Drawing of the Day: A Design for a Chippendale Desk, 1753-62

Drawing
Design for a Desk
Thomas Chippendale
1753-1762
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Thomas Chippendale (1718-1762), perhaps one of the best-remembered fashionable designers and cabinet-makers of Eighteenth-Century London, provided furniture to such famous contemporary figures as David Garrick who adored the Chippendale company’s high-quality furniture.

As fantastic as the finished pieces were, Chippendale's most outstanding skill was his design. He produced a pattern-book, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, which developed through three editions in the 1750s and 60s—inspiring trade catalogues and pattern-books from fellow designers.

Here, we see one of Chippendale’s designs for a desk and bookcase which dates between 1753 and 1762. The desk features four drawers, two on each of two rows, and a drop front, and stands on sumptuous Rococo cabriole legs. The bookcase boasts two doors with an elaborate ogee arch, Rococo ornamentation, and a handsome finial above. A cusped ornamental band separates the desk and bookcase.

This design appeared as Plate 111 in the third edition of Chippendale's pattern-book  and is one of  98 plates engraved for the edition by Matthias Darly.