THOMAS

CHIPPENDALE
Ad.]-!^'
C-Wv-ppev-
42^-*' ,
"^ -^
ow,
a.^
THE FURNITURE DESIGNS OF
THOMAS
CHIPPENDALE
ARRANGED BY
J.
MUNRO BELL
WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND CRITICAL ESTIMATE BV
ARTHUR HAYDEN
AUTHOR OK
"
CHATS ON OLD
FURNITURE,"
ETC. ETC.
LONDON
GIBBINGS AND
COMPANY,
LIMITED
1 8 BURY
STREET,
W.C.
1910
The Riverside Press
Limited, Edinburgh
INTRODUCTION
CHIPPENDALE,
HEPPLEWHITE AND SHERATON
FURNITURE DESIGNS
HERE are
many
reasons
why
the second half of
the
eighteenth century
has
especial
attractions for
the ccMinoisseur of
English
furniture. It was then
tor the hrst time that furniture
desi2;ners
and
cabinet-makers
began
to
impress
their
piersonality
upon
their work. There is
English spirit enough
in much of the
early
Stuart oak
furniture,
sturdy
and national in its
conception
and treatment.
Italian and French intiuences had
begun
to divert the
steady growth
of
an
English
art but the stream of evolution continued in
spite
ot extraneous
foreign
luxuries.
In Charles II.'s
day
the fashion for the moment swerved to
Portuguese
leather-back chairs in
compliment
to the Queen Consort,
Catherine of
Braeanza.
Later the
stronii
Dutch influence of the court of William of
Orange
had
lasting
effects on the decoration of the
English
home. Much
of the furniture of that
period
is as Dutch in
origin
as the blue Delft
jars
at
Hampton
Court. Queen
Anne
only reigned
fourteen
years
and the
style
associated with her is the
bcLrinnins:
of homelv art and interior decoration
of a
home-loving
race.
Early Georgian days
saw walnut established in
succession to the Tudor and Stuart oak. In the
opening years
ot the
eighteenth century
the claw-and-ball foot made its
appearance.
It was an
adaptation, through
Holland,
of the Oriental
design
of the
dragon's
claw
holding
a
pearl.
To
go
further back it must not be
forgotten
that betore
the Civil War
interrupted
the
steady growth
of art under Charles I. that
the
tapestry factory
at Mortlake was
producing
coverings
tor cushions and
chairs and
day-beds,
and
bed-hangings
in imitation ot Gobelins. One
other
point
must not be
omitted;
as
early
as
171 5,
the second
year
ot
Anne's
reign, mahogany
was in use as a luxurious wood and at Ham House
there is a suite of turniture of this date in mahotranv.
The time was
ripe
for the
man,
and under various influences

the
heavy style
of solid
design,
as for instance the wide
splat-back
chair and
settee
;
the
importation
of Erench taste in
sweeping
rococo ornament
;
and
V
vi
INTRODUCTION
the fashion for Chinese
design
introduced
by
Sir William Chambers

