• Facets (new session)
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  • Inference Rule: asEquivalentb3sb3sifpfacetshttp://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ldpoplwebskos-transvirtrdf-labelvirtrdf-urlNone
    

This is one of a large set of chairs that were made for Houghton Hall in Norfolk. Houghton was built between 1722 and 1735 for Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), England’s first prime minister. The first designs for Houghton were made by the architect James Gibbs in 1722. William Kent, who was establishing himself as a architectural decorator in the 1720s, took over decoration and furnishing of the main floor of the house in 1725. This set of chairs furnished Houghton's main state apartment. The chairs were made en suite with a spectacular bed designed by Kent and also hung with lavish green velvet hangings. The green upholstery and trimmings on both chairs and bed contributed to the overall effect of the room. The bedroom was dedicated to Venus, the Roman goddess of sleep and love, whose colour was green. In addition to the impressive green effect of the trimmings, other references to Venus were made throughout the room. The ceiling was painted with a scene of Aurora Rising; the room's frieze had a repeated motif of gilded cupids' heads and wings; and the room's tapestries showed The Love of Venus and Adonis,after Albano. The bed was topped by a double shell, referencing Venus's chariot. The chairs in this set have a great structural presence and are stylistically very advanced for the 1730s. It is likely that they were designed by a chair-maker working under Kent's direction, rather than by Kent himself. This type of collaboration would have been unusual, with the chair-maker bringing to the process an understanding of the technical requirements of chair-making, while Kent was more concerned with the appearance of the finished pieces. The chairs relate to another group from Houghton - a suite of burr-walnut and gilt chairs that, while very different in style, are also upholstered in green velvet. The use of the same ticking base cloth on both groups of chairs suggests that they were made -- or at least upholstered -- in the same workshop, and quite close to each other in date. The burr-walnut and gilt suite has been attributed to the London upholsterer Thomas Roberts junior, on the strength of his single surviving bill to Robert Walpole of c. 1729, which mainly relates to furniture supplied for Walpole's London houses (but which includes the supply of caffoy for the Saloon at Houghton).