Chapter VI: , where specimens of this kind of work are (3)

The highest art of concealment was not a prominent feature in a Court which adopted its style from the caprices of Madame du Pompadour or the whims of Madame du Barry. But among the finest productions are the splendid pieces of reticent cabinetmaking by the celebrated Jean Francois Oeben, who came from Holland. His preference was for geometrical patterns, varied only with the sparing use of flowers, in producing his most delicate marquetry. In the pieces by Boule and others, not in tortoiseshell but in wood inlay, the wood was so displayed as to exhibit in the panels the grain radiating from the centre. Oeben did not forget this principle, and placed his bouquets of flowers, when, on occasion, he used them, in the centre of his panels, and filled up the panel with geometric design.

Of tulip-wood and sycamore, inlaid with landscapes in coloured woods.

Formerly in the possession of Queen Marie Antoinette.

(_Jones Bequest: Victoria and Albert Museum._)]

The well-known maker, Charles Cressent (1685-1768), used rosewood, violet, and amaranth woods in his marquetry, and at this time many new foreign woods were employed by the cabinetmakers in France and Italy. In addition to woods of a natural colour, it was the practice artificially to colour light woods, and inlay work was attempted in which trophies of war, musical instruments, or the shepherd's crook hung with ribbon, were all worked out in marquetry. Pictures, in coloured woods, in imitation of oil paintings on canvas, were foolishly attempted, and altogether the art of inlay, ingenious and wonderful in its construction, began to affect trivialities and surprising effects most unsuited to the range of its technique.

In the toilet-table illustrated (p. 179), this misapplication of inlay to reproduce pictures is seen on the three front panels and on the middle panel above. The chief woods employed are tulip and sycamore, inlaid with tinted lime, holly, and cherry-woods. The mountings of the table are chased ormolu. The cylindrical front encloses drawers with inlaid fronts. Beneath this is a sliding shelf, under which is a drawer with three compartments, fitted with toilet requisites and having inlaid lids. This specimen of Louis Quinze work is in the Jones Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was formerly in the possession of Queen Marie Antoinette. It is attributed to Oeben, though from comparison with some of the chaster work known to have come from his hand it would seem to be of too fanciful marquetry for his restrained and sober style.

It is especially true of the furniture of this great French period that it requires harmonious surroundings. The slightest false touch throws everything out of balance at once. Of this fact the inventors were well aware. If Dutch furniture requires the quiet, restful art of Cuyp or Van der Neer, or Metzu or Jan Steen on the surrounding walls, the interiors of Louis Quinze demand the works of contemporary French genre-painters.

By Riesener, in his earlier manner.

IN TRANSITIONAL STYLE, APPROACHING LOUIS SEIZE PERIOD.

(_Wallace Collection._)]

All things worked together to produce a harmonious _ensemble_ in this brilliant period. The royal tapestry and Sevres porcelain factories turned out their most beautiful productions to decorate rooms, furniture, and for the table. Tapestries from Beauvais, Gobelins, and Aubusson, rich silks from the looms of Lyons, or from Lucca, Genoa, or Venice were made for wall-hangings, for chair-backs, for seats, and for sofas.

Fragonard, Natoire, and Boucher painted lunettes over chimney-fronts, or panels of ceilings. Of great cabinetmakers, Riesener and David Roentgen, princes among _ebenistes_, worked in wonderful manner in tulip-wood, in holly, in rosewood, purple wood, and laburnum to produce marquetry, the like of which has never been seen before nor since.

Associated with the period of Louis XV. is the love for the lacquered panel. Huygens, a Dutchman, had achieved good results in imitations of Oriental lacquer, which in France, under the hand of Martin, a carriage-painter, born about 1706, rivalled the importations from Japan. It is stated that the secret of the fine, transparent lac polish that he used was obtained from the missionaries who resided in Japan before the date of the massacres and foreign expulsion of all except the Dutch traders. Vernis-Martin, as his varnish was termed, became in general request. From 1744 for twenty years, Sieur Simon Etienne Martin was granted a monopoly to manufacture this lacquered work in the Oriental style. Although he declared that his secret would die with him, other members of his family continued the style, which was taken up by many imitators in the next reign. His varnish had a peculiar limpid transparency, and he obtained the wavy network of gold groundwork so successfully produced by Japanese and Chinese craftsmen. On this were delicately painted, by Boucher and other artists, Arcadian subjects, framed in rocaille style with gold thickly laid on, and so pure that in the bronze gilding and in the woodwork it maintains its fine lustre to the present day.

THE "BUREAU DU ROI."

THE MASTERPIECE OF RIESENER.

(From a drawing by Walter Eassie.)

(_Wallace Collection._)]

Towards the close of the reign of Louis XV. a new style set in, which reverted to simpler tastes, to which the name "_A la reine_" was given, in deference to the taste which is supposed to have emanated from Marie Leczinska, the queen, but is said to have been due to Madame du Pompadour.

At the Wallace Collection is a fine secretaire, with the mounts and ornaments of gilt bronze cast and chased, which is illustrated (p. 181). The central panel of marquetry shows, in life size, a cock, with the caduceus, a snake, a banner, and symbolical instruments. It is by Jean Francois Riesener, and in his earliest manner, made in the later years of Louis Quinze in the Transitional style approaching the Louis Seize period.

Among the wonderful creations of Riesener, probably his masterpiece is the celebrated "Bureau du Roi," begun in 1760 by Oeben, and completed in 1769 by Riesener--who married the widow of Oeben, by the way. Its bronzes are by Duplesis, Winant, and Hervieux. The design and details show the transition between the Louis Quinze and the Louis Seize styles.

The original, which is at the Louvre, is in marquetry of various coloured woods and adorned by plaques of gilt bronze, cast and chased. The copy from which our illustration is taken (p. 183) is in the Wallace Collection, and is by Dasson, and follows the original in proportions, design, and technique.

