Thomas Chippendale, the World’s Most Famous Cabinet Maker - Chippendale School Inspiration for future woodworkers The school draws inspiration from Thomas Chippendale, the world’s most famous cabinetmaker and craftsman. He was born in Otley, Yorkshire, in 1718, the only child of John, a joiner and Mary, the daughter of a stonemason. Little is known about his early life, but it is believed he served a family apprenticeship and he was almost certainly employed by Richard Wood, a leading York cabinetmaker. By 1748 he was established in London and in 1754 he produced the world’s most famous book on furniture: The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Director. There were over 3000 cabinetmakers in London and they couldn’t understand why Chippendale had given away all his trade secrets, but it was this book that turned him into a household name. While lots more people could now afford his designs, he continued to work for some of the UK’s richest people. One of his most famous commissions was Dumfries House in south-west Scotland, the home of the Fifth Earl of Dumfries.

It was designed by the Adam Brothers and Thomas Chippendale was the interior designer, filling it full of his famous rococo designs, said to be worth £18 million today. After his death in 1779 his son Thomas carried on the family business until his bankruptcy in 1804. But his father’s work continues to inspire furniture makers today. Thomas Chippendale | British cabinetmaker | Britannica.com British cabinetmaker William Savery Thomas Chippendale, (baptized June 5, 1718, Otley, Yorkshire , England —died November 1779, London ), one of the leading cabinetmakers of 18th-century England and one of the most perplexing figures in the history of furniture . His name is synonymous with the Anglicized Rococo style. Nothing is known of Chippendale’s early life until his marriage to Catherine Redshaw in London in 1748. In 1753 he moved to St. Martin’s Lane, where he maintained his showrooms, workshops, and home for the rest of his life.

In 1754 he published his celebrated Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director ; this work was the most important collection of furniture designs theretofore published in England, illustrating almost every type of mid-18th-century domestic furniture. The first and second (1755) editions contained 160 plates, the third edition (published in weekly parts, 1759–62), 200; the designs largely were Chippendale’s improvements on the fashionable furniture styles and designs of the time. Chippendale was elected to the Society of Arts in 1759 but declined reelection in the following year. Meanwhile he had become a partner with James Rannie, apparently an upholsterer, who died in 1766. Chippendale continued the business alone until he took Thomas Haig, Rannie’s former clerk, into partnership in 1771. Chippendale’s first wife died in 1772, and he married Elizabeth Davis in 1777. He died of tuberculosis . Although head of an important firm, Chippendale was not the greatest of all English furniture makers, and his exaggerated posthumous reputation is attributable largely to the Director.

A 20th-century scholarly investigation revealed him as essentially a collector and extremely talented modifier of already existing styles, notably Rococo , which is characteristically used in Chippendale’s many designs for mahogany chairs with intricately pierced slats and for elaborately carved case furniture. Other designs in the Director show the Rococo adaptations of Chinese and Gothic styles, some to be carved in softwood and gilded or japanned (an East Asian process, similar to lacquering). Though the plates in the Director are signed by Chippendale, it is now accepted that some were by other designers in the Rococo style, notably Henry Copland , who had published designs earlier, and Matthias Lock , whom Chippendale had hired to provide special designs for clients. Chippendale’s name is given indiscriminately to great quantities of mid-18th-century furniture; but, in fact, only comparatively few pieces can be assigned with certainty to his workshop. Once established as head of a large firm, he did not make furniture himself. Even pieces that resemble designs in the Director cannot be attributed to his shop without further evidence, for the designs were available to contemporary cabinetmakers, some of whose names appear in the original list of subscribers.

Where a piece corresponds to a Director plate and where the original owner was a subscriber to the Director or is known to have employed Chippendale, a tentative attribution may be made, such as the extraordinary bedroom suite at Badminton House, Gloucestershire, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum , London. Cabinetmakers in the American colonies borrowed heavily from the Director. Britannica Stories Download: mp3 | ogg View transcript My name is Peter Holmes and I’m a furniture conservator in London. Well, every restorer, every conservator of English furniture will have taken apart a chair like this. And these are chairs - imagine they were made in the middle of the 18th century - they would have been around many tables, many dinner parties, people very drunk, rocking back on them, many of them would have broken. But actually, the ones that do survive, most of all, are these ones with the H-shaped stretcher. For a restorer, the issues that he would tackle on such a chair would be the upholstery failing, the webbing which supports the stuffing failing, the seat rails having woodworm damage and tack damage which would weaken the structure, and then the general loosening of the joints.

