Towel horse
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1775
Materials
Mahogany and brass
Measurements
91 x 138 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 871344
Summary
A mahogany folding towel horse, English, late 18th century. Of three folds, each fitted with three cross-bars. One upright with a remaining shaped blocked bracket foot; those to the other uprights lacking. Each upright with a chiseled number. Very similar to six simple linen airers or clothes-horses supplied to Paxton House by Thomas Chippendale (1718 - 1779). This example at Saltram cannot be attributed to Chippendale's firm as no itemized bills survive for work for which he was paid by John Parker, 1st Lord Boringdon (1734/5-1788) in 1771 and 1772.
Provenance
Date of acquisition not recorded; but at Saltram by 1962 and part of the endowment given by Montagu Brownlow Parker (1878 - 1962), 5th Earl of Morley to the National Trust.
Marks and inscriptions
Uprights: Chiseled number I, II, III etc.
References
Gilbert (1978): Christopher Gilbert, The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale (1978), 2 volumes., Vol. I, pp. 257-8, 272, 274; Vol. II, Figure 507