Her Majesty's Furniture: The Strawberry Hill Chair, 1755

Ebonized Gothic Revival Chair, 1755
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This handsome chair was designed for the historian Horace Walpole, Fourth Earl of Oxford (and son of the first British Prime Minister), by his friend, the designer Richard Bentley who had been commissioned to design a chair with a back akin to the outline of a Gothic window.  Walpole asked that the chair be very lightweight, painted black, with a rush seat.  Bentley certainly delivered with this exquisite piece which he had constructed by the fashionable London cabinet-maker William Hallett.

Walpole was known for his collection of  furniture, however, he also frequently commissioned new furniture for his own use.  Later, he opened his lovely home to visitors and became one of the best-known exponents of the Gothic Revival style.

He was thrilled with this chair, and commissioned seven more to furnish the Great Parlor at his country residence, Strawberry Hill, in Twickenham which Walpole had modified in the Gothic Revival style.  As Walpole wished, the chair, like its cousins, is painted black to imitate ebony and boasts a back in the form of a gothic window with a drop-in seat with a black horsehair top cover.   The upholstery we see here was added in the Nineteenth Century.

Another from the set which shows the original caned seats which they all once had.

Gifts of Grandeur: The Grand Duchess Olga Gold Casket, 1800-1850

Gilt Bronze and Micromosaic Jewel Casket
St. Petersburg, 1800-1850
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Collection

Tsar Paul I (reigned 1796-1801) built Gatchina Priory, south of St. Petersburg, commissioning the monumental structure in the Gothic style which he favored. This jewel casket exhibits a similar style. It’s believed that the casket (made either in Rome or St. Petersburg) was created for the Grand Duchess Olga (1822-92), the daughter of Tsar Nicholas I.

The casket is constructed of gilt bronze with relief friezes of intricate archways, each interrupted by a central oval. Many of the oval medallions have been inset with micromosaics of putti in the act of play. The jewel case’s top section is adorned with a relief of arcs, arches and fleurs-de-lis set against foliage. At the center of the lid, a rectangular mosaic has been set. This intricate scene depicts the Gatchina Priory nestled into a lush landscape.

Made between 1800 and 1850, the casket is thought to be the work of Georgi Ferdinand Wekler, considered one of the foremost mosaicists of his day. The box is now part of the Gilbert Collection at the V&A.

Her Majesty's Furniture: The Coburg Armchair, 1851

Armchair
Theodor Behrens
Coburg, Germany, 1851
The Victoria & Albert Museum
Donated from Holyrood Palace

Here we see one of a set of four ornate Gothic-style armchairs which match an impressive sideboard.  The set was made in the German state of Coburg (the home of Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert) and was sent specifically to Prince Albert’s 1851 Great Exhibition to represent Germany’s creative work. The chairs were not intended to be thrones (though that’s the overall look), but rather were meant to demonstrate the skill of the designers and carvers. Theodor Behrens, who was responsible for the carving, adorned each chair with slightly different motifs and carved an inscription, including his name, on the back of this one. The original wool tassels of the fringe were bright pink as opposed to the gold that we see today.

The set of furniture was praised by the Art-Journal Illustrated Catalogue in 1851 for the carving “in the German-Gothic style of the middle ages.”  The chairs were especially praised while the sideboard received an “honourable mention” in the jury reports for the exhibition.

The sideboard and chairs were  installed in the Evening Drawing Room, part of the Royal Apartments on the first floor of Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, in 1852. Victoria and Albert used Holyrood as a “stopping place” when they traveled to their Aberdeen estate, Balmoral. The  palace’s Evening Drawing Room was also furnished with a suite of furniture which was upholstered in crimson velvet. In 1863, Queen Victoria commissioned a watercolor of the room, showing two of these chairs flanking the sideboard, to record her happy memories of holidays in Scotland with Prince Albert.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Talbert Clock, c. 1865

Gothic Revival Clock
Bruce Talbert, 1865
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The Gothic Revival soared in Britain in the 1860s and 1870s. Known for the incorporation of architectural themes and shapes, the revival interjected a stateliness to the most commonplace objects. Clocks were the perfect form for this style. This example from the V&A by Bruce Talbert shows the architectural quality of clocks of this era. 

