The width of the square leg was 2½ inches, seat front rail, 1 foot, 10 inches; back of seat, 19 inches, depth, 17½; height of back, 19½ inches. Another leg, 1½ inches wide; 17 inches high; (or 2½ if carved in open-work fret) front seat rail, 22½ inches; back of seat, 19 inches; depth, 17 inches; height of back from seat, 20 inches.
Four plates give “eight different designs of French Elbow Chairs, of various patterns, which I hope will be of great use, if properly applied. Some of those chairs are design’d to be open below at the seat, which greatly lightens them, and has no ill effect. The common sizes are as follows: 2 foot, 3 inches in front, 1 foot, 11 inches over behind; 1 foot, 10 inches from the front of the back to the front of the seat rail. The seat is 1 foot, 2½ inches high; the height of the back, from the seat, is 2 feet, 3 inches; but those dimensions differ according as the rooms are larger, or smaller: the ornaments on the backs and seats are in imitation of tapestry, or needlework. The carving may be lessened by an ingenious workman without detriment to the Chair.”
PLATE XL
The full drawing to the reader’s right on Plate [XXXVIII.] shows a Gothic chair. Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are typical chair backs, No. 5 being “Chinese,” as is plainly shown by its fret-work and mandarin hats. Nos. 3 and 4 are the legs of “Chinese chairs,” and No. 9 the leg of a “French chair.”
In not one of Chippendale’s drawings of chairs does the simple ball-and-claw foot occur. In one or two instances, however, there is a lion’s claw, or paw.
We find the straight, square leg; the straight leg carved with a chute of husks and resting on a square base; the cabriole leg, ending in a kind of scroll and resting upon a leaf; a leg resting upon a shell; a leg formed of a bunch of reeds wrapped with a ribbon; a leg ending in a hoof, with a ram’s head carved on the spring of the cabriole knee, a lion’s claw holding a very flat ball; and a leg upon which a curious sort of wingless dragon is crawling. (See Plate [XXXVIII.], No. 9.)
Another leg shows a dolphin’s tail gracefully carved upon a cabriole curve, while his head is used for the foot. In another chair the dolphin’s tail is used for the foot. Fret-work is used in the Gothic and Chinese designs.
The Chinamania had by no means subsided in Chippendale’s day. The case or shelf full of choice bits of porcelain was to be met with in many rooms, and always in the lady’s boudoir and dressing-room. In Chippendale’s first book, a number of china cases, Chinese cases, Chinese hanging shelves and Chinese shelves standing on feet appear, and even one labelled “India cabinet” shows the same style of treatment, which is, of course, either fret-work or a conglomeration of pagodas, mandarin hats, Chinese figures, bells and turned-up edges mingled with leaves and scrolls and dripping water. In the first edition of Chippendale’s book (Plates CV., CVI., CVII., CVIII. and CIX.) are china cases. “The latter,” he says, “is a very neat china case upon a frame, with glass doors in the front and ends; betwixt the middle feet is a stretcher, with a little canopy which will hold a small figure. This design must be executed by the hands of an ingenious workman, and when neatly japann’d will appear very beautiful.” This is the china case that is shown on Plate [XXXVIII.], and is dated 1753. The glass doors are enriched with ornate vines thick with leaves and flowers and dripping water. The ornaments of the top and sides are decorated with little bells, and there is a generous use of fret-work. Plate CX. of the first edition also shows a “china case with glass doors;” and Plate CXI. another, of which Chippendale seems to be very proud. He says it is “not only the richest and most magnificent in the whole, but perhaps in all Europe. I had a particular pleasure in retouching and finishing this design, but should have much more in the execution of it, as I am confident I can make the work more beautiful and striking than the drawing. The proportion and harmony of the several parts will then be view’d with advantage and reflect mutual beauty upon each other. The ornaments will appear more natural and graceful, and the whole construction will be so much improv’d under the ingenious hand of a workman as to make it fit to adorn the most elegant apartment.”