decorative art was inclined to

get
out of bounds. Thomas
Chippendale,
with the fine selective
faculty
with which
genius
alone is
endowed,
took
from these
apparently incongruous
materials
jnotifs
for his
designs
and
welded them in one harmonious whole. His Director
published
in
1754
marks a new era in
English design.
From his day individuality became
the note in furniture.
Up
till
then,
whether it be the
age
ot
oak,
or the
age
ot
walnut,
the
terms
Tudor, Stuart,
Jacobean,
William and
Mary,
Anne,
or
Georgian,
are
names
applied by
modern connoisseurs to various
styles.
After
Chippen-
dale furniture
began
to be classified
according
to the
particular designers
or makers.
This volume is a reissue ot his celebrated work :
"
The Gentleman
and Cab'wet-Maker s
Director^
being
a
large
Collection
of
the most
Elegant
and
Useful Designs of
Household Furniture in the
Gothic, Chinese,
and
Modern taste . . . Calculated to
improve
and
refine
the
present
Taste,
and
suited to the
Fancy
and Circumstances
of
Persons in all
Degrees of Life."
The
importance
of this book of
designs
cannot be overrated. It- was
subscribed for in
Yorkshire,
in
Westmorland,
in
Devon,
in Ireland.
Copies
of it found their
way
to America and a school of wood-carvers and
cabinet-makers at
Newport
created new traditions.
These books of
design
are as valuable as the
drawings
of the old masters.
The Leonardo da
Vincis,
the Albert
Diirers,
and the Holbeins treasured
from N'^ienna to Windsor are not more
suggestive
to the
young designer,
to the student or to the collector than are these books issued in the middle
eighteenth century by
the
greatest
masters of
English
furniture
design.
For fifty
years
the school of
Chippendale
held
sway,
from
1730
to
1780.
The
Hepplewhite
school
may
be reckoned as from about
1775
to
1795,
and the Sheraton school from about
1790
to
1805,
and behind all
was the
great
and
pronounced
influence of the Brothers Adam with their
absorption
of classicism and severe forms coincident with the French
chaste classic
styles.
In the
contemplation
of these series of
designs
it should be borne in
mind that
Chippendale
and his school are the embodiment of
form,
and
that Sheraton and his school are the embodiment of
colour,
as
applied
to furniture.
Hepplewhite
has a
relationship
to both. He reached his
results
by
form,
and he
employed marqueterie
and the subtleties of
Sheraton in
many
of his effects.
But since the advent of
personalities, Chippendale, Hepplewhite
and
Sheraton arc not the
only
names. All these
eighteenth-century
volumes
of
design
are
becoming
scarce and difficult to
procure
in
any
state,
and
consequently rapidly increasing
in
price. Undoubtedly
the rarest of all
the books at this time is
"
Ince and
May
hew"s Household
Furniture,
INTRODUCTION vii
consisting of
above
300 designs
in tlie most
chgant
tdslc,
both
Useful
and
Ornamental^
95 beautifully engraved plates
of
Hall
Chairs^ Lanthorns^
Stairease
Lights,
Sideboards, Clavc-Tables,
Tea Kettle
Stands, Bookcases,
Secretaires,
Library
-
Steps, ll'riting
Tables,
Music
Desks,
Can-jpy
Beds,
French Bed
Chairs,
Dressing
Tables,
Book and China
Shelves, &c.,
tcith
descriptions
in Emrlish and
French,
Published b\ Inee and
Mayhew,
Cabinet-Makers Broad
Street,
Golden
Square
in
174S,"
that is to
say
a few
years
earlier than
Chippendale's
Director. The value of this is now about
/,6o.
There is the hook of
designs by Inigo Jones,
Lord
Burlington,
and
Kent,
with
53 engraved plates
of
designs
for
Chimney-pieces, Ceilings,
Sides of
Rooms, Piers, etc.,
executed at
Chiswick, Stow,
Houghton,
etc.,
published
in
1743,
which is worth about
/J3.
There is the '^Genteel
Household Furniture in the Present Taste
by
a
Society
of
Upholsterers,
Cabinet-Makers
Gff.,"
published
in
1765,
with 100
plates,
and a second
edition with
"550 designs
on 120
copper-plates containinLi; designs
of chairs
by Manwaring,
Ince,
Mayhew, Johnson,
and
others,
this edition sells for
f,j,
I OS. There h
''
ll'orks in Architecture''
(R.
&
J. Adam), published
in 1
773-
1
779, containing plates engraved by
Bartolozzi, Pastorini, Vivarez,
and
others,
with interiors and
designs
of
Chimney-pieces, Ceilings,
Furniture, Metal-work,
etc. Volumes i. and ii. of this
bring
about
^^30,
and
they
contain
designs
for Sion
House,
Lord Mansfield's House at Ken
Wood,
Sir Watkin
Wynn's
House in St
James' Square,
and
others,
including
the
Admiralty
Offices,
Whitehall.
In
tact,
subsequent
to
Chippendale's day
there was a
plethora
of books
of
design,
and these as a literature of the
subject
are of
superlative
value to
the
student,
the
collector,
and the
connoisseur,
each
approaching English
furniture from his own
standpoint.
The
tolly
of those who contend that
the twentieth
century
should
produce
a school of its own is refuted
by
these old books of
design.
The evolution of
English
furniture is well
assured. The twentieth
century
is
producing
a school. The
great
hiatus
of the \''ictorian
days
when,
not
only
in this
country
but in
general,
decorative and
applied
art had sunk to a low level has been
bridged
over
by
such volumes as are here
reproduced.
The student of
design,
if he
be
wise,
will avoid the
nightmare
of modern furniture exhibited at the
Bethnal Green
Museum,
will eschew the Great Exhibition
period,
and
will
essay
to educate his
eye
with models of the
clays
when men
designed
in rich and
gay profusion
for the
downright
love of their craft. Indi-
viduality
was killed
by
the
growth
of machine-made
mouldings,
and
machine-made art lacks the
repose
wb.ich is so
pronounced
a feature of
eighteenth-century
and of earlier work.
The restless
cataclysm
of
design
which heralded the nineteenth
century,
when
every
ten
years
had its
particular style,
boded ill for the
steady growth
of national art. We catch the note of
defiant,
almost
viii INTRODUCTION
strident,
rivalry in Sheraton's allusion to
Chippendale's
work. "As for
the
designs
themselves
they
are
v^'holly
antiquated
and laid
aside,
though
possessed
of
great
merit
according
to the times in which
they
were
executed." But we who are ahle to
survey
the field of furniture dis-
passionately
can
give
to
Chippendale
what is
his,
and to Sheraton what is
his
also,
and can value
correctly
the Brothers Adam with their
great
and
permanent
influence,
and
assign places
in relative
importance
to
Hepple-
white,
Manwaring,
Ince,
Mayhew,
and the others.
As to what is and what is not
original,
to
quote
Sir
Roger
de
Coverlev,
"
much
might
be said on both
sides,"
but the difference between
genius
and
mediocrity
is the
appalling
lack of the sense oi
proportion
in
the latter. A
genius
such as
Chippendale
could take details from the
Dutch
cabinet-maker,
from the rococo
style
of Louis
XV.,
and from the
Chinese
fretworker,
and combine them with
perfect harmony
into some-
thing
at once true and beautiful. But he
