The Home Beautiful: The Hamilton Palace Screen, 1670-1700

Japanese Eight-Panel Screen, 1670-1700
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

NOTE: I don't know what's up with the font on this post.  If I make it smaller, it's microscopic, if I leave it "normal," it's like a child's picture book.  I give up.  You'll notice some of the posts lately are having font weirdness.  I'll have to work on it.  In the meantime...


I call dibs on this in case the V&A ever wants to unload it. This six-paneled screen is adorned with a landscape design featuring buildings, figures, trees, birds and monkeys. The figures depicted are: men fishing at a river; a man walking with a stick; a man carrying a bag on a stick and women in brightly colored clothing sitting by a river. The scene comes alive with gold houses on hills, trees with shining monkeys nestled in the branches, a wise owl in a tree, birds in flight, and flowers with their glistening petals inlaid with gleaming shell. The images all glimmer in gold, silver and red on a dark lacquer ground in the fashionable technique of japanning. Each panel is attached to the next with metal foil and stud hinges.


This decorative screen, used for privacy or to divide a portion of a room (or simply to look pretty) was made in Japan between 1670 and 1700. It is believed that the screen may have come from the collection of Hamilton Palace. This important collection included many pieces previously owned by William Beckford (1760-1844) including the Van Diemen box and the Mazarin Chest.

The Home Beautiful: The Hamilton Palace Screen, 1670-1700

Japanese Eight-Panel Screen, 1670-1700
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

I call dibs on this in case the V&A ever wants to unload it. This six-paneled screen is adorned with a landscape design featuring buildings, figures, trees, birds and monkeys. The figures depicted are: men fishing at a river; a man walking with a stick; a man carrying a bag on a stick and women in brightly colored clothing sitting by a river. The scene comes alive with gold houses on hills, trees with shining monkeys nestled in the branches, a wise owl in a tree, birds in flight, and flowers with their glistening petals inlaid with gleaming shell. The images all glimmer in gold, silver and red on a dark lacquer ground in the fashionable technique of japanning. Each panel is attached to the next with metal foil and stud hinges.

This decorative screen, used for privacy or to divide a portion of a room (or simply to look pretty) was made in Japan between 1670 and 1700. It is believed that the screen may have come from the collection of Hamilton Palace. This important collection included many pieces previously owned by William Beckford (1760-1844) including the Van Diemen box and the Mazarin Chest.

The Home Beautiful: The Duke of Beaufort’s Dressing Table, 1754

Dressing Table, 1754
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Designed by John Linnell (1729 - 1796) and supplied by his father, William (1703 - 1763), this dressing table is made of gilded, painted and japanned pinewood and mahogany, with lattice doors in the Chinese style. It was made around 1754 for Noel Somerset, 4th Duke of Beaufort (1709 - 1756). The Duke used the table at his home, Badminton House, Gloucestershire. The Duke of Beaufort was considered the leading authority on Shakespeare at the time.

John Linnell, the designer, had been a pupil of St. Martin's Lane Academy, and was celebrated for his Chinese-inspired furnishings. Another of his pieces, a lovely chair, is housed in the V&A. This chair is very similar to a group of eight made for Duke's bedchamber at Badminton House.

This style was all the rage in the mid Eighteenth Century. William Halfpenny's “New Designs for Chinese Temples” (1750) and Thomas Chippendale's “Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director” (1754) helped incite the fashion for all things Chinese. Wealthy home-owners, always eager to stay in fashion, commissioned many Chinese-inspired pieces.

This dressing table is an excellent example of the fashion. This japanned (a technique which arose in the Seventeenth Century to replicate costly oriental lacquers wherein layers of shellac are built up and dried before being polished to a high sheen) and parcel-gilt pinewood and mahogany cabinet is decorated with Chinese landscapes and figures, pagodas and animals as well as a complicated lattice-work pattern on the face and a fretted gallery.

When Dr. Richard Pococke visited Badminton in 1754 he wrote of the “Bedchamber finished and furnished very elegantly in the Chinese Manner” (Travels through England, II, p.31). An inventory of Badminton House from 1835 mentions “a Chinese sideboard with Drawers” which was then located in the South Breakfast Room. It is called a “Wide Queen Anne Lac Cabinet fitted three drawers in centre at six ditto at sides the latter enclosed by trellis doors, decorated Chinese landscapes river scenes pagodas set in gilt top with pierced gallery shaped from on square legs.”

