Though very different in style from the burr-walnut and gilt chairs at Houghton, the use of the same ticking base cloth (collated between W.2-2002 and W.27-2002) 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 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). The difference in style is probably explicable in terms of the burr-walnut and gilt suite being made to suit the pre-existing embroidered bed; and in the present state of knowledge it seems reasonable to suppose that both suites were manufactured and upholstered entirely in one workshop, most likely that of Thomas Roberts junior.
ecrm:P3_has_note
Though very different in style from the burr-walnut and gilt chairs at Houghton, the use of the same ticking base cloth (collated between W.2-2002 and W.27-2002) 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 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). The difference in style is probably explicable in terms of the burr-walnut and gilt suite being made to suit the pre-existing embroidered bed; and in the present state of knowledge it seems reasonable to suppose that both suites were manufactured and upholstered entirely in one workshop, most likely that of Thomas Roberts junior.
structural upholstery of linen, linen webbing and horsehairLegs and seat frame of beech, pine and walnut, oil gilded, partially over a sanded groundcover of green silk velvet, edged with metal-thread braid