Chippendale

Chippendale, various styles of furniture fashionable in the third quarter of the 18th century and named after the English cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale. The first style of furniture in England named after a cabinetmaker rather than a monarch, it became the most famous name in the history of English furniture at a time when such craftsmanship was at its zenith.

The descriptive term Chippendale is derived from a book of furniture designs, the first of its kind, that was published in 1754 in London and called The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director. The identity of the designers of the patterns in The Director is debatable in some instances, but Thomas Chippendale was clearly responsible for many of the best designs himself. The book was enthusiastically received, and furniture based on Chippendale’s designs was crafted in England, on the European continent, and in the American Colonies.

Chippendale designs fall into three main styles: Gothic, Rococo (called modern in the pattern book), and Chinese. Chippendale blended these disparate stylistic elements into harmonious and unified designs. The term Chippendale specifically refers to English furniture of the 1750s and ’60s made in a modified Rococo style.

Gothic Chippendale incorporated pointed arches and ogee (S-shaped) curves into the backs of chairs and, more successfully, in the glazing bars (wooden tracery holding the glass) and pediments of massive bookcases.

Rococo Chippendale was to some extent a reaction against the heavy formality of Baroque furniture design, typified by the work of William Kent who died in 1748. Many of the Rococo designs were French in origin, but Chippendale modified some of them for the less flamboyant English market; among these are his French chairs, based on Louis XV designs. Probably the best-known Chippendale design is a broad-seated ribbonback chair, with a back rail in the form of a cupid’s bow, and the pierced splat (centre support in the back) composed of carved interlacing ribbons. The most elaborate Rococo designs, carved and gilded, were those for mirror frames, girandoles, and console tables.

The Chinese Chippendale designs in The Director were applied to china cabinets, or china shelves, which had glazing bars in a fretwork design and a pagoda-style pediment. A similar fretwork was used for a gallery around the edges of “china tables,” or tea tables, and for the backs and legs of chairs. Some pieces of Chinese Chippendale furniture, often intended for rooms decorated in chinoiserie, or Chinese style, were japanned, or coated with oriental-style lacquer.

Chippendale designs were simplified and adapted in the second half of the 18th century; two of these modified designs are country Chippendale and Irish Chippendale. Country Chippendale pieces were skilled adaptations, particularly of the renowned ribbonback chairs, by country craftsmen who could not cope with the intricate carving of Chippendale’s designs. The woods used were normally indigenous rather than the imported mahogany used in the more fashionable furniture. Irish Chippendale, mahogany furniture crafted in Ireland, while bearing a superficial resemblance to Chippendale’s designs, did not compare with their quality.