Jane Carlyle's piano stool
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1810
Materials
Mahogany veneered on beech, beech screw, horsehair, rep upholstery
Measurements
45 x 33.5 x 33.5 cm
Place of origin
Scotland
Order this imageCollection
Carlyle's House, London
NT 263308
Summary
A mahogany screw-action piano stool, possibly Scottish, circa 1810. This piano stool accompanies Jane Carlyle's piano (NT 263306), and is believed to have been brought from Templand after the death of her mother in 1842. A corner of the stool can be seen in the bottom left corner of Robert Tait's painting 'A Chelsea Interior', 1857. The 'Illustrated Memorial Volume of the Carlyle's House Purchase Fund Committee' produced by the Carlyle's House Memorial Trust in 1896, p. 53, includes an illustration of the piano stool. The circular top has been re-upholstered in crimson rep, above four square tapering legs with ball feet, united by plain stretchers.
Provenance
Owned by Jane Carlyle during her occupation of 24 Cheyne Row (then 5 Cheyne Row), until her death in 1866. By descent, then sold by Sotheby & Co, 'Catalogue of 'Printed Books.....Furniture, &c. Formerly The Property of Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881, and now sold by order of the executors of his nephew, Alexander Carlyle', 13th & 14th June 1932, lot 297. Purchased at the 1932 Sotheby & Co. sale by the Harland family, then by descent. Purchased by the National Trust in 2022.