The table was sold at Christie's on June 20, 1921, later passing through the ownership of Sir Philip Fandel Philips, Lady Ludlow and Mrs. James Rank before finally being purchased by the V & A in 1952.

The Home Beautiful: The Elephant Hall Chair, c. 1725

Hall Chair
c. 1725
Altered after 1762
This and all related images from
The Victoria & Albert Museum

A hall chair such as this one was made to give a waiting servant a place to sit without being too comfortable. They generally were arranged in the front hallway of a large townhouse or country estate. A footman would often spend hours waiting in the hall for his master to return home or even just to have a door opened. Still, even though such chairs were meant to be utilitarian and rigid, they were also expected to be stylish and handsome. Often, these chairs would display the arms of the owner of the home. 


This example, from about 1725, reflects the initial interest in chinoiserie. The lacquered backboard and seat-board were commissioned by a British furniture maker from a Chinese maker. The pattern for the coat of arms was surely sent out with the order. The individual pieces were shipped back to England where they were set into the carcass of the chair which had already been japanned in imitation of the Asian lacquer.

This chair reflects the complex patterns of trade and stylistic influence between Europe and East Asia in the 18th century. The lacquered back-board and seat-board were commissioned in Britain from China, and a pattern for the lacquered coat of arms must have been sent out with the order. The two boards could be packed flat to take up minimal space in the ship on its return voyage. On arrival they were assembled with the seat rails and legs, which were made in Britain and 'japanned' here in imitation of lacquer. Hall chairs of this type were fashionable in Britain in the 1720s-30s, and a number of similar examples survive. 

The original owner of this chair is unknown, as the original coat of arms has been altered. The existing armorial shield and elephant crest is painted in oils over the original lacquered arms. The existing crest is for Sir Herbert Pakington, Baronet, and his wife Elizabeth Hawkins. According to the V&A, “These arms must have been painted after Sir Herbert succeeded to the title in 1762 – a generation after the chairs were made.”

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Hamilton Palace Screen, 1670-1700

Japanese Eight-Panel Screen, 1670-1700
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

I call dibs on this in case the V&A ever wants to unload it. This six-paneled screen is adorned with a landscape design featuring buildings, figures, trees, birds and monkeys. The figures depicted are: men fishing at a river; a man walking with a stick; a man carrying a bag on a stick and women in brightly colored clothing sitting by a river. The scene comes alive with gold houses on hills, trees with shining monkeys nestled in the branches, a wise owl in a tree, birds in flight, and flowers with their glistening petals inlaid with gleaming shell. The images all glimmer in gold, silver and red on a dark lacquer ground in the fashionable technique of japanning. Each panel is attached to the next with metal foil and stud hinges.

This decorative screen, used for privacy or to divide a portion of a room (or simply to look pretty) was made in Japan between 1670 and 1700. It is believed that the screen may have come from the collection of Hamilton Palace. This important collection included many pieces previously owned by William Beckford (1760-1844) including the Van Diemen box and the Mazarin Chest.

The Home Beautiful: The Elephant Hall Chair, c. 1725

Hall Chair
c. 1725
Altered after 1762
This and all related images from
The Victoria & Albert Museum

A hall chair such as this one was made to give a waiting servant a place to sit without being too comfortable. They generally were arranged in the front hallway of a large townhouse or country estate. A footman would often spend hours waiting in the hall for his master to return home or even just to have a door opened. Still, even though such chairs were meant to be utilitarian and rigid, they were also expected to be stylish and handsome. Often, these chairs would display the arms of the owner of the home. 


This example, from about 1725, reflects the initial interest in chinoiserie. The lacquered backboard and seat-board were commissioned by a British furniture maker from a Chinese maker. The pattern for the coat of arms was surely sent out with the order. The individual pieces were shipped back to England where they were set into the carcass of the chair which had already been japanned in imitation of the Asian lacquer.