The joints are all glued together with Scotch glue, which is a reversible, thermo-plastic animal glue. It’s a glue made from animal bones and horns, which is melted down. But it’s the restorer’s friend because a restorer can warm the joints gently and the animal glue - from animals in the middle of the 18th century - softens and the joints slide apart. You then deal with any fractures and breaks and then you re-glue it back together again using the same glue. And hopefully it will be sound for many years to come. In large workshops, like Chippendale’s workshop, or similar workshops around the country, these people were doing it all of their lives. I mean their skill and alacrity was extraordinary. The carving on this particular chair is actually very well done. If you look at the very fine C-scrolls on it, if you look very carefully, there’s a slight hollow in the centre of these C-scrolls that runs around the cresting rail, on the top there. Very subtle. A lot of these surfaces - straight off the carver’s chisel - when they were finished and presented to the client they would have been quite sharp actually. I mean they weren’t using sandpaper then.

They had some abrasives but not as we know them today. And they might have had an oiled finish or a varnished finish. But it would have been bright red in colour, or deep red in colour, I should say. The piercing of the chair back and the carving is joyful, actually. It gives me great pleasure. Corner cupboard, Thomas Chippendale, about 1768–78. Museum no. W.24-1917 Leela Meinertas, Curator in the Department of Furniture, Textiles and Fashion at the V&A, discusses a Thomas Chippendale corner cupboard Download: mp3 | ogg View transcript My name’s Leela Meinertas and I’m a curator in the Department of Furniture, Textiles and Fashion at the V&A. The word in itself, Chippendale, is such an emotive term. I mean people go mad about Chippendale, and in the auction rooms a real documented piece of Chippendale, where you can guarantee it’s by him, goes for millions. He had upholsterers, carvers, japanners. He had people hanging curtains. He could even supply you with a night watchman who would watch the gate.

It was a one stop furnishing outfitters, if you like. Now, opposed to the standard brown wood chairs that people associate with Chippendale, if you were to see this corner cupboard, you wouldn’t immediately think it is by Chippendale. It’s a French idea, it was called encoignures. They were usually made in pairs. So you would have your commode in the middle of the wall and then these two in the corners. Now, we know - there is so much documentation on this corner cupboard - that we know exactly who it was made for. It was made for the very famous actor-manager David Garrick for his villa in Hampton. Garrick was fantastically wealthy, for an actor, and he had Chippendale design masses of furniture. He was a very, very big client of his. And it’s in what we call the Chinoiserie style and it’s japanned, which means, basically, it’s painted. Now, in the villa in Hampton, we know that when Garrick first moved in, in the 1750s, it was already decorated in this Chinesey style with painted panels and canvases. So it looks likely that Chippendale continued this trend.

And this could have been bought white and then painted on later, and there are some wonderful letters from Mrs Garrick where she complains bitterly about why she’s been charged so much for painting something that she felt she’d already paid for before. And there are then letters back to her saying, ‘Oh, but you know, we haven’t paid your bill and we’re going to get the lawyers get mentioned’. But Chippendale just happens to be the most famous name. There were other very, very competent makers at the same time. Audio description of the Furniture Gallery's Thomas Chippendale display Thomas Chippendale Chairs: Rococo, Gothic and Chinese Style Mahogany Chairs - Home Decor Home Decor > 18th Century Furniture > Thomas Chippendale Chairs: Rococo, Gothic and Chinese Style Mahogany Chairs Thomas Chippendale Chairs: Rococo, Gothic and Chinese Style Mahogany Chairs Thomas Chippendale’s Rococo Dining Chairs that Pushed The Limits of the Mahogany Grain Thomas Chippendale’s groundbreaking Rococo-style pierced mahogany side chair. Consider for a moment how chair styles spread in the 18th century, long before telephones, television, industrialization, and mass retailers made trends in furniture widely known overnight.

