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STYLES OF CHIPPENDALE
The Chippendale style is often described as being an anglicised type of Rococo, and Rococo is one of the styles Chippendale encompasses, along with Gothic and Chinese. Rococo Chippendale furniture often displays French influence, with chairs based on Louis XV designs, although usually less ostentatious. The ribbonback chair with a broad seat and cupid’ s bow-style back rail is perhaps the most famous Chippendale design.
Gothic Chippendale furniture is characterised by s-shaped curves and pointed arches in the backs of chairs, while Gothic bookcases were triangular at the top and had wooden glazing bars to hold the glass in place.
Chinese Chippendale creations often included cabinets and shelves, and typically featured pagoda-style pediments and glazing bars arranged in a fretwork design. This fretwork was also used on the edges of tea tables and on the backs and legs of chairs, often coated with lacquer.
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IDENTIFYING CHIPPENDALE FURNITURE
Thomas Chippendale never left an identifying mark on his furniture, which makes it very difficult to precisely identify an original Chippendale piece. Perhaps the only way to know for certain that a piece of furniture is truly Chippendale is through the preservation of original bills of sale. These original bills are generally found in estate papers and other such documentation. Original Chippendale furniture is noted for its unique craftsmanship, irregularities, and fine wood.
When attempting to determine if a piece of furniture is a genuine Chippendale, the legs are often the primary focal point. There are six different basic Chippendale style legs. These are the lion’ s paw, the ball and claw, the late Chippendale, the Marlborough, the club and the spade. Picture books will give you an idea what each looks like but three of the styles are based on the cabriole shape which is an elegant, serpentine style ending in a distinctive foot. These include the lion’ s paw, which ends with a lion paw shaped foot, the club, which is a simple round foot and the ball and claw, which( not surprisingly) looks like a claw holding a ball.
The remaining leg styles are straight with the 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. There are many variations on the basic leg styles but close observation will reveal the basic pattern
When we talk about Chippendale furniture today, what we are really talking about is well-constructed, midto late-18th century furniture of the Chippendale style. Wood used in this style of furniture was primarily manufactured from mahogany which was imported from the West Indies. Chippendale generally favoured solid wood because it better accommodated the detailed carving of the furniture style. Though veneers were used for furniture of this period, they are not typical of the Chippendale style. Modern reproductions of the Chippendale style will often be hand carved but will not have the depth and detail of carving that the genuine 18th century furniture has.
Another feature of 18th century wood furniture is its irregularity. All the work on this furniture was done by hand and often quite exquisitely. However, handwork, no matter how well done, will not be able to match the exact regularity of machine work. When you examine a piece of wood furniture for the purpose of determining its age, look at the joinery closely. It will reveal a lot about the history of the piece. Hand crafted joints will be slightly irregular and show evidence of tool marks. Finishes on wood furniture can help reveal its age with age, wood takes on what is called a patina. Patina is the warm, mellow, aged look that wood gets from being touched, lived with, polished and cared for. It’ s something you must see to appreciate.
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