Upholstered armchair, originally from a set of eight, from Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland (one of a pair)

Thomas Roberts

ca. 1689 · Ebonized beechwood, Genoese cut-velvet covers (original to the chair) · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

These two armchairs are from a large suite of furniture comprising a bed, eight armchairs, four side chairs, and a pair of stools made about 1689 for Daniel Finch, second earl of Nottingham and seventh earl of Winchelsea (1647–1730), for the state bedroom and dressing room of his country seat, Burley-on-the-Hill in Rutland. Finch was secretary of state and privy counsellor to William III. He commissioned this set probably from Thomas Roberts, the prominent London chair maker who provided much of the seat furniture for the royal household. The tall raked backs and sinuously scrolled arms and legs reflect the style of Daniel Marot (1663–1752), the French architect and designer who worked closely with William and Mary both in Holland and England. The chairs retain their original and exceedingly rare Genoese cut-velvet covers, woven in several shades of red, blue, and green on an oyster ground in a Baroque pattern of scrolling leaves with matching tasseled fringe. The state bed, two of the armchairs, and the stools from this suite are displayed at William and Mary's palace of Het Loo, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

Artist

Thomas Roberts

Date

ca. 1689

Medium

Ebonized beechwood, Genoese cut-velvet covers (original to the chair)

Culture

British

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Purchase, Gift of Irwin Untermyer, by exchange, and Bequests of Bernard M. Baruch, Ruth Mabee Lachman Greenleaf, and Irwin Untermyer, by exchange, 1998