RECENT SALE PRICES.[1]

L s. d.
Table, Louis XV., oblong, the legs are cabriole, it
contains one drawer and a writing-slide; around the
sides are inlaid panels of old Japanese lacquer, each
panel bordered by elaborate scrollwork of chased
ormolu, signed with "B. V. R. B.," surmounted by a slab
of white marble, 39 in. wide. Christie, December 18,
1903 1900 0 0

Writing-table, Louis XV., marquetry, with sliding top and
drawer, fitted with movable writing slab, compartment
for ink-vases, &c., signed "L. Doudin," Louis XV. form,
with cabriole legs, the top decorated with scrolls
forming panels, the centre one containing a Teniers
figure subject, parquetry and inlays of flowers round
the sides, corner mounts, &c., of ormolu, cast and
chased, 30 in. wide. Christie, March 18, 1904 630 0 0

Cartonniere, Louis XV., of inlaid tulip-wood, containing a
clock by Palanson, a Paris, mounted with Chinese
figures, masks, foliage and scrolls of chased ormolu,
48 in. high, 36 in. wide. Christie, April 22, 1904 409 10 0

Secretaires, pair, Louis XV., small marquetry, with
fall-down front, drawer above and door below, inlaid
with branches of flowers, and mounted with chased
ormolu, surmounted by white marble slabs, 46 in. high,
22 in. wide. Christie, April 29, 1904 46 4 0

Cabinet, Louis XV., parquetry, with folding doors enclosing
drawers, mounted with ormolu, surmounted by a Brescia
marble slab, 30 in. high, 44 in. wide. Christie, April
29, 1904 31 10 0

Bergeres, pair of Louis XV., corner-shaped, the frames of
carved and gilt wood, the seats and backs covered with
old Beauvais tapestry. Christie, May 18, 1904 420 0 0

Settee, Louis XV., oblong, of carved and gilt-wood, covered
with panels of old Beauvais tapestry, 3 ft. 8 in. wide.
Christie, May 18, 1904 231 0 0

Canape, Louis XV., of carved and gilt wood, the borders
carved with acanthus scrolls, the seat and back covered
with old Beauvais silk tapestry, decorated, 4 ft. 6 in.
wide. Christie, May 18, 1904 420 0 0

[1] By the kindness of the proprietors of the _Connoisseur_ these items are given from their useful monthly publication, _Auction Sale Prices_.

VIII

FRENCH FURNITURE. THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XVI

VIII

FRENCH FURNITURE. THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XVI

Louis XVI. 1774-1793.

1730-1806. Riesener, _ebeniste_ to Marie Antoinette (born near
Cologne).

1789. Commencement of the French Revolution.

The so-called Louis Seize period embraces much that is good from the later days of the previous reign. The same designers were employed with the addition of a few younger men. Caffieri and Riesener were producing excellent work, and above all was Gouthiere, whose renown as a founder and chaser of gilded bronze ornaments is unrivalled. Elegance and simplicity are again the prevailing notes. Straight lines took the place of the twisted contortions of the rococo style. Thin scrolls, garlands, ribbons and knots, classical cameo-shaped panels, and Sevres plaques form the characteristic ornamentation.

The acanthus-leaf, distorted into unnatural proportions in the middle Louis Quinze period, returned to its normal shape, the egg-and-tongue moulding came into use, and the delicacy of the laurel-leaf was employed in design in Louis Seize decorations.

In the jewel cabinet illustrated (p. 193), the new style is shown at its best. The cabinet is inlaid in rosewood and sycamore, and bears the name of "J. H. Riesener" stamped on it. The chased ormolu mounts are by Gouthiere. The geometrical inlay is a tradition which Oeben left to his successors. The upper portion has a rising lid with internal trays. In the lower part is a drawer and a shelf. This piece is at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the Jones Bequest, and it is well worth detailed examination as being a representative specimen of the most artistic work produced at this period.

Pierre Gouthiere had a complete mastery over his technique. The estimation with which his work is regarded has made furniture which he mounted bring extraordinary prices. In 1882, at the dispersal of the celebrated Hamilton Palace Collection, three specimens with his workmanship realised L30,000.

The Vernis-Martin panels were decorated by Watteau and Pater. The age of artificialities with its _fetes-galantes_ in the royal gardens of the Luxembourg and in the pleasure parks of the Court, with the ill-starred Marie Antoinette playing at shepherds and shepherdesses, had its influence upon art. Watteau employed his brush to daintily paint the attitudes of _Le Lorgneur_ upon a fan-mount, or to depict elegantly dressed noblemen and ladies of the Court dancing elaborate minuets in satin shoes, or feasting from exquisite Sevres porcelain dishes in the damp corner of some park or old chateau.

Inlaid in rose and sycamore woods. Stamped "J. H. Riesener." Chased Ormolu mountings by Gouthiere.

(_Jones Bequest. Victoria and Albert Museum._)]

The artificial pretence at Arcadian simplicity adopted by the Queen, in the intervals between her attendance at public _bals-masque_, when she almost wantonly outraged the susceptibilities of the French people by her frivolities, found a more permanent form in interior decorations. Riesener and David designed a great deal of furniture for her. Dainty work-tables and writing-tables and other furniture of an elegant description are preserved in the national collection in the Louvre and at Fontainebleau, in the Victoria and Albert Museum in the Jones Bequest, and in the Wallace Collection. Tables of this nature are most eagerly sought after. A small table with plaques of porcelain in the side panels, which is said to have belonged to Marie Antoinette, was sold at Christie's for L6,000 (Hamilton Collection). There is a similar writing-table in the Jones Collection, given by Marie Antoinette to Mrs. Eden, afterwards Lady Auckland.

During the period under Louis Seize, when Fragonard and Natoire deftly painted the panels of rooms and filled ceilings with flying cupids and chains of roses, when Boucher was Director of the Academy, the interior of rooms assumed a boudoir-like appearance. The walls were decorated in a scheme of colour. Handsome fluted pillars with fine classic feeling were the framework of panelling painted in delicate and subdued tones. Oval mirrors, avoiding all massive construction, lightened the effect, and mantelpieces of white marble, and furniture evidently designed for use, completed the interiors of the homes of the _grands seigneurs_. Sometimes the walls were painted, giving a lustrous appearance resembling silk, and this style is the forerunner of the modern abomination known as wall-paper.

