Sheraton chair

Even at its most decorative and ornate, Sheraton furniture is made with very little integral ornament, and relies for its originality and sparkle on painting and gilding, inlay and japanning. Sheraton was puritan by conviction and by nature, favouring straight lines rather than curves, and multipurpose space-saving furniture for the ranks of Georgian terraced houses which had recently been built. He came to London in 1790 from the North of England, and was designing during the Napoleonic Wars, when materials and money were short, and much of his furniture was made in cheaper beechwood and birch, rather than expensive mahogany, although he did favour satinwood which was costly. In construction, Sheraton was a
traditionalist. He reverted to the old manner of making chairs with crest rails tenoned between the back supports, as opposed to overriding them or curving into them. On chairs with arms, he took the line even higher than Hepplewhite, so that the arm of the chair sweeps up to the crest rail in an abrupt curve, almost as though it is part of the back itself.
Signs of authenticity
1. Made of beech, with ash or birch underframes.
2. Crest rail tenoned into sides of back supports.
3. On chairs with arms, arms joined oined to fronts of back supports, high up and usually on a line with a horizontal back rail.
4. On chairs with upholstered seats, pronounced height of seat above frame.
5. Front legs taper-turned to the frame, then square-sectioned, forming the corners of seat
frames on straight-fronted chairs.
6. On chairs with round seats, legs taper-turned to frame, then square-sectioned flush with curve to form solid underframe.
7. Back legs either square-sectioned or taper-turned, but always square-sectioned at seat level to form stout join of chair frame.
8. Crest rail, supports and arms all turned, reeded or fluted.
Likely restoration and repair
9. Original frames of seats overstuffed when re-upholstered – a frequent Victorian practice.
10. Stripped and repainted and gilded.
11. Recaned panels and seats.
12. New blocks on corners of drop-in seat frame.
13. Damaged cane seats overstuffed – signs of holes for original caning on underframe.
14. Made of cheaper birch entirely – probably a later copy.
Construction and materials
In spite of their air of fragility, Sheraton chairs were remarkably solidly constructed, often in beech, with a sound knowledge of timber and of stresses and strains. In their basic construction, they have more in common with the traditional framed construction than any chairs made from the beginning of the eighteenth century onwards. The back is supported by a top rail and lower rail set parallel and tenoned into the sides of the back supports. The back legs are raked back and square-sectioned in his early designs, though later they were less solid and usually tapered or taper-turned, like the front legs. On chairs with arms, the design exaggerates the line of continuity from front leg to arm support, carrying it up to elbow height, often without a curve at all. The back splats are arranged in geometrical patterns of parallel
lines, lattice, or a mixture of both. Seats were often curved or round, upholstered and built up on a solid front apron.
Drop-in seats were
supported with four shaped brackets on the four corners of the seat frame. Front legs were taper-turned, and the use of beech allowed a slight splay since it is a pliable, springy wood, not rigid or liable to split.
Detail
Sheraton seats were often caned, sometimes also with caned panels in the rectangular backs. The back splats were characteristically arranged in geometrical patterns of parallel lines, lattice, or a mixture of both. Japanning, painting and gilding were also used. Crest rails, supports and arms were often turned, reeded or fluted to lighten the design.
Variations
The return to the square back suited many country chair-makers who were still making chairs with traditional construction, to which Sheraton had returned. Most typical of the country versions of his designs are the plain bar-back and rail-back chairs. The other two types of country chairs of the period could equally well have evolved naturally, without benefit of Thomas Sheraton’s The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book (1791-94), and indeed could have been the inspiration for many of his rectangular chair designs. Both originated in the North of England – the spindle back and the bobbin back with their deep plain crest rails developed from the old box-construction.
The country tradition of setting the front and back stretcher slightly higher than the side stretchers continued, and the front stretcher was also often simply turned, again a country tradition. On country chairs of this period, wooden seats were often slightly dished. On chairs with arms, the construction was traditional, with the arm support being a continuation of the front leg, with the arm tenoned into it.
Top: late eighteenth-century, cane-seated chair in simulated bamboo.
Above: Sheraton provincial chair, c.1810.
