before, is not intended to be a guide
for collectors, for that is a very big subject in itself, but is meant
to try to help a little about the modern side of the question. There are
many grades of furniture made, and one should buy with circumspection,
and the best grade which is possible for one to afford. The very best
reproductions are made with as much care and knowledge and skill as the
originals, and will last as long, and become treasured heirlooms like
those handed down to us. They are works of art like their eighteenth
century models. The wood is chosen with regard to its beauty of grain,
and is treated and finished so the beauty and depth of color is brought
out, and the surface is rubbed until there is a soft glow to it. If one
could have the ages-old mahogany which Chippendale and his
contemporaries used, there would be little to choose between the
originals and our best reproductions, so far as soundness of
construction and beauty of detail go. But the fact that they were the
originals of a great style, that no one since then has been able to
design any furniture of greater beauty than that of England and France
in the eighteenth century, and that we are still copying it, gives an
added charm to a rare old chair or sideboard or mirror. The modern
workman in the best workshops is obliged to know the different styles so
well that he cannot make mistakes, and if he ventures to take a little
flight of fancy on his own account, it will be done with such
correctness of feeling that one is glad he flew; but few attempt it. In
the lower grade of reproductions one must have an eagle eye when buying.
I saw a rather astounding looking Chippendale chair in a shop one day,
with a touch of Gothic--a suspicion of his early Dutch manner--and, to
give a final touch, tapering legs with carved bellflowers! "What
authority have you for that chair?" I asked, for I really wanted to know
what they would call the wonder.

"That," the shopman answered, the pride of knowledge shining in his
eyes, "is Chinese Chippendale."

Another anachronism which has appeared lately, and sad to say in some of
the shops that should know better, is painted Adam furniture with
pictures on it of the famous actresses of the eighteenth century. The
painting of Angelica Kauffman, Cipriani, Pergolesi and the others, was
charming and delightful. Nymphs and cupids, flowers, wreaths, musical
instruments, and poetical little scenes, but never the head of a