What is sound of the reputation that Chippendale has earned, however, apart from the excellence of his workmanship, lies in the furniture coming under the last head of our division--in pieces wherein we find the decoration applied, a little lavishly it is true, with a certain admixture of straight lines and plain surfaces with which to contrast it. In these, members otherwise square and straight are enriched with delicate and shallow sunk carved work, sometimes based on geometrical patterns. The backs of chairs, although consisting of curved forms, have commonly a rectilinear disposition of the principal lines, and the curvatures of the constructional members are so subtle and restrained that the impression of strong wooden construction is not wholly destroyed. The supporting members, such as legs of tables and chairs, are often kept straight, and the carving, where applied, is kept so shallow that it does not interfere with the apparent or real capacity of the parts for the function for which they are designed. In appraising his merits it must always be remembered that Chippendale was pre-eminently a _carver_; and as a carver producing work applied to objects of utility he holds an unchallenged position. [Illustration: PLATE XLI CHIPPENDALE CHAIRS] Mr. K. Warren Clouston, describing the work of this period (_The Architectural Record_, Vol. VIII.), says: "Chippendale, above all things, was a chairmaker, and his chairs are full of variety, at first with the high back, cabriole leg and claw-and-ball foot of the so-called Dutch taste; then rising to lighter fancies, either with vase-shaped ornament, flowing ribbon bows, interlacing frets of Gothic tracery. But what matters it whether the rococo ornament then prevailing on the continent, the Chinese leanings of Sir William Chambers, or Strawberry Hill Gothic were adopted, when the different sources are blended in one harmonious whole? We give Chippendale the first place simply from his book, for the squat backs and ungainly chairs of Manwaring and the Society of Upholsterers, and the badly designed seats of Ince and Mayhew only serve to accentuate the work of the master hand." [Illustration]