This chair reflects the complex patterns of trade and stylistic influence between Europe and East Asia in the 18th century. The lacquered back-board and seat-board were commissioned in Britain from China, and a pattern for the lacquered coat of arms must have been sent out with the order. The two boards could be packed flat to take up minimal space in the ship on its return voyage. On arrival they were assembled with the seat rails and legs, which were made in Britain and 'japanned' here in imitation of lacquer. Hall chairs of this type were fashionable in Britain in the 1720s-30s, and a number of similar examples survive. 

The original owner of this chair is unknown, as the original coat of arms has been altered. The existing armorial shield and elephant crest is painted in oils over the original lacquered arms. The existing crest is for Sir Herbert Pakington, Baronet, and his wife Elizabeth Hawkins. According to the V&A, “These arms must have been painted after Sir Herbert succeeded to the title in 1762 – a generation after the chairs were made.”

The Home Beautiful: The Duke of Beaufort’s Dressing Table, 1754

Dressing Table, 1754
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Designed by John Linnell (1729 - 1796) and supplied by his father, William (1703 - 1763), this dressing table is made of gilded, painted and japanned pinewood and mahogany, with lattice doors in the Chinese style. It was made around 1754 for Noel Somerset, 4th Duke of Beaufort (1709 - 1756). The Duke used the table at his home, Badminton House, Gloucestershire. The Duke of Beaufort was considered the leading authority on Shakespeare at the time.

John Linnell, the designer, had been a pupil of St. Martin's Lane Academy, and was celebrated for his Chinese-inspired furnishings. Another of his pieces, a lovely chair, is housed in the V&A. This chair is very similar to a group of eight made for Duke's bedchamber at Badminton House.

This style was all the rage in the mid Eighteenth Century. William Halfpenny's “New Designs for Chinese Temples” (1750) and Thomas Chippendale's “Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director” (1754) helped incite the fashion for all things Chinese. Wealthy home-owners, always eager to stay in fashion, commissioned many Chinese-inspired pieces.

This dressing table is an excellent example of the fashion. This japanned (a technique which arose in the Seventeenth Century to replicate costly oriental lacquers wherein layers of shellac are built up and dried before being polished to a high sheen) and parcel-gilt pinewood and mahogany cabinet is decorated with Chinese landscapes and figures, pagodas and animals as well as a complicated lattice-work pattern on the face and a fretted gallery.

When Dr. Richard Pococke visited Badminton in 1754 he wrote of the “Bedchamber finished and furnished very elegantly in the Chinese Manner” (Travels through England, II, p.31). An inventory of Badminton House from 1835 mentions “a Chinese sideboard with Drawers” which was then located in the South Breakfast Room. It is called a “Wide Queen Anne Lac Cabinet fitted three drawers in centre at six ditto at sides the latter enclosed by trellis doors, decorated Chinese landscapes river scenes pagodas set in gilt top with pierced gallery shaped from on square legs.”

The table was sold at Christie's on June 20, 1921, later passing through the ownership of Sir Philip Fandel Philips, Lady Ludlow and Mrs. James Rank before finally being purchased by the V & A in 1952.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Hamilton Palace Screen, 1670-1700

Japanese Eight-Panel Screen, 1670-1700
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

I call dibs on this in case the V&A ever wants to unload it. This six-paneled screen is adorned with a landscape design featuring buildings, figures, trees, birds and monkeys. The figures depicted are: men fishing at a river; a man walking with a stick; a man carrying a bag on a stick and women in brightly colored clothing sitting by a river. The scene comes alive with gold houses on hills, trees with shining monkeys nestled in the branches, a wise owl in a tree, birds in flight, and flowers with their glistening petals inlaid with gleaming shell. The images all glimmer in gold, silver and red on a dark lacquer ground in the fashionable technique of japanning. Each panel is attached to the next with metal foil and stud hinges.

This decorative screen, used for privacy or to divide a portion of a room (or simply to look pretty) was made in Japan between 1670 and 1700. It is believed that the screen may have come from the collection of Hamilton Palace. This important collection included many pieces previously owned by William Beckford (1760-1844) including the Van Diemen box and the Mazarin Chest.