Historic Ornament, Vol. 2 (of 2): Treatise on decorative art and architectural ornamentWard, James
History
Historic Ornament, Vol. 2 (of 2): Treatise on decorative art and architectural ornament
Ward, James
Architecture -- History; Decoration and ornament -- History; Decorative arts -- History
Thomas Chippendale was a famous cabinet-maker of the eighteenth century.
His furniture, or even any good imitation of it, fetches a good price at
the present time. He published a book on furniture design and interior
decoration in the year 1764. His sons are supposed to have made nearly
all the best of the mahogany furniture known as “Chippendale.”
[Illustration: Fig. 253.—Parlour Chairs, by Chippendale. (L.)]
The parlour chairs (Fig. 253) are good examples of Chippendale
furniture, and the chairs made in the so-called “Chinese style” (Fig.
254) are attributed to the elder Chippendale.
[Illustration: Fig. 254.—Chair in the Chinese Style, by Thomas
Chippendale. (L.)]
Sherraton and Heppelwhite are names of two other well-known
cabinet-makers, who made excellent mahogany furniture in the last
century, both of whom published works on the subject at the latter end
of the century.
[Illustration: Fig. 255.—Stool and Chair, Carved and Gilt Mountings;
Empire Style. (L.)]
The names of Gillow, Lichfield, Lock, and Copeland are those of eminent
English cabinet-makers and decorators of this period, the two former
firms being still in existence in London.
[Illustration: Fig. 256.—Cabinet of Red Chased Lacquer (Japanese) and
Porcelain Dish. (J.)]
In France, after the Revolution (1792), a more decided phase of the dry
and heavy classicisms was apparent in the furniture design and
decoration of the period (1801). This return to classic heaviness has
been attributed to the influence of the academic painter David, but is
more likely to have been a pandering to the national worship of Napoleon
and the French Empire. It seemed to have been the universal desire to
make everything echo or reflect in some measure the glory of the Emperor
Napoleon I. The meanest thing had some symbol or allusion by the way of
decoration that should remind everybody of the greatness of the new
monarch and of the French Empire, and consequently the heavy and
ponderous style of that period was known as the “Empire Style.” The
furniture of the Empire was usually made in mahogany, decorated with
mountings in brass or bronze, of sphinxes, griffins, Roman emblems, and
antique scrollery (Fig. 255).
[Illustration: Fig. 257—Lacquered Boxes; Sindh. (B.)]
Percier and Fontaine are names of French cabinet-makers and designers
who worked in the Empire style, and who published a book of their
designs.
[Illustration: Fig. 258.—Lacquered Leg of Bedpost; Sindh. (B.)]
In England the style was copied, and we find that endless imitations of
the French fashion in tables, sofas, chairs, cabinets, and clocks were
designed after the same antique ideals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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