Tester bed
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1580 (and later)
Materials
Carved walnut, possibly some later oak, inlaid
Place of origin
Westmorland (England)
Order this imageCollection
Sizergh Castle, Cumbria
NT 997761.2.1
Summary
The wooden furniture elements of a walnut, oak and poplar tester bed, with later repairs in oak and inlay to the cornice in putty, England, probably Westmorland, circa 1580 and later. The hangings of red moreen. Topped by a pediment [NT 997761.2] dated 1568, but this has been re-used from elsewhere in the house.
Provenance
Probably commissioned by Walter Strickland (1516 - 1569) and/or Alice Strickland (c. 1520 - 1588). Sold, with the bed upon which it sits, and the stained glass roundels to the window to the Inlaid Chamber, to the South Kensington Museum in 1896 for £400. Returned to Sizergh on a long loan in 1978. Transferred back to the ownership of the National Trust in 2016.
References
Wells-Cole 1997 Anthony Wells-Cole, Art and Decoration in Elizabethan and Jacobean England: the influence of continental prints, 1558-1625, New Haven & London 1997, p. 21 Goodall, 2002: Ian Goodall. “Privacy, display and over extension: Walter Strickland’s rebuilding of Sizergh.” Antiquaries Journal 82 (2002): pp.197-245.