Day-bed
possibly Thomas Roberts (fl.1686-1714)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1688
Materials
Walnut, beech, textile
Measurements
90 x 172 x 90 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 435038
Summary
A walnut, beech and upholstered day bed, in the manner of Thomas Roberts (fl.1685-1714), London, circa 1688. With a scrolled and padded head and lower foot end. The base with gadrooned set rail raised on eight partly turned and scrolled moulded legs joined by twin S scroll stretchers carved with paired sunflower heads. Loose seat cushion and bolster cushion.
Full description
The 1688 Belton inventory mentions 'a couch chaire with a cushion' in 'My Lady's Chamber' a description probably relating to this day bed. The bed is illustrated in Edwards, Ralph 'The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture' pg. 266 fig.7. and is comparable to other seat furniture at Belton; (NT 434862 & NT 434842). Thomas Roberts (1685–1714) and Richard (1714–1729), at ‘The Royal Chair’, Marylebone St, London, joiners, chairmakers and carvers who provided much of the seat furniture for the royal household between 1685 and 1714. (James Weedon August 2018)
Provenance
Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984.
Makers and roles
possibly Thomas Roberts (fl.1686-1714), furniture maker
References
Edwards, Ralph, 1894-1977 shorter dictionary of English furniture : 1964. Bowett, 1999, Adam Bowett :"The English Horsebone chair, 1685-1710", The Burlington Magazine, Vol.141, No. 1154 (May, 1999), pp.263-270. Fryman 2011: Oliva Fryman, Making the bed: the practice, role and significance of housekeeping in the royal bedchambers at Hampton Court Palace 1689-1737 (PhD thesis), Kingston University Fryman 2014: Olivia Fryman, 'Rich Pickings: The Royal Bed as a Perquisite, 1660-1760', Furniture History L (2014): 119-36 Bowett 2002: Adam Bowett, English Furniture 1660-1714, 2002, pg.237