The legs of Heppelwhite’s chairs are almost always tapering and square in sections and end in a spade foot. The proportions of these chairs give an effect of extreme elegance and refinement. They seem almost fragile; but the material is disposed with such skill and the workmanship is so excellent that in reality they are far stronger than might appear.
EXAMPLES OF HEPPELWHITE CHAIRS
From the time of the Middle Ages the buffet has existed as an important article of furniture; but to Heppelwhite is due the credit of perfecting the sideboard in its present English form. He combined the pedestal cellaret and side table of Robert Adam in one structure, and effected a union of utility with elegance, which he executed in many pleasing designs of bow and serpentine front.
To Heppelwhite we must also give credit for the most refined and tasteful use of inlay and of veneers to be found in English furniture. On the doors of wardrobes and on the front of drawers he employed veneers of the beautiful curl mahogany that came into favor about 1760, and on the front of his solid mahogany tables, sideboards, and bookcases he substituted for carving the inlay of low-toned colored woods in the form of lines and narrow bands and other ornamental motives.
HEPPELWHITE COMMODE
SHERATON—THE PURIST
The last of the three great cabinetmakers represents the culmination of the classic spirit derived both from the brothers Adam and the French Louis XVI style. Sheraton’s productions, or rather his designs, depicted in the “Cabinet-maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing-Book,” have little of the vigor and strength of Chippendale’s work; but they are always characterized by delicacy and refinement.