Before leaving this period of French furniture, when so much marquetry work was done of unsurpassed beauty and of unrivalled technique, a word may be said as to the number of woods used. Oeben and Riesener and their contemporaries used many foreign woods, of which the names are unfamiliar. Mr. Pollen, in his "South Kensington Museum Handbook to Furniture and Woodwork," has given the names of some of them, which are interesting as showing the number of woods especially selected for this artistic cabinetmaking. Tulip-wood is the variety known as _Liriodendron tulipifera_. Rosewood was extensively used, and holly (_ilex aquifolium_), maple (_acer campestre_), laburnum (_cytisus Alpinus_), and purple wood (_copaifera pubiflora_). Snake-wood was frequently used, and other kinds of light-brown wood in which the natural grain is waved or curled, presenting a pleasant appearance, and obviating the use of marquetry (_see_ "Woods used," p. 29).

In the great collections to which reference has been made, in well-known pieces made by Riesener his name is found stamped on the panel itself, or sometimes on the oak lining. The large bureau in the Wallace Collection (Gallery xvi., No. 66) is both signed and dated "20th February, 1769." This piece, it is said, was ordered by Stanislas Leczinski, King of Poland, and was once one of the possessions of the Crown of France.

LOUIS XVI. RIESENER COMMODE.]

With regard to the cost of pieces of furniture by the great master _ebenistes_, it is on record that a secretaire which was exhibited at Gore House in 1853, and made originally for Beaumarchais by Riesener, cost 85,000 francs, a sum not much less than L4,000. Celebrated copies have been made from these old models. The famous cabinet with mounts by Gouthiere, now in the possession of the King, was copied about twenty-five years ago for the Marquis of Hertford, by permission of Queen Victoria. The piece took years to complete, and it is interesting to have the evidence of its copyists that the most difficult parts to imitate were the metal mounts. This replica cost some L3,000, and is now in the Wallace Collection. The copy of the famous bureau or escritoire in the Louvre, known as the "Bureau de St. Cloud," was made by permission of the Emperor Napoleon III., and cost L2,000. Another copy of the same piece exhibited at the French International Exhibition was sold for L3,500 to an English peeress. Many fine copies of Riesener's work exist, and in the illustration (p. 197) a copy is given of a handsome commode, which exhibits his best style under the influence of his master, Oeben.

RECENT SALE PRICES.[1]

L s. d.
Cabinets, pair of Louis XVI., dwarf ebony, the panels inlaid
with black and gold lacquer, decorated with birds and
trees in the Chinese taste, mounted with foliage borders
of chased ormolu, and surmounted by veined black marble
slabs, 45 in. high, 35 in. wide. Christie, November 20,
1903 39 18 0

Suite of Louis XVI. furniture, with fluted borders and legs,
painted white and pale green, the seats, backs, and arms
covered with old Beauvais tapestry, with vases and
festoons of flowers and conventional arabesques in
poly-chrome, on white ground in pale green borders,
consisting of an oblong settee, 72 in. wide, eight
fauteuils. Christie, December 18, 1903 1470 0 0

Secretaire, Louis XVI., upright marquetry, with fall-down }
front, drawer above, and folding doors below, inlaid }
with hunting trophies on trellis-pattern ground, mounted}
with foliage, friezes, and corner mounts of chased }
ormolu, and surmounted by a Breccia marble slab, stamped}
"J. Stumpff. 315 0 0 Me.," 56 in. high, 40 in. wide. }
Christie, February 12, 1904 Commode, _en suite_, with }
five drawers, 58 in. wide. Christie, February 12, 1904 }
} 714 0 0
Work-table, Louis XVI., oval, in two tiers, upon a tripod }
stand, with double candle branches above; the top tier }
is composed of a Sevres plaque, painted with sprays of }
roses; around this is a gallery of chased ormolu; the }
second tier is of parquetry, this has also a balcony; }
the tripod base is of mahogany, with mounts of ormolu, }
cast and chased; the nozzles for the two candles above }
are similar in material and decoration, width of top }
tier, 13 in. Christie, March 18, 1904

Table, Louis XVI., marquetry, signed "N. Petit," top inlaid
with musical trophy, &c., mounts, &c., of ormolu, cast
and chased, 30 in. wide. Christie, March 18, 1904 99 15 0

Fauteuils, pair, Louis XVI. (stamped "J. Leglartier"),
tapered oblong backs and curved arms, turned legs, white
and gilt, covered with Beauvais tapestry, with subjects
from "Fables de la Fontaine," and other designs.
Flashman & Co., Dover, April 26, 1904 75 0 0

Console-table, Louis XVI., carved and painted wood, with
fluted legs and stretchers, and open frieze in front,
surmounted by a slab of white marble, 5 ft. 4 in. wide.
Christie, May 6, 1904 46 0 0

Commode, Louis XVI., containing three drawers, in front it
is divided into three rectangular sunk panels of
parquetry, each bordered with mahogany, with ormolu
mounts, surmounted by a slab of fleur-de-peche marble,
57 in. wide. Christie, May 27, 1904 357 0 0

Commode, Louis XVI., stamped with the name of "J. H.
Reisener," with tambour panels in front and drawers at
the top; it is chiefly composed of mahogany, the central
panel inlaid in a coloured marquetry; on either side,
and at the ends, are panels of tulip-wood parquetery,
the whole is mounted with ormolu, surmounted by a slab
of veined marble, 34 in. wide. Christie, May 27, 1904
3150 0 0

[1] By the kindness of the proprietors of the _Connoisseur_ these items are given from their useful monthly publication, _Auction Sale Prices_.

IX

FRENCH FURNITURE. THE FIRST EMPIRE STYLE

(After David.)

Showing Empire settee and footstool.

