Window seat raised on tapering, square-sectioned legs, the scrolling arms and seat upholstered in striped silk (modern), the frame of beech, painted white, with ornament of flowers in blue on a gold ground.

Window seat raised on tapering, square-sectioned legs, the scrolling arms and seat upholstered in striped silk (modern) with brass nailing, the frame of beech, painted white, with ornament of flowers in blue on a gold ground.
The legs have spade feet. The front seat rail is bowed. The legs and rails are carved with shallow, rounded recesses within raised fillets, which are painted white, the recesses gilded. The frame is painted with paterae (rosettes) on the blocks at the top of the legs and on the topmost scroll of the arms. Other areas of the frame are painted with trails of husks or flowers on the gold ground. The back of the seat is undecorated.

Given by Mrs Dora Hedges

Longer stools for use as window seats became highly fashionable in the 1780s and this form, with scroll ends, was a form favoured by the architect Robert Adam (1728-1792) and copied by many other designers. Several designs were published by A. Hepplewhite & Co. in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide of 1788, which went into subsequent editions in 1789 and 1794. Six were illustrated on plates 18-20, where they were described as 'Window Stools'. Though they might be made in mahogany or other hardwoods, many were made in beech and decorated with gilding or painting by specialist decorators.

W.39-1953