Reproductions
Nineteenth century
Sheraton was very much a designer for the trade, and contemporary production of his chairs and other furniture was extremely large. During the early nineteenth century
Gillows of Lancaster, the
Seddons, Edwards and Roberts, Cooper and Holt, Wright and Mansfield, Jackson and Graham, Johnson and Jeans and many other large furniture manufacturers made quantities of Sheraton furniture.
The Victorians copied some of his more fantastic ‘Egyptian’ and classical designs, suitable for the increasing
ostentation in taste, and many Sheraton-style chairs were made in mahogany to give them a more substantial appearance.
Some of these nineteenth-century variations are pleasing, solid and well-constructed. Later versions are not so successful, having square-sectioned tapered legs and stretchers, or more bulbously turned front legs. The height of the bottom back rail was an integral part of the construction as well as the design, and on late versions chairs look oddly proportioned, as though the chair back has been compressed.
Twentieth century
During the Edwardian period, countless cheap copies of Sheraton’s little cane-seated chairs, gold-painted and flimsy, were made for ballrooms and public functions. They should not be confused with Regency ,rout’ chairs, which were elegantly proportioned and well-made, though few of them have survived intact.
Price bands
Simulated bamboo, c.1810, £.115-125.
Square back, reeded, c.1810, £120-180 each.
Set of six, with two
armchairs, £3,200-4,000.
Provincial reeded and plain, £90-120 each.
Set of six, £1,500-1,800.

George Hepplewhite started his career as an apprentice to Gillows of Lancaster, and is the first recorded furniture designer to work for a large company of furniture manufacturers. His pattern book, The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide,
Signs of authenticity
1. Correct proportions laid down by Hepplewhite: height of seat frame 17 in, depth of seat 17 in, width of seat 20 in, overall height 37 in.
2. Legs and back of good quality, dense-grained mahogany.
3. Seat frames in beech.
4. All carving in low relief, softened with age and wear.
5. Top of shield construction still a crest rail, joined to the upward-curving sides of the shield.
6. Waisted join of back support to shield secured with hand-turned screws, concealed by plugs or dowels, now almost invisible.
7. Bottom of shield rounded, never pointed.
8. Tapered front legs fluted or carved with restrained motif.
9. On chairs with arms, arms set forward or directly over tops of legs.
10. Arms set into sides of shield, not spoiling the line.
11. Legs tapered on insides only.
Likely restoration and repair
12. Underframes of pinkish-tinged birch, used in the nineteenth century.
13. Seats upholstered within wooden frame indicate
nineteenth century.
14. Arms set into sides of shield indicates possible replacement of original arm, or nineteenth-century copy, or a single chair with added arms to increase value.
15. Front legs tapered from the outsides indicating a
replacement or a later copy.
16. Back legs square- sectioned to seat frame, then waisted (originals were shaped from the seat frame upwards in a graduated curve) indicates back supports replaced, or a later copy.
was not published until 1788, two years after his death. Its intention was ‘to combine elegance and utility and blend the useful with the agreeable’. Although Hepplewhite died in relative obscurity, his designs continued to be made both in London and the provinces in large numbers well into the nineteenth century.
The shield back is probably his most famous design, which has been copied and reproduced in many variations, though seldom successfully. The remarkable point about the design is that the entire back is concave to take the sitter’s back comfortably, yet seen from the front there is little or no distortion of proportion or shape. The shield-back design was a direct outcome of the round- or wheel-back chair and it marks another radical change in construction.
Construction and materials
The shield-shaped back was entirely supported by a short continuation of the back legs, shaped and waisted to flow into the outward curve of the shield. The base of the shield was rounded and the top crest rail was an exaggerated cupid’s bow. Without the centre splat, the seat could be overstuffed at the back as well as the front, which was serpentine or curved with a much deeper apron than previous designs. As no part of the seat frame was visible, it could be made in beech, which was less expensive and did not split when close-nailed for upholstery. On chairs with arms, the arm support sprang from the tops of the front
legs and curved up to meet the arms which were often set higher at the back to follow the natural line of the body.
Detail
A favourite motif for the central design of the shield back was the Prince of Wales’ feathers and another was the Greek urn.
All the carving on the seat back was in low relief and, like the Adam round-back chair, the legs were tapered and fluted.
