Newsletter 220 November 2020
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The Furniture History Society Newsletter 220 November 2020 In this issue: Holland & Sons: University Furnishings for the Prince of Wales | Spotted in Lockdown: Coffin Furniture for a New Tradition | FHS News | FHS Events | Discoveries and Research Developments | Other Notices | Tributes | Book Reviews | ECD News | Reports on FHS Events | Grants | Publications Holland & Sons: University Furnishings for the Prince of Wales n 1859, in preparation for Albert Edward, devised by Queen Victoria and Albert, I Prince of Wales (1841–1910, later Edward the Prince Consort, to ensure their eldest VII), to go to university in Oxford, son would be prepared for the monarchy. furnishings were commissioned for the Although the Prince of Wales was enrolled rooms at Frewin Hall where he would at Christ Church College, Frewin Hall reside. This commission would be the start had been owned by Brasenose College of a long-lasting relationship between the since 1580, and this enabled the Prince to Prince of Wales and the cabinet-makers be seen as accessible to the whole of the and upholsterers, Holland & Sons of 23 University rather than just one college.1 Mount Street and Lower Belgrave Street, According to the Holland & Sons ledger, London, who supplied this work. the work at Frewin Hall was charged to Holland & Sons had previously the personal account of Queen Victoria, worked extensively for the Royal Family, suggesting that either she or Prince Albert supplying furniture to Osborne House, chose to use the firm for this order; a Balmoral Castle, Buckingham Palace and commission as parents as opposed to in Windsor Castle. They supplied furnishings their official roles.2 of all kinds and for all purposes, from For the rooms shown in the lithographs, pieces for principal rooms used by the Drawing Room (Fig. 1) and the Study members of the Royal Family to furniture (Fig. 3), Holland & Sons supplied all for servants’ rooms. New research into the furniture and fabrics, with only the the work that Holland & Sons undertook Drawing Room wallpaper and personal for the Royal Family has brought to light effects such as artwork and books absent this commission for furnishing the Oxford from the ledger. This demonstrates the University rooms of the Prince of Wales. firm’s capacity to provide a full furnishing The details of this work can be examined service; a service which, by the middle by analysing records found in the Holland of the nineteenth century, had become & Sons ledgers at the Archive of Art and an expectation of large companies like Design, Victoria and Albert Museum, Holland & Sons, who had traditionally London, alongside contemporary been considered cabinet-makers. lithographs held in the Royal Collection. The Holland & Sons ledger of 1858–59 Attending Oxford was part of the details that the furniture supplied for the Prince’s extensive educational programme Drawing Room was predominantly made 2 furniture history society newsletter, no. 220, november 2020 Fig. 1 Drawing Room, Frewin Hall. Lithography after Joseph Nash, dated 1862. RCIN 701908. Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2020 of satinwood with tulipwood details. Furniture seen both in the lithograph and described in the ledger includes a cabinet, shown close up in Figure 2, which is described by Holland & Sons as: a shaped Cabinet of Satinwood banded with tulipwood, & ornamented with ormolu, the centre part enclosed by a pair of doors with silvered plate glass panels lock & key, the ends fitted up with shelved & Fig. 2 Drawing Room, Frewin Hall detail. RCIN silvered glass. 701908. Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2020 This cabinet was priced at £31 10s. Typical Victorian furniture such as stuffed easy chairs and furnishings, another piece of furniture conversation sofas were also supplied typical of its time was also supplied for with all seat furniture, and curtains, the Drawing Room: ‘whatnot 3 tier high, wholly covered and hung with chintz. with brass gallery on top & tulip band The ledger includes details of the forty- on fluted standards & castors, polished’ four chintz-covered buttons supplied to (seen to the far right in Fig. 1). This type the room which were used to create the of furniture was standard fare for Holland plush, plump and comfortable furniture & Sons, who supplied the same type of so loved by the Victorians. Alongside soft pieces, albeit in a different style, when furniture history society newsletter, no. 220, november 2020 3 Fig. 3 Study, Frewin Hall. Lithography after Joseph Nash, dated 1862. RCIN 701908. Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2020 they furnished Balmoral Castle, the private recorded in the Holland & Sons company residence of the Royal Family in Scotland. ledgers. As seen in Figure 3, furniture for The use of furniture made from different the Study was made of much darker woods was likely associated with the wood. The ledger tells us that this was use of the rooms. This idea harked back walnut and that the seat furniture was to the picturesque movement of the late upholstered in green morocco leather; eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries chintz was again used for the curtains. when particular design styles along with To the right of the lithograph, and as wood colours and types were associated described in the ledger, can be seen a with different room functions. Within this ‘Walnut knee high standing desk with movement, the Gothic Revival, with its drawer in top & shelf under, turned use of ebony furniture, was considered standards & casters. The top lined in most suitable for areas of learning and green morocco leather. The Bramah lock contemplation such as a library and study, for ditto’. This was charged at £12 5s. whereas the playful, lighter feel of the The imposing bookcase against the back Rococo was more typically used for rooms wall of the room is described as being of entertainment, such as the Drawing 8 foot long with shelves ‘edged with Room. Although the use of differing leather falls’, as seen in greater detail in styles is not evident in the rooms at Figure 4. The ledger also describes there Frewin Hall, the colour of the wood used being pilasters to the doors, which are in each appears to nod to the past. The not visible in the illustration, and proves predominant theme throughout the two the value of the detailed descriptions rooms illustrated is the Victorian love of 4 furniture history society newsletter, no. 220, november 2020 Fig. 4 Study, Frewin Hall detail. RCIN 701908. Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2020 comfort and the use of furniture of quality with carved backboard, two side tables and practicality. and twelve chairs with covered backs and Although the Drawing Room and seats in green leather. No Dining Room the Study are the only rooms visually table was provided by the firm, suggesting documented in lithographs, the Holland this came from elsewhere, and instead & Sons ledger records that furnishings of chintz at the windows, the curtains were also supplied for other rooms in the were red. Brussels carpets were supplied property. These included a Bedroom and throughout the principal rooms, including Dressing Room for the Prince of Wales, the staircase, and carpets were also as well as an Equerry’s Room, suggesting supplied for the hearth, as seen in Figure 1. that the residency was to be used for Furniture supplied for the servants’ rooms official business as well as learning. was predominantly painted ‘stone colour’ Work was also undertaken and furniture and many of the eleven iron bedsteads supplied for a Sitting Room, Dressing were japanned green. Holland & Sons Room and Bedroom for Colonel Bruce, also supplied the soft furnishings for all the tutor of the Prince of Wales, who lived the bedrooms in the house, including with him in Oxford, and accompanied him mattresses, cushions, quilts and blankets. on many educational travels, including Queen Victoria visited Frewin Hall on his private visit to the Pope, and his tour Wednesday 12 December 1860, describing of Canada and the United States in 1860. it in her journal as ‘Bertie’s residence, Mahogany was the material of choice in quite private, with a garden to it, small, the Bedrooms and Dressing Rooms for the but comfortable & nicely arranged with Prince of Wales and Colonel Bruce. all Bertie’s things’.3 The ledger also tells us that the Dining The Prince of Wales left Oxford Room was supplied with an oak sideboard University in December 1860, transferring furniture history society newsletter, no. 220, november 2020 5 to Trinity College Cambridge, to continue the throne designed by A. W. N. Pugin for his education.4 The Holland & Sons ledger the Palace of Westminster, for his consort of 1861 records that the firm twice attended Queen Alexandra. Frewin Hall to examine the inventory, Although the Prince of Wales had lived ‘directing the restoration of the remaining with work by Holland & Sons since his furniture’, and to value ‘dilapidations’ childhood and the order for his University and ‘the carpets & other articles left on His rooms was commissioned by one or both Royal Highness’s establishment quitting of his parents, the use of the firm for his the premises’.5 The cost of damage was then University accommodation is the first removed from the value of the remaining such order for him outside of his parents’ pieces and the account was settled. It residences. No doubt the influence of the therefore seems likely that some, if not all, Queen and the Prince Consort, as well as of the furniture supplied by Holland & the fact he knew the work of Holland & Sons remained at Oxford after the Prince of Sons, are likely to have played a part in Wales had left the University, and explains his future patronage of the firm in his own right.