1. Rodris Roth, Floor Coverings in Eighteenth-Century America (Washington: Smithsonian Press, 1967), p. 28. Inventory, 19 Arlington Street, London, 1768, as quoted in Anthony Coleridge, "Sir Lawrence Dundas and Chippendale," Apollo 86, no. 67 (September 1967): 195. Ninan Horne to Chippendale, Haig and Company, June 20, 1789, quoted in Karin M. Walton and Christopher Gilbert, "Chippendale's Upholstery Branch," Leeds Art Calendar, no. 74 (1974) : 26. For more on carpet covers, see Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, 2 vols. (London: Studio Vista, 1978), 1: 209, 216-17, 219, 251, 265. Thomas Sheraton, The Cabinet Dictionary (London, 1803), annotated reprint, Wilford P. Cole and Charles F. Montgomery, eds. (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970), 1: 4o. Gilbert, Chippendale, 1: 251.
2. Daniel Marot, Das Ornamentwerk des Daniel Marot (ca. 1702), ed. P. Jessen (Berlin: Wasmuth, 1892). The author examined the Dyrham bed on July 21, 1981. The bed was published in John Cornforth and John Fowler, English Decoration in the Eighteenth Century (London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1974), pl. 10, pp. 89—90. Reproduction case curtains were installed based on the evidence on the upper frame. Peter Thornton and Maurice Tomlin, The Furnishing and Decoration of Ham House (London: Furniture History Society, 1980), PP. 55, 73, 102, 112, 116, 144, 156, 169.
3. For information about the use of slipcovers, see Florence Montgomery, "Room Furnishings as Seen in British Prints from the Lewis Walpole Library," Antiques 105, no. 3 (March 1974): 522—31; Florence Montgomery, Printed Textiles (New York: Viking, 1970), pp. 78—82; Florence Montgomery, Textiles in America, 1650–1870 (New York: Norton, 1984), pp. 123—27; Linda Baumgarten, "Curtains, Covers, and Cases: Upholstery Documents at Colonial Williamsburg," and Susan B. Swan, "An Analysis of Original Slip Covers, Window, and Bed Furnishings at Winterthur Museum," both in Mark A. Williams et al., eds., Upholstery Conservation (East Kingston, N.H.: American Conservation Consortium, 1990), pp. 160—217.
4. Robert Beverley to Samuel Athawes, July 16, 1771, Robert Beverley Letterbook, 1761–1775, Library of Congress (microfilm M—3, Foundation Library, Colonial Williamsburg).
5. This method is useful when restoring chairs with slip seats without using nails for the outer upholstery. Care must be taken that the textile is not so thick that it strains the chair frame.
6. Chippendale, Haig and Company to Sir Edward Knatchbull, May 7, 1773, as quoted in Gilbert, Chippendale, 1: 226. Chinese wallpaper often was referred to as "India Paper," as it was imported by the East India Company. The bills from Fleeson, from Rushton and Beachcroft, and from Webster are reproduced in Nicholas B. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur in Philadelphia: The House and Furniture of General John Cadwalader (Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1964), pp. 40—41, 51, 69. Household Furniture, February 12, 1772, p. 94, John Cadwalader waste book, Cadwalader Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. This entry is important in establishing the location of Cadwalader's chairs and in revealing that they were fitted with two sets of loose covers. The formal silk covers were blue (for the chairs in the front parlor) and yellow (for those in the rear parlor) and made of the same fabric as the window curtains. The covers probably also had narrow fringe to match the larger fringe on the curtains. The materials are listed in the Rushton and Beachcroft bill. The "Inventory of Contents Remaining in Cadwalader['s] House," taken on April 1,1786, listed "1 blue damask settee cover," "10 chair do do," and ten yellow damask chair "bottoms" (transcribed in Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, pp. 72—73). The author thanks Luke Beckerdite for the Cadwalader references.
7. Gilbert, Chippendale, 1: 157, 160 and 2: figs. 176, 357; check cases for a set of fourteen mahogany elbow chairs "Cover'd & brass nailed the Elbows and fronts of the seats richly carv'd & scrold feet 7 castors" made for the Earl of Dumfries in 1759 are cited in 1: 137. The leather case fragment was purchased in 1954 from S. W. Wolsey who reported that it came from Ham House. Maurice Tomlin determined that the case does not fit any of the surviving furniture from Ham House (Maurice Tomlin, Department of Furniture and Woodwork, Victoria and Albert Museum to Mildred Lanier, March 26, 1970, Colonial Williamsburg, acc. 1966—415, 2).
