The King's Bed and its furniture at Knole: this rare and magnificent seventeenth-century state bed and its accompanying furniture were probably made in Paris for the Duke of York, later James II. Christopher Rowell examines new evidence about their history

Christopher Rowell

Conspicuously extravagant, its magnificent textiles heavy with gold and silver bullion, the so-called 'King's Bed' at Knole, Kent (Fig. 2), has excited hyperbole since at least the eighteenth century. Once fictitiously associated with a visit of James I to Knole, (1) and subsequently dated correctly to the later seventeenth century, the bed and its complementary furniture were long regarded as English. (2) Peter Thornton first proposed a French origin for the set in 1975, and subsequently concluded that the bed 'was made in Paris or by a French upholsterer working for the Crown in London. (3)

Gervase Jackson-Stops came to a similar view and also suggested that the suite might have been commissioned for the marriage in 1673 of the Duke of York (the future James II, 1633-1701; reigned 1685-88, Fig. 1) and Maria, daughter of Alfonso IV d'Este, Duke of Modena, later Queen Mary, of Modena (1658-1718). This was on the basis of the overtly nuptial imagery of the seat furniture, and because the front rails of the chairs and stools, as well as the headboard of the bed, are emblazoned with a royal duke's or prince's coronet rather than a regal crown. The theory also explained the absence of the set from the records of Crown commissions, but Jackson-Stops acknowledged that 'Whether such an early date can be given to the suite is open to question'. (4)

The bed was certainly used by William III's cousin Prince Louis (Ludwig Wilhelm), Margrave of Baden-Baden, during a state visit in January and February 1694, when it still stood in the former Queen's (Mary of Modena's) apartment at Whitehall, thus further substantiating the possible connection with her marriage. Soon afterwards, 'ye bed Prince Louis Lay in' and its matching furniture were removed from Whitehall Palace, either as a perquisite of office or as a gift from William III, by Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset (1638-1706), in his capacity as Lord Chamberlain (1689-97). This article draws together the archival and historical references to this remarkable set of royal furniture, seeking to address all the issues relevant to its origins, provenance, use and display.

A marriage suite?

The King's Bed and its seat furniture are resplendent with a magnificent gold and silver French lampas, (5) while the inside of the bed is richly embroidered (Figs. 3, 5 and 10), partly with flowers, on what was originally a crimson satin ground." The elaborate passementerie incorporates the appropriately nuptial imagery of ribbons and bows. That it was a marriage bed is suggested above all by the iconography of the carved frames of the matching furniture. This amorous display is so explicit that it is unlikely to have been incorporated in a set of furniture commissioned later in a couple's marriage. The front and back legs of the chairs (Figs. 6 and 7) and stools (Fig. 8) are in the form of partially draped amorini, the left hand one holding a quiver of arrows, his companion with an eagle in his arms (a possible allusion to the arms of the Este family of Modena, an eagle argent, as Alastair Laing kindly suggested to me}. The arrangement of the figures is not quite consistent, and the quality of the carving is variable, both indications of studio practice.

At the joints of the central stretcher are two pairs of cartouches incorporating carved reliefs of a bow, quiver, an arrow and a torch (the attributes of cupid), and (on the sides) a flaming heart pierced by two crossed arrows (Fig. 7). Reclining in the middle of the central stretcher is an amorino caressing a dove (symbol of love and peace). (7) The front stretcher has at the centre a pair of winged putti upholding a prince's--or royal duke's--coronet (or the female equivalent), a device that also appears in the centre of the magnificent raised work of the headboard (Fig. 5). This is in the form of a broken pediment, with the ducal coronet surmounting u swag of flowers tied with ribbons, and sinuous branches terminating in lilies. (8) This set of furniture was, therefore, certainly not made for a reigning monarch or consort, as has usually been assumed.

