Thomas Chippendale, the younger Thomas Chippendale, the younger Thomas Chippendale, the younger (1749–1822) was an English artist, furniture maker and designer, and the eldest of Thomas Chippendale's eleven children. He was devoted to his father and worked with Chippendale Senior until the later died in 1779. Thereafter he took over his father's business until Thomas Chippendale Jnr was obliged to close the doors on the family business. The Company, listed in Sheraton's "The Cabinet Directory" of 1803, went bankrupt in 1804 but was later re-established. Thomas Chippendale was also a member of the Society of Arts and exhibited his paintings at the Royal Academy
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').