rejected
more than he selected.
Perhaps
it is not so much the art of selection as the art of
rejection
which counts. It is the true
sanity
of
genius
to
reject
wisely.
The
mediocre worker seems
g-ifted
in selectino- the worst features of his
prototypes
and
amplifying
them.
Johnson's designs
after
Chippendale
are
practically
caricatures since
they embody Chippendale's
worst
styles
and most assailable
points
in
design.
Hence the value to the student in
design
of
being
able
readily
to
pass
in review the
long
line of furniture
designers covering
an
appreciable
distance of time and the
ability
to
reject
the banalities of
the
early
and middle nineteenth
century.
Books of
design
issued
by
such men as
Chippendale, Hepplewhite,
Sheraton and
others, dated,
and
bearing
the authentic
impress
of the
designer
with the
pride
of the craftsman in his
conceptions,
mark at once with
authenticity
sharp
divisions between the
styles. They crystallise
the
message
which
each sent forth to his
generation.
In
comparison,
each with
each,
they
enable the subtleties of invention and
divergence
of treatment to
be criticised. In
point
of time
they overlap,
but in
regard
to
style
there are
personal idiosyncrasies
which stand out. Cabinet-makers
up
and down the
country
followed with more or less
personal
additions the
designs
of these
great
masters. For
instance,
Ireland evolved a
Chippen-
dale school of her
own,
with
carving
in low relief and native touches
of
design easily recognisable.
The auction-room
to-day
finds collectors
and
experts joining
issue as to exactitudes of
origin.
These books of
design
come therefore as the
key
to an
admittedly golden period
in
English
furniture
design.
Arthur Havden.
THOMAS
CHIPPENDALE
HUNDRED
years
had seen
great changes
in
EngHsh
domestic
furniture. The
year 1750
found
Chippendale
in full stride.
A
century
earlier the chair was conventional to a
degree
;
there
was the Italianised chair which the noble families
brought
straight
from the Continent or had made in this
country by foreign
workmen. But the
early
Stuart
furniture,
such as at
Knole,
in the
possession
of Lord
Sackville,
came to an
abrupt
end in Puritan
days. Gate-leg
tables
of
oak,
and stif?^"
straight-back,
leather-seated
chairs,
termed
Cromwellian,
offended no man. The Stuart chest of drawers and the wide
arm-chair,
with its rosettes and conventional
carving,
are a
long way
from the
Jim'sse
and the well-balanced
proportions
of
Chippendale's
ribbon -backed chairs
and his fine
sweep
and exuberance of
carving
in his bureaus and sideboards.
Between the severer forms of oak and the middle
eighteenth century
there comes the walnut school with all its diversification of form. The
chair,
for
instance,
underwent several
changes.
Its
early straight-back
form
began
to assume various
lighter styles.
From the leather back of Puritan
simplicity
or of
Portuguese
embossed
work,
it
passed through
the
stage
of intricate cane-work in the late Charles II.
period
and
James
II.
days,
and
followed later the Dutch models with fiddle-back
splats. Immediately
prior
to
Chippendale heavy
solid chairs with claw-and-ball feet and massive
splats
were in
vogue.
Walnut was
mainly
the
medium,
and in the
Queen
Anne and
early Georgian periods lightness
and
elegance
were
exceptional.
Solidity
and homeliness were the
prevailing
notes. From the
days
of
William,
Holland had loomed
large
on the horizon of
English
furniture
design.
It was as
though
the
great
school of French
design
had never
been,
till
Chippendale
assimilated what was most suitable for the new
mahogany
then
coming
into fashion.
He followed on with true
inspiration
the
Qiieen
Anne and the
early
Georgian prototypes.
He
lightened
the lines and added balance to the
proportions
of
unwieldy productions
of
designers
with a lesser sense of
nicety.
Form,
symmetry,
balance,
harmony,
these are his
keynotes.
He
revelled in luxurious
carvins;.
The
hanein";
wooden curtains at Ilarewood
House are a tribute to his skill as a woodcarver
;
painted
a dull
blue,
to this
day
these simulate textile
hangings.
His
ribband-pattern
chair backs are
i> ix
X THOMAS CHIPPENDALE
at once a revolution in
English design.
Their
lightness,
their
grace,
their
elegance,
and their due sense of restraint must strike
succeeding ages,
as
they
struck his
contemporaries,
with continued admiration. In his Chinese
fretwork for occasional tables and candle-stands the slender
supports
and
dainty
character are
surprisingly original.
He had acclimatised the salient
ideas of the French
designers,
and had welded them to the stable founda-
tions of the
Anglo-Dutch
school with such
mastery
of
technique,
that for
the first time in the
history
of
English
furniture
design
Continental makers
turned their
eyes
to this
country
in admiration of the
styles
in
vogue
here
and in search of new
inspiration.
In
producing
his
designs
in the Director he admits that
they
are
capable
of
being pruned
to meet the
requirements
of cabinet-makers. But
the
style
is
there,
and in
many
of the
great
collections
examples
exist which
evidently
have been made
according
to the
proportions
of these
published
designs.
In
regard
to the
practical
value of his
designs
the
working
drawings carry
their own demonstration. Detail for detail his followers did
not
accept.
The
provincial
cabinet-maker had more limitations and less
experience
in his
art,
consequently
the school of
Chippendale
stretched
its arms far and
wide,
and the
"
Chippendale style
"
even in
contemporary
days, though
derivative,
was not an exact
copy
of the master. To
quote
Goethe,
"
There are
many
echoes but few voices." The fifteen
copies
of
the
Director,
for
instance, which,
according
to the
published
list of sub-
scribers,
went to
Yorkshire,
became the centres of new
impulses
;
and
bearing
in mind that
eighteenth-century
cabinet-makers had a
strong personality
ot their
own,
these fifteen
copies produced something
more than mere
slavish
copyists.
When
Chippendale published
his Director he
promulgated
ideas in
English design
the like of which had not
penetrated
less fashionable
centres than London.
People
of taste took their fashions from
town,
as
is seen from Addison and
contemporary
literature. The
simple family
of
the Vicar of Wakefield were
easily imposed upon by
two ladies from town
with manners and diction far from
elegant. Chippendale
was a
pioneer,
his
designs
had a wide
circulation,
and his
genius,
like that of
Josiah
Wedgwood, impressed
itself on the art of his
generation.
The
originality
ot
Chippendale
was
merged
into the common
style
of the
period,
and the
publication
of his book of
designs
had not a little to do with
eclipsing
his own
original
creations. His followers and imitators were
legion.
Having
once
grasped
'
the cardinal
points, eighteenth-century
cabinet-
makers are
eager
to follow the new
mode,