The likelihood that the bed is associated with the Duke of York's second marriage, to Mary of Modena, is strengthened by the survival in the Victoria and Albert Museum of the suit said to have been worn by the Duke at the wedding ceremony on 21 November 1673 at Dover (Fig. 4). Together with a saddle and bridle used on the same occasion, it was presented as a memento to Sir Edward Carteret, a member of the Duke's household. It is so similar to the magnificent silver-gilt, woven and embroidered French textiles of the King's Bed that it may well have been designed to render the Duke en suite with the bedroom furniture. (9) Professor Aileen Ribeiro has kindly observed that this 'seems entirely plausible; given James's love of the ceremonial of Versailles, where such visual coordination was de rigueur'. (10) A proxy marriage had taken place at Modena on 30 September, but this second round of nuptials was conducted by the Bishop of Oxford, following Mary of Modena's arrival in England. This alliance of an English prince with a Catholic princess was music to the ears of Louis XIV--though not to a British audience--and it is possible that the bud and its furniture were a French royal gift.

The suit is of fine drab (originally purplish) woollen cloth lavishly embroidered with silver and silver gilt thread and lined with crimson silk, with the Garter star embroidered on the chest. The Duke was made a Knight of the Garter in 1642. This tends to confirm the Carteret family tradition that the suit did indeed belong to the Duke, given that there were only twenty one members of this most exclusive and prestigious order in 1673, and that the costume certainly dates from the 1670s. (11) According to Susan North, curator of costume at the V&A, the use of English wool albeit of very fine quality--is somewhat unusual, although it certainly could be employed for state costume. A French woven silk and silver-gilt tissue would have been de rigueur for a royal marriage, especially as the Duke of York was heir to the throne. (12)

However, the ceremony took place in winter, (13) and--following its consummation that very night (14)--the newly wedded couple was subsequently (on the 26 November) first greeted by the Court in a procession of boats on the Thames. (15) The suit was probably supplied by the Great Wardrobe, where royal clothing was made, often by foreign tailors and embroiderers." It is also possible that the English cloth was sent to Paris to be embroidered there. (17) The cut and form of the coat derives from French military fashion and is a style introduced to England by the Duke's elder brothel; Charles II. It seems to be a unique survival of this mode of costume, certainly in Britain, and--with one exception--in Europe. (18)

Additional corroboration of the French style of the embroidery--both on the King's Bed and on the suit--derives from its close similarity with that of the horse caparisons and saddles given by Louis XIV to Charles XI of Sweden in 1673. This extravagant gift includes trappings that would have been made by professional Parisian embroiderers at the royal manufactory at the Gobelins. (19)

When and where was the furniture made?

Given that it was removed from Whitehall in 1694, the King's Bed may be the bed in which Mary of Modena received the court on the day of Charles II's death on 6 February 1685. (20) This was presumably in the apartment that the new King and Queen occupied as Duke and Duchess of York. The Yorks certainly had separate beds and separate quarters in adjacent lodgings in Whitehall Palace, created in late 1664 by Hugh May for the Duke and his first Duchess, Anne Hyde, behind the range of buildings at the south-east corner of the Privy Garden, overlooking the Thames. Further improvements were made in 1665-66 and 1670 before Anne Hyde's death in March 1671. (21) Shortly before the Duke's marriage to Mary of Modena in 1673 the Sergeant Painter was paid for 'sprucing up the duchess's rooms', and the construction of a new bedchamber and oratory was put in train."

Simon Thurley kindly points out that the Yorks' main residence was at St James's Palace, making it more likely that the King's Bed was placed there originally. Such beds were put up and taken down often, so even though it was definitely at Whitehall in 1694--it may well have been at St James's beforehand. The Duke of York's lodgings at both palaces were remodelled and refurnished in anticipation of the 1673 marriage. (23) This is a strong argument for the installation of a new bed and seat furniture, but the King's Bed is not listed in an inventory of the Duke of

This article is dedicated to the memory of Gervase Jackson-Stops (1947-95), the National Trust's architectural adviser (1975-95), who initiated thorough research on the Knole collection in the Sackville papers, in the National Archives (hereafter pro) and elsewhere. His transcriptions of key documents have been fundamental, as have those of Dr Rosalind Murrell, to whom I am extremely grateful. I am deeply indebted to my late colleague John Chesshyre (1948-2004), who helped in the early stages by providing access to previous research on Knole, much of which he had commissioned. Thanks are also due to Martin Benson, Clare Browne, Mary Bywater, Emile Debruijn, Martin Drury, Martin Durrant, Maggie Gowan, Brigitte Herrbach-Schmidt, Nick Humphrey, Marcus Koehler, Chris Lacey, Alastair Laing, Ksynia Marko, Jonathan Marsden, Tessa Murdoch, Susan North, Lucia Prosino, Lena Rangstrom, Aileen Ribeiro, Catherine Rose, Michael Carter, Peter Thuring, Simon Thurley, Adriana Turpin, Annabel Westman, Matthew Winterbottom, Lucy Wood, Helen Wyld and Annabel Wylie.