Occasionally, there was restrained decorative carving on the front legs and, on chairs with arms, on either side of the seat where the tops of the legs formed the corners.
Variations
The difference between a country version of a round back and a shield back is marginal, since both designs merged in the wheatsheaf, which could also be said to be a simplified Prince of Wales’ feathers design. They were usually made in elm, beech and fruitwood, with square-sectioned legs and four stretchers (with the back one set slightly higher than the other three). The other variation of the Prince of Wales’ feathers design is to be found in Windsor chairs (see pp. 70-73).
Reproductions
Nineteenth century
The shield back is one of the most copied and reproduced chair designs in the whole spectrum, yet it is seldom correctly achieved. Nineteenth-century copies were frequently made with stretchers to add strength to the construction. In spite of its apparent simplicity it was a difficult chair to make, and many of them were made with upholstered seats with solid mahogany frames and aprons instead of underframes and overstuffed seats.
Shields were made in three sections, tapering to a point at the base and mitred together, and the low-relief carving is mechanical and repetitive, adding little to the overall appearance.
Reproductions are quite easy to detect, since the shield looks flattened and too broad when seen from the front, although from the side the proportions seem right. Undeterred, manufacturers of reproduction furniture continued to make sets of ’shield backs’ and its close relative, the ‘lyre-backed’ chair (with brass uprights to simulate harp strings), throughout the nineteenth and well into the twentieth century.
Price bands
Good quality, c.1780, £220-500 each.
Provincial camel back, £75-125 each.
Set of six, £900-1,350.
Nineteenth-century shield back, £120-140 each.
Set of six, £900-1,300.
Variations, far left: camel back, c.1790.
Left, above: stubby, stretchered version, with the arms set into the front of the shield.
Left: shield back, c.1780.

Historical background
Designs for Thomas Chippendale’s chairs were freely available once his pattern book, The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Director was published in 1754 and were
Signs of authenticity
1. Solid, heavy mahogany, smooth and silky to the touch.
2. Underframes of beech, plane or sycamore.
3. Crest rails fitting into tops of side rails where design scrolls outward-curving.
4. Crest rails fitting between curving side rails where design is rounded.
5. Drop-in or overstuffed seats.
6. Separate shoe-piece attached to back of seat frame.
7. On chairs with cabriole legs, deep apron with rounded corners to seat frame.
8. On chairs with square legs, square corners to seat frame.
9. Seat frames on early dining chairs straight (not dished until c.1780).
10. On chairs with arms, arm supports set back almost half the depth of the seat, screwed with hand-cut screws, the screwholes concealed by plugs or dowels, now virtually invisible.
Likely restoration and repair
11. Later carving and fluting to legs – carving will not stand proud of silhouette.
12. Broken back legs repaired or replaced, by dowelling into sawn ends on the line of the apron.
13. Drop-in seats replaced with overstuffed – the apron beneath the seat material will be
polished like the rest of the frame, not left plain or made of correct underframe wood.
14. Heavy carved decoration on back side rails – either carved later, or a marriage between a late Victorian copy and a period chair. Correct decoration for period was plain or fluted.
15. Later, Victorian cabriole legs dowelled into underframe to replace broken originals. Bandy-legged appearance where not enough thickness of wood has been used for the legs.
made with modifications and variations by numerous furniture-makers throughout the period 1754-80.
The main shift in design from previous shapes was the squared, almost over-running shape of shoulder and crest rail, and the pierced and carved central splat. Mahogany was used almost exclusively for dining chairs of this period: its immense strength and density allowed pierced work of great elaboration. The beginning of the period maintained rounded
corners to chair seats, but once Chippendale reintroduced plain squared legs, seat corners were also square.
Chippendale chairs were made in sets for dining rooms. Their backs were lower to allow the newly adopted custom of dining d la Berline – with footmen serving dishes individually, instead of the hitherto traditional English way of dining, from a side table heaped with food.
Construction and materials
Throughout the Chippendale period, dining chairs were made in solid mahogany, oiled and rubbed smooth with brick dust or sand to a glossy, silky finish. The backs of chairs were lower, with square shoulders often terminating in small upward-curling scrolls. There were two types of construction: the traditional, with the crest rail fitting between the two side rails which curved inward towards the centre, and the innovative, with the crest rail almost over-running the outward-curving side rails, like a cupid’s bow. On chairs with arms, the supports were higher and the arms ran almost parallel with the seat, fixed to the sides of the seat frames almost half way back, to allow for fashionable full skirts.
