I need hardly explain, I think, that Chippendale was among the first in this country to employ, for the manufacture of furniture, Spanish mahogany of the finest figure and colour procurable. In the course of time the wood has, by a natural process, deepened in colour and attained a beautiful richness of tone, and to describe it in all its maturity the term "Chippendale mahogany" is generally used in the trade, though "Heppelwhite mahogany" or "Sheraton mahogany " would be quite as accurate. Owing to the great demand which has arisen for articles made in mahogany of this character, artificial means are employed nowadays to produce a colour and richness as near the original as possible, and, as a means of identification, the term has passed from the workshop to the trade catalogue, from the trade catalogue to its retail companion, thence to the salesman, and so on to the general public. Why it should be termed "Chippendale mahogany" particularly is hard to explain, for exactly the same wood was used by scores' of other eighteenth-century cabinet makers, and has undergone precisely the same natural process of deepening.

My contention is, then, that Chippendale has been elevated to far too lofty a pedestal. Contemporaneously with him there were other and cleverer men in the field, who, following his example, without copying his methods, carved out a way for themselves entirely by the force of their own abilities, and created individual and distinct styles, between which and that of their great competitor there existed little or no relationship. To give him all the credit for that for which he was in no way responsible, and which, moreover, surpassed anything that he ever produced, is obviously extremely unjust to others.

We must not, however, go to the opposite extreme, and fail to accord honour where honour is due; and it must be recognised that the way for the later eighteenth-century cabinet makers and designers was, to a certain extent, prepared by Chippendale, whose design book - " The Gentleman's and Cabinet Maker's Director," published in 1754 - was really the first work of its kind of any importance to make its appearance in this country. Original copies of this are now so excessively scarce as to be practically unobtainable; even badly damaged and most imperfect ones are eagerly snapped up whenever they come into the market, which is but rarely, and "fetch" as much as £30, £40, and £50. The complete book has, I believe, been reproduced more than once, and even copies of the reproduction are now difficult to obtain, as dealers and collectors have only been too glad to get possession of, and pay high prices for, them.

It has already been pointed out that of Chippendale himself as an individual practically few biographical details are obtainable, but we need not concern ourselves much on that account, as they are not essential to our present purpose, though, were they available, they might perhaps enhance the interest of our study. It is, however, of the work and not the man that we have to form an opinion as complete and correct as may be.

Proceeding to discover and deal in order with the leading characteristics of the style to which this chapter is devoted, I may say at once that those characteristics are numerous, and to gain a thorough knowledge of them all is a matter which calls for the expenditure of considerable time and not a little study. Fortunately, however, for the student, connoisseur, and collector, they are most unmistakably marked, and, therefore, present little or no difficulty in distinguishing when once known. As is only natural, extraordinarily faithful copies of original pieces have been manufactured in vast numbers, particularly during recent years. They are still being turned out by the van-load, and to distinguish the spurious from the genuine - spurious, that is to say, so far as date of production is concerned - is not by any means so simple a matter; indeed, in order to succeed, we need long practical experience. To the question of style, however, and not that of authenticity, we shall devote our attention principally.

In the preparation - I use the word "preparation" intentionally, as of many examples we can hardly say "origination" - of his designs, Chippendale appropriated ideas often and without hesitation from many sources; at one time dallying with the "Gothick," as it was then called; at another with the Chinese as rendered by Sir William Chambers; and nearly always keeping up an intimate converse with the French. From the last named, indeed, he drew most freely for inspiration, and to that section, therefore, of his work which is most strongly influenced by it we will turn our attention first; for examples belonging to that phase are the most numerous.

It is, of course, only natural that a few of the very earliest productions of this designer and maker should possess some, at least, of the characteristics of the style which prevailed in this country from the end of the seventeenth century to the time that saw the commencement of his business career, namely the "Queen-Anne," yet the extent to which they did so was much less than might reasonably have been anticipated. Indeed, it was evidently his fixed and unalterable determination to get as far away from the "Queen-Anne" as possible - whatever use he may have been inclined to make of other styles - and it must be admitted that he generally succeeded in so doing. What few features he did retain for a time will be duly noted as we proceed.

Though Chippendale did not copy, to any appreciable extent, from the contemporary or prior productions of his own countrymen, I must repeat that he was not averse to borrowing from other sources. As a matter of fact, he was seldom sufficiently self-reliant to depend solely upon his own genius for the origination of new ideas; and, bold as it may appear to be on my part to make the assertion, I should class him as one of the greatest appropriators - if I may employ the term - of his own, or, for the matter of that, of any other time.