(_In the Louvre._)]

IX

FRENCH FURNITURE--THE FIRST EMPIRE STYLE

1789. Commencement of French Revolution.

1798. Napoleon's campaign in Egypt.

1805. Napoleon prepares to invade England; Battle of Trafalgar;
French naval power destroyed.

1806. Napoleon issued Berlin Decree to destroy trade of England.

1812. Napoleon invaded Russia, with disastrous retreat from
Moscow.

1814. Napoleon abdicated.

1815. Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

When Louis XVI. called together the States-General in 1789, which had not met since 1614, the first stone was laid of the French Republic. After the king was beheaded in 1793, the Reign of Terror followed, during which the wildest licence prevailed. Under the Directory, for four years from 1795, the country settled down until the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, who took the government in his own hands with the title of Consul, and in 1804 called himself Emperor of the French.

During the Reign of Terror the ruthless fury of a nation under mob-law did not spare the most beautiful objects of art which were associated with a hated aristocracy. Furniture especially suffered, and it is a matter for wonderment that so much escaped destruction. Most of the furniture of the royal palaces was consigned to the spoliation of "the Black Committee," who trafficked in works of great price, and sold to foreign dealers the gems of French art for less than a quarter of their real value. So wanton had become the destruction of magnificent furniture that the Convention, with an eye on the possibilities of raising money in the future, ordered the furniture to be safely stored in the museums of Paris.

After so great a social upheaval, art in her turn was subjected to revolutionary notions. Men cast about to find something new. Art, more than ever, attempted to absorb the old classic spirit. The Revolution was the deathblow to Rococo ornament. With the classic influences came ideas from Egypt, and the excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii provided a further source of design. A detail of a portion of a tripod table found at Pompeii shows the nature of the beautiful furniture discovered.

As early as 1763, Grimm wrote: "For some years past we are beginning to inquire for antique ornaments and forms. The interior and exterior decorations of houses, furniture, materials of dress, work of the goldsmiths, all bear alike the stamp of the Greeks. The fashion passes from architecture to millinery; our ladies have their hair dressed _a la Grecque_." A French translation of Winckelmann appeared in 1765, and Diderot lent his powerful aid in heralding the dawn of the revival of the antique long before the curtain went up on the events of 1789.

Paris in Revolution days assumed the atmosphere of ancient Rome. Children were given Greek and Roman names. Classical things got rather mixed. People called themselves "Romans." Others had Athenian notions. Madame Vigee-Lebrun gave _soupers a la Grecque_. Madame Lebrun was Aspasia, and M. l'Abbe Barthelemy, in a Greek dress with a laurel wreath on his head, recited a Greek poem.

(_At Naples Museum._)]

These, among a thousand other signs of the extraordinary spirit of classicism which possessed France, show how deep rooted had become the idea of a modern Republic that should emulate the fame of Athens and of Rome. The First Consul favoured these ideas, and his portraits represent him with a laurel wreath around his head posing as a Caesar.

SERVANTE.

Marble top; supported on two ormolu legs elaborately chased with figures of Isis. Panelled at back with glass mirror.

FRENCH; LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]

In transition days before the style known as Empire had become fixed there is exhibited in art a feeling which suggests the deliberate search after new forms and new ideas. To this period belongs the _servante_, which, by the kindness of Dr. Sigerson, of Dublin, is reproduced from his collection. The claw-foot, the ram's head, the bay-leaf, and a frequent use of caryatides and animal forms, is a common ornamentation in furniture of the Empire period. In this specimen the two legs of ormolu have these characteristics, and it is noticeable that the shape of the leg and its details of ornament bear a striking resemblance to the leg of the Pompeiian table illustrated (p. 205). But the deities of Egypt have contributed a new feature in the seated figure of the goddess Isis.

Made on the occasion of her marriage with the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1810.

(_At Fontainebleau._)]

Napoleon himself encouraged the classic spirit which killed all memories of an _ancien regime_. He would have been pleased to see all the relics of the former glories of France demolished. He had at one time a project to rebuild Versailles as a classic temple.

At the height of his splendour he became the patron of the fine arts, and attempted to leave his impression upon art as he did upon everything else. New furniture was designed for the Imperial palaces. Riesener was alive, but it does not appear that he took any part in the new creations. David, the great French painter, an ardent Republican, was won over to become a Court painter. At Malmaison and at Fontainebleau there are many fine examples of the First Empire period which, however, cannot be regarded as the most artistic in French furniture. Preserved at Fontainebleau is the jewel cabinet, made by Thomire and Odiot, at the Emperor's orders as a wedding gift, in 1810, to the Empress Marie Louise, in emulation of the celebrated Riesener cabinet at the Trianon. The wood used for this, and for most of the Empire cabinets, is rich mahogany, which affords a splendid ground for the bronze gilt mounts (_see_ p. 207).

The portrait of Madame Recamier, by David, which is in the Louvre, given as headpiece to this chapter, shows the severe style of furniture in use at the zenith of the Empire period. The couch follows classic models, and the tall candelabrum is a suggestion from Herculaneum models.

The influence that this classic revival had upon furniture in this country is told in a subsequent chapter. In regard to costume, the gowns of the First Empire period have become quite fashionable in recent years.

Although this style of furniture degenerated into commonplace designs with affectedly hard outlines, it had a considerable vogue. In addition to the influence it had upon the brothers Adam and upon Sheraton, it left its trace on English furniture up till the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The chair illustrated (p. 210) is about the year 1800 in date. There is presumptive evidence that this chair was made in Bombay after European design. It is of rosewood, carved in relief with honeysuckle and floral design. The scrolled ends of the top rail show at once its French derivation.

In the national collections in this country there are very few specimens of Empire furniture. The Duke of Wellington has some fine examples at Apsley House, treasured relics of its historic associations with the victor of Waterloo. The demand in France, for furniture of the First Empire style has in all probability denuded the open market of many fine specimens. Owing to the fact that this country was at war with France when the style was at its height, the number of Empire pieces imported was very limited, nor does First Empire furniture seem to have greatly captivated the taste of English collectors, as among the records of sales of furniture by public auction very little has come under the hammer.

ARMCHAIR, ROSEWOOD.

Carved in relief with honeysuckle pattern Formerly in possession of the Duke of Newcastle.

ENGLISH; LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]

X

CHIPPENDALE

AND

HIS STYLE

TABLE MADE BY CHIPPENDALE.

(Height, 29-3/8 in.; width, 32-3/8 in.; depth, 21-5/8 in.)]

