State bed tester
Category
Furniture
Date
1700 - 1725
Materials
Wood and velvet
Measurements
3810 mm (Height)
Place of origin
France
Order this imageCollection
Treasurer's House, North Yorkshire
NT 592795
Summary
State bed covered in faded green velvet, with coronet and arms of Princess Victoria. State bed ensemble comprises - Tester - covered with modern green velvet; scrolled cresting; cornice hung with five rows of tassled fringes; underside of tester has a shaped panel and escallop shells in corners. Headcloth of green damask overlaid with green velvet braid and with arms of Princess Victoria added. Headboard - scrolled carved plumage in centre embrasure. Pair of velvet curtains with gold braid and fringes. Two curtain ties with tassles. Bed frame. Base valance of green velvet with gold braid. Box spring mattress. Hair overlay. Feather bolster. Two hair pillows.
Provenance
1901 and 1902 photographs show a much simpler four post bed in this room and it is likely that this grander bed replaced that by the time of the 1906 guidebook (see also 1908 photograph). A pre-1930 inventory for the house notes the bed was, 'From Houghton Hall, soffit and backboard original' (repeated in the 1930 inventory at the time of gift to the NT). Early guidebooks (1906 to 1930) are vaguer and simply state, 'from a house in the Eastern counties, by Kent, cornice and upholstery is partly reproduced." Given by Frank Green (1861-1954) along with house, garden and contents to the National Trust in 1930.