Most can raise the Howers

now,
For all have
got
the seed.
The three
styles
of
Chippendale
are
clearly
defined in the Director.
The commode-tables
(pp. 37-39),
the ribband-back chairs and
firescreens,
THOMAS
CHIPPENDALE xi
the
pier-glass
frames,
and the cornice
girandole (p. 14),
are as French in
origin
as the decorations of the salons at Versailles under the
Regency
and
later under Louis
^iirze.
What Caffieri executed in
graceful
curves and
chased metal
mountings,
where fantastic details ran riot in rococo orna-
ment,
Chippendale
carved in
mahogany.
His elaborate
foliage
and the
delicacy
ot his ribbands and love-knots com.e as a new note in
English
furniture. What
Grinling
Gibbons did with
ease,
with his fruits and his
garlands
in the soft lime
wood,
in cornices and
mouldings
and architectural
details,
Chippendale
recreated in miniature in
furniture.
French as is the tenor of his
style, everywhere
the Chinese incident
peeps
forth. Some of his
designs
are
admittedly
Chinese,
as in the fret-
work chairs
(p. 6),
or in the frets and
writing-table (pp. 31, 32),
or in the
hanging
china shelves
(pp. 33-35).
In others it is discernible in small
details such as the cornice
girandole (p. 14),
French in
every
detail
except
the
apex,
which discovers a seated Chinaman in a
pagoda.
Some of the
hanging
shelves are almost
replicas
in form of
pendant lamps
in Chinese
temples.
Even the chairs entitled French
(p. 9)
show in the
designs
on
the
tapestry
seats the Chinese
junk,
the
drooping
willow,
and the mandarin
figures
which were at the time
being reproduced
on the blue and white
Worcester
porcelain