X

CHIPPENDALE AND HIS STYLE

George I. 1714-1727.
George II. 1727-1760.
George III. 1760-1820.

Horace Walpole built Strawberry Hill (1750)

Sir William Chambers (1726-1796) built Pagoda at Kew about 1760.

Chippendale's _Director_ published (1754).

Thomas Chippendale, the master cabinetmaker of St. Martin's Lane, has left a name which, like that of Boule, has become a trade term to mark a certain style in furniture. With the dawn of the age of mahogany, Chippendale produced designs that were especially adapted to the new wood; he relied solely upon the delicate carving for ornament, and rejected all inlay.

Discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh, who brought specimens home with him, mahogany did not come into general use till about 1720. The material then used by Chippendale and his school was the splendid mahogany from the great untouched forests, producing at that time timber the like of which, in dimension and in quality, is now unprocurable. The cheaper "Honduras stuff" was then unknown, and English crews landed and cut timber from the Spanish possessions in spite of the protests of the owners. Many a stiff fight occurred, and many lives were lost in shipping this stolen mahogany to England to supply the demand for furniture. These nefarious proceedings more than once threatened to bring about war between England and Spain.

The furniture of France, during the four great periods treated in the previous chapters, was designed for the use of the nobility. One wonders what furniture was in common use by the peasantry in France. In England, too, much of the furniture left for the examination of posterity was made for the use of the wealthy classes. In Jacobean days, settles and chairs, especially the Yorkshire and Derbyshire types, were in more common use, and the homely pieces of Queen Anne suggest less luxurious surroundings, but it was left for Chippendale to impress his taste upon all classes. In the title-page of his great work, the _Director_, published in 1754, he says that his designs are "calculated to improve and refine the present taste, and suited to the fancy and circumstances of persons in all degrees of life."

Wood, painted green, with circular seat, carved arms, and high back. Bequeathed by Oliver Goldsmith in 1774 to his friend, Dr. Hawes.

(_Bethnal Green Museum._)]

His book of designs, as may naturally be supposed, was not greatly bought by the working classes, but fifteen copies of the _Director_ went to Yorkshire, and many other copies were subscribed for in other parts of the country, so that local cabinetmakers began at once to fashion their furniture after his styles.

The common form of chair at the time was similar to the specimen illustrated (p. 215), which formerly belonged to Oliver Goldsmith, and was bequeathed by him to his friend, Dr. Hawes. This is of soft wood, probably beech, painted green, with circular seat, curved arms, and high back. Chippendale revolutionised this inartistic style, and for the first time in the history of the manufacture of furniture in England, continental makers turned their eyes to this country in admiration of the style in vogue here, and in search of new designs.

It might appear, on a hasty glance at some of Chippendale's work, that originality was not his strong point. His claw-and-ball feet were not his own, and he borrowed them and the wide, spacious seats of his chairs from the Dutch, or from earlier English furniture under Dutch influence.

CHIPPENDALE SETTEE; WALNUT. ABOUT 1740.

(_From the collection of Sir W. E. Welby-Gregory, Bart._)]

Sir William Chambers, the architect of Somerset House, whose fondness for Chinese ornament produced quite a craze, and who built the Pagoda in Kew Gardens, gave Chippendale another source of inspiration. In his later days he came under the influence of the Gothic revival and was tempted to misuse Gothic ornament.

CHIPPENDALE SETTEE, OAK. ABOUT 1740.

(_By courtesy of V. J. Robinson, Esq., C.I.E._)]

His second style shows the Louis XIV. French decoration in subjection. In his ribbon-back chairs he employed the Louis XVI. ornamentation.

But Chippendale was the most masterly adapter that England has ever produced. His adaptions became original under his hand, and his creations are sturdy and robust, tempered by French subtleties, and having, here and there, as in the fretwork in the chair-legs and angles, a suggestion of the East. He is the prince of chair-makers. His chairs are never unsymmetrical. He knew the exact proportion of ornament that the structure would gracefully bear. The splats in the chairs he made himself are of such accurate dimensions in relation to the open spaces on each side that this touch alone betrays the hand of the master, which is absent in the imitations of his followers.

The illustration given of the Chippendale table in Chinese style (p. 213), is a beautiful and perfect piece of a type rarely met with. It was made by Chippendale for the great-grandmother of the present owner. A similar table was in the possession of the Princess Josephine. In chairs, the back was sometimes of fret-cut work, as was also the design of the legs, with fretwork in the angles, which betray his fondness for the Chinese models. The Gothic style influenced Chippendale only to a slight degree. Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill set the fashion in England, which fortunately was short-lived.

Collectors divide Chippendale's work into three periods. To the first they assign the more solid chairs or settees with cabriole legs and Louis XIV. ornament, harmoniously blended with Queen Anne style. These chairs and settees are often found with claw-and-ball feet, and are frequently of walnut. Two fine examples of settees, the one of oak, the other of walnut, are illustrated.

(_From the "Director."_)]

The second period embraces the fine creations which have the celebrated Louis XVI. ribbon ornamentation in the backs. From one of the designs in Chippendale's book, here illustrated, the elegance of the style is shown. It is exuberant enough, but the author complains in his volume that "In executing many of these drawings, my pencil has but faintly carved out those images my fancy suggested; but in this failure I console myself by reflecting that the greatest masters of every art have laboured under the same difficulties." The ribbon-backed chair illustrated (p. 223) is one of the two given to an ancestor of the present owner by the fourth Duke of Marlborough in 1790. They were formerly at Blenheim, and there is an added interest in them owing to the fact that the seats were worked by Sarah, the great Duchess of Marlborough.

RIBBON-BACKED CHIPPENDALE CHAIR, FORMERLY AT BLENHEIM, THE SEAT WORKED BY SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH.]

The latest style of Chippendale's work is the Gothic. There are many pieces in existence which he probably had to produce to satisfy the taste of his fashionable clients, but the style is atrocious, and the less said about them the better. The illustration (p. 225) of a chair-back from his design-book shows how offensive it could be.

CHIPPENDALE CORNER CHAIR, ABOUT 1780.

