Popular Woodworking 2007-02 № 160, страница 16

Major Mass

I begin each project by establishing the "major mass" - the height, width and depth - of the piece. These dimensions are critically important as they establish the artistic composition. It is this composition that you will see from across the room - not some really great dovetails or a smoothly planed surface. People will largely form their opinion of your work based on your composition. You can develop your own composition by going to art school as I did, or you can simply copy the composition of 18th-century masters.

Though 18th-century furniture varies dimensionally, the proportions from one piece to the next are often quite similar. For example: If you divide the height by the width of baroque high chests or secretaries, you'll find most pieces are close to twice as high as they are wide. Though there are only a few in existence, William & Mary high chests are typically one unit high by the golden section (.618) wide. Chamber tables (minus their tops) and many low chests of drawers are square (1:1). I don't know if this was intentional. It may be one of those "it just looks right" kind

of things. It may be that you can find these relationships where ever you look for them. Frankly, I don't care. These simple ratios are easy to work with and look great. Departing from these fundamental proportions can work. I have seen Shaker furniture that is taller than 2:1. The result can be an alluringly naive or quirky piece. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but you'd be hard pressed to find something built in the 18th century, ""off proportion" and made of mahogany.

This William & Mary-style high chest retains some of the influence of an earlier period with its stouter, squarer shape and it incorporates the golden section into its height.

Low chests and dressing tables often have depths of roughly 18" or so. The 18" is roughly a golden section of 30" (the typical height for dressing/chamber tables) so that makes the end a golden section . Deeper dressers may have resulted from making the top a golden rectangle.

This Chippendale-style high chest has a 2:1 height-to-width ratio. The result is a nice tall piece that doesn't look top-heavy or unstable.

I think the proportions of this little Chippendale-style chamber table are just lovely. It's almost hard to believe the basic shape is a simple square.

This Queen Anne-style high chest is divided vertically in half by its upper and lower case. This looks fine for furniture of a man-sized scale. This piece is 76" tall. The Chippendale high chest shown on the far left is divided by the golden section. It is more than 8' tall! That puts its waist mould (the moulding that unites the upper and lower cases) about 3' off the floor. That's roughly the same height as this Queen Anne's waist.

popularwoodworking.com 31