Chair-Bed

A chair or settee with a draw-out arrangement converting it into a bed. In the later eighteenth century when country houses frequently contained so many guests that beds and bedrooms were insufficient, the sitting-rooms were often provided with this emergency furniture.

Chair Table

See Monk's-Seat.

Chaise-Bergere

See Bergere.

Chaise-Longue

An open-frame chair in the French furniture of the second half of the eighteenth century, and the early days of the nineteenth. It was an elaborate chair with an elongated seat supported by extra legs very much like a sofa.

Chamber Horse

A mechanical arrangement, designed by Sheraton and other late eighteenth-century cabinet-makers for indoor exercise. The leather-covered seat was hung upon tiers of strong springs which gave a fair imitation of the "up and down" motion of riding a horse.

Sir William Chambers, Architect (1726-1796)

He travelled in early life in China, and studied its art, and in 1759 published "Designs of Chinese Buildings, Furniture, Dresses, Machines and Utensils." Chippendale was already doing work in the Chinese manner, but Chambers's book helped generally to popularize it and make it very fashionable. He designed many pieces of furniture in this style, but his work was mainly architectural.

Chamfer

A bevelled arris, corner, or angle; a splay.

Chandelier

A pendent frame with branches to hold candles or lamps, sometimes ornamented with crystal glass drops. The French refugees of 1685 introduced the manufacture of crystal chandeliers into England. In modern times the chandelier has been adapted both to gas and electric light.

Channel

A groove, flute, or gutter, cut below the surface of an object. Sometimes it is filled with an inlay forming a line for decorative purposes. A series of parallel flutes is called a channel moulding.

Charles IX

See France, Kings of.

Chasing

This term covers the art of ornamenting metal by embossing, grooving, or indenting and also of decorating it by means of the burin or graver. Similar carved ornaments on woodwork are called nulling, gadrooning, etc. Chasing with the burin is used on marquetry, etc., and on the metal mounts of furniture and metal inlays such as Boulle work. I he art of the chaser reached its finest expression in the French furniture of the eighteenth century.

Cheese Press

A wooden frame with a weighted lever for pressing newly made cheese. It was sometimes made in a very ornamental form, with shaped, carved, or twisted uprights and moulded stands.

Chenets

See Andirons.

Chequer

One of the squares of a chequer pattern or the pattern itself ; often found in inlay work.

Cherry

A wood of reddish grain which darkens considerably with age. Often used for small carved articles.

Chess Table

A table the top of which is inlaid or painted into squares alternately black and white. In illuminations of mediaeval times, after the introduction of the game into Europe, chessboards are represented on chests which sometimes served as tables.