These designs for five lanterns by Thomas Chippendale appeared as plate number 152 in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director. The design was engraved for the Director by the engraver Isaac Taylor (1730-1807) whose name can be seen on the plate but not on this original design. In his plate description, Chippendale states that these are specifically for ‘Hall, Passages or Staircases’ and are ‘generally made of Brass, cast from wooden Moulds’. Lanterns were particularly useful lighting devices in hallways and busy places such as passages as they would protect candles from the wind.

Thomas Chippendale was a fashionable designer and cabinet-maker in the eighteenth-century, providing furniture to such famous contemporary figures as David Garrick. His company produced high-quality furniture, including some key masterpieces, but Chippendale's outstanding skill was in design. His pattern-book The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director went through three editions in the 1750s and 60s and inspired trade catalogues and pattern-books from fellow designers. Usually produced by architects, a large, elegant pattern-book was an ambitious project for a craftsman at this time. The Director showed the full range of furniture available in the eighteenth century, and the range of styles that were fashionable. Chippendale created a trademark fusion of rococo style with Chinese and gothic elements, which was the basis of 'English' rococo. His style influenced furniture design in contemporary Europe and colonial America, and had a marked Victorian revival in England. The Director designs were the main source for Chippendale's high reputation until his furniture was first identified in 1906.