Mahogany settee in the Egyptian style; possibly made in Cairo, 1880-1920

Mahogany settee with inlay and brass mounts, leather covered seat and back

The settee was recommended for purchase by Elizabeth Aslin, the curatorial specialist in nineteenth-century furniture in the Department of Circulation, for the new Victorian Primary Gallery in 1965 (Memo to Hugh Wakefield, Keeper of the Department, 7th September 1965, Museum Archive MA/1/W104).. Miss Aslin had apparently seen the settee, thought to have been designed by Christopher Dresser, some time earlier with Mr Clarke of Leicester Museum, and described it as from Bushloe House which had been decorated and furnished by Dresser in 1880. Subsequent research revealed that the settee was not designed by Dresser but was an example of the interest in Egyptian revival designs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Several other examples of this settee, with different details of decoration, survive, some with associated chairs or stools. There is a suite of settee, chair and stool, with original applique covers, in Fulford Place, Brockville, Ontario, Canada. Now administered by the Ontario Heritage Trust, the house was built 1899-1901 by Senator George Fulford and documentary evidence indicates that he bought the suite while travelling in Egypt, 1903-4. The suite is listed in an inventory of household goods in 1911. There are colour images of the suite, before and after conservation of the covers, with an analysis of the textile fibres, in the Departmental green catalogue.

Evidence from the Fulford House suite and from other examples of this Egyptian Revival furniture show that the applique decoration on the covers was made from recycled rags, a traditional industry in Cairo and the surrounding areas. Large hangings and panels were decorated with traditional geometric designs and calligraphy, and after the development of tourist interest in archaeological remains, designs from wall paintings were also used.

In 1968 this was displayed in Gallery 118.

CIRC.511-1965