A chair after Sheraton’s later designs is shown in Illustration 197. It is one which was popular in the first decade of the nineteenth century. This chair is part of a set inherited by Waldo Lincoln, Esq., of Worcester. The chair shown in Illustration 198 is owned by Mrs. J. C. Cutter of Worcester. It has a rush seat, and the back is painted in the manner called japanning, with gilt flowers upon a black ground. These chairs, which were called “Fancy chairs,” were very popular during the first part of the nineteenth century, together with settees decorated in the same fashion. Illustration 199 shows two mahogany chairs owned by Waldo Lincoln, Esq., of the styles which were fashionable from 1840 to 1850, examples of which may be found in almost every household, along with heavy sofas and tables of mahogany, solid or veneered. In the first half of the nineteenth century and in the last quarter of the eighteenth, furniture was fashionable made of the light-colored woods; maple, curly and bird’s-eye, and in the more expensive pieces, satinwood, which was used chiefly as a veneer on account of its cost. The two varieties of maple, being a native wood and plentiful, were always used lavishly, and rarely as a veneer. The thick maple drawers in old bureaus have been sawed into many thicknesses to use in violins, for which their seasoned wood is especially valuable. The parlor in John Hancock’s house, in Boston, was “furnished in bird’s-eye maple covered with damask brocade.” As Governor Hancock was a man of inherited wealth and probably of fashion as well, his parlor would be furnished according to the mode of the day. [Illustration: Illus. 200.—Maple Chairs, 1820-1830.] The three maple chairs in Illustration 200 belong to the writer. They were probably made about 1820 to 1830. The wood in all is beautifully marked curly maple, and in the upper rail of two is set a strip of bird’s-eye maple. The design of the carved piece across the back is one that was used at this time in both maple and mahogany chairs. CHAPTER VII SETTLES, SETTEES, AND SOFAS [Illustration]