and
Chippendale
was a Worcester man. A set of
china cases
(p. 49)
are as Chinese in
conception
as
though they
had been
designed by
an oriental hand.
They
are
practically pagodas
in miniature.
The Gothic
style
exhibits,
as far as the
designs go, Chippendale
in his
least
pleasing
manner. Horace
Walpole,
with his
stucco, sham,
Gothic
villa at
Strawberry
Hill,
had a lot to answer for. But
among
well-known
examples
ot Gothic
Chippendale,
there are some fine
specimens
which
seem to indicate what
Chippendale might
have done had he elected to
revive the
magnificence
ot the
carving,
with its delicate
tracery
which
has never been
surpassed,
ot the
early English
chests of
sixteenth-century
days.
As to his
versatility,
the chest of drawers and clothes
press (p. 48)
stand for absolute
simplicity. They
are
examples
of the
useful,
and are
without a
vestige
of
ornament,
save a
slight suggestion
ot fretwork in one.
Similarly
some of his
library
tables
might
find a
place
in a well-furnished
office
to-day
without
attracting
undue attention in
regard
to their ornate
character.
That in his latter
years
he could so
adapt
his
flowing style
as to work in
conjunction
with Robert Adam is a tribute to the
greatness
of
Chippendale.
The
library
table at Nostell
Priory,
Yorkshire,
serves as a famous
example
of his severer classic work under newer
inspirations.
The chairs
designed
by
Adam for
Osterley
are another case in
point
where
Chippendale
worked
on chaster lines.
That he used satinwood and
employed
the most beautiful
inlays
of
xii THOMAS CHIPPENDALE
coloured woods and
ivory
is a
proven
fact.
Twenty years
before Sheraton
came to
London,
Chippendale
had worked in this manner
;
and at Hare-
wood House a fine suite of handsome furniture
exists,
enriched with
marqueterie
on a
glowing
satinwood
ground,
which he executed in co-
operation
with Robert Adam. The
original
invoices rendered
by
"Chippendale, Haig
&
Co.,"
in
1773,
are still in the
possession
ot Lord
Harewood.
Little is known of Thomas
Chippendale
the
first,
of
Worcester,
who
migrated
to London with his
son,
the
great
Thomas
Chippendale.
But
there is a third Thomas
Chippendale,
who carried on the traditions. The
firm was
Chippendale, Haig
&
Co.,
till about
1796,
when the last
Thomas
Chippendale
carried on the business alone at St Martin's
Lane,
at the
Haymarket,
and at
Jermyn
Street. This Thomas
Chippendale
exhibited five
pictures
at the
Royal Academy,
and was known as a fine
draughtsman
and
designer.
He died in 1822.
In
regard
to the work of the
great Chippendale
and his
son,
the third
Thomas
Chippendale, especially
of course the
father,
and their visits to
the seats of
noblemen,
where
they
took a staff of workmen and
personally
superintended
the
work,
they
introduced into
England something
ot the
French
thoroughness
in
combining
interior decoration with the
prevailing
style
of furniture. But it was form and
symmetry
which was the
govern-
ing
note with them and their school. The rise and
development
of the
colourists was to come later. To this
day many
invoices and accounts for
furniture of the
eighteenth century
are
preserved by
the descendants of
their
patrons.
Lord St Oswald has a
library
table made lor his ancestors
by Chippendale,
and the bill for it is
religiously kept
in one of the
drawers :
"To a
large mahogany library
table,
of
very
fine
wood,
with doors on
each side ot the bottom
part
and drawers within on one side and
partitions
on the
other,
with terms to ditto carved and ornamented with lions' heads
and
paws,
with carved ovals in
pannels
of the
doors,
and the
top
covered
with black
leather,
and the whole
compleatly
finished in the most
elegant
taste,
X;72,
I OS."
The
present
value ot this table would
be,
if it were oiTered at
Christie's,
something
like
_;r2,ooo.
At the recent sale at Holm
Lacy,
the seat of the
Earl of
Chesterfield,
a
Chippendale
bookcase realised
eighteen
hundred
guineas.
The Chinese taste of the middle
eighteenth century
finds its monu-
ment in the
pagoda
of Sir William Chambers at Kew
Gardens,
and in the
willow-pattern plate
first
produced
at
Caughley.
But
Chippendale
and the
school he tounded is still a
living
influence
;
there is no more
popular
term in
latter-day
furniture
styles
than
"
Chippendale."
He has been
plagiarised,
he has been
copied,
he has been
forged.
A thousand atrocities
THOMAS CHIPPENDALE xiii
have been
perpetrated
in his
name,
"
defamed
by every
charhitan and soiled
with all
i'j;noble
use,"
but his
memory
lives
green
in the hearts ot all lovers
of the finest traditions in
English
furniture. He v^'as the
pioneer
ot the
taste of his
day,
and the
lawgiver
to the cabinet-makers scattered
up
and
down the
country,
who
rapidly produced good
work on his lines
;
and his
restless
virility
as a
carver,
as a
designer,
and as a master craftsman have
won him a niche in the
temple
of fame.
Arthur Havden.
THE GENTLEMAN AND
CABINET-MAKER'S DIRECTOR
THE
GENTLEMAN
AND
CABINET-MAKER'S
DIRECTOR.
BEING A LARGE
COLLECTION
OF TPIE MOST
Elegant
and Ufeful
Deligns
of
Houlhold Furniture
IN THE
GOTHIC,
CHINESE and MODERN TASTE:
Including
a
great
Variety
of
BOOK-CASES for Libraries or Private
Rooms,
COMMODES,
LIBRARY and
WRITING-TABLES,
BUROES,
BREAKFAST-TABLES
DRESSING and
CHINA-TABLES,
CHINA-CASES,
HANGING-SHELVES,
TEA-CHESTS, TRAYS, FIRE-SCREENS,
CHAIRS, SETTEES, SOPHA'S, BEDS,
PRESSES and
CLOATHS-CHESTS,
PIER-GLASS
SCONCES,
SLAB
FRAMES,
BRACKETS, CANDLE-STANDS,
CLOCK-CASES, FRETS,
AND OTHER
ORNAMENTS.
THE WHOLE COMPREHENDED IN
ONE HUNDRED and SIXTY COPPER-PLATES
neatly Engraved,
Calculated to
improve
and refine tlie
prefent
Taile,
and I'uited to
the
Fancy
and Circumllances of Perfons in all
Degrees
of Life.
Duliiqiie
aiumos imutatc tenebo.

OviD.
Lmhntis
fpi\ifiii
dab'it ft
torqucl'itnr.