8. Thornton and Tomlin, Ham House, pp. 39, 45, 50, 88, 107, 114, 147. Inventories and Accounts, 1679, 6: 576—96 and Inventories, 1724, 10: 177, Maryland Perogative Court (transcripts from microfilm, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts). The author thanks Frank Horton for these references.
9. Anthony Coleridge, "Some Rococo Cabinet-Makers and Sir Lawrence Dundas," Apollo 86, no. 67 (September 1967): 214—15. The tables were sold at Christie's in 1934; their locations were unknown to Coleridge when he wrote the article.
10. Gilbert, Chippendale, 1: 197, 207 and 2: figs. 232—34. For more on leather covers furnished by Chippendale, see 1: 184, 188, 192, 206, 209, 214.
11. Sheraton, Dictionary, 2: 336.
12. Gilbert, Chippendale, 1: 128, 191 and 2: figs. 239—40; for more on baize aprons furnished by Chippendale, see 1: 138—39, 145, 159, 184—86, 191, 228, 231, 255, 274, 279. Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1st ed. (London, 1754). Sheraton, Dictionary, 1: 40. Thomas Sheraton, The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book, Wilford P. Cole and Charles F. Montgomery, eds. (London, 1793, 3d. revised ed. 1802; reprint, New York: Praeger, 1970), app., p. 13, pl. 8.
13. Sheraton, Dictionary, 1: 40. Sheraton evidently copied the definition of baize in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (London, 1755; reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1979): "BAYZE–See Baize. BAIZE. n.f. A kind of coarse open cloth stuff, having a long nap; sometimes frized on one side, and sometimes not frized, according to the use it is intended for. This stuff is without wale, being wrought on a loom with two treddles, like flannel." Gilbert, Chippendale, 1: 215—16, 247—48, 212.
14. For more on cloth writing surfaces, see Gilbert, Chippendale, 1: 138, 142, 146, 160, 180, 183, 185, 189, 231, 245, 247, and 273—75; and Sheraton, Drawing-Book, pp. 356, 373, 378, 392, 395, 396, 409, 437, and appendix 21. For more on the secretary, see Sheraton, Drawing-Book, p.409 and pl. 52.
15. Ephriam Chambers, Cyclopaedia (London: printed for D. Midwinter, A. Bettesworth, &. C. Hitch, 1738) and Encyclopedia Britannica (Edinburgh: printed for A. Bell &. C. MacFarquhar, 1771) gave lengthy descriptions for making cloth. They outlined the steps in weaving, fulling, napping, and shearing. Philip Ludwell Grymes Inventory, Middlesex County, Va., 1809, Middlesex County Courthouse; William Blathwavt, Esq. Inventory, Dyrham Park, Gloucester, England, March, 1839 (photocopy, Research File, Department of Collections, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
16. Invoice, Thomas Chippendale to Sir William Robinson, July 7, 1760, as quoted in Gilbert, Chippendale, 1: 143. "Lutstring" or lustring was a crisp, thin silk (Montgomery, Textiles in America, p. 283). William Ince and John Mayhew, The Universal System of Household Furniture, Ralph Edwards, ed. (London, 1762; reprint, London: Alec Tiranti, 1960), pl. 18. Sheraton, Drawing-Book, pp. 399, 404; supp. pp. 7, 56, 60. Other colors may have been added to the palette early in the nineteenth century. Sheraton recommended green, white, or pink silk, fluted behind the wire doors of commodes (Sheraton, Dictionary, 1: 172, and 2: 332—33) .
17. Sheraton, Drawing-Book, p. 404, pl. 48. George Smith, A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, annotated reprint, Constance V. Hershey, Charles F. Montgomery, and Benno M. Forman, eds. (London, 1808; New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970), p. 19, pls. 106—7 The curtain was made from a woman's dress, later cut up and dyed green. It was in the cupboard and described as a "long damask curtain" in 1869 (Richard Nylander, "The Johnathan Sayward House, York, Maine," Antiques 116, no. 3 [September 1979: 571—77). |