Form (bench)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1570
Materials
Turned and joined oak
Measurements
54.5 x 231 x 28 cm
Place of origin
Westmorland (England)
Order this imageCollection
Sizergh Castle, Cumbria
NT 998007
Summary
A boarded and joined oak form, or long stool, probably Westmorland, circa 1570. The seat made from a single board of oak; the four block and ring-turned legs tenoned into it. The friezes unusually deep and with shaped ends. The legs, with a pronounced splay, united by rectangular-section foot stretchers.
Full description
This extremely unusual and rare bench is a hybrid, a cross between the boarded stool or form, made entirely of planks of wood, which was made until about 1560, and the joined stool or form, with turned legs and of pegged construction, which was adopted from about the middle of the 16th century. The earlier type was obviously favoured at Sizergh for this type of seat furniture. See, for instance, the extremely rare forms that are NT 998006, NT 998000. 1 - 3 (a set of three dated 1562) and NT 998001.1 - 4 (another set of four which are undated) which are all boarded, despite being made in or around 1562 as new pieces of furniture for re-furbished Sizergh. This form cannot be considered part of that group, but it was almost certainly part of one of the furniture commissions made in the 1560s and 1570s, because it shares features with the joined panel-back armchairs at Sizergh, all made circa 1570, which are NT 997985, NT 997986. 1 & 2, NT 997990 & NT 997991. The profile of this form's turned legs is particularly comparable with NT 997990 and the shaped ends to its apron boards reminiscent of the shaped seat rails to all five panel-backs. When Walter died in 1569 an inventory of his goods listed two sets of 'iiii. short furmes', one in 'the lawe [low] tower', and the other 'in the chamber next Mr. Tempast chamber where thei dyne'. Whilst the former were valued with a table, with only one value being supplied, the latter were valued at 6s, or 1s 6d each. There were also 'viii furmes', valued together at 12s, in the hall. A publication of 1908 by Daniel Scott transcribes another document, taken on 28th June 1569, which lists the contents of some rooms, but groups other pieces by category under titles such as 'Woddewarke'. 17 'buffett forms' are listed, and a remarkable 37 'buffett stoyles newe and old'. (Megan Wheeler, 2016)
Provenance
Possibly commissioned by Walter Strickland (1516 - 1569) and/or his wife Alice (d. 1588). Photographed in the Banqueting Hall in a photograph probably taken circa 1890 - 1900 and published in 1908. Thence by descent, before given by Henry Hornyold Strickland (1890 – 1975) with Sizergh Castle and its estates in 1950.
References
Scott, 1908: Daniel Scott. The Stricklands of Sizergh Castle. Kendal: [n.p.], 1908., Illustrated facing p. 251, and p. 109