(1) As in early guides to Knole, for example by J.H. Brady, The Visitor's Guide to Knole in the County of Kent, Sevenoaks and London, 1839, p. 158. Bizarre--but not impossible--is the claim in the first printed guide to Knole (J. Bridgman, Sketch of Knole, London, 1817. p. 122), that this is the 'state bed, in which it is said that the Pretender was born' (the Old Pretender, Or 'James III', 1688-1766, was born on 10 June 1688 at St James's Palace).

(2) For example, Margaret Jourdain, Stuart Furniture at Knole, London, 1952, pp 23-24 and 26, where it is dated to the 'Period of Chales II (1660-85)'.

(3) P. Thornton, Seventeenth-Century Interior Decoration in England. France and Holland, New Haven and London, 1978, (4th edition, 1990), p, 166,

(4) G. Jackson-Stops, 'Purchases and Perquisites: The 6th Earl of Dorset's Furniture at Knole I and II', Country Life, vol. CLXI, no. 4171, 7 and 9 June 1977, pp. 1495-97, 1620-22, especially p. 1622.

(5) According to Natalie Rothstein and Santina Levey, Knole Inventory of Textiles and Textile Covered Furniture, 1991 (unpublished report in National Trust archive), The woven silk is described as 'Tissue (lampas) the pattern is woven entirely in silver-gilt thread' and 'French and up to the minute in fashion'. The 'Ground weave may be gros de tours'.

(6) The inner curtains and valances, the tester, headcloth, headboard and bedcover or counterpoint are embroidered in silver, silver-gilt and coloured thread. Rothstein and Levey, ibid., point out that the 'flowers [on the tester] are reminiscent of some in the printed pattern books', V. Sackville-West, Knole and the Sackvilles, London, 1922, 5th ed., 1984, p. 29-30, says they are 'pomegranates and tiger-lilies'--there are also irises and peonies--and mentions the 'royal cipher embossed on the pillows' (no longer evident). A magnificent Anglo Dutch cabinet/wardrobe made c. 1680 for the Duke of York, bearing his coronet and monogram, is decorated with elaborate floral marquetry in a similar style to that of the bed: R. Symonds, Old English Walnut and Lacquer Furniture, London, 1923, pp. 102-109 and plate XI, facing p. 66.

(7) On one of the steels (F 136d), the dove has been mysteriously transformed into a bird of prey (the Este eagle?) with its left wing unfurled. This inconsistency Is another indication of studio work.

(8) The coronet of the brother, sister, son or daughter of a sovereign is identical to the state crown minus the intersecting arches above, and is composed of crosses-patee and fleur-de-lys alternately. Far an illustration and description, see A. Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, 1909 (revised edition by J. Brooke-Little, Aylesbury 1969), p. 272.

(9) V&A: T.711-1995. This similarity was noted independently by the writer and by Martin Drury. I am greatly indebted for educe and information about this remarkable suit to Susan North, curator of costume at the V&A, who also transmitted the previous research by her colleague Avril Hart (see A. Hart, National Art Collections Fund Review, 1995, no. 4205, pp.134-35). The possible link between the suit and the King's Bed has not previously been suggested, but is thought to be credible by Susan North and her colleagues. The wedding suit was by family tradition--given to Sir Edward Carteret (d. 1699) who had been the York's property, taken in 1674, the year after his marriage. The inventory lists his possessions in the charge of his Yeoman of the 'wardrobe of beds' (including 'Rich Beds apparelled' and "Furniture of Roomes constantly used'). (24) However, the King's Bed may have been regarded as the Duchess's property and--being the grandest of beds--would not have been in a 'constantly used' room.

