Although much English furniture comes from French and Italian influence, the early forms of English chairs owe very little to influences outside of England itself. This is especially true towards the end of the Tudor period. It was during this time that the French began to take their chair designs from the English.

The squat style chairs with heavy backs that were carved like a piece of paneling gave way to taller, more slender and elegant chairs. The framework of these chairs were less carved and new directions were taken as far as how these chairs were ornamented. Cabinet makers of the Restoration began to take advantage of the opportunities given to them to design these new chairs. Chairs began to take on an elaborate construction with graceful semicircular ornaments that connected all four legs by a vase shaped knob in the center. The arms and legs of the chairs of this period were scrolled with the splats of the back containing a rich arrangement of spirals and scrolls.

The most popular of these chairs were the ones made so by the cavaliers who had been exiled by Charles II. During the reign of William and Mary these chairs degenerated into chairs that were more stiff and rectangular with a solid fiddle shaped splat and a cabriole leg with pad feet. Chairs that were a bit more ornamental had cane seats and caned backs. It is from these forms that the Chippendale chair was developed. This chair had an elaborately interlaced back, graceful arms and square legs. The Chippendale chair to this day is one of the most popular designs in history. It was created by Thomas Chippendale who lived from 1718 to 1779. He was one of the big three furniture makers of the 18th century along with Thomas Sheraton and George Hepplewhite. In 1754 he published a book of his designs which included the Chippendale chair design.

Sheraton and Hepplewhite tried to lighten the design of the original Chippendale chair, which even in the hands of the one who created it was a very heavy piece of work. Sheraton and Hepplewhite were successful in their attempts to modify the design and lighten the chair and to this day the modern Chippendale is comparatively slight next to just about every other chair of its type.

Another man who attempted to make major changes to the Chippendale design was Robert Adam. Adam lived from 1728 to 1792. He was a Scottish architect who lived in Kirkcaldy. He set up his business in 1758 in England after returning from a grand tour of France and Italy. It was then that he started work on his variations of the Chippendale design which can still be seen throughout the world today. Historians say his success is attributed to the fact that everything he designed he did so down the smallest detail.

In our next article in this series we'll continue with 18th and 19th century chair designs.