Chair of state
Category
Furniture
Date
1625 - 1640
Materials
Wood covered in purple Ottoman velvet, applied leather and silver thread
Measurements
102.0 x 69.0 x 61.0 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Knole, Kent
NT 129587
Summary
A chair of state, c.1625-1640, with a rectangular frame and octagonal supports, upholstered in purple Ottoman velvet embroidered with stylised floral and foliate design in applied leather and adorned with silver thread. The chair has a loose cushion as is part of a larger set further comprising two stools (NT 129414.1-2) and one footstool (NT 129413). It is likely that Casbert’s ‘Rich canopy of state of purple velvet and cloth of silver’ supplied in 1661 may have been for use with this set. Emma Slocombe has argued that ‘the embellished velvet is a later addition to a set that was originally plain. This is most evident on the back of the chair where the original purple velvet, purple figured silk damask and a row of nails are visible below the nail line of the later top cover.’ (Slocombe 2014, pp. 311-2). The purple set of chair and stools can be traced back through the Knole inventories to the 1693 account of furniture removed from the Great Wardrobe at Hampton Court by Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, Lord Chamberlain to King William III.
Provenance
Acquired as a royal perquisite by Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset in his capacity of Lord Chamberlain to King William III. 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.
References
Slocombe 2014: Emma Slocombe,'Ancient Furniture: The Display and Alteration of Upholstered Seat Furniture and Textiles associated with the Brown Gallery, Knole, in the Nineteenth Century', Furniture History L (2014): 297-325