Bases and Caps of the Pedestals of Each Order, in Chippendale Drawings, Vol. I
Medium
Black and brown ink
Dimensions
sheet: 13 3/8 x 8 13/16 in. (34 x 22.4 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1920
Accession Number
20.40.1(7)
Art Historical Context
Thomas Chippendale, one of 18th-century Britain's most celebrated furniture designers, created this meticulous ink drawing in 1753 as part of his preparatory work for what would become *The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director* (1754), a groundbreaking pattern book that revolutionized furniture design across Europe and America. Titled *Bases and Caps of the Pedestals of Each Order*, from *Chippendale Drawings, Vol. I*, it exemplifies his mastery in adapting classical architectural orders—such as Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian—to elegant furniture elements like pedestals. Rendered in black and...
About the Artist
Thomas Chippendale · 1718–1779
Thomas Chippendale, baptized on June 5, 1718, in Otley, Yorkshire, was born into a family steeped in woodworking traditions, the only child of joiner John Chippendale and Mary Drake. His father likely provided his initial hands-on training in cabinetmaking, supplemented by time in the workshop of York joiner Richard Wood, before Chippendale relocated to London around 1749. He married Catherine Red...