“To unite elegance and utility, and blend the useful with the agreeable, has ever been considered a difficult, but an honourable task.
“It may be allowable to say, we have exerted our utmost endeavours to produce a work which shall be useful to the mechanic, and serviceable to the gentleman. With this view, after having fixed upon such articles as were necessary to a complete suit of furniture, our judgment was called forth in selecting such patterns as were most likely to be of general use—in choosing such points of view as would show them most distinctly—and in exhibiting such fashions as were necessary to answer the end proposed, and convey a just idea of English taste in furniture for houses.
“English taste and workmanship have, of late years, been much sought for by surrounding nations; and the mutability of all things, but more especially of fashions, has rendered the labours of our predecessors in this line of little use: nay, at this day, they can only tend to mislead those Foreigners, who seek a knowledge of the English taste in the various articles of household furniture.
PLATE LIV
“The same reason, in favour of this work, will apply also to many of our own Countrymen and Artisans, whose distance from the metropolis makes even an imperfect knowledge of its improvements acquired with much trouble and expense. Our labours will, we hope, tend to remove this difficulty; and as our idea of the useful was such articles as are generally serviceable in genteel life, we flatter ourselves the labour and pains we have bestowed on this work will not be considered as time uselessly spent.
“To Residents in London, though our drawings are all new, yet, as we designedly followed the latest or most prevailing fashion only, purposely omitting such articles whose recommendation was mere novelty, and perhaps a violation of all established rule, the production of whim at the instance of caprice, whose appetite must ever suffer disappointment if any similar thing had been previously thought of; we say, having regularly avoided those fancies, and steadily adhered to such articles only as are of general use and service, our principal hope for favour and encouragement will be, in having combined near three hundred different patterns for furniture in so small a space, and at so small a price. In this instance we hope for reward; and though we lay no claim to extraordinary merit in our designs, we flatter ourselves they will be found serviceable to young workmen in general and occasionally to more experienced ones.”
From the above quotation, it will be noticed that the firm of Heppelwhite and Company eschews extravagant designs, and aims to represent at the same time what is newest and most fashionable. We see, too, that previous publications sold, such as Chippendale’s, Ince and Mayhew’s, Edwards and Darly’s, and others that we have mentioned, are considered entirely out of date.
As far as Heppelwhite is concerned, neither the Chinese nor Gothic style ever existed. The straight line is insisted upon, and he prefers to any other the tapering and slender “term” leg ending in the “spade” foot. (See full drawings on Plates [LIV.], [LV.], [LVI.], and [LVII.], and Nos. 2 and 3 on Plate [LIV.]) The legs are frequently inlaid with the husk, or bell-flower, in satin-wood. His favourite ornamentations, whether carved, inlaid, or painted and japanned, are the bell-flower in swags and chutes, the lotus, the rosette, the acanthus, the shell, the urn with and without drapery, and the three feathers of the Prince of Wales’s crest. (See Plate [LVI.], Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8.) The brass-headed nail is always used for fastening the material to the frames of his seats. These are always placed close together, and are sometimes arranged in the form of festoons, or scallops, around the seat. The stripe is his favourite design for coverings. The festoon and the ornamental tassel he greatly admires.
The Heppelwhite chair has attained great fame. Generally speaking, its proportions are as follows: height, 3 feet, 1 inch; height to seat frame, 17 inches; depth of seat, 17 inches; and width of seat in front, 20 inches. Many chairs, however, are recommended to be made “according to the size of the room or pleasure of the purchaser.” For coverings of drawing-room chairs, such as Nos. 1, 5 and 8 on Plate [LVI.], silks and satins of light colours with printed oval medallions, or floral designs were used, and more particularly stripes, which were becoming more and more fashionable in France. Blue, or red, morocco leather, put on with ornamental brass nails, is another popular method of upholstering these articles. One of Heppelwhite’s instructions is that “leather backs or seats should be tied down with tassels, of silk or thread.” For the open back and carved chair, such as Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 on Plate [LVI.] silk, satin, and leather are used, and horsehair, figured, checked, plain, or striped, is also popular.