HoR.
BY
THOMAS CHIPPENDALE
Of ST. MARTIN'S
LANE,
CABINET-MAKER
L () N D ()
N,
Printed for the AUTHOR and Sold at his houfe in St. Martin's Lane. M.DCCLIV.
Alio
by
T.
OsiiORNE,
Bookl'eller in
Gray's-Inn ;
H.
PiEu.s, liooklcller,
in Holboni
;
R.
Sayer,
I'rintrcllcr in l-'lcot
LStreet;
J. Swan,
near
Northumberland-Houfe,
in the
Strand;
At liDINBLJRGH
by
Mclirs. Hamili'on and Balfouk:
and at DUBLIN
by
Mr.
John Smtmi,
on the
Blind-Ouay.
c
THE
PREFACE
F all the Arts which are either
improved
or ornamented
by
Architecture,
that of CABINET-MAKING is not
only
the most useful and
ornamental,
but
capable
of
receiving
as
great
assistance from it as
any
whatever. I have there-
fore
prefixed
to the
following designs
a short
explanation
of the five
orders. Without an
acquaintance
with this
science,
and some
knowledge
of the rules of
Perspective,
the Cabinet-Maker cannot make the
designs
of his work
intelligible,
nor
shew,
in a little
compass,
the whole
conduct and effect of the
piece.
These, therefore,
ought
to be care-
fully
studied
by every
one who would excel in this
branch,
since
they
are the
verv soul and basis of his
art.
The
Title-Page
has
already
called the
following
work.
The Gentlcmdu
and Cahinet-Maker s
Director^
as
being
calculated to assist the one in the
choice,
and the other in the execution of the
designs
;
which are so
contrived,
that if no one
drawing
should
singly
answer the Gentleman's
taste,
there will
yet
be found a
variety
of hints sufficient to construct
a new one.
I have been
encouraged
to
begin
and
carry
on this work not
only
(as
the
puff"
in the
play-bill says) by persons
of
distinction,
but of
eminent taste tor
performances
of this sort
;
who
have,
upon many
occasions,
signified
some
surprize
and
regret,
that an art
capable
of
so much
perfection
and
refinement,
should be executed with so little
propriety
and
elegance.
How far the
following
sheets
may
remove a
complaint
which I am afraid is not
altogether groundless,
the
judicious
reader will determine : I
hope,
however,
the
novelty,
as well as tlie
usefulness of the
performance,
will make some atonement for its faults
and
imperfections.
I am sensible there are too
many
to be found in
it
;
for I
frankly
confess,
that in
executing many
of the
drawings, my
pencil
has but
faintly copied
out those
images
that
my fancy suggested,
and had
they
not been
published
till I could have
pronounced
them
perfect, perhaps they
never had seen the
light.
Nevertheless,
I was not
upon
that account afraid to let them
go
abroad for I have been told
that the
greatest
masters of
every
other art have laboured under the
same
ditffculty.
\ix
XX PREFACE
A late
writer,
of
distinguished
taste and
abilities,
speaking
of the
delicacy
of
every
author of
genius
with
respect
to his own
perform-
ances, observes,
that he has the continual mortification to find himself
incapable
of
taking
entire
possession
of that ideal
beauty
that warms
and fills his
imagination.
Never,
savs
he
(in
a
quotation
from
Tally),
was
any thing
more
beautiful than the Venus of
Apelles,
or the
Jove
of
Phidias,
yet
were
they by
no means
equal
to those
high
notions ot
beauty
which animated
the
geniuses
of those wonderful artists. The case is the same in all
arts where taste and
imagination
are concerned
;
and I am
persuaded
that he who can
survey
his own works with
every
satisfaction and
complacency,
will
hardly
ever find the world of the same favourable
opinion
with himself.
I am not afraid of the fate an author
usually
meets with on his
first
appearance,
from a set of critics who are never
wanting
to shew
their wit and malice on the
performances
of others : I shall
repay
their
censures with
contempt.
Let them unmolested deal out their
pointless
abuse,
and convince the world
they
have neither
good
nature to com-
mend,
judgment
to
correct,
nor skill to execute what
they
find fault
with.
The correction of the
judicious
and
impartial
I shall
always
receive with diffidence in
my
own abilities and
respect
to theirs. But
though
the
following designs
were more
perfect
than
my
fondness for
my
own
offspring
could ever
suppose
them,
I should
yet
be far from
expecting
the united
approbation
of ALL those whose sentiments have
an undoubted claim to be
regarded
;
for a thousand accidental circum-
stances
may
concur in
dividing
the
opinions
of the most
improved
judges,
and the most
unprejudiced
will find it difficult to
disengage
himself from a
partial
aft'ection to some
particular
beauties,
of which
the
general
course of his
studies,
or the
peculiar
cast of his
temper
may
have rendered him most sensible. The
mind,
when
pronouncing
judgment upon any
work of taste and
genius,
is
apt
to decide of its
merit
according
as those circumstances which she most admires either
prevail
or are deficient.
Thus,
for instance
(says
the
ingenious
author
before
quoted),
the
excellency
of the Roman masters in
painting
consists
in
beauty
of
design^
nobleness of
attitude,
and
delicacy
of
expression,
but the charms of
good colouring
are
wanting
: On the
contrary,
the
Venetian school is said to have
neglected design
a little too
much,
but
at the same time has been more attentive to the
grace
and
harmony
of
well-disposed lights
and shades. Now it will be admitted
by
all
admirers of this noble
art,
that no
composition
of the
pencil
can be
perfect
when either of these
qualities
are absent
;
yet
the most accom-
plished judge may
be so
particularly
struck with one or other of these
PREFACE
xxi
excellences,
in
preference
to the
rest,
as to be influenced in his censure
or
applause
ot the whole
tablature,
by
the
predominacy
or
deficiency
of his favourite
beauty. Something
of this
kind,
tho' the
following
sheets had all the
perfection
of human
composition,
would no doubt
subject
them in
many things
to the censure of the most
approved
judges,
whose
applause
I should esteem
my greatest
honour,
and whose
correction I shall ever be
proud
to
improve by.
Upon
the
whole,
I have
given
no
design
but what
may
be executed
with
advantage by
the hands of a skilful
workman,
tho' some of
the
profession
have been
diligent enough
to
represent
them
(especially
those after the Gothic and Chinese
manner)
as so
many specious drawings,
impossible
to be worked off
by any
mechanic whatsoever. I will not
scruple
to attribute this to
malice,
ignorance,
and
inability
: And I am
confident I can convince all
Noblemen, Gentlemen,
or
others,
who will
honour me with their
commands,
that
every design
in the book can
be
improved,
both as to
beauty
and
enrichment,
in the execution of
it,
by
T/h'/'r Most Obedient
Servant,
Thomas Chippendale.
St Martin's
Lane,
March
2^, 1754.
CONTENIS
CHIPPENDALE
THE GENTLEMAN AND CABINET-MAKER'S DIRECTOR
Bed, Canopy,
Bed, Chinese,
Bed, Design for.
Bed, Dome,
Bed, Gothic,
Bed, Gothic,
Bookcase, Library,
Bookcase, Library,
Bookcase, Library,
Bookcase, Library,
Bookcase, Library,
Bookcase, Library,
Bookcase, Library,
Brackets for
Busts,
Brackets for
Busts,
Brackets for
Busts,
Brackets for Marble
Slabs,
Brackets for Marble
Slabs,
Cabinet,
Cabinet,
Cabinet,
Cabinet, Chinese,
Cabinet, Gothic,
Candle Stands,
.
Candle Stands,
.
Candle Stands,
.
Candle
Stands,
.
Candle Stands,
.
Chairs,
Chinese
Design,
with or witiiout
arms.
Chairs,
Chinese
Design, showing variety
of
styles
for
legs,
.....
Chairs,
Chinese
Design, showing variety
of
styles
for
legs,
.....
Chairs,
French
Design,
with or without
arms.
Chairs,
French
Design,
with or without
arms,
Chairs,
Gothic
Design, showing variety
of
styles
for
legs,
.....
Chairs,
Gothic
Design, showing variety
of
styles
for
legs,
....
Chairs,
Ribband-back
Designs,
.
Chairs, showing
various
styles
for
legs,
Chairs, showing
various
styles
for
legs,
Chairs, showing
various
styles
for
legs,
Chairs, showing
various
styles
for
legs.
Chests of
Drawers, showing
different
styles.
Chests of
Drawers,
Chests, Tea,
Chest, Tea,
Chest, Tea,
Chest, Tea,
58
59
62
57
60
61
42
43
44
45
46
47
50
19
27
35
15
23
27
40
53
51
51
2
4
5
21
/
9
10
3
4
5
47
48
20
27
28
30
China
Case,
China
Case,
China
Case,
China
Case,
China
Case,
China
Shelf,
China
Shelf,
China
Shelves,
Clock
Cases,
Clock
Cases,
Clock
Case, Table,
Clock
Case, Table,
Clothes
Chest,
.
Clothes
Chest,
.
Clothes
Chests,
.
Clothes
Chest,
.
Clothes
Chest,
Gothic-
Clothes
Press,
Clothes
Press, L)esign
showing
d
Clothes
Press,
Clothes
Press,
Commode Clothes
Press,
Commode Clothes
Press,
Commode
Table, French,
Commode
Table, French,
Commode Tables, French,
Commode
Tables, French,
Cornice for window or bed,
Cornices for windows or
beds,
Cornices for windows or
beds.
Desk
Bookcase,
Desk
Bookcase,
show
I )esk
Bookcase,
Desk
Bookcase,
Desk
Bookcase,
Desk
P>ookcase,
Dressing
C'hest and
Bookcase,
Dressing
Chest and
Bookcase,
Fire
Screens,
Fire
Screen,
Fire
Screen,
Fire
Screens,
Fire
Screen, Horse,
.
Fire
Screen,
Horse,
.
Fire
Screen, Horse,
.
Frames for Marble Slabs,
Frames for Afarble Slabs,
Frames for Pier
Glasses,
Frames for Pier
Glasses,
Frames for Pier
Glasses,
iffere nt
sly
t
sty es.
-0
26
48
49
52
33
34
35
19
20
16
22
41
42
53
54
37
26
les, 41
48
5
28
41
36
37
38
39
14
16
21
17
18
20
21
23
24
19
22
1
4
8
II
3
9
12
36
40
II
12
13
XXIV
CONTENTS
Frames for Pier
Glasses,
Frames for Pier
Glasses,
Frets,
Frets,
Frets,
Girandoles,
Girandoles,
Girandoles,
Girandoles,
Shelves, Hanging,
Shelves, Hanging,
Shelves, Hanging,
Shelves,
Hanging,
Shields for
Pediments,
Shields for
Pediments,
Shields for
Pediments,
Sideboard
Table,
Sideboard
Table,
Sideboard
Table,
14
15
31
32
48
10
13
14
17
15
33
34
35
14
IS
16
25
26
27
Sideboard
Table,
Sideboard
Table,
Sideboard
Table,
Sofas, Chinese,
.
Table, Breakfast,
Table, Breakfast,
Table, Bureau,
Table, Bureau,
Table, Bureau,
Table, China,
Table, China,
Table, Library,
Table, Library,
Table, Library,
Table, Writing,
Table, A\'riting,
Table, \Vriting,
Table, Writing,
Trays, China, showing designs
for
border.
PAGE
28
29
30
63
22
23
19
20
52
22
23
54
55
56
29
30
31
46
16
CHIPPENDALE
Ribl);iinl l)ack ("hairs aiul Viw Screens
CHIPPENDALE
_i
Chairs, showin'r various stx'les for Lcijs, aiul Candle Staiuls

