With regard to Chippendale furniture, a word of caution is necessary. It is as impossible for Chippendale and his workmen to have produced all the furniture attributed to them as it is for the small factory at Lowestoft to have made all the china with which it is credited. As has been shown in the chapter on Thomas Chippendale, his styles were most extensively copied by his contemporaries all over the country and by many makers after him, and modern makers produce a great quantity of "Chippendale" every year. Only a careful examination of museum pieces will train the eye of the collector. The fine sense of proportion, at once noticeable in the genuine Chippendale chair, is absent in the modern copy, and, above all, the carving in the latter is thin and poor. In the old days the wastage of wood was not a thing which the master had in his mind. In modern copies the curl of the arm, or the swell at the top of the back, shows a regard for economy. There is a thin, flat look about the result, which ought not to be mistaken. Scrolls and ribbon-work are often added to later pieces made in the style of Chippendale, which have enough wood in their surfaces to bear carving away. An ingenious device is adopted in cases of inlaid pieces of a small nature, such as imitation Sheraton clock-cases and knife-boxes and the frames of mirrors. Old engravings are procured of scrollwork, usually from the end of some book. The illustration (p. 259) shows the class of engravings selected. These engravings are coated with a very thin layer of vellum, which is boiled down to a liquid, and carefully spread over them. After this treatment they are ready to be glued on to the panels to be "faked," and, when coated over with transparent varnish, they present the appearance of an ivory and ebony inlay. [Illustration: DESIGN FOR SPURIOUS MARQUETRY WORK.] The frauds practised in satinwood and painted pieces are many and are exceedingly difficult to detect. Much of Sheraton's furniture was veneered with finely selected specimens of West India satinwood. These carefully chosen panels were painted by Cipriani and others. The modern "faker" has not the material to select from, as the satinwood imported is not so beautiful nor so richly varied in grain as in the old days. He removes a side panel from an old piece, and substitutes another where its obnoxious presence is not so noticeable. To this old panel he affixes a modern coloured print after one of Sheraton's artists, which, when carefully varnished over and skilfully treated so as to represent the cracks in the supposed old painting, is ready for insertion in the "made-up" sideboard, to catch the fancy of the unwary collector. FINIS. [Illustration: PIECE OF SPANISH CHESTNUT SHOWING RAVAGES OF WORMS.] INDEX A Adam, the brothers, and their style, 209, 241-256 Adam armchair (illustrated), 243 Admiralty, screen and gateway, designed by Robert Adam, 242