Does the King's Bed suite accord with a date of about 1673 on stylistic grounds, and can it truly be assumed to be French? Given the extreme rarity of such beds (and furniture), it is difficult to be precise about their characteristics, and some 1670s French beds were stylistically much in advance of others. Drawings of the two beds of about 1672 once in Le Vau's Trianon de Porcelaine at Versailles indicate that they already anticipated the elaborate style of Daniel Marot. (25)

Compared to these admittedly exceptional examples, the King's Bed looks decidedly old fashioned, as does the French bed at Gripshohn that was brought to Sweden by the Danish princess Ulrika Eleonora on her marriage to Karl XI in 1680. (26) Interestingly, the tester of the Gripsholm bed has a vestigial dome, like one of the Trianon beds, both of which are depicted with a low stool, or porte-carreaux, in front, similar in design to the King's Bed pair of porte-carreaux (Fig. 9). (27)

[FIGURE 9 OMITTED]

The Gripsholm bed is squarer and lower than the Knole bed (it may have been cut down), with a more conventional canopy and valances, akin to the remnant of Queen Catherine of Braganza's bed of about 1673 at Ham. (28) There are, however, affinities, including the style of headboard, the ostrich plume panaches and the elaborate floral textiles, which are also partly embroidered, incorporating a crown (and cipher).

The wavy line of the cornice of the King's Bed is untypical of French beds of the 1670s and early 80s, which tended--like the Gripsholm bed--to have the plainer box like outline shown in the design of about 1679 for Louis XIV's bedchamber at Versailles, attributed to Antoine Desgodetz. (29) However, the conventional type of bed was always adopted for French state apartments, whereas more private settings--such as the Trianon de Porcelaine--allowed a freer rein to the designer's imagination. Also, the scalloped cresting of the King's Bed still lacks the broken and more baroque 'skyline' of Daniel Marot's designs of around 1690, or of English derivations of French models, such as James II's bed (1688), attributed to Thomas Roberts, in the Venetian Ambassador's Room at Knole. The style of the woven textiles, the floral embroidery, the passementerie and--above all--the design of the magnificent raised work of the headboard of the 'King's Bed' (more Jean Marot than Daniel) seem consistent with the 1670s. (30)

The French context

The style of the seat furniture is, in certain respects, strongly reminiscent of the finest 1670s and early 1680s Parisian furniture now extremely rare but still preserved in England at Ham, Boughton and Burghley, and in Sweden at Salsta, Skokloster and Orbyhus, among a very few places. One can, for example, draw a comparison between the ram's head arms of the armchairs and the dolphin arms of the so called 'dolphin' chairs at Ham. (31) A gilt-bronze ram's head also appears as a pommel on one of the French saddles given to the Swedish King in 1673. (32) Such zoomorphic motifs are typical of Parisian furniture of the mid-1670s, and the strongly sculptural carving of the legs in the form of amorini can be paralleled in, say, the furniture of Pierre Gole at this date (albeit for bureaux, cabinets and stands).

None the less, chair and stool legs made up elf standing figures might be considered--at least in England--as more typical of the following decade. However, the only surviving example is the furniture en suite with the James II bed at Knole of 1688, probably by the royal joiner, Thomas Roberts. (33) The front legs of the very similar chairs formerly at Glemham Hall, Suffolk, matching the Glemham bed, have terminal heads. (34) This type of English furniture must have derived from earlier French models, of which the King's Bed suite may be a unique survivor, and both these sets have only the front legs in the form of figures or terms, allowing the back legs to be raked. The upright and broad proportions of the King's Bed armchairs are akin more to the 1670s and early 1680s than to the more attenuated outline of the mid- to late 1680s, despite having slightly higher hacks than the Ham dolphin chairs, or the Burghley and Salsta sets. The fringing of the seat furniture also harks hack to the 1670s by being straight, rather than bunched in the serpentine line characteristic of the following decade.

