Antique Chairs

Thomas Chippendale Chairs

Thomas Chippendale published his first book of designs in 1753, and his work held first place in popular esteem for thirty years or more thereafter. His construction was generally solid and strong, and he made use of a rich, dark mahogany. His chairs were generally beautified by fine carving, but he used no inlay, except on very rare occasions on special-order work; that came later. His first chairs were Dutch in type-a direct development of the Queen Anne and early Georgian styles. He used the cabriole leg, perfecting its curve. Sometimes he used the Dutch foot, but more often the ball and claw. His chair-seats were broad and flat, and the arms of his armchairs exquisitely curved.

When he had perfected this Dutch type he produced many chairs that are perfect in their proportions, and a genuine pleasure to the eye. In his chair-backs he broke away from the purely Dutch type, in which the sides and top join each other in unbroken curves that make them look like one piece. With few exceptions his up-rights join the top at an angle, and the top piece is usually bow-shaped, or a combination of curves, and nearly horizontal, the ends frequently curving slightly upward. He used the central splat, carved and pierced, and his backs are usually slightly wider at the top than at the bottom.

Chippendale next adopted Louis XV details, particularly in his splats, and produced what is known as the ribbon-back chair. These splats are often beautifully and intricately carved and pierced. His most famous chairs in Louis XV style were upholstered armchairs, quite like the regular French chairs of that period. The legs terminated in French scroll feet.

A third type is the ladder-back chair, probably suggested by the old slat-backs. In these, three or four or five horizontal cross-pieces appear in the back in place of the splat. They are usually curved or bow-shaped, like the top.

In his later years Chippendale adopted Gothic and Chinese features, the latter having been made popular by Sir Robert Chambers. The legs became square, straight, and solid, even while the Dutch and French features remained in the backs, and finally the Gothic and Chinese details became sadly mixed with the rest, ungraceful, square Chinese details predominating.

Chippendale began to lose his hold on popular taste, and other cabinet-makers sprang up, both imitators and rivals in style. Ince and Mayhew were designing good chairs in 1765, Robert Manwaring in 1765, and Robert and James Adam in 1773. The latter, who were architects and not cabinet-makers, designed some noteworthy Classic de-signs, and later painted and inlaid chairs with straight, slender legs and oval backs, often confused with Heppelwhite's work.

About the time of the American Revolution, or later, several styles of chairs were produced which form a sort of transition between Chippendale and Heppelwhite, though most of them are inferior in grace of design. In some of them the Dutch back was partially reverted to, with the uprights and top joining in an unbroken line. Mahogany and beech were the woods most commonly used.

By 1789 Chippendale had gone out of fashion and Heppelwhite reigned in his stead. Heppelwhite's work is generally lighter than Chippendale's, and he used both carving and inlay. His chair-backs were oval, heart- or shield-shaped, chiefly the last, and his chair-legs were straight and usually square and tapering, often ending in a spade foot. Ornamental forms employed by him were the urn, husk, ear of wheat, and prince's feathers. Occasionally he, like the brothers Adam, made use of painted satinwood as well as mahogany.