Chair
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1730
Materials
Embroidered linen, walnut, beech rails
Measurements
109 x 59 x 45 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland
NT 1276604.6
Caption
This chair tells part of a story of medieval combat and chivalry. It is upholstered with needlework scenes from the life of Sir John Astley (1408-1484), a real-life knight in shining armour.
Summary
An upholstered chair, one of eight together with two sofas forming a set of seat furniture, English, circa 1730, all with fixed fine (8 stitches per cm) canvas work covers, linen canvas embroidered in coloured wool and silk yarns. The centre of the backs and the seats have pictoral scenes surrounded by entwined flowers on a brown silk ground in contemporary petit and gros needlework, depicting the 15th century combat of John Astley, this chair showing "Here he peirceth the helmet of Malse with his spear" on leaf carved cabriole legs with pad feet.