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| The Victoria & Albert Museum |
This truly magnificent bed is the epitome of the sumptuous state beds which were installed in country houses in the late Seventeenth Century. According to the V&A, “Ralph Montagu, the first Duke of Buccleuch, acquired this bed for Boughton House, Northamptonshire, which he inherited in 1684. The bed was the centrepiece of the state bedroom, one of a series of rooms designed to show the wealth of the owner rather than for living in.”
The hangings are of crimson Italian silk damask brocaded with gold thread, and cover the oak frame entirely. Decorative finials at each corner of the cornice add a flamboyant touch as they are made entirely of ostrich feathers. Though the bed was given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1916, it has since been sent back on long-term loan to Boughton House, Northamptonshire, where it was re-installed in its original setting.
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