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State bed
Unknown - Enlarge image
State bed
- Place of origin:
London, England (made)
- Date:
ca. 1726 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Tester, cartouches and headboard of quilted and embroidered linen on wooden frame; bedspread, valances and curtains of quilted and embroidered linen; oak bedstock
- Credit Line:
Accepted in lieu of tax by HM Government and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum
- Museum number:
W.57-2002
- Gallery location:
On loan
This impressive embroidered bed remains on loan to the house for which it was made, Houghton Hall in Norfolk. Visitors may see it there in the Embroidered Bedchamber. The headboard of the bed is decorated with the arms of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first prime minister (1721–1742), who built his palatial new house at Houghton between 1722 and 1731. In 1726 Walpole was the first commoner to be appointed as a knight of the Order of the Garter, the highest British civil and military honour obtainable. His pride in his new status was immediately recorded in his house, and the Walpole arms on the bed are surrounded by the garter of the order, not only on the headboard but also on the two shield-shaped cartouches on the tester above the foot-posts.
As was usual at that time, the splendour of the bed derives entirely from its upholstery: the frame is plainly made in oak, merely as a support to the hangings. The embroidery is fine wool on a ground of quilted linen. The edges of many panels are outlined with silk braid, and the valance of the tester is edged with a complex decorative fringe.
On loan to Houghton Hall.