Bruce Talbert (1838-1881) was is remembered as a highly celebrated commercial designer who designed metalwork, furniture, textiles, carpets, wallpapers and stained glass. Talbert was also an author, known for his significant 1868 book, “Gothic Forms Applied to Furniture, Metal Work and Decoration for Domestic Purposes.” The tome was full of illustrations depicting a range of designs which Talbert created in the Gothic Revival style. Talbert famously designed lines of furniture for Skidmores of Coventry—a prominent and fashionable manufacturer of architectural metalwork. Skidmores of Coventry made this clock around 1865.

Monumental in scale, the clock is ostensibly a large bracket clock in the form of a building with columns supporting an ornamental roof. Both The front of the piece is enameled with patterns inspired by Celtic designs. Inscribed below clock face are the Latin words “TEMPUS FUGIT.” 

Her Majesty's Furniture: The Strawberry Hill Chair, 1755

Ebonized Gothic Revival Chair, 1755
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This handsome chair was designed for the historian Horace Walpole, Fourth Earl of Oxford (and son of the first British Prime Minister), by his friend, the designer Richard Bentley who had been commissioned to design a chair with a back akin to the outline of a Gothic window.  Walpole asked that the chair be very lightweight, painted black, with a rush seat.  Bentley certainly delivered with this exquisite piece which he had constructed by the fashionable London cabinet-maker William Hallett.

Walpole was known for his collection of  furniture, however, he also frequently commissioned new furniture for his own use.  Later, he opened his lovely home to visitors and became one of the best-known exponents of the Gothic Revival style.

He was thrilled with this chair, and commissioned seven more to furnish the Great Parlor at his country residence, Strawberry Hill, in Twickenham which Walpole had modified in the Gothic Revival style.  As Walpole wished, the chair, like its cousins, is painted black to imitate ebony and boasts a back in the form of a gothic window with a drop-in seat with a black horsehair top cover.   The upholstery we see here was added in the Nineteenth Century.

Another from the set which shows the original caned seats which they all once had.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Grand Duchess Olga Gold Casket, 1800-1850

Gilt Bronze and Micromosaic Jewel Casket
St. Petersburg, 1800-1850
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Collection

Tsar Paul I (reigned 1796-1801) built Gatchina Priory, south of St. Petersburg, commissioning the monumental structure in the Gothic style which he favored. This jewel casket exhibits a similar style. It’s believed that the casket (made either in Rome or St. Petersburg) was created for the Grand Duchess Olga (1822-92), the daughter of Tsar Nicholas I.

The casket is constructed of gilt bronze with relief friezes of intricate archways, each interrupted by a central oval. Many of the oval medallions have been inset with micromosaics of putti in the act of play. The jewel case’s top section is adorned with a relief of arcs, arches and fleurs-de-lis set against foliage. At the center of the lid, a rectangular mosaic has been set. This intricate scene depicts the Gatchina Priory nestled into a lush landscape.

Made between 1800 and 1850, the casket is thought to be the work of Georgi Ferdinand Wekler, considered one of the foremost mosaicists of his day. The box is now part of the Gilbert Collection at the V&A.

Unfolding Pictures: A Gothic Revival Fan, 1820-1840

Gothic Revival Fan
1820-1840
Horn sticks, painted leaf, gold guards and points
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This astounding fan set with a sparkling emerald is a collaborative effort between English and French makers in the style of the Gothic Revival.

The artistic movement known as “The Gothic Revival” was inspired by medieval art and architecture and reached its apex in Britain in the 1830s and 1840s. The style was employed on a variety of objects and buildings. It even changed fashions for a period.

The style is seen on this fan in the form of the delicately pointed tops to the sticks which were made all the more delicate with crocketing - small projections along the points in the style of the gables, arches and spires of Gothic churches.

Unusual Artifacts: The Townshend Cryptocrystalline Quartz, 1825

Golden Chalcedony Ring
The Townshend Collection at
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This nifty gem is cryptocrystalline quartz. This natural phenomenon occurs when quartz forms as a mass of microscopically small crystals. It’s also known as “microcrystalline quartz,” but I like cryptocrystalline better since it sounds spoooooooooooky.

This family of quartz includes many different gemstones such as chalcedony, agate, carnelian, jasper and sard. The colors of the stones vary slightly depending on the occurrence of different impurities such as iron, manganese and chrome.