For a style to take hold, it had to be visible, and for it to be available, craftsmen had to know how to make it. Thomas Chippendale managed to achieve this—and immortality—with the prevailing style of the period named after him, not the reigning monarch. Chippendale’s “Gothic taste” reflected in the arched back splat of a mahogany side chair. His chairs perfectly demonstrate his mastery of “Gothic, Chinese and Modern Taste”—modern being his simplified version of Rococo—was spread via his widely published pattern book, The Director. The book was filled with hundreds of ‘plates’ explaining the style and construction of all of his chairs—some of which held up better on the page than in real life, due to their incredible delicacy. His Chinese-style fretwork chairs are the style that has survived to the greatest degree today. Interpreted into a more faux-bamboo, casual rattan style, the open-work backs were inspired back in Chippendale’s time by the trend that would not die: The Far East.

Noting that books published on the subject of travel to China had increased interest in the Eastern style, and the popularity of Horace Walpole’s ‘Strawberry Hill Gothic,’ Chippendale fluidly incorporated both of these styles into his interpretation of Rococo—and the results were adored. Entire books have been written studying the Chippendale library of design, but it is perhaps these dining chairs that are the most famous, and show the greatest breadth of his work. Thomas Chippendale’s intricate “Chinese style” created through delicate fretwork in mahogany. Aspects of Chippendale Chairs Chippendale dining chairs immediately dropped the curve of the Queen Anne chair, instead comprising outward-flaring straight uprights and a separate, horizontal yoke top rail.

Other key elements of Chippendale style include: • cabriole legs earlier on, ending in a scroll foot • later, straight and tapered legs, known as a Marlborough style leg (front legs only; the back two legs are almost always straight) • club feet, with a pad or base, or guttae feet (an ancient Roman ornament) • cane seats and ‘japanning’ Chippendale also made “French-style” upholstered armchairs, or fauteuils, a chair that never went out of style throughout the Georgian period, and was often heavily carved and gilded. Chippendale Style in America (1750-1785) The intricately carved and pierced back splat is the hallmark of a Chippendale mahogany side chair. Thomas Chippendale’s book was a chief source of information for American chair-makers. Rather than having to rely on importing chairs to understand the style, The Director gave them unparalleled instruction, and revved up American craftsmanship. American Chippendale chairs have wonderful proportion and lines, often use less carved ornament, and are clearly distinct from English Chippendale chairs.

Regional distinctions showed through as well, as in American Queen Anne chairs , right down to which town or shop created which chair. Still, little is known of southern Chippendale designs, but Charleston was credited with a version that was unique, with gilded accents. Although Chippendale doesn’t make much reference to wood in his book, it’s clear through the intricate carving that mahogany was preferred. Mahogany wasn’t new in America, but its popular use with American Chippendale chairs nudged walnut out of the spotlight. In 1765, Mrs. Benjamin Franklin alluded to this trend, writing that she had moved her “old black walnut chairs” to a lesser-used bedroom. There was also only one instance of a claw-and-ball foot in The Director, but in America, it was a popular motif. A “transitional” American corner chair, exhibiting Queen Anne cabriole legs and back splats but a Chippendale-style top rail. Corner chairs, or roundabout chairs, were very popular in the colonies, and began to include some Chippendale elements, as they had included solid splats under the Queen Anne style.

Rare, transitional chairs were created in the colonies, including interesting examples of side chairs with Chippendale-style top rails, but Queen Anne-style splats, or, conversely, cabriole legs and a curved back rail, but a splat with a pierced Chippendale design. Often, this mix of styles can be credited to the commissioner’s particular tastes, and showed that colonial craftsmen felt free to vary any aspects they wanted. Another American innovation was a Chippendale-style ladder-back chair—nothing seen in The Director, of course—that was used personally by a signer of the Declaration of Independence in his Maryland home. Gothic touches—a Chippendale sub-style—were also interpreted in America, and seen on the Speaker’s chair at Independence Hall. And Benjamin Franklin invented a Chippendale-style upholstered armchair with a seat that flipped down, transforming the chair into a ladder, to reach books in his library. Chippendale remained popular in America into the 1790s. The style survived both the American Revolution and the eventual political break with England, proving that its popularity outweighed its associations with English tastes.

