Illus. 189.—Hepplewhite Chair.
A specialty of Hepplewhite’s was what he terms “a very elegant fashion.” The chair-backs were finished with painted or japanned work. This was not the lacquering which had been fashionable during the first half of the eighteenth century, with Chinese figures, but it was a process of coating the chairs with a sort of lacquer varnish, and then painting them in gold or colors upon a black ground.
Illus. 190.—Hepplewhite Chair.
Haircloth was used for the seats of chairs; the edges were finished with brass-headed nails, arranged sometimes to simulate festoons, as in Illustration [191].
A Hepplewhite chair with a back of quite a different design from the examples described previously, is shown in Illustration [189]. The back is heart-shaped, and the ornamentation is of inlaying in light and dark wood. This chair is one of four in the Poore collection at Indian Hill. They formed a part of the set bought by Washington for Mount Vernon, and were in use there at the time of his death.
A chair owned by Miss Mary Coates of Philadelphia is shown in Illustration [190]. The characteristic bell-flower is carved in the middle of the back of this chair.
