Chair of state
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1625 - 1640
Materials
Beech covered in silk and brocade
Measurements
123.0 x 82.5 x 68.0 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Knole, Kent
NT 129415
Summary
A so-called ‘chair of state’, c.1625-40, with stuffed seat on an X-frame entirely covered in silver brocade on cream ground with designs of flowers and scrolls of Eastern Mediterranean type, and edged with silk fringe. The legs bear the original material while the rest of the chair may be been re-covered with another contemporary material. The chair comes en suite with a matching footstool (NT 129416). X-framed armchairs derive from the Roman sella curulis (folding chairs often used on military campaigns) and are known in medieval inventories as ‘Chairs of State’. Since then they were used as thrones, placed on a dais below a canopy, and were almost invariably flanked by two stools, with a lower footstool in front.
Provenance
Knole and the majority of its furniture were accepted by HM Treasury in part payment of death duties and transferred to the National Trust in 1946.