International studio (82.1925)

inceRfiAtionAL

The 6HIPPENDALE T^YSTERY

_A s to whether or not Two, three or one Cabinet- chests of twenty workmen.
<2<\ three Chippendales makers of that name in The Chippendale shop is

practiced the cabinet eighteenth century England saicI t0 have as

makers art in eighteenth- , •,. u „ , i, many as one hundred men.
century England, there are S*L^ a matter OJ doubt Having granted him a
some incontrovertible facts. <JAl\fE W 0LBE RTO I\f father, did this one really
All the staid old encyclo- famous member of the fam-
pedias are agreed that a Thomas Chippendale, ily have a son? As one mortal could hardly
cabinet maker, had a son, Thomas, of great ability, have so long a span of activity as that of which we
Even the young radicals while questioning the have the evidence, it is putting no strain on one's
premise of such eminent authorities must none credulity to believe that it was the second Chip-
the less grant this second Thomas a father, and pendale who was buried in St. Martin's Church-
furthermore, might as well concede that the said yard, November 13, 1779; his age is given as 62
father was the wood- and may be incorrect.

carver who originally ,-■-1 It would date his birth

lived in Worcester. as 1717 upsetting pre-
I lie contention is log- am. ^^IbHWmBBHI {ffHSti vious records, but cer-
ical enough that, hav- - m ......''mir Jf tainly making the ear-
ing made a local sue- |I /jfeBjSjpk, & West work definitely
cess, this wood-carver II Mi||usl f/f his father's. Having
who became a cabinet H 'tSmSm III been decently interred
maker, was desirous ol ^■^■HHEJ| 111 nJgmlf1 it is reasonable to sup-
wider fame and there- «t EdoI 1ST ffl pose that "he stayed
fore went to London, Imv ■ MM put," and let his son,
being that Chippen- f/j In i/U V. jj III the 3rd Chippendale,
dale who had a shop Mr 'S^JIm carry on the partner-
there in the year 1720. s^'lP which was Chip-

By 1735 the name of ^fl pendale & Haig from

Chippendale was an ■S^^^v, KUHH 1763 to 1784 and that

established one, an ac- ^BBP^^^^^^i^B of Haig & Chippen-

complishment that hHt ■ ORR I dale until 1795, when
under the circum- M TftWEBBH I Haig, erstwhile book-
stances could scarcely W| B keeper of the firm,
be credited to the fa- ■ Hf Br retired. This Chip-
mous Thomas whom I JB pendale who styles
shall designate as the fl9 himself "Jr." moved
2nd, for he, having Wl to Jermyn Street. He
been born about 1710, JH lived there until his
was then a very young WtSr death in 1823. De-
man. [___I scribed as a man of

When Thomas, 2nd figure one. early chippendale chair, circa 1727 retiring disposition the

was working in the firm which he con-

shop in Conduit Street, Long Acre, London, a ducted ceased to be a creative one, but doubtless
marriage was recorded in St. George's Chapel, it still carried on the excellent traditions of work-
Mayfair, between one Thomas Chippendale and manship established by the elder Chippendale.
Katharine Redshaw, May 19, 1748; which might The firm had been frequently employed by the
reasonably have been that of this comparatively Adam Brothers whose partnership began in 1758.
young man, presumably the son of that Thomas, They were architects and decorators and not, as is
1st, who migrated from Worcester. popularly supposed, cabinetmakers.

In 1753 the shop of Chippendale was moved to A not uninteresting bill sent out under the
fashionable St. Martin's Lane. There is mention name of Chippendale, Jr., is at Stourhead, Sir
in the Gentlemen's Magazine of April 1755 of a fire Richard Colt Hoare's place in Wiltshire; a man
that occurred therein and of the destruction of the does not style himself "Jr." unless he is proud

twenty-eight

October 1925