FILED UNDER: Chippendale--The Royalty of Antique Furniture The Early Years But in 1754, Mr. Chippendale, as he was known in London, published his detailed collection, Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, a portfolio of fashionable English furniture design templates and one of the first furniture design books. In it Chippendale adapted existing design styles to the fashion of the mid-18th century. Both makers and sellers of furniture rushed to purchase it, making Chippendale a household name. And so pervasive was the influence of his book that the name of Chippendale is often indiscriminately applied to all mid-18th century furniture. Chippendale created his Director as a catalogue from which his wealthy patrons could choose particular elements for their furniture, which would then be custom made for them in his workshop. It contained 161 plates, reflecting many elements of the Rococo, Chinese, Gothic and Neoclassical styles. Publication of the Director clearly had a stimulating effect on Chippendaleï¿½s career since all his known commissions date from after its publication. However, the Chippendale style didnï¿½t remain within the confines of the Chippendale workshops very long.

So popular were the designs with the wealthy class that soon other furniture makers were using Gentleman and Cabinet-Makerï¿½s Director as a pattern book for their shops, too. In 1754, the same year as the publication of his Director, Chippendale moved to spacious premises in the fashionable paved thoroughfare of St. Martinï¿½s Lane which his firm occupied for the next 60 years. He then formed a partnership with James Rannie, a Scottish merchant, who injected capital into the business. They employed between 40 and 50 artisans. And while the notes in his Director showed Chippendale possessed a sound practical knowledge of timbers and craftsmanship, he most likely, at this stage in his career, would have been responsible for design and management, instead of working at the bench. A versatile man, he was willing to design and supply wallpapers, carpets, fire grates, decorative ormolu, chimney pieces, even complete room schemes, in addition to furniture. As well as equipping State Apartments with luxurious ensembles, his firm regularly supplied routine articles for the servantsï¿½ rooms and domestic offices.

He offered a complete house furnishing service, undertook repairs, removals, hired out furniture, compiled inventories and was even prepared to direct and furnish funerals for respected customers. Fine Woods Make the Difference Chippendale style furniture was generally made of mahogany, imported from the West Indies. Though cabinetmakers occasionally used veneers, theyï¿½re not typical of this style. Instead they preferred using solid wood to accommodate the elaborate carving found in this style. And they upholstered the newly introduced camel-back sofas in rich brocades, velvets, and damasks. While cabinetmakers used Cuban, Dominican and Honduran mahogany during the latter part of the 18th Century, the finest was Cuban, a dense, heavy wood with a close grain. When they carved it, minute white flecks would appear in the wood. Honduran mahogany is lighter in weight and color. The mahoganies from the Dominican Republic and Jamaica fell somewhere between Cuban and Honduran in quality. Flame mahogany refers to the character of the grain, obtained by using the first branch or crotch of the tree. Another much sought-after grain was mottled, often referred to as "plum pudding" mahogany.

Nevertheless, in the Chippendale period in America, Connecticut cabinetmakers used cherry more often than mahogany. During the same period, furniture makers in Bermuda used local cedar which had an orangish hue. Throughout America, furniture makers used softwoods like white pine for the main carcase of furniture, but in England, they favored hardwood such as oak. By mixing and melding the extravagant Rococo style with the Gothic and Chinese styles, Chippendale came up with a hybrid that displaced the more angular Queen Anne style. From the 1760's, the neoclassical work of architect Robert Adam, with whom he worked on several large projects, influenced him greatly. Chippendale's Signature Formï¿½The Cabriole Leg He extensively employed the Queen Anne-style cabriole leg. While there are six different basic Chippendale style legsï¿½the lionï¿½s paw, the ball and claw, the late Chippendale, the Marlborough, the club and the spadeï¿½he based three of them on the cabriole shape which is an elegant, serpentine style ending in a distinctive foot.

