State bed
Date
circa 1715 (the velvet) - circa 1740 (the bed)
Materials
Mahogany, Velvet, Feather, Textile
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1127735
Summary
A mahogany and velvet upholstered state bed, or tester bed, English, circa 1740, the mahogany footposts carved with elongated acanthus sprays and topped by an acanthus capital. The high padded headboard with serpentine crest covered in green cut velvet, the tester covered with a gadrooned pelmet and surmounted by carved shells at each corner and to the centre of each side. Hung round with four curtains and a serpentine valance to three sides. The footposts probably an addition made by the 6th Duke. The velvet almost certainly earlier than the bed itself. It bears a resemblance to the patterned silk velvet on Queen Anne's bed made for Windsor Castle in 1714 and supplied by John Johnson, the same London-based mercer who was supplying fabrics to Chatsworth in the 1690s. Both velvets were probably woven in Genoa, Italy.
Provenance
Probably originally made for the 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694 - 1753), whose daughter Charlotte Boyle married William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (1720 - 1764) in 1748 and by so doing brought Londesborough, Chiswick, Bolton Abbey and Lismore Castle into the Devonshire family. Brought from Londesborough to Hardwick Hall by the 6th Duke of Devonshire in the 1820s after demolishing Londesborough in 1819. By descent until, following the death of Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1895 - 1950), Hardwick Hall and its contents were accepted by HM Treasury in part payment of death duties and transferred to the National Trust, in 1959.
References
Beard, 1997: Geoffrey Beard. Upholsterers and interior furnishing in England, 1530-1840. Bard studies in the decorative arts. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1997., p. 192 Rowell, Christopher, 'The 'Bachelor' 6th Duke of Devonshire and Hardwick', in David Adshead and David Taylor, Hardwick Hall: A Great Old Castle of Romance (2016), 260 Westman, Annabel, 'Snug at the Hall': Beds and Canopies and the 6th Duke', in Hardwick Hall: A Great Castle of Old Romance (2016), 278 and Figures 274 - 6