Untitled
Thomas Willement (London c.1786 - Faversham 1871)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1690 - 1720
Materials
Ebony, carved and inlaid with ivory, engraved, back and seat with cane and upholstery
Place of origin
Visakhapatnam
Order this imageCollection
Charlecote Park, Warwickshire
NT 532995
Summary
A set of ten pieces of seat furniture, of ebony inlaid with engraved ivory, comprising an open armchair, a daybed, and eight standard chairs, or backstools, Visakhapatnam, India, circa 1690-1720. The whole set with seat and back panels of cane, covered with needlework worked by Mary Elizabeth Lucy (1803-90), circa 1837, after designs by Thomas Willement (1786-1871).
Provenance
Purchased in 1837 by George Hammond Lucy (1789-1845) for the Library at Charlecote. Presented to the National Trust by Sir Montgomerie Fairfax-Lucy (1896 – 1965), two years after the death of his father, Sir Henry Ramsay-Fairfax, 3rd Bt (1870 – 1944), with Charlecote Park and its chief contents, in 1946.
Marks and inscriptions
'This couch, nine chairs and two cabinets were a gift of ye Queene to ye Earle of Leicester, 1575. 1858 This couch and the chairs were worked by Mary Elizabeth Lucy of Charlecote Park.'
Makers and roles
Thomas Willement (London c.1786 - Faversham 1871), textile designer Mary Elizabeth Lucy (1803 - 1890) , needleworker
References
Jaffer 2001 : Amin Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, a catalogue of the collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum, London, V&A publications, 2001., pp.176-180 Wainwright, 1989: Clive Wainwright, The romantic interior: the British collector at home, 1750-1850. Studies in British Art. New Haven; London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 1989. [Charlecote pp.208-240]