Not currently on display at the V&A

Sofa

1825-1830 (made)
Artist/Maker
Hughes, Robert (cabinet-maker)
Place of origin
Great Britain (made)

One of a pair of sofas, carved and gilded wooden frame upholstered with silk damask


Object details

Category
Furniture
Object type
Sofa
Materials and techniques
Silk (Textile)
Wood
Upholstery
Carving
Gilding
Brief description
Sofa of carved and gilded wood, upholstered in silk, 1825-1830, British, designed for the Drawing Room at Syon House, supplied by Robert Hughes
Physical description
One of a pair of sofas, carved and gilded wooden frame upholstered with silk damask
Dimensions
  • Width: 290cm
  • Depth: 78cm
  • Height: 115cm
Marks and inscriptions
Thomas Hall Decorator Furnisher London and Edinburgh (Stamped on the painted grey canvas bottoming of the sofa. Thomas Hall and Sons, of George Street, Edinburgh, opened their London branch at 23 Portland Street in 1898 (see 'A North Country Connoisseur', The Artist, vol. XXII, 1898, pp. 60-62). The firm is listed in the 1911 Post Office Directory as interior & house decorators, house furnishers and upholsterers at 23 & 25 Great Portland Street, but not in the 1914 Post Office Directory. )
Gallery label
  • SETTEE ENGLISH: about 1829 One of a pair. Gilt wood with Spitalfields silk upholstery. Supplied by Mr Robert Hughes to the Duke of Northumberland for the drawing room at Syon House, costing £587.12.0. The design of the settees is derived from the suite of neo-classical seat furniture designed for the same room by Robert Adam in the late 1760s. However the rococo ornament on the arm reflects the most luxurious taste of the 1820's. The upholstery matches the original 1760s's wall hangings of the drawing room at Syon: each sofa originally had six 'pillow' cushions with silk tassels. Robert Hughes was in partnership with Nicholas Morel from 18110-1826; their firm worked for the Prince Regent and enjoyed the highest reputation. Given by the Monument Trust through the National Art Collections Fund(1981)
  • Gilt wood with Spitalfields silk upholstery One of a pair. Supplied by Mr Robert Hughes to the Duke of Northumberland for the drawing room at Syon House, costing £587.12.0. The design ofthe settees is derived from a suite of neo-classical seat furniture designed for the same room by Robert Adam in the late 1760's. However, the rococo ornament on the arm reflects the most luxurious taste of the late 1820's. The upholstery matches the original 1760's wall hangings of the drawing room at Syon: each sofa originally had six 'pillow' cushions with silk tassels. Robert Hughes was in partnership with Nicholas Morel from 1810 o 1826; their firm worked for the Prince Regent and enjoyed the highest reputation. Given by the Monument Trust through the National Art Collections Fund(1993)
Credit line
Purchase funded by donations from Asprey & Co Ltd, H Blairman & Sons Ltd, Hotspur Ltd, Ronald A. Lee, Mallett & Son (Antiques) Ltd, Partridge (Fine Arts) Ltd and Spink & Son Ltd
Object history
Supplied by Robert Hughes to the Duke of Northumberland for the Drawing Room at Syon House in the late 1820s. The pair, described as 'two large sofas 9' long and richly carved and gilt.... mat and burnished stuft ... 6 pillows ... covered in figured damask .. double gimp cord on the edges ....48 silk tassels' cost £587.12s.0d. The design for the settee was based on a design of seat furniture for the same room made by the architect Robert Adam in the 1760s, but with additional scrolls reflecting the luxurious Rococo Revival style of the 1820s. The upholstery is close to the original 1760s wall hangings of the room but does not match it exactly. The sofa and its pair both originally had six 'pillow' cushions with silk tassels, but these have been lost.

Robert Hughes was in partnership with Nicholas Morel from 1810-1826, when the partnership was working for the Prince Regent. The firm worked for the Duke of Northumberland in the 1820s, supplying what Ackermann's Repository of the Arts described in 1825 as 'Magnificent Furniture', but, from 1826, Robert Hughes appears to have worked on his own.

Sold from Syon House at Sotheby's, London, 11 April 1975, lot 158, with its pair, and acquired for the Museum with the support of a group of London dealers, including Asprey & Co Ltd, H. Blairman & Sons Ltd, Hotspur Ltd, Ronald A. Lee, Mallett & Son (Antiques Ltd), Patridge (Fine Arts) Ltd and Spink & Son Ltd. The pair to this sofa (W.21A-1975) was given to the Museum by The Monument Trust through The Art Fund.

In 1975 this sofa was re-covered using fabric from W.21A-1975, for show in the galleries.

The design of the silk is close to that originally on the walls of the Drawing Room at Audley End. This pattern was copied by Warners, Silk Weavers, in 1876, but it is not known who the client was. In 1962 it was re-made fro Audley End. According to Nathalie Rothstein the silk on this sofa was woven on a loom dating from before 1830, but could not have been woven in the 18th century.
Bibliographic references
  • Tipping, H. Avray, English Homes, Period VI, Volume I, Late Georgian, p. 152, fig. 225 and p. 163, fig. 244.
  • Hussey, Christopher, English Country Houses: Mid-Georgian, p. 92, fig. 169
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
W.21-1975

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Record createdJuly 26, 2001
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O61433/sofa-hughes-robert/
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