These include the lionï¿½s paw, which ends with a lion paw shaped foot, the club, which is a simple round foot and the ball and claw, which looks like an eagle talon holding a ball. The remaining leg styles are straightï¿½the Marlborough being a plain, square leg, the spade a tapered round leg often with a square or trapezoid foot, and the late Chippendale having a square leg with a square foot. Chippendaleï¿½s Gothic and Chinese influenced designs had straight or tapering legs, tracery carving and fret and lattice work. Block-front furnitureï¿½where the center front recedes in a shallow concave curve between slightly convex endsï¿½seems to have been unique to North America. Chippendale never illustrated furniture of this type in his Director. Furniture connoisseurs believe that this style originated the area of Boston, Massachusetts, and assumed a Chippendale character. Another characteristically American furniture form was the highboy. English cabinetmakers abandoned the chest-on-stand, of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, for the chest-on-chest where the lower section is supported on low bracket feet.

Furniture makers supported the highboy, known back then as a high chest of drawers, on high cabriole legs, the top being surmounted by a swan-neck broken pediment sometimes known in America as a "bonnet." The center of the pediment was usually embellished with a cartouche showing the familyï¿½s crest, except in American pieces this is smaller. It was customary to display these elaborately carved pieces in the drawing room, even though they were designed to hold personal belongings. The lowboy, or the lower part of the highboy, was usually elaborately embellished with carving and sometimes stood by itself. Chippendale chairs often exhibit features of Queen Anne or early Georgian furniture. Often, American Chippendale chairs had Queen Anne back-splats or kidney-shaped seats. American cabinetmakers used doweled through tenon construction, even in sophisticated furniture, up to the late 18th century. In England this feature had died out in all but country furniture by the early 18th century. Of course, there are exceptions, so that identification is dependent upon more subtle points such as the less extreme line of the American back leg as compared with the English examples which are less vertical.

However, in America, cabriole legs tended to be somewhat curlier than in England. Chinese Chippendale Another style of furnishing thatï¿½s often associated with the name of Chippendale is the so-called "Chinese Chippendale" or Chinoiserie, which remained immensely popular, especially for bedrooms, despite the rise of Neoclassicism. Japanning, or painted decoration sometimes imitating lacquer, became the last word in chic. While he based his work upon the general Queen Anne and Georgian characteristics of sober design and thoroughly fine construction, retaining many of the early 18th-century details, Chippendale introduced many other forms. Though collectors identify his name with the extensive variety of chair designsï¿½from geometrical to Chinese, lattice, or sumptuously carved and interlaced forms, his workshopï¿½s output also included desks, mirror frames, hanging bookshelves, settees, china cabinets and bookcasesï¿½featuring fretted cornices and latticework glazed doorsï¿½and tables with delicately fretted galleries and distinctive cluster-column legs of Gothic inspiration.

Noted Makers of Chippendale Furniture Records dating from before the American Revolution prove that there were many skilled craftsmen in the country. In Boston, for example, there were 150 known cabinetmakers, while Philadelphia had equally as many. In the South, craftsmen-slaves produced good work. Itï¿½s not surprising, therefore, to discover that many of the cabinetmakers who produced American Chippendale furniture werenï¿½t of British descent. George Gostelowe who worked in Philadelphia was Swedish while Andrew Gautier was a Huguenot. Some of the most remarkable makers of Chippendale furniture were Quakers, for example the Goddards and the Townsends of Newport, Rhode Island Island, and William Savery of Philadelphia, Pennyslvania. In the history of American colonial furniture, the Townsends and the Goddards are truly remarkable for the quality of their work and for the number of them of different generations who made furnitureï¿½altogether some 20 individuals from three generations of the Townsends, including Christopher and his sons John and Job and his grandsons Job junior and Edmund were well known, while of the Goddards the best known was John.

Reproductions It was the practice in the mid-18th Century to purchase a finely made piece of furniture or decorative object and then have copies made at a lower price to increase its number. These, as with modern reproductions, of the Chippendale style were often hand carved but donï¿½t have the depth and detail of carving that genuine Chippendale furniture has. Nye recommended that collectors look for evidence of craftsmanshipï¿½hand planing, hand sawing, handmade nails, as well as shrinkage in the wood. In addition, reproduction pieces will have been constructed of younger mahogany which isnï¿½t as dense and is grainier than the slow-growth wood used to make 18th-century pieces. High Prices for Quality Thomas Chippendale, whoï¿½s furniture designs today command stratospheric prices, had to, on more than one occasion, fight for payment on his commissions. Today, collectors should be wary of any piece of Chippendale furniture that doesnï¿½t have a four to six-figure price tag, especially for pieces made in Philadelphia, according to Nye.

