Bedstead
Robert Adam (Kirkcaldy 1728 - London 1792)
Category
Textiles
Date
1777
Materials
Mahogany, Wood, Paint, Gilt, Silk
Measurements
4450 x 2280 x 2610 mm
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 771784
Caption
This bed design was conceived as a Temple of Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty by Robert Adam the famous 18th century designer. The design itself is based on ancient Greek temples.
Summary
State bedstead, carved, painted and partly gilded wood. The tester is suppported on twelve painted columns, green, brown and black, with carved and gilded capitals and bases, standing on painted square plinths. The tester has a carved and gilded entablature decorated frieze and carved moulding. The entablature breaks forward at an angle at the corners and is here surmounted by a winged sphinx seated on a scroll. Above the tester rises a circular green dome, surmounted by a carved and gilded finial. The green silk covered headboard has before it a gilded base with a series of arches, in each of which is a painted vase of flowers on a green ground. From this rises a central plinth with a cameo in relief of a female head, on either side of which is a seated female figure, each holding one end of a swag of flowers. On the plinth, two boys ride dolphins and a palmette rises between them.
Makers and roles
Robert Adam (Kirkcaldy 1728 - London 1792), designer