These three designs for ribbon-back chairs by Thomas Chippendale are the original designs for plate no.14 in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1762 ed.). The designs were engraved by Isaac Taylor (1730-1807) whose name appears on the plate but not on this original design. In the plate description within the Director, Chippendale instructs that; ‘The Front Feet are mostly different, for the greater choice…The Seats look best when stuffed over the Rails and have a Brass Border neatly chased….They are usually covered with the same stuff as the Window-Curtains.’ During the 18^th century, items of furniture were often upholstered to match the other decorative elements (such as curtains) within the room. Chippendale produced many different designs for splat-back chairs such as these.

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.