nued for
fifty years.

Chippendale carved the posts of his bedsteads, and so the bed curtains
were drawn back and only a short valance was used around the top,
whereas in the time of William and Mary bed curtains enveloped all the
woodwork. Still earlier in the Elizabethan period bed posts were
elaborately carved.

In the eighteenth century it was the fashion to embroider the bed
curtains.

The Chippendale china-cabinets with glass fronts, were the outcome of
the fad for collecting Chinese and French porcelain, and excellent
taste was displayed in collecting these small articles within definite
and appropriate limits. Cabinets with glass doors were also used as
receptacles for silverware.

Thomas Sheraton (1760-1786), another great name in the Mahogany
Period, admired Louis XV and Louis XVI and one can easily trace French
influence in the "light, rhythmic style" he originated. Sheraton's
contribution to interior decoration was furniture. His rooms, walls,
ceilings, over-doors, windows and chimney pieces, are considered very
poor; which accounts for the fact that Sheraton furniture as well as
Heppelwhite was used in Adam rooms.

Sheraton made a specialty of pieces of furniture designed to serve
several purposes, and therefore adapted for use in small rooms; such
as dressing-tables with folding mirrors, library step-ladders
convertible into tables, etc.

The backs of Sheraton chairs had straight tops and several small
splats joined to a cross-rail, and not to the seat. The legs were
straight.

Sheraton introduced the use of turned work on the legs and outer
supports of the backs of chairs, and produced fine examples of painted
furniture, especially painted satin-wood. He, also, did some very fine
inlaying and used cane in the seats and backs of chairs which he
painted black and gold. Among those who decorated for him was Angelica
Kauffman.

Heppelwhite chairs are unmistakable on account of their _shield_,
_heart_ or _oval_ backs and open splats, which were not joined to
the seat in the centre of backs. The most beautiful were those with carved
Prince of Wales feathers, held together by a bow-knot delicately
carved. They were sometimes painted. The legs of Heppelwhite furniture
were straight.

We see in the book published by A. Heppelwhite & Co., a curious
statement to the effect that cabriole chairs were those having stuffed
backs. This idea must have arisen from the fact that many chairs of
the eighteenth