Armchair
John Russell (c.1773-1822)
Category
Furniture
Date
1802
Materials
Carved and gilt beech upholstered in crimson watered silk
Measurements
122.0 x 80.0 x 68.5 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Knole, Kent
NT 129592.1
Summary
A carved chair of state with sabre legs in the Grecian taste made of gilt beechwood and supplied by John Russell to the Great Wardrobe in 1802 for the use of Charles, Lord Whitworth, British Ambassador to Paris. The chair is part of a larger set that comprises a state canopy, a pair of stools (NT 129592.2.1-2) and a footstool (NT 129592.3). As Martin Drury explains, it was customary, until about 1830, for British ambassadors ‘to be equipped at the expense of the sovereign with an allowance of plate, a portrait of the sovereign, a state canopy, a chair, two stools, a foot stool and chapel furnishings’ (Drury 1985). Drury also shows that in the Lord Chamberlain’s Account Book for the year 1802, now at the National Archives, an entry appears headed ‘State Canopy for Lord Whitworth Ambassador to the French Republic’, which lists the suite of furniture persevered at Knole. Whitworth was the second husband of the Duke of Dorset’s widow, Arabella, who after a distinguished career in the diplomatic service in Poland, Russia and Denmark, was appointed British Ambassador to Paris in 1802. In 1820, a rather similar giltwood ‘Grecian’ chair was supplied by John Russell, Vallance and Evans and upholstered by Elliot and Francis to Queen Caroline, consort of George IV. It is now at Grimsthorpe Castle (Robert 1989, p. 81, fig. 13).
Provenance
Supplied by John Russell, joiner, to the Great Wardrobe in 1802 for the use of Charles, Lord Whitworth, second husband of Arabella, Duchess of Dorset, appointed Ambassador to France in November 1802. 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.
Makers and roles
John Russell (c.1773-1822), joiner
References
Drury, 1985: Martin Drury. “Two Georgian chairs of state and a state canopy at Knole.” Furniture History 21 (1985): pp.243-9. Roberts 1989: Hugh Roberts, 'Royal Thrones, 1760-1840', Furniture History XXV (1989): 61-85. Rowell and Burchard 2016a: Christopher Rowell and Wolf Burchard, 'From Knole to Paris: The third Duke of Dorset and the first Earl Whitworth as diplomatic Patrons and Collectors', National Trust Historic Houses & Collections Annual/Apollo (2016): 43-52.