Jackson-Stops noted various French elements, including 'the domed feet formed of acanthus leaves with a toe-like scroll in front, and the vertical, rather than raked, back legs of the armchairs'. (35) Thornton drew attention to 'the arrangement of their stretchers in the form of an "H" [and] a separate and elaborately carved stretcher set high between the front legs'. (36) Geoffrey Beard observed that the 'carved toes of the squab.-frames [porte-carreaux] are of a characteristic Parisian form.' (37) These have caned seats, and are plainer in their decoration than the chairs and stools, but they do seem to have been originally en suite, and were certainly part of the set in 1694. Their design is rinse to the porte-carreaux of about 1672 once in the Trianon de Porcelaine. The immensely rare surviving pair of French giltwood porte-carreaux at Ham (of about 1675) is also caned, unlike the rest of the upholstered furniture (no longer extant) described in the 1679 inventory of the Queen's Bedchamber. (38)

The King's Bed's mixture of gold and silver in the textiles and the gilding and silvering of the frames is also typical of France rather than England, certainly as early as the 1670s. (39) One only has to think of the Knole silvered and gilded side table and flanking stands attributed to Pierre Gole et al., the probable gift in about 1670 of Louis XIV to the 6th Earl of Dorset, (40) and the Gole boulle bureau of about 1672 at Boughton. (41) However, analysis indicates that the King's Bed set was originally entirely of burnished water gilding--which Peter Thuring regards as equally indicative of French practice at this date--and that the oil gilding and silvering were added much later. Subsequently, the frames were coated with black varnish and the present gilding and silvering dates from the radical and regrettable restoration of 1968, carried out on the assumption that this was the original decoration. (42)

The King's Bed has been attributed to Louis XIV's upholsterer Jean Peyrard, who visited England twice between 1672 and 1673 to deliver beds to Charles II. Peyrard brought to England in 1672 four beds valued at 1,773.16.6 [pounds sterling], and in the following year, two beds worth 2,080 [pounds sterling]. (43) The huge cost must have been largely attributable to the gold and silver 'fringes of the goldsmiths worke', which are also prominent, among much other gold and silver embroidery, on the King's Bed. It has been suggested that the Knole bed may have been one of these Peyrard beds, and the dates tally neatly with the Duke of York's marriage in 1673 to Mary of Modena. (44) However, none of the beds 'with chaires & c' imported by Peyrard fits the description of the King's Bed.

In 1685, the Duke of York--who had succeeded as James II on 6 February--placed an order with Simon Delobel, another Parisian maker. This was for a crimson velvet bed with two armchairs and six stools en suite (1,515 [pounds sterling]), together with a green velvet canopy of state, a chair of estate, two cushions, one footstool and two stools (1,508 [pounds sterling]), all embroidered 'suitable to the Estate'. (45) The Duke was therefore quite likely to have commissioned the King's Bed directly from Paris a decade earlier, and of course he had spent some months in Paris during the interregnum. Another possibility is that it was a gift from Louis XIV. Mary of Modena was feted at the French court on her journey to England, and the King encouraged the match. But perhaps such a gift would have been politically unacceptable in London.

Parisian furniture was by no means the exclusive preserve of royalty. The 6th Earl of Dorset at Knole, the Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale at Ham, and the (future) 1st Duke of Montagu at Boughton were among the many patrons of French menuisiers and ebenistes in the 1670s. French fashions were then paramount, as they had been since the reign of Charles I (and before). In the absence of documentation, the origins of the King's Bed and its furniture must remain open to question, but it seems credible that the suite was made by a Frenchman for the Duke of York before 1685, and possibly as early as 1673.

The Margrave of Baden-Baden

How did the bed and its furniture come to Knole? The King's Bed was used, during his state visit to London in 1694, by Louis William, Margrave of Baden Baden (1655-1707, Fig. 11). The records of this episode provide further evidence linking the set with Mary of Modena, as well as revealing the circumstances of its acquisition by the 6th Earl of Dorset, who, as Lord Chamberlain, played a key role in the entertainment of William III's German cousin. Ludwig Wilhelm, Markgraf von Baden-Baden, was the son of Ferdinand Maximilian, Markgraf von Baden Baden and Louise Christiane, Princesse de Savoie-Carignan. (46) A famous general, who had made his reputation in the wars against the Turks, he was nicknamed 'Turkenlouis' in Germany. He was to become a patron on the grandest scale, constructing (1697-1707) the palace at Rastatt, inspired by Versailles.

