Chippendale

チッペンデール / 1750s–1760s / Style / Furniture and Interiors

English furniture of the 1750s and 1760s, made to the designs of the cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale, whose name then became the name of the style. Getty also records it as the Director Style. The framework stays largely Rococo, and what identifies a piece is openwork and ornamental carving gathered into the chair back and the legs.

Chippendale — Side chair (one of a pair), Britain, c. 1755, Metropolitan Museum of Art — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 — Side chair (one of a pair), Britain, c. 1755, Metropolitan Museum of Art — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 · CC0

Chippendale — Mirror, Britain, 1750–1770, Chazen Museum of Art — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 — Mirror, Britain, 1750–1770, Chazen Museum of Art — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 · CC0

Chippendale — Chippendale-style dressing table, c. 1770, Honolulu Museum of Art — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 — Chippendale-style dressing table, c. 1770, Honolulu Museum of Art — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 · CC0

At a glance

Visual cues

Chair backs pierced with openwork rather than left as solid splats, so the wall shows through
Carved ornament gathered along edges and legs, leaving few flat surfaces
Rococo curves carried through the legs and top rail instead of square corners
Ornament cut out of the thickness of the wood, not applied to its face

Best used for

Deciding how a chair back should be pierced when recreating an English drawing room or study
Explaining to a maker how a heavily carved commission should differ from plain Rococo

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Dictionary entry

Type: Furniture carries no lettering. On drawings or labels, set a fine roman close to eighteenth century English engraving, kept small.
Composition: Hold the front elevation symmetrical and let the pierced back take the eye. Run the curve of the legs and the top rail as one continuous line.
Material: Cut the openwork and carving from solid wood rather than applying ornament to the face. Finish so the grain still reads.
Caution: Spreading the carving evenly across every surface breaks the balance the style needs, where ornament concentrates in one place and the rest stays plain.
Further study: how far the cut shapes of the openwork carving vary from piece to piece / how much of the Rococo curve remains, and where carving takes over / what range of work is meant by the alternative name Director Style

Related entries

Rococo (ロココ)Shared effects: Luxury.Compare Chippendale and Rococo
Shaker Design (シェーカー・デザイン)Same Furniture and Interiors lineage.Compare Chippendale and Shaker Design

Cite this entry

The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.

Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/chippendale-style
Markdown: [Chippendale — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/chippendale-style)
HTML: <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/chippendale-style">Chippendale — IndexStyle</a>

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