Furniture for Grown and Court by DR GEOFFREY BEARD Chairman of the Furniture History Society

Furniture for Grown and Court by DR GEOFFREY BEARD Chairman of the Furniture History Society In spite of the sharp division ready survival of furniture can be between the late Tudor and appreciated. Jacobean periods - Queen Elizabeth died in 1603 - it was The important items of furniture at inevitable that the early years of Knole were acquired by the 6th James Ps reign should have been Earl of Dorset, Lord Chamberlain overcast by an aura of aggressive of the Household to William III, heroics, all done in the name of the but the presence of some earlier Queen. Within the domestic pieces allows us to note here a sphere, however, there was a significant category of furniture, growing awareness of the kind of ‘Canopies, Couches and Chairs of settings furniture needed. The State*. Vitruvian ideals of harmony, symmetry, decor and suitability of From whatever source it came the rooms for ‘office, entertainment or upholstered furniture at Knole pleasure* were to be lauded years provides adequate testimony both later in Sir Henry Wotton’s to the use of rich fabrics, and as an Elements of Architecture (1624), but announcement of rank. There are patrons were already eager at the five ‘chairs of state’ intended to be turn of the 17th Century to set under a canopy for important understand foreign ideas. The persons - the Mytens portrait of fortunes of the nation were James I at Knole shows him in nevertheless still linked to ministers such a chair - made between 1 Armchair, circa 1610-20 upholstered in of the late reign, particularly Sir about 1610 and 1625. One, (Plate red satin with cloth of gold applique (Knole, Robert Cecil, the builder of 7), circa 1610-20 is covered in red Kent, The National Trust) Hatfield House, and Thomas silk and gold applique, whilst Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, Lord another, of slightly later date, has a journeyings, together with those Treasurer, and a friend of Cecil’s white and red painted frame with Royalists who had also fled abroad, father (and Elizabeth’s principal arabesque decoration. This were of immense importance at officer), William Cecil, 1st Lord obviously complemented the their return in heralding a new Burghley. Lord Dorset lived at original scarlet and silver cover. mood in the decorative arts in Knole in Kent. Both were lavish in Yet another of the 1620s is England. They had observed, their support of the furniture- upholstered in crimson and silver questioned and even commissioned makers. damask and is stamped with the craftsmen to produce furniture. Hampton Court inventory mark They saw to it that when Charles The 1st Earl of Dorset had come and the date of the inventory II returned to England in 1660 into possession of Knole at some ‘1661*. It is an indication that a Italian and Dutch ideas in time between 1603 and 1605, and leading court official such as particular were likewise given a began to alter and add elaborate Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of lively reception - Samuel Pepys new buildings to it. However, his Dorset (? 1642-1706) had the right wrote at the end of May 1660: official duties as Lord High to take ‘perquisites’ - furniture for ‘This day the month ends . and Treasurer often kept him in his private use at the death of the all the world in a merry mood London at Sackvillc House. He sovereign. because of she King’s coming*. He died in 1603; the 2nd Earl of had come :■ lew days earlier, fresh Dorset died within a few months of The ravaging of property, the from a fin;-.I banquet at the Hague succession, and the 3rd Earl, dipersal of the Royal collections, given by t! States of Holland. But despite his marriage to the and the imposition of severe within a leu years an additional celebrated but shrewd Lady Anne restraint on luxury and ornament interest in what Portugal and its Clifford, castle builder in the north during the Commonwealth period territories, such as Goa, could of England, was noted above all for in the 1640s and ’50s was produce was evident after the King wild extravagance. Add to these disastrous for the creation, or married the (iatholic Catherine of calamities a disastrous fire at Knole survival, of upholstered furniture. Braganza by proxy in May 1661. in 1623, and something of the Moreover, the King, Charles II, She remain'd in Lisbon and did nature of events which prevent the was in exile abroad. His not come to England for the formal 24 ceremony until a year later. The French and Anglo-Dutch furniture- furniture-makers soon had to create makers and embellishers. appropriate furniture to take account of the Queen’s predilection Marot’s engraving of a state for drinking tea. The introduction bedchamber, {Plate 3), plate 34 in of a new fashion or the revival of his Second Lime d’Appartements {circa an old one was always good for 1700), show a ‘lit a la duchcsse’ or trade - tea tables, tea kettles, State Bed, which was already cups, to use with what the poet popular in Holland and was Edmund Waller in 1680 called the immediately so on its introduction ‘best of herbs’. It was a fashion to England. Making the elaborately draped tester and flamboyant head which furniture-makers did their and footboards were severe tests best to encourage and to serve. even for specialist craftsmen. Something of the abilities needed The overwhelming influence on the can be seen in the enchanting King and his courtiers, however, fragments surving at Hardwick came from Holland. Its successful Hall from the bed supplied by East India Company had long Francis Lapierre in 1697 to the 1st imported lacquer cabinets, and Duke of Devonshire for use at English makers soon set these on Chatsworth. The superb flying or elaborate gilt-wood stands. {Plate 2). ‘angel’ tester allowed the front posts to be dispensed with, and skilfully cut fabric set over carved In France Louis XIV revoked in wood shapes on the headboard 1685 the Edict of Nantes, by imitated baroque flourishes which, in 1598, Henri IV had unknown in England. The granted religious toleration to 2 Cabinet, japanned inside and out with decoration follows closely plate 29 Protestants. It caused many partly raised chinoisienc scenes, circa 1690. in Marot’s book and caused the craftsmen, particularly silver (Temple Newsam House, Leeds) Duke to pay the not inconsiderable smiths, tapestry and fabric weavers, sum of £497, of which the crimson furniture-makers and upholsterers, hangings alone cost £470. The bed to flee to other countries, and in was paid for at the instalment rate particular to come to England. The of £6 a week. accession to the English throne of the Protestant, William, Prince of Francis Lapierre was a talented Orange, in 1688 as William III not upholsterer, who with the fringe- only allowed these craftsmen a maker Dufresnoy, had also worked home, but encouraged the adoption in the 1690s for the Crown and at of ideas and influences they Burghley House, Northamptonshire, brought with them. One of the seat of the Duke of Devonshire’s travellers, and one of seminal brother-in-law, the 5th Marquess of importance to decoration and Exeter. Another of William’s furnishing, was Daniel Marot the courtiers, the dour William elder (1661 - 1752). He had sought Blathwavt, also ordered a State Bed refuge in Holland the year before from Lapierre about 1702 for his the V;ih was revoked, and entered Gloucestershire seat, Dyrham Park. Prim < William’s service. His By his industry Blathwayt had de.'i,>* a highly decorative become a Secretary of State to the baroque • haracier, were soon king, and after his marriage to the ug; uui whilst available in Dyrham heiress in 1686, spent pans. u.v. veil greater several years transforming and influence vi England when they furnishing the house. He controlled were is.vu* • us collection at the much of the work from Holland Hague in ; 702. Styling himself where he served as one of 'arclii(>•< »'*• Guillaume III, roy de William's diplomats at Amsterdam la Gr:u>: Evsagne’, Marot made and The Hague. He was therefore at le.-er • its to England in an ardent supporter of Dutch ideas, ihe 1690:., . ii.: worked for King 3 Daniel Marot (circa 1663-1752). A and was fluent in the language William i'i ai »lampion Court and state Bed. Plate from the Second Livrc having served the Stuart court in elsewhere at the head of the Anglo- d’Appartements, circa 1700 Holland 25 served the Stuart court in Holland craftsmen engaged by the King at in earlier years, and before he was Hampton Court, and by the 1st twenty. The Dyrham State Bed is Duke of Devonshire for the fitting covered with yellow and crimson and decoration of Chatsworth. The velvet and has an interior of range of his activities at sprigged satin. Marot had indicated Chatsworth included the provision in his book that costly hangings of glass for the South and East should be protected from sunlight front windows, the silvered mirror and dust by a case curtain (tour dc glass for the Dining Room, and he lit). The 1710 inventory of the was also paid for some doors, Dyrham contents describes the wainscot-framing, and carving in original case curtains as in a light some of the State Rooms. Jensen’s woollen fabric called ‘red cheney’, name is, however, more usually and the present ones approximate associated with furniture decorated to that. with marquetry or Japan, and in some instances inlaid with metal. In 1707 John Meller (1665-1733), He was an accomplished Master in Chancery during the technician, and almost had a reign of Queen Anne, enlarged monopoly in using the Boulle and refurnished his house of technique of metal inlay.

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