easy wood projects
MAKING THE CHIPPENDALE MIRROR
Although not a reproduction of any specific eighteenth-
century original, this mirror does evoke a number of Chip-
pendale designs.
Begin construction with the scrollwork background.
After the pieces have been band sawn and sanded, assemble
them with butt joints and hold in place with a pair of
cleats which are glued and screwed across the back of the
scrollwork. At that time, take measurements for the large
moulding which lifts and presents the glass.
CHIPPENDALE
What are the characteristics of Chippendale furniture?
In the strictest sense, the only furniture that can be
identified as Chippendale is that to which Thomas Chip-
pendale, the English carver and designer actually applied
his tools. But there are few such pieces and many that
are commonly (and usefully) referred to as Chippendale.
Another approach reserves the Chippendale name for
those pieces that are exact representations of his pub-
lished drawings. But this, too, is very limiting, particu-
larly when discussing furniture made in North America.
While there are a handful of American-made pieces
which accurately represent specific Chippendale designs,
the overwhelming majority of American-made Chippen-
dale furniture does not—for some very good reasons.
Thomas Chippendale, George Hepplewhite and
Thomas Sheraton—the English designers whose seminal
books inspired much American period furniture—all
designed for a different market than that served by most
American craftsmen of the day. Many of the English
designs were intended for placement in grand English
homes and included, therefore, elaborate ornamentation
that was inappropriate for less palatial American settings
(and perhaps for less effete American sensibilities).
This doesnt mean that discriminating American buy-
ers werent concerned about the appearance of their
furniture. Clearly they were, but what those buyers
wanted was furniture that not only looked good but was
also, and most importantly, useful. They wanted storage,
serving surfaces, beds. In short, they wanted furniture
in which function and form were more fully integrated.
To address this desire on the part of their customers,
American designers/craftsmen reinterpreted the forms
presented in the books of the English designers, restrain-
ing the decorative excesses of the originals, focusing on
the usefulness of their furniture in the homes of their
customers.
This makes stylistic attribution a slippery business.
Even though almost all high-style American furniture
of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
exhibits characteristics of Chippendale, Hepplewhite
and Sheraton designs, very little actually represents any
specific published drawings. Further complicating the
business of stylistic attribution is the fact that many
pieces exhibit characteristics of more than one style. A
sideboard might have a spade foot (a Hepplewhite signa-
ture) and a gallery of turned spindles (associated with
Sheratons designs). A chair might have a balloon back
and solid splat (Queen Anne) and ball-and-claw feet
(Chippendale).
In the hands of a skilled craftsman, such blending is
unimportant. A well-designed chair is a well-designed
chair whatever the origins of its iconography.
But for the student of furniture, it can be useful to
look at this matter of stylistic attribution—not to fasten
a particular label on a particular piece but in order to
reflect on the American designer/craftsmans handling
of the forms and motifs with which he worked.
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