Detail
Although the central splats, crest rail and legs were profusely decorated, the stiles were seldom carved, but left plain or fluted. Seats of chairs were sometimes overstuffed or had deep decorative aprons, often serpentine in shape.
It is surprising to learn that the technique of lamination was first used for the fretted backs and ornament of the Chippendale period. Layers of veneer of alternating grain were glued together and then cut with a fret saw into intricate shapes.
Variations
Simplified variations of Chippendale’s designs were made by most country furniture-makers, usually in oak, but also in elm, beech, ash and fruitwoods. They had plain wooden seats made of planking nailed to the underframe, usually in more than one piece, with the grain going from side to side. Occasionally they are to be found with rush seats.
The designs of the back include the crudest cut-out work – most commonly a curving variation of four or five straight splats, either in a wheatsheaf shape or an open vase or violin shape. Most widespread and enduring are those made in a
simplified ladderback design. Legs are square, sometimes slightly chamfered on the inner sides. The back stretcher is still set higher than the front, and the two side stretchers are parallel. The tops of the front legs form the sides of the seat frame, and there is usually a fairly deep apron.
Below left: classic example of later Chippendale, c.1700, ladder-back.
Centre: a provincial vase splat. Right: classic North country ladder-back.
Far right: nineteenth-century ‘ribband-back’.
Reproductions
Nineteenth century
Provincial furniture-makers were often as much as 50 years behind the most recent fashions, and ‘Chippendale’ chairs were still being made at the beginning of the nineteenth century. By the mid-nineteenth century they were being made by many furniture manufacturers, slightly modified, with rather meagre cabriole legs, or with the slimmer, scrolled leg and foot typical of the later period of Chippendale design. Often designs such as the ribband back and its variations had square legs and stretchers instead of cabriole legs.
Many Chippendale-style chairs were mass-produced for public rooms, assembly halls, hotels and board rooms, with machine-cut central splats, square, leather-covered seats, often dished, and with the shoe-piece made as an integral part of the back seat rail. Quality of materials and craftsmanship divide the mass-produced from good Victorian copies, which today are fetching extremely good prices.
Price bands
Late eighteenth-century mahogany, £400-550 each. Set of six, £5,000-7,000.
Country versions, £120-190. Set of six, £2,160-3,420.
Nineteenth-century walnut, £350-400 each.
Nineteenth-century mahogany – set of six, £3,000-4,000.

THE CHAIRS that Chippendale created and reproduced in his book The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1762) offer a sample of the various design trends in the mid to late 18th century, such as Rococo, Chinese, Gothic, and Neoclassical. Chippendale’s name has become generic for 18th-century furniture and, in particular, chairs, but his designs borrowed from published English and French work. His most original work can be found in his Neoclassical pieces, which he created from 1760 onwards, inspired by the interiors of architect Robert Adam. Despite the variety of influences on his designs, many Chippendale chairs follow a basic pattern, with their stylistic influence being most obvious in their carving. Therefore, while most chair backs had pierced and interlaced splats with carved scrollwork, it is the shape and carving that reveals the
predominant influence: cartouche shapes and scrolling acanthus for Rococo, Gothic arches, Chinoiserie fretwork, and interlacing ribbons, or the lyre and fan shapes typical of Neoclassicism. The importance of deep-cut, detailed carving in Chippendale’s designs meant that mahogany was most commonly used, although provincial versions were still often made in walnut or fruitwoods.
The top rails of the chairs were usually serpentine in shape, sometimes ending in carved ears, with stiles curving outwards. Most of them had squared or trapezoidal seats, and while Chippendale preferred stuff-over upholstery, many cheaper or colonial versions had slip-in seats. Designs often had different front and back legs. The front legs could be cabriole with a claw-and-ball foot, tapered, or straight with stretchers. Mahogany is well suited for the elaborate carving of the back splat.
The drop-in seat is upholstered in pale yellow floral silk damask.
Rear legs were often simply chamfered, as these chairs were placed against the wall.
The cabriole front legs terminate in elegant carved scroll feet.