(_Reproduced by kindness of the Hon. Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane, G.C.B., I.S.O._)]

The fine corner-chair, here illustrated, exhibits the strength and solidity he could impart to his work. His chairs were meant to sit upon, and are of excellent carpentry. The square, straight legs are a feature of much of his work. The examples belonging to the India Office and the Governors of the Charterhouse illustrated (pp. 226, 227) show the type that he made his own and with which his name has been associated.

(_From the "Director."_)]

Although his chairs are sought after as especially beautiful in design (his father was a maker of chairs before him) he made many other objects of furniture. The mirrors he designed are exquisite examples of fine woodcarving. The one illustrated (p. 229) shows the mastery he had over graceful outline. Bureau bookcases with drop-down fronts have been successfully produced since his day after his models. The one illustrated (p. 231) shows a secret drawer, which is reached by removing the left-hand panel. Card-tables, settees, knife-boxes, tea-caddies, sideboards, and overmantles were made by him, which show by their diversity of technique that there was more than one pair of hands at work in carrying out his designs.

MAHOGANY CHIPPENDALE CHAIR. ABOUT 1740.

(_Property of the India Office._)]

The collecting of Chippendale furniture has become so fashionable of late years that genuine old pieces are difficult to procure. It is true that two old chairs were discovered in a workhouse last year, but when specimens come into the market they usually bring large prices. Two elbow state-chairs, with openwork backs, were sold a little while ago for seven hundred and eighty guineas, and a set of six small chairs brought ninety-three guineas about the same time. But even this is not the top price reached, for two chairs at Christie's realised eleven hundred pounds!

MAHOGANY CHIPPENDALE CHAIR. 1770.

(_By permission of the Master of the Charterhouse._)]

Chippendale, the shopkeeper, of St Martin's Lane, who took orders for furniture, which he or his sons, or workmen under their direct supervision, executed, was one person, and Chippendale, who had quarrelled with the Society of Upholsterers, and published a book of designs on his own account, which quickly ran through three editions, was another person. In the one case he was a furniture maker whose pieces bring enormous prices. In the other he was the pioneer of popular taste and high-priest to the cabinetmakers scattered up and down England, who quickly realised the possibilities of his style, and rapidly produced good work on his lines.

These pieces are by unknown men, and no doubt much of their work has been accredited to Chippendale himself. The illustration (p. 232) shows a mahogany chair well constructed, of a time contemporary with Chippendale and made by some smaller maker. This type of chair has been copied over and over again till it has become a recognised pattern. It finds its counterpart in china in the old willow-pattern, which originated at Coalport and has been adopted as a stock design.

CHIPPENDALE MIRROR.]

Furniture is not like silver, where the mark of the maker was almost as obligatory as the hall mark. Artists, both great and small, have signed their pictures, and in the glorious days of the great French _ebenistes_ and metal-chasers, signed work is frequently found. But in England, at a time when furniture of excellent design, of original conception, and of thoroughly good workmanship was produced in great quantities, the only surviving names are those of designers or cabinetmakers who have published books.

CHIPPENDALE BUREAU BOOKCASE.

With drop-down front, showing secret drawer.]

So great was the influence of the style of Chippendale that it permeated all classes of society. An interesting engraving by Stothard (p. 235) shows the interior of a room, and is dated 1782, the year that Rodney gained a splendid victory over the French fleet in the West Indies, and the year that saw the independence of the United States recognised.

MAHOGANY CHAIR.

IN THE CHIPPENDALE STYLE. LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]

Kitchen furniture or cottage furniture was made on the same lines by makers all over the country. The wood used was not mahogany; it was most frequently beech. Chairs of this make are not museum examples, but they are not devoid of a strong artistic feeling, and are especially English in character. More often than not the soft wood of this class of chair is found to be badly worm-eaten. Two chairs of this type, of beech, are illustrated (p. 233), and it is interesting to note that, as in the instance of the Yorkshire and Derbyshire chairs of Jacobean days made by local makers, it is not common to find many of exactly the same design. The craftsman gave a personal character to his handiwork, which makes such pieces of original and artistic interest, and cabinetmaking and joinery was not then so machine-made as it is now.

(_From engraving after Stothard._)]

It may be here remarked that the earlier pieces of the eighteenth century were polished much in the same manner as was old oak previously described. Highly polished surfaces and veneers, and that abomination "French polish," which is a cheap and nasty method of disguising poor wood, bring furniture within the early nineteenth-century days, when a wave of Philistine banalities swept over Europe.

RECENT SALE PRICES.[1]

L s. d.
Side table, Chippendale, with gadrooned border, the front
boldly carved with a grotesque mask, festoons of
flowers and foliage, on carved legs with claw feet, 64
in. long. Christie, February 14, 1902 126 0 0

Tea-caddy, Chippendale mahogany, square, with four
divisions, the borders carved with rosettes and
interlaced riband ornament, the sides inlaid with four
old Worcester oblong plaques painted with exotic birds,
insects, fruit, flowers, and festoons in colours on
white ground, 10 in. square. Christie, February 6, 1903 52 10 0

Fire-screen, Chippendale mahogany, containing a panel of old
English petit-point needlework, worked with a basket of
flowers in coloured silks, on pillar and tripod carved
with foliage and ball-and-claw feet. Christie, December
4, 1903 17 17 0

Armchairs, pair large Chippendale mahogany, with interlaced
backs carved with foliage, the arms terminating in
carved and gilt eagles' heads. Christie, January 22,
1904 88 4 0

Cabinet, Chippendale mahogany, with glazed folding doors
enclosing shelves, and with cupboards and eight small
drawers below, the borders fluted, 8 ft. high, 8 ft.
wide. Christie, January 22, 1904 67 4 0

Chairs, set of six Chippendale mahogany, with open
interlaced backs, with scroll tops, carved with foliage
and shell ornament, on carved cabriole legs and
ball-and-claw feet. Christie, January 22, 1904 102 18 0

Table, Chippendale, oblong, cabriole legs, carved with
shells, &c., on claw feet, surmounted by a veined white
marble slab, 53 in. wide. Christie, March 4, 1904 73 0 0

Settee, Chippendale mahogany, with double back with scroll
top, carved with arabesque foliage, the arms terminating
in masks, on legs carved with lions' masks and claw
feet, 54 in. wide. Christie, April 12, 1904 278 5 0

Mirror, Chippendale, carved with gilt, 88 in. high, 50 in.
wide. Christie, May 18, 1904 94 10 0

[1] By the kindness of the proprietors of the _Connoisseur_ these items are given from their useful monthly publication _Auction Sale Prices_.