[FIGURE 11 OMITTED]

The Margrave's visit to England in 1694 was to plan the next stage of the War of the Treaty of Augsburg (1689-97), in which the Allies (England, Holland, Germany, and Austria) were ranged against France. His advent was noted by an avid chronicler of current affairs, Narcissus Luttrell, on 14 December 1693: 'Prince Lewis of Baden, accompanied with several persons of note, is expected here by Christmas to concert matters about the next campagne, and St James's house is fitting up for him'. (47) He arrived at Gravesend on 31 December 1693, but--as Luttrell recorded--'being indisposed did not come to Whitehal till this day [2 January], whither he came in his majesties barge about 3 in the afternoon with a small retinue; he has the late queens lodgings there; and has 40 dishes a day appointed for his table, and 12 yeomen of the guard with an usher to attend him'. (48) The 'late queen' is of course a reference to Mary of Modena, who had fled the country with James II in 1688, and this strengthens the possibility that the Knole bed was indeed her marriage bed. John Evelyn noted that the Margrave of Baden-Baden was 'mightily feasted'," and his tour of the royal palaces and estates was marked by the most Lavish entertainments. The ultimate accolade was his investiture as a Knight of the Garter at Windsor. (50)

In his capacity as Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Dorset entertained the Margrave and William III in the Lord Chamberlain's lodgings, Whitehall Palace, on 7 January 1694. Such was the grandeur of the banquet that 'my Ld Chamberlins kitchin' was specially improved in advance. (51) As Luttrell revealed, the Margrave was housed nearby in what had been the 'late queens lodgings'. The likelihood is that the Margrave occupied the state apartment in the range of buildings on the north side of the Privy Garden, built for Queen Mary of Modena by Christopher Wren, 1685-87. This was on the first floor, beneath James II's 'new lodgings'. (52)

On 24 January 1687, Evelyn saw the Queen's 'new appartment at W-hall with her new bed, the embro[i]dery cost 3000 pounds: the carving about the Chimn[e]y piece is incomparable of Gibbons:'. (53) As well as the Great Bedchamber with its 'new bed', there was a Little Bedchamber and Dressing Room. (54) In 1687 Thomas Roberts, who held the warrant as joiner to the Royal Household (1686-1714), supplied Mary of Modena with '20 leaves of cedar skreenes to Stand round the bed [in the Queen's Dressing Room at Whitehall] all hinged together and wyred with gold & silver wyre'. (55) Could the gold and silver wire have been chosen to complement the King's Bed at Knole, now relegated to the royal dressing room? (56)

Subsequently, the Queen's state apartment was evidently occupied by William III himself, because in 1696 Dorset removed as a perquisite '9 Blue Damaske window Curtenes [which] Came out of ye K. [ing]'s new lodgings by ye privy garden [in which] ye prince of Baydon Lay'. (57) Wherever in the palace the King's Bed stood, the Margrave undoubtedly used it. Given his French mother, his Parisian birth, his naming after his godfather, Louis XIV, as well as the abiding fashion in the seventeenth century for all things French, he would have felt entirely at home in a French bed. Even so, it is curious that a battle-hardened veteran was allocated a set of furniture that is encrusted with cupids, especially as his consort, Sybilla Augusta of Sachsen-Lauenburg, was not present. The bed itself, however, is devoid of such imagery, and the princely coronet on the headboard was heraldically appropriate

According to Simon Thurley the pedigree of the bed may have been intended to do honour to the Margrave, despite the fact that it was somewhat old-fashioned by 1694. In 1625, as a special gesture on her arrival in England, Queen Henrietta Maria was allocated Queen Elizabeth I's bed, much to the disgust of the French envoys, who--in expectation of a splendid new bed ascribed to parsimony this typically English veneration for tradition. (58) That the 'King's Bed' had been made for the exiled James II in Paris--and was therefore a symbol of both the grandeur and humiliation of the ancien regime and of France--may also have been relevant, given the belligerent purpose of the Margrave's state visit to London.