"If itï¿½s not appropriately priced, the dealer knows that itï¿½s not 18th century," said Nye. "A reputable dealer will give a written guarantee that the piece is authentic and the guarantee will include a detailed description of the piece and its provenance. Watch out for the ï¿½too-good-to-be-trueï¿½ price." Nye also noted that while the market is strong for exceptional items, many Chippendale pieces are undocumented and unsigned, so collectors need to look at form and aesthetic attributes. "Many American cabinetmakers borrowed liberally from Chippendaleï¿½s designs, so their pieces werenï¿½t as pure as English ones," he added. The Chippendale Society, founded in England in 1963, owns an important collection of furniture and documents, usually on display at Temple Newsam House, Leeds, England. The Mysterious Mr. Chippendale - THEO The Mysterious Mr. Chippendale Werner J Freundel , June 27, 2012 Image of the Statue of Thomas Chippendale in Otley, Yorkshire.

© Image copyright Mick Melvin Thomas Chippendale – arguably the most well-known and influential cabinetmaker of the 18th century – was born in Yorkshire in 1718 but little is known about the man himself despite his fame. Trained by his father John and the aptly name Richard Wood in carpentry and furniture making, he eventually moved to London in 1749. Chippendale set up his business near Covent Garden and started as a journeyman cabinetmaker, working for other cabinet-makers in their workshops on a project basis. Covent Garden and its environs was the centre for furniture making and coach-building in London at the time, as well as a fashionable shopping district. Balthazar Nebot’s painting of Covent Garden market, 1737 exhibited at the Tate Britain. © Tate, London 2012 From 1754 until 1813 the business operated successfully from 60-62 St Martin’s Lane with a wealth of aristocratic and royal clients who employed Chippendale not just as a furniture designer and maker but often also as an interior designer, advising on paint colours, draperies, upholstery and furniture.

St Martin’s Lane was a hotbed for art and design practice, allowing for a quick translation of innovation in design to fashions in furnishings. In 1735 William Hogarth had set up his ‘St. Martin’s Lane Academy’ from Slaughter’s Coffee House (or affectionately known as ‘Old Slaughter’s’). Here, a revolutionary Rococo set of designers formulated their artistic ideas and created the precursor of the Royal Academy. Chippendale’s flair for furniture design and interior design is presented in his books of designs, known commonly as The Director but fully titled as ‘The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Director’ . This publication was ground breaking in that it was the first time a cabinetmaker had published a book of his own designs. Its publication in 1754 marked Chippendales’ move from journeyman to a furniture maker with his own premises.

The frontispiece and dedication page of The Director, 1754 It was so popular that a second edition came out a year after its initial publication in 1754 and a revised edition was published in 1762 with new designs, showing a move from the earlier fashionable Rococo style to the Neo-Classical tastes which were to dominate the last quarter of the 18th century. The book became a roaring success and influenced cabinetmakers throughout Europe. ‘Chippendale’ furniture can be found emerging in countries such as Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Spain and even America. It is notable that both Catherine the Great and even Louis XVI had copies of the book in their libraries. A fine Chippendale bookcase made for Dumfries House available in our Replica Collection . This bookcase shows the very elegant combination of Chinoiserie , Gothic and Rococo styles. ( RE63003 ) A beautiful replica of an early Chippendale chair in the Rococo taste. This style of chair now carries the Chippendale moniker worldwide and many variants of this design are featured in The Director A page of chair designs from the The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director, 1754.

A less well known fact is that in the 1770s his son, the second Thomas Chippendale, took over much of that artistic and management side of the business. In 1777 Thomas Senior retired and Thomas Junior took over the running of the firm in earnest. Thomas Junior had been apprenticed by his father, been given a formal education in draughtsmanship and was therefore eminently suited to take over the reins. After his father’s death in 1778 he published a book of Neo-Classical designs of ornament, the style of furniture and decoration most fashionable at the time and well known through the architecture and designs of Robert and James Adam. These heavyweights of interior design and architecture for the Neo-Classical period in England has been collaborating with the Chippendale firm on several projects. Although the Chippendale firm was dissolved in 1813 and had to relinquish the premises in St Martin’s Lane, Thomas Chippendale Junior continued to provide furniture to important clients until 1820, predominantly in the Neo-Classical and more eclectic Regency tastes. A portrait of Thomas Chippendale (most likely Thomas Chippendale the Younger).

