Travelling trunk
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1720
Materials
Leather on a pine carcase, fixed with brass studs, straps and with brass escutcheon, lined with linen and paper
Measurements
68.5 x 127 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1127784
Summary
A brass-studded and decorated leather dome-lidded travelling trunk, English, probably London, circa 1720, with a pine carcase lined to the interior with marbled paper and linen, and with a trellis in silk tape to the underside of the lid, also fitted with a glass and a tray, decorated to the exterior with brass straps with pierced crown terminals, elaborate engraved escutcheon plate and with a pair of carry handles to either end. The decorative studs forming a pattern of stylized flowers, scrolls and foliage. One of three leather trunks [NT 1127726 and NT 1127788] at Hardwick Hall of a type made both for members of the Royal Family, and for courtiers and those holding offices of state in the 17th and 18th centuries. All three were made for Charles Compton (1698 - 1755), brother of the 5th and 6th Earls of Northampton and father of the 7th and 8th Earls, who was Consul (1727 - 1742) and Envoy Extraordinary (1742 - 1745) at Lisbon. They came to Hardwick via the marriage in 1782 of Lady Elizabeth Compton, heiress of the 7th Earl of Northampton, to Lord George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington of the second creation (1754 - 1834).
Provenance
Made for Charles Compton (1698 - 1755), brother of the 5th and 6th Earls of Northampton and father of the 7th and 8th Earls, who was Consul (1727 - 1742) and Envoy Extraordinary (1742 - 1745) at Lisbon. They came to Hardwick via the marriage in 1782 of Lady Elizabeth Compton, heiress of the 7th Earl of Northampton, to Lord George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington of the second creation (1754 - 1834). Recorded as at Hardwick in 1903. 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
Rowell, Christopher, 'Furniture at Hardwick Hall - II', in David Adshead and David Taylor, Hardwick Hall: A Great Old Castle of Romance (2016), 173 - 5 Edwards, Ralph, 1894-1977 shorter dictionary of English furniture : 1964., p. 19, where dated circa 1660 Hawkesbury 1903, Lord Hawkesbury, Catalogues of Portraits at Compton Place and at Buxted Park, in Sussex (1903), p. 6