This ring is one of the 154 gems bequeathed to the V&A by the Reverend Chauncey Hare Townshend. Like the others in the collection it was mounted in a gold setting for display purposes only. The Gothic-style gold setting dates to about 1825. So, what exactly is this stone? Well, guess what. It’s a rare example of chalcedony that isn’t the typical blue-gray color that we think of. Oddly enough, just the other day, I was having a conversation with my father about chalcedony and if it was possible for it to be any other color. I declared that I didn’t think it possible. But, I wasn’t sure, so I went digging for answers and this is the result. If, during formation, iron manganese or chrome in peculiar amounts is introduced to a cryptocrystalline gem, the color can be altered. This is a very, very rare event. But, it can happen. The result, in this case, from an introduction of iron is a chalcedony with a golden hue.

Her Majesty's Furniture: Pugin's Eaton Hall Chair, 1823

Armchair
from Eaton Hall
A. Pugin, 1823
This photo shows the replicated original upholstery.
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This magnificent chair is the work of Augustus Charles Pugin, painter, architect and father of A.W.N. Pugin (famous for his work on the Palace of Westminster).  The chair is covered in a contemporary red and gold upholstery which was made based on the pattern of the original scheme, using fragments of what remained and referring to illustrations of the chair made by John Buckler.  This new covering replaced a drab Twentieth Century upholstery (see picture below).

Buckler had drawn the chair when he was commissioned to create paintings which would record the newly decorated interiors of Eaton Hall in 1826.  This chair was one of a pair which was used in the drawing room of Eaton Hall in Cheshire, the home of Robert, Second Earl Grosvenor.  Lord Grosvenor was so enamored of this chair and its mate that he commissioned smaller copies to be made for use in Eaton Hall’s dining room.  The simplified set was covered in blue leather to match the blue and gold brocade draperies in the room.

This chair and its mate (and copies) was crafted of carved and gilded mahogany set with pierced gothic tracery and panels of carved and gilded gothic foliage.  They were made in Lancaster by Gillow & Co. based on Pugin’s designs, circa 1823.

Here we see the upholstery which was replaced.

Mastery of Design: The Townshend Cryptocrystalline Quartz, 1825

Golden Chalcedony Ring
The Townshend Collection at
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This nifty gem is cryptocrystalline quartz. This natural phenomenon occurs when quartz forms as a mass of microscopically small crystals. It’s also known as “microcrystalline quartz,” but I like cryptocrystalline better since it sounds spoooooooooooky.

This family of quartz includes many different gemstones such as chalcedony, agate, carnelian, jasper and sard. The colors of the stones vary slightly depending on the occurrence of different impurities such as iron, manganese and chrome.

This ring is one of the 154 gems bequeathed to the V&A by the Reverend Chauncey Hare Townshend. Like the others in the collection it was mounted in a gold setting for display purposes only. The Gothic-style gold setting dates to about 1825. So, what exactly is this stone? Well, guess what. It’s a rare example of chalcedony that isn’t the typical blue-gray color that we think of. Oddly enough, just the other day, I was having a conversation with my father about chalcedony and if it was possible for it to be any other color. I declared that I didn’t think it possible. But, I wasn’t sure, so I went digging for answers and this is the result. If, during formation, iron manganese or chrome in peculiar amounts is introduced to a cryptocrystalline gem, the color can be altered. This is a very, very rare event. But, it can happen. The result, in this case, from an introduction of iron is a chalcedony with a golden hue.

Drawing of the Day: House in Amberley Grove, Sydenham, 1942

House in Amberley Grove, Sydenham
Barbara Jones, 1942
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This watercolor from 1942 is the work of Barbara Jones who was one of the many artists employed during the Second World War as part of Queen Mary’s “Recording Britain” incentive which was meant to keep native artists working during the war.

Jones shows us a view of a home in Amberley Grove in Sydenham, England—a gorgeous example of the sort of eccentric, dreamy homes built in England during the Nineteenth Century during a curious and spectacular period wherein a variety of historic architectural styles were revived and all used at once. This delightfully odd home combined medieval and Gothic visual motifs straight out of fairytales with wholly Victorian design ideals. It was built in 1867 by a now unknown astronomer.

The “Recording Britain” program was founded in 1940 by the Committee for the Employment of Artists in Wartime (a division of the Ministry of Labour and National Service). Lasting through 1943, the program kept artists employed and busy, creating lasting artistic impressions of Britain during the war. This not only served to give us a record of those poor buildings a nd landscapes that would inevitably be lost during the war, but also gives us a look into the creative mindset of the period. 

