One of the antiques I prize most is my Chippendale-style chair, a repro from England circa 1850 (there were two, but I only got one in the divorce). Thomas Chippendale’s designs - graceful, charming and useful - defined the age. Little is known of his life, apart from being married twice and having 12 children. In 1754, he published The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, a bestseller that won him hundreds of customers around the world. He was an interior decorator without peer and there’s a full-sized sculpted figure of him on the facade of London’s V&A Museum. His customers included the 18th Century’s great and good, including Shakespearian actor David Garrick.
© 2024 John Oliver
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