippendale armchair dating probably 
from 1750-1770 
