Chippendale, Thomas

SUBJECT AREA: Domestic appliances and interiors

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baptized 5 June 1718 Otley, Yorkshire, England

d. 13 November 1779 London, England

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English cabinet-maker who published the first comprehensive book of furniture.

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Thomas Chippendale was the son of a carpenter. The business that he set up in London was so well established by 1753 that he was able to move to larger premises—a workshop, timberyard and shop—in the furniture-making centre of London, at 60–62 St Martin's Lane. In 1754 he published his folio work The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, which contained illustrations of every conceivable type of furniture. No previously published book was as comprehensive. The Director, as it came to be called, made Chippendale famous and he became the best known of all such English craftsmen and designers. Further editions of the book followed in 1755 and 1762.

Stylistically most of the furniture designs in the Director followed the contemporary rococo fashion, but a number followed other popular themes such as the so-called "literary Gothic" and chinoiserie. Indeed, the Chinese versions became so well known that such furniture became known as "Chinese Chippendale". Chippendale's later work was more neo-classical, much of it produced at the request of Robert Adam for the many great houses whose interiors he was re-designing in the 1760s and 1770s.

From a technical viewpoint, Chippendale's furniture was made from a variety of woods and incorporated diverse decoration. Mahogany was the fashionable wood of the age, particularly during the middle years of the eighteenth century, and lent itself especially to the fine and elaborate carving that characterized Chippendale's intricate chair and settee backs. By the later 1760s other woods were also often in use, sometimes gilded and turned, sometimes inlaid with materials such as ivory or ceramic plaques and fine ormolu mounts. Later still, painted designs were applied to panel surfaces. Alternatively, a delicate form of marquetry had been fashionably revived.

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Further Reading

C.Gilbert, 1972, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale : Studio Vista.

1986, Dictionary of English Furniture-Makers, The Furniture History Society and W.F. Maney.

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