The chief material for Chippendale furniture, and one with which we always associate the Chippendale period, is, of course, Mahogany. Mahogany of practically every variety was used by the school of Chippendale furniture-makers, and upon the quality of the material depended much of the charm inherent in the pieces they produced. The quality of mahogany it must be remembered varied materially with the conditions of its growth. The mahogany trees which grew on solid ground and in exposed situations yielded what is considered the finest timber, both in point of colour and grain. The mahogany which was always regarded with the highest esteem was what is generally known as Spanish, which has a "clouded" grain and was obtained principally from the Islands of San Domingo and Cuba. As was natural, the finest and largest trees near the coast were first cut and the timber exported, and for this reason we can understand how so much of the early mahogany, finding its way to England, was of surpassingly beautiful quality and texture. As the supply on the coast became depleted, it was necessary to go further inland for the larger trees, and the cost of transportation was necessarily increased.

Because of the increased cost, it then became the practice to import mahogany from the Bay of Campeachy in the Honduras. This Honduras mahogany differed materially from the "Spanish" mahogany in that it was of more open grain, of inferior colour and lighter weight. Occasionally it had a rippled figure. In both the Honduras and Spanish mahogany, the wood from the root is deeper in colour and the figure much more marked.

During the American revolution, a point to which attention will be called in the proper chapter, a substitute for mahogany was found in wood called Bilsted, which is a product of the liquidambar or sweet gum tree.

Pine wood was used during the Chippendale period for the making of mirror frames and for pieces of furniture that were to be wholly gilt.

Rosewood also was used to a considerable extent, and owing to the richness of colour that it has obtained, it is sometimes mistaken by the inexperienced for mahogany.

PLATE XIX. CHIPPENDALE FRETTED GALLERY TABLE, HANGING CABINET, CANDLE STAND AND AESOP GILT MIRROR (All are of authentic Chippendale origin)

By Courtesy of Richard A. Canfield, Esq., New York City.

Amboyna wood, a wood of peculiarly beautiful grain and increasingly beautiful colour with advancing age, was occasionally used, but not to any great extent, and we do not usually associate amboyna with furniture of the Chippendale period.

Walnut, of course, continued to be used somewhat during the Chippendale period, and was wrought into the customary Chippendale forms although it did not supply nearly so satisfactory a medium for elaborate carving as mahogany. Especially in America, the walnut, which was of a remarkably fine texture and colour, was used concurrently with mahogany, and many of our excellent old pieces of chaste form and contour are made of this exceptionally beautiful walnut wood that grew on the banks of the Schuylkill.

As to the upholstery materials used during the Chippendale period, they were of varied quality and texture. With the French styles of Chippendale furniture, French brocades of exquisite pattern and weave were freely employed, and great store was set by the covers. Then also the fashion of embroidering chair covers in petitpoint and grospoint continued in favour, and many excellent old chair seats and settee covers are still to be found that were worked at that time. Leather also, in all colours from Turkey red morocco and black, was freely used for chair and settee covers.