Illus. 191.—Sheraton Chair.
Hepplewhite in turn was superseded by Sheraton, whose book of designs was published in 1791, only two years later than Hepplewhite’s; but that short time sufficed for Sheraton to say that “this book [Hepplewhite’s] has already caught the decline”; while he asserted of Chippendale’s designs, that “they are now wholly antiquated and laid aside, though possessed of great merit, according to the times in which they were executed.”
Sheraton’s chairs retained many of Hepplewhite’s characteristics, but the great difference between them lay in the construction of the back, which it was Sheraton’s aim to strengthen. His chairs, except in rare cases, do not have the heart or shield shaped back, which distinctly marks Hepplewhite chairs, but the back is rectangular in shape, the top rail being curved, straight, or with a raised piece in the centre, corresponding to the piece in the middle of the back. A rail extends across the back a few inches above the seat, and the splat or spindles end in this rail, and never extend to the seat.
Illus. 192.—Sheraton Chairs.
Sheraton’s designs show chairs with carved, twisted, reeded, or plain legs. The best Sheraton chairs found in this country usually have straight legs, slightly smaller than those upon the straight-legged Chippendale chairs. The tapering, reeded leg, which is characteristic of Sheraton, is not found so often upon his chairs as upon other pieces of furniture.
Illus. 193.—Sheraton Chair.———Illus. 194.—Sheraton Chair.
The chair in Illustration [191] is owned by the Misses Nichols of Salem, and it was brought with its mates to furnish the house built by McIntire in 1783. The chairs were imported, and as the back is precisely like one of Sheraton’s designs in his book, they may have been made by him, before the book was published in 1791.