High-backed armchair
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1703 - 1710
Materials
Walnut, beech frame, silk and velvet
Measurements
139.5 x 64 x 65 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Dyrham, Gloucestershire
NT 453091.2
Summary
One of a pair of walnut and upholstered high back open armchairs, English, circa 1703 The chairs retain their original red and yellow upholstery matching the hangings on The Dyrham State Bed (NT453089). The arched padded back with moulded shaped out swept arms with scrolled terminals and held by horse bone supports. The overstuffed seat raised on horse bone front legs tied by a double S scroll stretcher, the out swept turned baluster rear legs tied by turned baluster stretchers.
Full description
The Dyrham State Bed was supplied to William Blathwaite sometime after 1703, it does nor appear in the 1703 inventory but is included in 1710 suggesting a date somewhere between the two. It is thought that Blathwayt ordered the bed in anticipation of a possible visit from Queen Anne in 1703 when she was expected in Bath but this did not happen. The 'best bed' was intended as the principle element in a luxurious suite of furniture for the 'best bedchamber above stairs' in the state apartment on the first floor of the East Wing. The set comprised: door curtains and valence, window valences and a suite of seat furniture with six chairs and four stools all matching the bed hangings. The window curtains were of yellow silk damask and the walls were covered in tapestry. These chairs together with a pair of single chairs (NT453092) are almost definitely part of the set mentioned in the 1710 inventory. See: Bowett, Adam ‘English Furniture 1660-1714 from Charles II to Queen Anne’ ACC 2002 pg. 250 pl.8:39 and pg 186 plate 6:2 Wood, Lucy 'The upholstered furniture in the Lady Lever Art Gallery' 2 vols. New Haven & London: Yale University Press 2009 cat. no. 98 James Weedon (November 2017)
Provenance
Indigenous collection purchased by Ministry of Works and given to Dyrham Park in 1961.
References
Bowett 2002: Adam Bowett, English Furniture 1660-1714, 2002, pg.186, 250 Wood, Lucy 'Upholstered furniture in the Lady Lever Art Gallery' 2 vols New Haven & London: Yale University Press 2009, cat. no. 98