DINING CHAIR
This mahogany chair, part of a set of 11 together with one later copy, has a serpentine top rail above an interlaced, pierced splat headed by C-scrolls carved with leaves. The cabriole legs are flanked by C-scrolls, also carved with leaves, and the legs taper towards scrolled toes. c.1775.
NEW HAMPSHIRE DINING CHAIRS
Each of these mahogany dining chairs has a serpentine top rail with rounded shoulders and flaring stiles with scribed borders. The interlaced back splat includes an inverted heart cut-out shape. The over-upholstered, seat is a trapezoidal shape and has a serpentine front. The piece is supported on square-moulded, chamfered legs. The legs of the chair are joined by recessed box stretchers. The chairs retain an old or original finish, and are attributed to Robert Harold of Portsmouth. c.1765-75.
ENGLISH DINING CHAIRS
The serpentine top rail of each mahogany chair is carved at the shoulders with scrolls and foliage. The pierced, vase-shaped back splats are carved with acanthus and trailing foliage. The curved arms with scrolling ends have downward-sweeping supports, and stretchers join the straight front legs and sweeping back legs. The saddle-shaped seats are covered in red leather with a double row of studs. c.1770.
ENGLISH DINING CHAIRS
These mahogany chairs have serpentine top rails carved with trailing acanthus and side rails with flowers and trelliswork. The pierced, vase-shaped back splats are carved with acanthus and rocaille. The curved arms have downward-sweeping supports. The chairs have drop-in seats with egg-and-dart-moulding on the seat rails. The square front legs have chamfered back corners and foliate brackets, while the back legs are sweeping.
AMERICAN CARVED SIDE CHAIR
This walnut chair has a serpentine top rail centred by a carved shell over a pierced, vase-form splat. It has a moulded seat rail, padded drop-in seat, cabriole legs, and claw-and-ball feet. Late 18th century.
ENGLISH DINING CHAIR
This mahogany chair has an arched, moulded top rail and carved shells at the corners of the uprights, in the centre of the pierced splat, and at the centre of the shaped apron. c.1770.
AMERICAN ARMCHAIR
This mixed wood armchair from Philadelphia has a serpentine top rail, an urn-shaped splat, and flared arms with scrolled knuckles. It has a straight seat rail, a slip seat, cabriole legs, and pad feet. Mid to late 18th century.
GEORGE III ARMCHAIR
This child’s open mahogany armchair has a serpentine top rail and a ladder-back splat. The scroll arms have fluted uprights. The stuff-over seat rests on square, tapering legs. c.1790.
GEORGE III SETTEE
This early George III mahogany chair-back settee has a C- and S-scroll top rail above two pierced, vase-shaped splats with an open outscrolled arm at each end. The stuff-over seat rests on chamfered, square- section legs joined by stretchers.
COLONIAL INDIAN SIDE CHAIR
This Asian hardwood chair has a serpentine top rail above a pierced, vase-form back splat. The shaped seat rail has a padded drop-in seat. The cabriole legs have acanthus-carved knees. c.1770.
AMERICAN DINING CHAIR
This is one of a pair of fine Delaware Valley walnut chairs. Each has a serpentine top rail centred by a carved shell over a pierced, vase-form splat. The moulded seat rail has a drop-in seat. c.1770.
CHIPPENDALE’S CHAIR DESIGNS
In the notes that accompany his illustrative plates, Chippendale wrote that there “are various designs of chairs for patterns. The front feet are mostly different, for the greater choice.” Elsewhere, he was more specific, as with his instructions that chairs should be upholstered in the same material as the window-curtains and the height of the back should seldom exceed 55cm (22m) above the seat — although sometimes these dimensions could be less to suit the chairs to the room.
Chippendale felt that “seats look best when stuffed over the rails and have a
brass border neatly chased; but are most commonly done with Brass Nails, in one or two Rows.” Despite the number of designs in his Director, not all the chair patterns that are termed “Chippendale” are included: the ladder-back design, for example, does not appear.
Chippendale’s designs for chairs and backs of chairs were perhaps the most influential of his designs to appear in the Director. His designs were interpreted by craftsmen throughout the world, who
followed his instructions to varying degrees, and so increased the variety of “Chippendale” chairs.