A press bed or cabinet bedstead (a bed that can be shut up into a cupboard or press) of pine, painted white, with neo-classical ornament in blue, the upper part of the doors (set below with fictive drawes) set with panels of looking glass. The bedstead within was removed in the nineteenth century to turn the piece into a wardrobe.

A wardrobe, originally a cabinet bedstead, sometimes called a 'press bed', the bed fitments removed in the nineteenth century. Two centrally-opening doors are mirrored above and set below with fictive drawer fronts, giving the whole the appearance of an eighteenth century wardrobe. The whole is painted ivory white with classical ornament in blue, including paterae (rosettes) at the corners of the mirror panels and a band of guilloche painted above the drawer fronts. The cresting is in the form of an urn with pendant swags of leaves. Inside, the white-painted interior shows four drawers behind the fictive drawers, the upper part fitted with pegs to hold hanging clothes. Both the fictive and the real drawers have brass bail handles.

Given by Mr H. E. Trevor, with the co-operation of some admirers of David Garrick

This piece of furniture was supplied in 1768 to David Garrick, the celebrated actor, for his country retreat at Hampton, Surrey, about fourteen miles outside London. It was made by the cabinet-making firm of Thomas Chippendale, which Garrick also employed to furnish his London house in the Adelphi. Chippendale supplied much of the furniture for the house, including a green and white painted suite of furniture for Garrick's own bedroom. This cabinet bedstead formed part of a suite of furniture for the 'best bedroom', or guest room, at the front of the house overlooking the Thames. It was intended to look like a bookcase, so that the bedroom could be used as an extra reception room during the day; it was referred to as a 'bookcase bedstead' in a later Chippendale account for a repair, and in a 1769 account for refurbishing the bedclothes. The room also contained armchairs, a sofa, a dressing table, and a wardrobe, all painted blue and white to match, with blue silk upholstery and curtains. Painted furniture is very easily damaged and much from this date must have been discarded; this furniture was preserved, with its associated documentation such as bills and inventories, because of its association with David Garrick.

After Garrick's death his wife retired to the villa, although she retained the London house in the Adelphi development. When she died in 1822 at the age of 98, the contents of the Adelphi house were auctioned. Teh villa was sold by Garrick's trustees to Thomas Carr, his widow's solicitor, who also purchased many of the contents when they were auctioned in 1823. On Carr's death in 1838, the villa and heirlooms it contained were bought by Sylvanus Phillips and in 1861 it passed to his son who finally sold off the contents in 1864, when it was purchased by H. Hill. Mr H. E. Trevor, who was instrumental in organising the donation of the furniture to the V&A (W. 70-1916 and W, 21 to W.32-1917) was a descendant of David Garrick's brother George. See Registered File 17/1942. In the Catalogue of Sale of Garrick's Villa, June 23rd 1864, the then cupboard was listed in the 'Left Hand Back Bed Chamber, No. 85'. The V&A had already received a gift of Garrick's bed (W.70-1917).

During 19th century the bed was repainted green and white and converted into a wardrobe. It was acquired as such by the V&A in 1917, and it was not until 1970 when the inventory of the villa taken after Garrick's death in 1779 came to light that its true function was realized. The later overpainting has been removed to reveal the original surface treatment.

Mr and Mrs Garrick employed their friend Robert Adam (1728-92) to make the necessary architectural improvements to the house, and it was decorated to the height of fashion; Mrs Delany, celebrated artist and correspondent, visited in 1770 and wrote: 'The house is singular...and sems to owe its prettiness and elegance to her [Mrs Garrick's] good taste...on the whole it has the air of belonging to a genius'.

When the piece was acquired it was described as 'Portions of festoons missing (but repaired in Art Workroom); chipped; worn'

Museum negative 74591 shows this on display in Gallery 40 in 1936 as part of a display of Georgian furniture.

Cabinet bedsteads, also known as 'press beds' (in the form of a clothes press), were common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when the relatively small size of even fashionable houses in London created a market for convertible furniture. Chippendale had also supplied several for the lesser bedrooms at Garrick's London house in the Adelphi.

This and other furniture for Garrick's villa was 'japanned', or painted, in keeping with the rural and informal atmosphere, rather than veneered or gilded. It is decorated with the attenuated classical motifs characteristic of Robert Adam's later work, unlike the furniture for Garrick's own bedroom which is painted white with light-hearted chinoiserie motifs in green. Painted decoration rivalled marquetry as a fashionable finish for furniture in the latter half of the eighteenth century.

This piece of furniture looks like a bookcase, but originally it was made to contain a bed, which folded up inside (we know it was once a folding bed because 18th-century bills for repairs exist). It was later converted into a wardrobe. A folding bed allowed a bedroom to be used as an extra living room during the day. This bed is part of a group of furniture that has been preserved because it belonged to David Garrick (1717-1779), the celebrated actor. It was made for the guest bedroom at his country villa at Hampton, Middlesex. The room also contained armchairs, a sofa, a dressing-table and a wardrobe, all painted blue and white to match with blue silk upholstery and curtains.

W.21:1 to 8-1917