The Home Beautiful: The Soane Side Table, 1805

Side Table
Sir John Soane
c. 1805
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This side table, made around 1805, is part of a monumental suite of unconventional Gothic furnishings from the grand, two-story library of Stowe House in Buckinghamshire, England. The suite was comprised of this table and its pair and a massive octagonal center table. These were matched with carved ebony chairs from India.

In 1848, mired in debt, the Duke of Buckingham was forced to sell the contents of Stowe House. The sale lasted for forty days and garnered the attention of England’s elite, including Queen Victoria & Prince Albert. The pair of side tables and en suite center table were purchased by the same buyer and remained in his family until 1972 upon which time the center table was offered to the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery.

The suite was made in London, designed by Sir John Soane (1753-1837). They are constructed of ebonized mahogany and ivory. The set was made specifically for Stowe’s Gothic Revival Library and was commissioned by the 1st Marquess of Buckingham (1753-1813) who dictated that the design of the room should follow the look of the screen of the tomb of Henry VII at Westminster Abbey. 

Unusual Artifacts: The Hardman Powell Flagon, c. 1858

Flagon
John Hardman Powell
England, 1862
The Victoria & Albert Museum

A flagon such as this one would have been used to hold the communion wine in a church—either Catholic or Protestant. This example, dating to 1848, was designed by John Hardman Powell—Chief Designer for Hardman’s of Birmingham since 1852. Powell had the distinction of being a student of as well as the son-in-law of the famed designer A.W.N. Pugin. Like Pugin, Powell was a proponent of the Gothic Revival style and was adamant that it was the only appropriate style for ecclesiastical design. This flagon of ruby glass was made in 1862 to be shown at the International Exhibition of 1862. The glass is mounted in silver gilt and set with cabochon gemstones and enamels.

The Home Beautiful: The Richard Norman Shaw Cradle, 1861

Click images to enlarge.
Cradle
Richard Norman Shaw
England, 1861
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

There’s a lot of architecture to this handsome cradle which dates to 1861. First of all, it was designed by British architect Richard Norman Shaw as a gift upon the occasion of the first son, Paul, of his friend, fellow architect Alfred Waterhouse. Shaw and Waterhouse were both prominent proponents of the Gothic Revival. Their shared stylistic sensibilities are quite apparent in this cradle which couldn’t be any more Gothic if it tried.

Shaw insisted that the cradle be constructed of oak which he considered “an honest, British wood” instead of a showier imported wood like the mahogany or satinwood which were fashionable in the 1860s. Shaw preferred for the beauty of the wood stand on its own, using only paint and gilding—both known and acceptable means of adornment during the domination of the original Gothic style—to create drama.

The sides of the cradle are painted and gilded with the signs of the zodiac and with panels representing the four seasons on the front and back. Paintings of blackbirds, flowers and leaves adorn the hood, the inside of which is painted blue with gold stars. The hood cover has been mounted with three bronze farthings, one bearing the date 1861, the year that Paul was born. The giving of coins to a newborn baby was considered a token of good luck. While the finished cradle is quite beautiful, it differs drastically from Shaw’s original design for the piece. The drawings of that original design are also in the V&A. 

Gifts of Grandeur: The Grand Duchess Olga Gold Casket, 1800-1850

Gilt Bronze and Micromosaic Jewel Casket
St. Petersburg, 1800-1850
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Collection

Tsar Paul I (reigned 1796-1801) built Gatchina Priory, south of St. Petersburg, commissioning the monumental structure in the Gothic style which he favored. This jewel casket exhibits a similar style. It’s believed that the casket (made either in Rome or St. Petersburg) was created for the Grand Duchess Olga (1822-92), the daughter of Tsar Nicholas I.

The casket is constructed of gilt bronze with relief friezes of intricate archways, each interrupted by a central oval. Many of the oval medallions have been inset with micromosaics of putti in the act of play. The jewel case’s top section is adorned with a relief of arcs, arches and fleurs-de-lis set against foliage. At the center of the lid, a rectangular mosaic has been set. This intricate scene depicts the Gatchina Priory nestled into a lush landscape.

Made between 1800 and 1850, the casket is thought to be the work of Georgi Ferdinand Wekler, considered one of the foremost mosaicists of his day. The box is now part of the Gilbert Collection at the V&A.