I
CHIPPENDALE
Cliairs, sliowin^
various sl\lcs
for Lco's,
and Horse Vlvv Screen
I
CHIPPENDALE
Si.>-.
Chairs,
showing
various
styles
for
Legs,
Fire Screens and Candle Stamls
CHIPPENDALE
Chair,
Chinese
design,
with or without
arms,
Candle
Stands,
and two Chairs
showing
a
variety
of
styles
for
Legs
CHIPPENDALE
Chairs,
Chinese
design,
showin*'' xarious styles lor
Leys
CHIPPENDALE
Chairs, Chinese
design,
and two
Gothic,
showing
various stvles for
Legs
CHIPPENDALE
Chairs,
Ciothic
dcsii^n, shovvinj^'
various
styles
for
Leu;s,
and FIrf Screen
CHIPPENDALE
.^
French
Chairs,
with ur without
arms,
and a
variety
of
styles
lor
Legs,
and
Horse Fire Screen
c
10
CHIPPENDALE
French
Chairs,
with or without
arms,
and various
styles
for
Leys,
and (liramlolt
CHIPPENDALE
1 1
^
_j^
Pier (llass Frames and Fire Screens
12
CHIPPENDALE
Four
designs
for Pier Glass
Frames,
and two Horse Fire Screens
13
CHIPPENDALE
Girandoles and I'icr Glass I'ramcs
D
CHIPPENDALE
14
Cornice
Girandole,
two
designs
for Tier (dass l-'ramcs, and Iwo
dc^signs
lor
Shields for Pediments
CHIPPENDALE
15
Hano-ing
Shelves,
two
designs
for Pier Cilasses, two
tlesigns
for Shields for
Pediments,
and four lirackets for Marble Slabs
&
CHIPPENDALE
i6
/
Cornices lur lieds (ir
Wimlows,
Shields for I'ldiinc-nls,
China
Trays
and
Table Clock Case
CHIPPENDALE
17
Gir;iiululcs,
anel Desk hikI lit>()kcasfc;
i8
CHIPPENDALE
Desk and Bookcase
CHIPPENDALE
19
^
T -1
I
'^e^^
15^
i
J
Brackets for
Busts,
Dressing-
Clicst and Bookcase, Clock Cases,
and Bureau Table
CHIPPENDALE
20
.q^^M
,
iO
i i
J.
y.
1
CHIPPENDALE
=^'
\
'iJ
^Sfp^
ir
I I t
''mi
-1
_^
I i
!- i l". i