Image Courtesy of The Chippendale Society The Thomas Chippendales spanned some of the most important years of British furniture making and design and were influential throughout the so called ‘Golden Age’ of British furniture, working and innovating in styles as varied as the ‘Gothic’, Chinese, Neo-Classical and Regency tastes A ‘French Commode Table’ from the Director and a serpentine chest from our Replica Collection ( RE60010 ) See more Chippendale inspired designs by Theodore Alexander here Share and Enjoy: Thomas Chippendale Collections Thomas Chippendale When you hear the word "Chippendale," chances are it will conjure images of Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley loosely choreographed, gyrating and thrusting. The other famous Chippendale is Thomas Chippendale, who was one of England's most famous designers and cabinet makers. He published a book of designs (largely the work of Robert Adams) with the backing of John Rannie. This book influenced cabinet makers in England and Europe at large. It is worth noting most of his designs were never built due to their complexity and estimated cost of fabrication. Nevertheless, similar versions of these designs ruled the day.

Period 1780-1813 Chippendale's designs were popular through about 1780. His designs incorporated baroque (asymmetrical elements) Chinese influences and Gothic styles. Chippendale's pieces ranged from elaborate to fairly straight forward. Thomas' son continued making furniture until about 1813. The Chippendale Period 1750-1780 Original Chippendale pieces are not signed. They are identified by provenance, from a house Chippendale furnished. As well as by comparison, with documented examples, and by a couple of idiosyncratic construction details that are unique to his workshop: A strangely shaped escutcheon, or keyhole, and a unique way of bracing pieces that is hard to describe. Most pieces are sold as being attributed to Chippendale (read maybe he made this).

But it is worth mentioning that the entire period of English furniture spanning from 1750 to 1780 is described as "Chippendale ." Thomas Chippendale Style Furniture and Decor - Home Decor Home Decor > 18th Century Furniture > Thomas Chippendale Style Furniture and Decor Thomas Chippendale Style Furniture and Decor The Opulent Rococo-Style Furniture and Decor of Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker's Director The Rococo Furniture of Thomas Chippendale A gilded, carved Thomas Chippendale mirror, a perfect example of the level of detail his pieces exhibited. Thomas Chippendale’s groundbreaking Rococo-style pierced mahogany side chair. A classic Chippendale upholstered sofa, with straight legs and rails, and gently curving arms. It’s a household name today: Thomas Chippendale . Known primarily for his iconic chairs —especially the mahogany dining chairs in the Chinese, Gothic and Rococo “ribband-back” styles—Chippendale ran a shop of skilled artisans in London and famously published The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker’s Director, a complete catalog of every type of furniture.

Although not the only top-notch designer in London at the time, Thomas Chippendale managed to achieve immortality—and have most of Mid-Georgian furniture attributed to his style—by being the first to publish a book of this magnitude. Shop the iconic style of Thomas Chippendale at One Kings Lane. The book included plates of designs for: • four-poster carved and fabric-covered beds • consoles and tables • chairs , daybeds, sofas and upholstered settees • chair-back settees • commodes • sconces His mastery of “Gothic, Chinese and Modern Taste”—modern being his version of Rococo—was spread via his widely published pattern book, The Director. The book was filled with hundreds of ‘plates’ explaining the style and construction of various types of furniture, from mantels and bookcases to armchairs and his iconic camelback sofas. His fretwork is perhaps the most noticeable aspect of Chippendale designs—and the most copied today.

