More Evidence

Today I will examine the structure of the carved back of the Chippendale style ribbon back armchair.  As mentioned earlier, its design closely follows that of a ribbon back armchair illustrated in Thomas Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, plate # 15.

Plate 15, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, third edition.

But does the construction technique of the blog chair's back follow that put forth in the Director?

There is no written mention of construction techniques in Chippendales’ Director. John T. Kirk, a Guggenheim fellow, curator, professor emeritus at Boston College and author on American furniture touches on the construction of the splat of an authentic 18^th century Philadelphia Chippendale style chair in his American Furniture; Understanding Styles, Construction and Quality. Here he is speaking of one of the famous Cadwalader chairs. “The splat area is made of three sections: a horizontal-grain piece connects the stiles; vertical parts connect it to the top rail and the shoe.”(12)

To clarify, look at the illustration below.

Plate 15, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, third edition.

The horizontal piece (1) is in the center of the back; it includes the bow and the ribbon tails and connects to the side pieces called stiles. The vertical parts are (2) above and (3) below the ribbon. Kirk mentions three pieces. I’m going to assume that each of the pieces was made of solid wood because in all my research of 18^th century furniture solid wood was always the medium used.  Also, Kirk would have mentioned if it was not.   

Here is a photo of the ribbon back blog chair. In the frontal view, the center splat is all one piece.

Photo SHS

Further, the top rail is an extension of the splat. It is joined to the stiles at about 2” down from the top of the ears. Look closely, the joint is about 1/4" below the carving.  Also there is an ever so slight color change between the two pieces. 

Photo SHS

              This is a bird’s eye view of the blog chair.  

Photo SHS

 You are looking directly at the splat (left) and top rail (right). For perspective note the chair seat in the background. A joint of the splat to the rail would be a seen as a vertical line towards the right of this image. There is no joint. Instead, two horizontal lines that are lighter than the rest of the wood finish grab your attention. This is paint that was meant to cover the fine lines of the three plied layers of the back. So the back splat IS made of three pieces of wood in an entirely different configuration than the 18th century original.

           Now look more closely at the detail photo below.

Photo SHS

Notice the fine line between the second and third layer of wood?

Plywood is hardly something that jumps to mind when thinking of good quality furniture, but in 1856 John Henry Belter obtained 4 patents for the process of laminating layers of rosewood together to construct the deeply carved and curved backs of the Rococo Revival seating furniture for which he is famous.  Many of Belter’s pieces are extant and now reside in museums.   

The survival of the blog chair is also testament to the success of the process. This Victorian reproduction was probably made around the time of America’s centennial, when Colonial Revival was all the rage. It is still in good shape.

And to wrap things up tonight, a word (or two) taken from an email from Charles F. Hummel.

“The use of three-plied wood would signify to me that the chair is definitely rococo revival. John Henry Belter, although not the first cabinetmaker to do so, is generally credited with making the use of plied wood common as a means of cutting  intricate designs in seating furniture.”

Theresa

Yummy Furniture and Design

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12. John T. Kirk, American Furniture Understanding Styles, Construction and Quality, New York, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 116.

This seat has Sprung!

As promised, today I will provide sketches of the upholstery methods of both seats; the blog chair with webbing, springs, fabric and padding plus the Chippendale Plate chair with the same materials minus the springs.

Here’s the construction of the blog chair. 

                          Illustration by the Author

The springs rest on woven strips of fabric called webbing which are stretched across the bottom of the seat frame. The springs are hand sewn to the webbing.  The springs are further held in place by being tied together by twine at the top.  Both the webbing and the twine are secured to the chair frame by tacks. This technique is called eight way hand tied springs after the number of times the twine passes over each spring. Over the top of the springs we usually find a coarsely woven fabric called burlap. On the blog chair the upholsterer used a piece of leftover fabric. This is the surface onto which the padding (curled hair, cotton) can be laid. Over the padding is stretched another piece of lightweight utilitarian fabric.  The decorative fabric would be installed on top of that.

Here is the construction of the Chippendale Plate chair.

                          Illustration by the Author

The seat is upheld by a series of webbing strips stretched across the top of the seat frame. A tightly woven fabric is tacked on top. Over that a layer of curled hair is packed and sometimes hand stitched into place. Finally another piece of utilitarian fabric is stretched over the hairs to further hold them in place and protect the bottom of the sitter from the sometimes itchy hair, which could poke through the final decorative fabric.

As you can see, the springs in the blog chair make the seat area thicker. 

                                   Photo by SHS

They are about 3” high and have padding on top. The seat looks more comfortable to sit on. However, having sat on it myself I discovered the springs provide little comfort at all. They have been compressed to the point of having no response to the weight of the sitter. So even though an upholsterer took the time to web, insert and tie these springs into the seat of my chair, the seat is still hard and uncomfortable.

This leads me to believe the springs were installed in the Victorian era. As Edward S. Cooke Jr. states about early spring use in the 18^th century; “another reason that early spring seats were not very comfortable was that upholsterers had few craft traditions to guide them in this area. They did not know how to overcome the shortcomings of springs or how to use springs to their best advantage.”(9)

Through personal experience I have come upon all manner of poorly installed springs in not only Victorian but contemporary furniture as well.  Their installation is tricky business, and requires a great deal of hand and wrist strength as well as hand-eye coordination.  I truly understand why early upholsterers had a difficult time catching on to this concept.

Today, the use of coil springs in upholstered furniture is the considered the mark of excellence.

Theresa

Yummy Furniture and Design

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9. Cooke, Edward S. Jr., Spring Seats of the 19^th and Early 20^th Centuries, Upholstery in America and Europe from the 17^th C to WWI.,  New York, W.W. Norton & Co. 239

Let's LOOK at the Similarities

Last week Tuesday I listed the similarities between both the blog chair and its predecessor in Chippendale’s The Gentleman & Cabinet Maker’s Director. Today I will illustrate these similarities with images. Keep your eyes open for subtle variations between the two chairs, which will be discussed next. Also, a few revisions were made to the text to better clarify the points.

- The center splats (center section of the back that extends from the shoe to the top rail) of both chairs are pierced (cut through) numerous times.

  

                        - The center of the top rails rise to crests/peaks.

-Away from the peaks they curve downward and up again into “ears”, at the corner where the top rail meet the side stiles. 

    - On the lower side of the curves stylized shells (nature based) are carved.  

- At the top center of the splat is an oval cartouche composed of mirrored “C” scrolls and topped with stylized shells. This cartouche is a reference to the grotto, a popular 18^th century fascination. (9)

- Framing the cartouche are double “C” scrolls, which are also mirrored and facing the opposite direction of those forming the cartouche.

          - A distinct ribbon is carved in the center of the splat of both chairs.

- A carved rope extends out of the center of the cartouche down to the middle of the ribbon and its knot.

              - Two “C” scrolls uphold the ribbon's bottom, flanking its sides.

-the overall form of the legs is an “S” curve onto which are applied a series of “C” scrolls.

- The knees of the legs are heavily carved with “C” scrolls and stylized shells.

 

-“C” scrolls extend up from the knees at the corner into the seat frame, visually interrupting the straight line of the bottom of the seat.

- The cabriole legs end in a tightly rolled scroll foot. 

All of the above: Photos courtesy of SHS; Illustrations from The Gentleman and Cabinetmaker's Director.

"C" you later!

Theresa

Yummy Furniture and Design

theresamhs@sbcglobal.net

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Footnote
9. Bekerdite, Luke. American Furniture 1996, The Rococo, the Grotto and the Philadelphia high Chest, University Press of New England, Hanover. 112