XI

SHERATON, ADAM,

AND HEPPELWHITE

STYLES

HEPPELWHITE SETTEE, MAHOGANY.]

XI

SHERATON, ADAM, AND HEPPELWHITE STYLES

Robert Adam 1728-1792.
Thomas Sheraton 1751-1806.

1752. Loch and Copeland's designs published.

1765. Manwaring's designs published.

1770. Ince and Mayhew's designs published.

1788. Heppelwhite's designs published.

In the popular conception of the furniture of the three Georges the honours are divided between Chippendale and Sheraton. Up till recently all that was not Chippendale was Sheraton, and all that was not Sheraton must be Chippendale. The one is represented by the straight-legged mahogany chairs or cabriole legs with claw-and-ball feet and the backs elaborately carved; the other with finely tapered legs, built on elegant lines, and of satinwood, having marquetry decoration or painted panels.

This is the rough generalisation that obtained in the earlier days of the craze for collecting eighteenth-century furniture. Heppelwhite and Adam (more often than not alluded to as Adams), are now added to the list, and auction catalogues attempt to differentiate accordingly. But these four names do not represent a quarter of the well-known makers who were producing good furniture in the days between the South Sea Bubble in 1720 and the battle of Waterloo in 1815.

In this chapter it will be impossible to give more than a passing allusion to the less-known makers of the eighteenth century, but to those who wish to pursue the matter in more detailed manner the Bibliography annexed (p. 19) gives ample material for a closer study of the period.

The four brothers Adam, sons of a well-known Scottish architect, were exponents of the classic style. Robert Adam was the architect of the fine houses in the Adelphi, and he designed the screen and gateway at the entrance to the Admiralty in 1758. James is credited with the designing of interior decorations and furniture. Carriages, sedan-chairs, and even plate were amongst the artistic objects to which these brothers gave their stamp. The classical capitals, mouldings and niches, the shell flutings and the light garlands in the Adam style, are welcome sights in many otherwise dreary streets in London. Robert, the eldest brother, lived from 1728 to 1792, and during that time exercised a great influence on English art.

ADAM ARMCHAIR; MAHOGANY, ABOUT 1790.

ARMCHAIR OF WALNUT, SHIELD-BACK CARVED WITH THREE OSTRICH FEATHERS. IN HEPPELWHITE STYLE. LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

CHAIR OF WALNUT, SHIELD-BACK; IN THE STYLE OF HEPPELWHITE. LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

(_Victoria and Albert Museum._)]

In 1790, a set of designs of English furniture were published by A. Heppelwhite. In these chairs with pierced backs, bookcases with fancifully framed glass doors, and mahogany bureaux, the influence of Chippendale is evident, but the robustness of the master and the individuality of his style become transformed into a lighter and more elegant fashion, to which French _finesse_ and the Adam spirit have contributed their influence.

In the illustration (p. 243) various types of chairs of the period are given. A chair termed the "ladder-back" was in use in France at the same time. In Chardin's celebrated picture of "_Le jeu de l'oye_," showing the interior of a parlour of the middle eighteenth century, a chair of this type is shown.

The Heppelwhite settee illustrated as the headpiece to this chapter shows the delicate fluting in the woodwork, and the elaborated turned legs which were beginning to be fashionable at the close of the eighteenth century. The two chairs by Heppelwhite & Co., illustrated (p. 243), are typical examples of the elegance of the style which has an individuality of its own--a fact that collectors are beginning to recognise.

The shield-back chair with wheat-ear and openwork decoration, and legs in which the lathe has been freely used, are characteristic types. The elegance of the legs in Heppelwhite chairs is especially noticeable. The designers departed from Chippendale with results exquisitely symmetrical, and of most graceful ornamentation.

Hogarth, in his biting satires on the absurdities of Kent, the architect, painter, sculptor, and ornamental gardener, whose claims to be any one of the four rest on slender foundations, did not prevent fashionable ladies consulting him for designs for furniture, picture frames, chairs, tables, for cradles, for silver plate, and even for the construction of a barge. It is recorded by Walpole that two great ladies who implored him to design birthday gowns for them were decked out in incongruous devices: "the one he dressed in a petticoat decorated in columns of the five orders, and the other like a bronze, in a copper-coloured satin, with ornaments of gold."

Heppelwhite learned the lesson of Hogarth, that "the line of beauty is a curve," and straight lines were studiously avoided in his designs. Of the varieties of chairs that he made, many have the Prince of Wales's feathers either carved upon them in the centre of the open-work back or japanned upon the splat, a method of decoration largely employed in France, which has not always stood the test of time, for when examples are found they often want restoration. Of satin-wood, with paintings upon the panels, Heppelwhite produced some good examples, and when he attempted greater elaboration his style in pieces of involved design and intricacy of detail became less original, and came into contact with Sheraton. His painted furniture commands high prices, and the name of Heppelwhite will stand as high as Chippendale or Sheraton for graceful interpretations of the spirit which invested the late eighteenth century.

Before dealing with Sheraton in detail, the names of some lesser known makers contemporary with him may be mentioned. Matthias Lock, together with a cabinetmaker named Copeland, published in 1752 designs of furniture which derived their inspiration from the brothers Adam, which classic feeling later, in conjunction with the Egyptian and Pompeian spirit, dominated the style of the First Empire. Josiah Wedgewood, with his Etruscan vases, and Flaxman, his designer, filled with the new classic spirit, are examples in the world of pottery of the influences which were transmitted through the French Revolution to all forms of art when men cast about in every direction to find new ideas for design.

