It was also the fashion in this period for furniture to be made in imitation of bamboo, and a splendid example of an arm-chair made in that manner is shown in Figure 576. The back is composed of intertwined loops and the same design is repeated under the arms, and the wood throughout is carved to resemble bamboo. The chair in reality is made of beech and the loops are cut and carved from solid pieces of wood. This chair is one of a set of four in the writer's possession.

The next form of Chippendale chair is that which is known as the ladder-back. It was the latest form of the earlier slat-back chair, which probably suggested it. It consists of three or four curved rails instead of splats forming the back. This form was popular both here and in England, and many forms are found, although the most common back is that shown in Figure 577 which is the property of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It will be seen that the slats are bow-shaped and are so cut that they seem to entwine at the centre. The arms are gracefully carved at the ends in acanthus-leaf pattern and the supports of the arms are in Chippendale scrolls and pierced. The seat is slightly hollowed. The unusual feature about this chair is the cabriole legs which terminate in French scroll feet, and it is the only ladder-back chair with cabriole legs which has come under the writer's observation. These chairs are rather late, and consequently they usually have a straight leg with underbracing which superseded the cabriole type. The knees are carved in scroll design and the chair has the characteristic back of the Chippendale chair, although Chippendale shows no ladder-back designs.

Figure 576. Chair in Chippendale style, imitating bamboo, 1760-70.

Figure 577. Ladder-Back Chair in Chippendale style, third quarter eighteenth century.

Figure 578 shows three varieties of ladder-back chairs of the simpler type. The first is perfectly plain with plain slats and straight legs. The next one has pierced slats and plain, straight legs. The right-hand one is carved in the same design as that shown in the preceding figure. The legs are straight with double ogee fluting and the front rail serpentine.

Figure 579 shows a very handsome ladder-back chair. The top rail is carved and each slat has Gothic piercings, and the outer edges are cut in the pearl pattern, as are also the stiles and supports for the arms. This chair is hollowed and the front serpentine. The legs are straight and on their surfaces and on the stretchers is carved a guilloche pattern with rosettes between. This chair is the property of Mr. Richard A. Canfield.

It will be remembered that Chippendale lived and worked until 1779, that he ceased to be a designer of note after the Adam Brothers became popular, and that he continued to manufacture and do a general business as an interior decorator, executing designs made by others.

Figure 580 is a particularly interesting chair because it was made by Chippendale for Sir Roland Winn, Bart., the bill for which is still extant. The entry is dated January 27, 1768, and reads as follows: "To 6 Mahogany chairs with arms for the library, the carving exceedingly rich in the antique taste; the seats covered with green haircloth, £36." This chair is one of a set owned by Lord Saint Oswald, of Nostel Priory. It has not the grace and flow of Chippendale's earlier work, and the wood seems thick, but the detail and construction are of the highest order. The splat is lyre-shaped with well-carved acanthus leaves and rosettes, and the base is carved with acanthus leaves and pendent flowers in much the same manner as in Chippendale's earlier work. The seat rail is carved in a beautiful guilloche pattern with rosettes, all carved in the minute cameo style of the Sheraton school and without any of the freedom of his earlier work. Cameo-carved rosettes are on the square blocks of the legs, and the legs are turned with acanthus carving and reeding and the feet are of the melon type. By "antique taste," Chippendale, of course, referred to the classic, which was then much in vogue. It is hard to realise that the same designer could have made this chair and the one shown in Figure 556, the entire theme and execution are so different, and yet these two chairs only date about fifteen years apart.

Upholstered chairs were popular throughout the Dutch and Chippendale period, but they were expensive owing to the cost of the fabric with which they were covered, and some of them designed by Chippendale were works of art. Such a chair is shown in Figure 581 and is the property of Mr. Marsden J. Perry, of Providence.

Figure 578. Ladder-Back Chairs, 1770-80.

Figure 579. Ladder-Back Chair, 1760-70.

Figure 580. Chair in Chippendale style, classic taste, 1768.

Chippendale called these chairs French chairs, and it can readily be seen that it is almost in the pure French style of the regency. In his French chairs Chippendale closely copied some of the designs of Meissonier. This chair, however, is of mahogany and not gilt. The design is a mixture of the French rococo and the Chinese, with a few touches of the Gothic in Chippendale's inimitable manner. No upholstered chair of such a high order has been found in this country and they were exceedingly rare also in England. The chair is shown, however, to enable the reader to compare it with the beautiful specimens of Chippendale chairs, such as Figures 556 and 572, which did find their way to this country in colonial times, and also to show the extent to which simple models could be enriched.

Upholstered Chair in Chippendale style, 1750-60.

Figure 581. Upholstered Chair in Chippendale style, 1750-60.