Ornate as his designs are, it will be noticed in the above Preface that Chippendale thinks further “enrichment” will add to the beauty of every design.
It will also be noticed that the descriptions of his plates contain very few references to mahogany. He far prefers furniture made of soft wood japanned in any colour, with the ornamental parts heavily gilt, and carved and gilt frames, to sombre walnut or mahogany. Rosewood he likes very much, but brightens it with gilt ornaments. Chippendale’s taste is very gay, even fantastic, and a room furnished and decorated by him must have been exceedingly brilliant.
Many of his plates were engraved by M. Darly, who lived in Paris in the first half of the Eighteenth Century; and some people think that Darly is responsible for all of Chippendale’s designs.
Whether Chippendale was ever in Paris or not, makes little difference: he knew the contemporary designs and he was saturated with the flavour of the Louis XV. taste. For instance, he was so familiar with Meissonier, that he quietly appropriated some of his designs and issued them in his book with little change as his own conceptions, without a word of acknowledgment. One of these, Chippendale labels “French chair,” but this is really a chair designed by Meissonier for Madame de Brezenval in 1735, the only change being a little extra carving. Another theft of Chippendale’s is a “sofa for a grand apartment.” The original was a canapé designed by Meissonier for the Grand Marshal of Poland, also in 1735. Chippendale put cushions upon the arms and added a little more carving,—and described it as follows:
“A Design of a Sofa for a grand Apartment, and will require Great Care in the Execution, to make the several Parts come in such a Manner that all the Ornaments join without the least Fault; and if the Embossments all along are rightly managed, and gilt with burnished Gold, the whole will have a noble appearance. The carving at the Top is the Emblem of Watchfulness, Assiduity and Rest. The Pillows and Cushions must not be omitted, though they are not in the Design. The dimensions are 9 feet long without the scrolls; the broadest part of the Seat from Front to Back 2 feet 6 inches; the Height of the Back from the Seat, 3 feet, 6 inches, and the Height of the Seat 1 foot 2 inches without Casters. I would advise the workman to make a model of it at large before he begins to execute it.” The massive frame is carved with shells, and on the top rail in a cloud is seated a Cupid with his arm in the strap of a buckler. Two large birds are carved below him on either side in the centre of the sweeping curves and near them are bunches of flowers. The arms are carved, and upholstered in a silk or damask the pattern of which is a combination of flowers and large scrolls. One of the arms ends in a grotesque head,—a kind of gnome with a long peaked beard.
PLATE XXXVIII
Neither does Chippendale scruple to avail himself of one of Meissonier’s trophies consisting of a hunting-horn, stag’s head, gun and net, designed for the King’s portrait and the Royal Hunt; and Meissonier’s Livre de Légumes and Livre d’Ornements have been attentively studied for the shell-work, fountains, balconies, balustrades, swags of bell-flowers and laurel, colonnades, flowers, acanthus leaves, fruits, animals, birds, human beings, dripping water, cascades, feathers, flags, scrolls, musical instruments, fragmentary peristyle effects, implements, weapons, vegetables, icicles and spiky effects.
The japanning and lacquering that Chippendale so frequently recommends is doubtless inspired by the Vernis Martin; and all the gilded ornaments, handles, shoes for legs of his pieces, from the French or moulu work.
Let us first examine the beds. We find “Dome Beds,” “Canopy Beds,” “Gothic beds,” “Chinese Beds,” “Field” and “Tent Beds,” and “Couch” and “Sofa Beds,” besides numerous designs for “Bed Posts” and “Cornices.” His four-post bedsteads are, as a rule, 7 feet, 6 inches high; 6 feet, 4 inches high; and 5 feet wide. The canopy is generally surmounted by a carved cornice furnished with an intricate arrangement of laths and pulleys by which the curtains are drawn up. As the curtains and valances are sometimes required to fall in symmetrical festoons and loops when drawn up, the mechanical devices require detailed description. In one “Gothic Bed with a drapery curtain,” the four posts of which are “made into eight cants and indented,” has pullies fixed at each corner to draw up the curtains. This bed appears as No. 2 on Plate [XXXVIII.]