Ince and Mayhew, two other furniture designers, published a book in 1770, and Johnson outdid Chippendale's florid styles in a series of designs he brought out, which, with their twisted abortions, look almost like a parody of Thomas Chippendale's worst features. There is a "Chairmaker's Guide," by Manwaring and others in 1766, which contains designs mainly adapted from all that was being produced at the time. It is not easy to tell the difference between chairs made by Manwaring and those made by Chippendale, as he certainly stands next to the great master in producing types which have outlived ephemeral tastes, and taken their stand as fine artistic creations.

Among other names are those of Shearer, Darly, and Gillow, all of whom were notable designers and makers of furniture in the period immediately preceding the nineteenth century.

Thomas Sheraton, contemporary with William Blake the dreamer, shares with him the unfortunate posthumous honour of reaching sensational prices in auction rooms. There is much in common between the two men. Sheraton was born in 1751 at Stockton-on-Tees, and came to London to starve. Baptist preacher, cabinetmaker, author, teacher of drawing, he passed his life in poverty, and died in distressed circumstances. He was, before he brought out his book of designs, the author of several religious works. Often without capital to pursue his cabinetmaking he fell back on his aptitude for drawing, and gave lessons in design. He paid young Black, who afterwards became Lord Provost of Edinburgh, half a guinea a week as workman in his cabinetmaker's shop in Soho. In a pathetic picture of those days the Lord Provost, in his _Memoirs_, tells how Sheraton and his wife and child had only two cups and saucers and the child had a mug, and when the writer took tea with them the wife's cup and saucer were given up to the guest, and she drank her tea from a common mug. This reads like Blake's struggles when he had not money enough to procure copper-plates on which to engrave his wonderful visions.

That the styles of Chippendale and Sheraton represent two distinct schools is borne out by what Sheraton himself thought of his great predecessor. Speaking in his own book of Chippendale's previous work he says: "As for the designs themselves they are wholly antiquated, and laid aside, though possessed of great merit according to the times in which they were executed." From this it would appear that the Chippendale style, at the time of Sheraton's "Cabinetmaker's and Upholsterer's Drawing Book," published in 1793, had gone out of fashion.

The woods mostly employed by Sheraton were satinwood, tulip-wood, rosewood, and apple-wood, and occasionally mahogany. In place of carved scrollwork he used marquetry, and on the cabinets and larger pieces panels were painted by Cipriani and Angelica Kauffman. There is a fine example of the latter's work in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Sheraton borrowed largely from the French style under Louis XVI., when the lines had become severer; he came, too, under the influence of the Adam designs. He commonly used turned legs, and often turned backs, in his chairs. His later examples had a hollowed or spoon back to fit the body of the sitter. When he used mahogany he realised the beauty of effect the dark wood would give to inlay of lighter coloured woods, or even of brass. The splats and balusters, and even the legs of some of his chairs, are inlaid with delicate marquetry work.

Ornament for its own sake was scrupulously eschewed by Sheraton. The essential supports and uprights and stretcher-rails and other component parts of a piece of furniture were only decorated as portions of a preconceived whole. The legs were tapered, the plain surfaces were inlaid with marquetry, but nothing meaningless was added. In France Sheraton's style was termed "_Louis Seize a l'Anglaise_."

OLD ENGLISH SECRETAIRE.

Rosewood and satinwood. Drop-down front.]

It was the firm of Heppelwhite that first introduced the painted furniture into England, and under Sheraton it developed into an emulation of the fine work done by Watteau and Greuze in the days of Marie Antoinette.

Among the varied pieces that Sheraton produced are a number of ingenious inventions in furniture, such as the library-steps he made for George III. to rise perpendicularly from the top of a table frame, and when folded up to be concealed within it. His bureau-bookcases and writing-cabinets have sliding flaps and secret drawers and devices intended to make them serve a number of purposes.

SHIELD-BACK CHAIR. MAHOGANY.

LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]

On the front of his chairs is frequently found the inverted bell flower, and another of his favourite forms of decoration is the acanthus ornament, which he puts to graceful use.

The influence of his work, and of that of Heppelwhite & Co., was lasting, and much of the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century cabinetmaking owes its origin to their designs. The old English secretaire illustrated (p. 250), of rose and satinwood, with drawer above and fall-down front, having cupboard beneath with doors finely inlaid with plaques of old lac, is of the date when Heppelwhite was successfully introducing this class of French work into England. It is especially interesting to note that the drawer-handles are mounted with old Battersea enamel.

The difficulty of definitely pronouncing as to the maker of many of the pieces of furniture of the late eighteenth century is recognised by experts. The chair illustrated (p. 251) cannot be assigned to any particular designer, though its genuine old feeling is indisputable. In the fine collection of old furniture of this period at the Victoria and Albert Museum will be found many examples of chairs with no other title assigned to them than "late eighteenth century." This fact speaks for itself. A great and growing school had followed the precepts of Chippendale and Heppelwhite and Sheraton. This glorious period of little more than half a century might have been developed into a new Renaissance in furniture. Unfortunately, the early days of the nineteenth century and the dreary Early Victorian period, both before and after the great Exhibition of 1851, display the most tasteless ineptitude in nearly every branch of art. From the days of Elizabeth down to the last of the Georges, English craftsmen, under various influences, have produced domestic furniture of great beauty. It is impossible to feel any interest in the Windsor chair, the saddle-bag couch, or the red mahogany cheffoniere. The specimens of misapplied work shown at the Bethnal Green Museum, relics of the English exhibits at the first Exhibition, are unworthy of great traditions.

The awakened interest shown by all classes in old furniture will do much to carry the designers back to the best periods in order to study the inheritance the masters have left, and it is to be hoped that the message of the old craftsmen dead and gone will not fall on deaf ears.

RECENT SALE PRICES.[1]

L s. d.
Chairs, wheel back, set of seven (including armchair), Adam,
carved, mahogany. Good condition. Brady & Sons, Perth,
September 1, 1902 27 2 6

Mirror, Adam, in gilt frame, Corinthian pillar sides,
ornamental glass panel at top, surmounted by a carved
wood eagle figure. Gudgeon & Sons, Winchester, November
11, 1903 7 10 0