Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Not currently on display at the V&A
On display at Marble Hill House, London

Settee

1722 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This chair is from a set of seat furniture orginally at Glenham Hall, in Suffolk. Glenham Hall was the seat of the North family. The set of furniture, which comprises ten chairs, two stools, and two settees, dates from the 1720s. It may have been made in 1722, when alterations were carried out Glenham Hall. The set is remarkable for its rich carving and original gilding.

The settee is currently on loan to Marble Hill House.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
carved walnut, embroidered silk
Brief description
Gesso and gilded settee with cabriole forelegs and stylised square-hoof feet, upholstered in a patterned brocade of green, salmon and silver, edged with silver braid. English, Glemham Hall, 1722.
Physical description
From a set of ten chairs, a pair of stools and a pair of small settees, from Glemham Hall in Suffolk.
The frames are of carved and gilt-gessoed walnut. The seat-rails of the set are arched at the centre and carved with over-scrolled inverted lambrequins framed by acanthus leaves. The cabriole legs have similar motifs above the cabuchons at the knees, the decoration continuing down in trellised, shaped narrow panels, terminating in square acanthus leaf pad feet. The settees have tall raked upholstered backs, and outswept scrolled upholstered arms.
The set is covered in a material exactly copied from the original upholstery dating from between 1717 and 1723. It embodies two sorts of silver and two sorts of gold thread on a background of salmon pink silk which shows through the rich brocading to form a delicate linear pattern.
Under the settees are labels marked 'North Heirlooms' followed by the numbers '26' and '27'.
Instead of a secondary frame which is underneath the chairs and stools, the settees have struts, shaped at the top and nailed across the corners. Under all the set the walnut frames have a yellow ochre colour where the gesso shows ungilded. The bolus, which shows through the gilding in places, is a brownish red.
Dimensions
  • Maximum height: 105
  • Seat height: 45.7cm
  • Width: 117cm
  • Depth: 73.7cm
Marks and inscriptions
'NORTH HEIRLOOMS' '26' '27'
Object history
This settee forms part of a larger set of seat furniture, orginally at Glenham Hall in Sussex. Glenham Hall was the seat of the North family, who acquired the house in the late 17th century. Alterations were made to Glenham Hall in 1722 by Dudley North (1684-1729). It may have been at this point that the seat furniture was bought by the family.

In September 1924 the set was in the hands of a London dealer, Edwards of Regent Street (see Connoisseur, Sept 1924) and then went to the Wenergren Collection in Sweden, from which it was sold to a Stockholm dealer who sent it back to England for sale at Sothebys and Co. in April 1970.
Summary
This chair is from a set of seat furniture orginally at Glenham Hall, in Suffolk. Glenham Hall was the seat of the North family. The set of furniture, which comprises ten chairs, two stools, and two settees, dates from the 1720s. It may have been made in 1722, when alterations were carried out Glenham Hall. The set is remarkable for its rich carving and original gilding.

The settee is currently on loan to Marble Hill House.
Bibliographic reference
The set was first illustrated in 1950 in: Percy Macquoid, A History of English Furniture: The Age of Walnut (Dover Publications) pp.194-5 Also mentioned in: Country Life, January 1910 English Homes, Period IV, 1920
Collection
Accession number
W.33-1970

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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