Wardrobes And Clothes Presses

Wardrobes were made in one or three sections, though rarely with single doors extending the full height. The more usual form was the clothes-press type with either drawers or cupboards in the lower section and taller doors in the upper part. Tops were both straight and adorned with arched cornice or scrolled pediment*

Console Cabinets

Console cabinets were formal pieces of furniture of semi-circular or semi-oval front, straight sides and straight top, were highly embellished, made of the finest woods and were meant to stand beneath mirrors or between windows. The form shown in Key X, 5, is typical of the whole genus.

Mirrors

During Hepplewhite's ascendency mirrors were usually of the somewhat elaborate Adam type and it would be incorrect to style any particular form as specifically characteristic of Hepplewhite's mode. The elaborate mirrors of Chippendale pattern also remained in high favour to the end of the century.

Clocks

By this time the type of tall case clocks had become crystallised and the only significant differences to be found were in the details of ornament.

Materials

Hepplewhite used a wide variety of materials which included:

Mahogany. This he used to a very large extent in both cabinet and chair work and almost always where a surface was to be embellished with carving.

Satinwood was used where painting was to be employed as an adornment.

Beech was used for chairs, tables, settees, and the like, that were to be painted and parcel gilt.

Amboyna was used for veneering and fine panel work.

Thuja and Kingwood were used for purposes of inlay.

Sycamore or Harewood was used both for body and veneer.

Tulipwood, Holly and Ebony were used to inlay and banding, as was also rosewood.

Pine and Limewood were employed as ground work for veneered surfaces and also for some of the carved work that was to be gilt.

Decorative Processes

Decorative processes made use of by Hepplewhite were painting, inlay and marqueterie, carving, turning, gilding, Japanning or lacquer and veneer.

Painting was a resource Hepplewhite relied much upon for the embellishment of his finer pieces of work. In his preference for painting over inlay is to be noted a point of contrast with Sheraton (Key XI, 5, and XII, 2). Panels by Angelica Kauffmann, Cipriani, Pergolesi and others were used to adorn cabinets, chairs, and other objects upon which elaborate decoration was lavished.

Inlay and Marqueterie. Hepplewhite's preference for painting did not, however, prevent his using inlay as well in the decoration of his table tops, console cabinets, chairs, sideboards, and bookcases. Marqueterie he employed to some extent in his work of English type but much more freely in his furniture designed "in the French taste," the design of which was inspired by the late period of Louis Quinze patterns.

Carving of great elaboration and delicacy of detail was used for the mahogany furniture, especially chairs, tables, and console cabinets.

Turning was used but almost always in conjunction with carving, and as a preparation for some other process of elaboration.

Gilding was used for painted furniture and also to some extent in combination with mahogany carved furniture.

Japanning and Lacquer at this period are to be differentiated. Japanning indicated giving the object to be decorated a ground coat of paint upon which the design was applied. Lacquer indicated the old process used since the latter part of the seventeenth century.

Veneer of mahogany, amboyna, and other mellow-coloured woods, was freely employed by Hepplewhite to obtain the desired effects of design.