tr- '^^ '^t;;

>
|
Cornice,
Candle Stands,
ami Desk and Bookcase
CHIPPENDALE
Tabic Clock
Cases,
Dressing-
Chest and Bookcase, China and IJreaktast 'Tables
CHIPPENDALE
.-:/
V
^^
tei;gfeteiHsi!E''i
/^
!
.1
Brackets for Marljlc
Slabs,
Desk and liookcase, China and ISrcakfasl Tables
24
CHIPPENDALE
Desk and Bookcase
CHIPPENDALE
25
-^^^'fe;^
^
^'
i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^s^^
^J^^Cj^^
i^
^1^
-^
I
China Case and Siek'ljoartl Tahlc
26
CHIPPENDALE
^
V^%^f^'
^
TfCT^f
China
Case,
Sideboard
Table,
and Clothes Press
CHIPPENDALE
27
\}>#S^'^
'-> r'liii ^.iijL . I ''r'T'

I'll! 'T-M
^5.
J"jj
..i "
"w . I I
.gnn
ij)
^p-
imr r I iiif
0^>
-
,''><

!'^'>

s'^J^ ^'>^

?^>^
^
^''i'*^
"
1^^
Brackets for Ihists, Cal)iiK't, Tea Chest,
ami Sitlehoanl Tablt
28
CHIPPENDALE
r^-'S^'^jJ----- ^^jj3.^
^
i_^
vgj
m
'Wa
^^
Commode Clothes
Press,
Sideboard Table,
and Tea Chest
CHIPPENDALE
"^^kft
W
iiimimmmmmKamtmmmKmmMrJmmmmmtmmmmmm
mi^mi^
-mMilmi
Writing
inul Sidcboartl Tables
H
CHIPPENDALE
~\
^o
i^i^M^H^^
mj&
Sideboard and W'ritino Tables,
and Tea Chest
31
CHIPPENDALE
Frets,
and
Writing
Table
CHIPPENDALE
32
hart
.
i^A
O^
OS
o^
/p-
"^m
:h- N'^'.- N--H- N--S- N--^- i-asfr>)
F^
s
7\/
_, ,
_ .
^r!Rd:nir:Ryj ^^--.'--.
^^Y-^.7^-
Ni-^.\/Av-;
-^1

X '^^"\'W":""
r
/
LI:
.<^
IV
<-
<
iz::
^<
-y
CHIPPENDALE
Hanging
Shelves and China Shelf
CHIPPENDALE
34
I I I I I I I I I M I
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Frames for Marble Slabs and French Commode Table
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Writing
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