Noting that books published on the subject of travel to China had increased interest in the Eastern style, and the popularity of Horace Walpole’s ‘Strawberry Hill Gothic,’ Chippendale fluidly incorporated both of these styles into his interpretation of Rococo—and the results were adored. Illustration of a classic Chippendale kneehole desk, with a detail of the batwing-style brass mounts. Note the lion’s paw feet and decorative aprons. Entire books have been written studying the Chippendale library of design, but it is perhaps his dining chairs that are the most famous, and show the greatest breadth of his work. Read more about Thomas Chippendale’s famous dining chairs.

Chippendale furniture is characterized by: • elaborate batwing brass mounts and hardware • dining chairs that immediately dropped the curve of the Queen Anne chair, with outward-flaring straight uprights and a separate, horizontal yoke top rail • his straight and tapered style legs, known as a Marlborough leg style leg (front legs only; the back two legs are almost always straight) • club feet, with a pad or base, or guttae feet (an ancient Roman ornament) • cane seats and ‘japanning’ Chippendale also made “French-style” upholstered armchairs, or fauteuils, a chair that never went out of style throughout the Georgian period, and was often heavily carved and gilded. Similarly, his daybeds were like long extensions of these seats. Chippendale Style in America (1750-1785) A modern, Chippendale-style camelback settee typical of the Federal Period in America. Thomas Chippendale’s book was a chief source of information for American chair-makers. Rather than having to rely on importing chairs to understand the style, The Director gave them unparalleled instruction, and revved up American craftsmanship.

American Chippendale chairs have wonderful proportion and lines, often use less carved ornament, and are clearly distinct from English Chippendale chairs. Regional distinctions showed through as well, as in American Queen Anne chairs , right down to which town or shop created which chair. Still, little is known of southern Chippendale designs, but Charleston was credited with a version that was unique, with gilded accents. Although Chippendale doesn’t make much reference to wood in his book, it’s clear through the intricate carving that mahogany was preferred. Mahogany wasn’t new in America, but its popular use with American Chippendale chairs nudged walnut out of the spotlight. In 1765, Mrs. Benjamin Franklin alluded to this trend, writing that she had moved her “old black walnut chairs” to a lesser-used bedroom. There was also only one instance of a claw-and-ball foot in The Director, but in America, it was a popular motif. Rare, transitional chairs were created in the colonies, including interesting examples of side chairs with Chippendale-style top rails, but Queen Anne-style splats, or, conversely, cabriole legs and a curved back rail, but a splat with a pierced Chippendale design.

Often, this mix of styles can be credited to the commissioner’s particular tastes, and showed that colonial craftsmen felt free to vary any aspects they wanted. Another American innovation was a Chippendale-style ladder-back chair—nothing seen in The Director, of course—that was used personally by a signer of the Declaration of Independence in his Maryland home. Gothic touches—a Chippendale sub-style—were also interpreted in America, and seen on the Speaker’s chair at Independence Hall. And Benjamin Franklin invented a Chippendale-style upholstered armchair with a seat that flipped down, transforming the chair into a ladder, to reach books in his library. Chippendale remained popular in America into the 1790s. The style survived both the American Revolution and the eventual political break with England, proving that its popularity outweighed its associations with English tastes. Thomas Chippendale Thomas Chippendale Tags: General News , Google Doodles Google UK is today celebrating the life and legacy of Thomas Chippendale. He was a famous carpenter who inspired thousands of woodworkers, carpenters and cabinet makers around the world with his designs and work. Thomas Chippendale cabinets or Thomas Chippendale inspired cabinets is to be found all over the world.

He was one of the first people to realize the power of print media and advertising by creating the first “Cabinet Makers” guide for aspiring carpenters. His publication titled “The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director” were responsible for many English inspired furniture across the world. The name Thomas Chippendale is probably one of the most recognized names in furniture design today and his contributions to design are still as highly praised today as they were three centuries ago and many people still seek out Thomas Chippendale style furnishings to add to their antique collections. Chippendale furniture was so important that it dominated the English furniture market from 1745 to 1770 and its influence remained strong until the late 18th century. The Thomas Chippendale Google Doodle "The Thomas Chippendale Google Doodle on Google UK - 5 June 2013" About Thomas Chippendale He was born on the 5th of June 1718 in Otley United Kingdom and died on the 13th November 1779 in London. He was famous for making English furniture popular across the world.

Question: What was Thomas Chippendale famous for making?
Answer: Furniture