Chippendale Society access to other Chippendale collections, at Harewood House and Dumfries House. Chippendale furniture is highly valued; a padouk cabinet that was auctioned by Christies in 2008 sold for £2,729,250 (USD 5,324,763). In January 2013 the BBC produced a series entitled ""Carved With Love; The Genius of British Woodwork"", the second episode of which featured Chippendale's life, work and influence. Chippendale Society The Chippendale Society is a registered charity in Britain, that works to preserve and promote the heritage of Thomas Chippendale, one of Britain's most notable furniture makers. The society was founded in 1965 in Otley in Yorkshire, England, Chippendale's
Metamorphic library steps ceilings and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. The topmost shelves were difficult to reach, so movable library steps or library stairs were created as a form of domestic furniture. During the second half of the 18th century a succession of talented German-born cabinet-makers passed through the French courts. Jean-François Oeben, Jean-Henri Riesener and David Roentgen had successively introduced the courts of Louis XV and Louis XVI to a wide range of finely made and exquisitely finished mechanical furniture. The ingenuity of these cabinet-makers, especially David Roentgen who became master cabinet-maker to Marie Antoinette, led to a fascination for "meubles à surprises" ('surprise furniture').