The furniture comes to Knole

The Margrave of Baden Baden--laden with presents of 'fine horses ... gold repeating watches, with other curiosities', (39)but laid low with gout, doubtless brought on by his indulgences while in England--left the country on 14 or 15 February 1694. By 16 February, his bed had already been transferred to the 'Wardrobe at Whitehall', and removed by Dorset. The haste with which he was allowed to act suggests that the King had granted him the bed as a memento of the state visit and in gratitude for his hospitality. His acquisition of the King's Bed seems, therefore, to have been more of a gift from a grateful sovereign than a perquisite of office, even though Dorset generally took full advantage of his rights as Lord Chamberlain, almost to the point of looting the royal palaces.

The detailed description of the set on Dorset's receipt from the Whitehall Wardrobe--the 'accompt of ye bed Prince Louis Lay in (see Appendix)--shows that the royal present or perquisite also included the furniture en suite. All the components survive as listed, apart from the case curtains, their gilded curtain rod, and the embroidered crimson cover for the headboard, with its magnificent raised embroidery. The all embracing silver fringed case curtains, a protection against dust and light, were of red taffeta (a light plain silk), as a heavier fabric might have abraded the bed curtains and the embroidered bedcover. Similar fringed case curtains--also hung upon gilded rods--are listed in the Ham inventories of the 1670s and 80s, and are illustrated in several of Daniel Marot's designs and engravings of state beds.

State bedrooms had a ceremonial as well as a practical function, and a regal bed, its canopy equivalent to a canopy of state, was a symbol of monarchy, regarded as such even in the absence of the sovereign. Given the lack of images of court ceremonial, it is not absolutely clear how a state bedroom set of furniture would have been arranged when in use. Daniel Marot's engravings indicate that the movable furniture was placed against the wall at other times, with the pair of armchairs flanking the bed. On formal occasions, the armchairs--used by the occupants of the bedroom or guests of equal or higher rank--would probably have been placed side by side at the foot of the bed, so that the canopy above and behind was 'read' as a canopy of state. (60) The armchairs would have been flanked by a symmetrical arrangement of stools. At Louis XIV's court, entitlement to a stool (tabouret or pliant) depended on rank, and most courtiers had to stand. In addition, the pair of porte-carreaux support two pairs of cushions (at Ham in 1677 they supported three pairs), one pair matching the embroidery of the inside of the bed, the other en suite with the outside bed hangings and the upholstery of the chairs and stools. This discrepancy is noted in the 1706 inventory, (61) and the 'inner' cushions could be propped against the headboard--as shown in depictions of state beds by Marot (62)--for use while reclining. The low stools, or porte-carreaux, were intended as seats for female courtiers, whose voluminous dresses were spread out attractively on the floor. (63) That they were sometimes placed at the foot of the bed is shown in the drawings of the extraordinary beds of about 1672 in the Trianon de Porcelaine at Versailles. (64)

At Knole, the King's Bed was first listed in the 1706 inventory--taken the year after the death of the 6th Earl of Dorset--which reveals that it was not erected there in Dorset's lifetime. Together with James II's 1688 state bed (since at least 1765 in the Venetian Ambassador's Room), it was then in store in the library, having been moved to Knole from Copt Hall, Essex, Dorset's other seat, which was sold in 1701. By 1730, the King's Bed and its furniture had replaced a crimson damask beds (65) in the present 'King's Room' off the Cartoon Gallery and excited comment from visitors and in the early guidebooks for its grandeur and extravagance. Fanny Burney was the first visitor to refer to the bed, in 1779: 'the third state room was magnificence itself: it was fitted up for King William. The bed curtains, tester, quilt and valance were all of gold flowers, worked upon a silver ground: its value even in those days, was 7000 [pounds sterling] ... Nothing could be more splendid'. (60) In 1831, the novelist Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849) wrote: 'in the silver room a bed as the show woman trumpetted [sic] forth of gold tissue which cost 8 thousand guineas new now in tarnished tatters not worth with Christie's best puffing 8 thousand pence this day'. (6)

The 1839 guidebook was more circumspect: 'the state-bed which cost 8000 [pounds sterling] is also very perfect considering its age ... the furniture (which begins to show symptoms of not lasting for ever), is of gold and silver tissue, lined with rose-coloured satin, embroidered and fringed with gold and silver'. (68) That the textiles of the King's Bed were in reasonable condition, pace Maria Edgeworth, is borne out by the nineteenth century paintings that incorporated the King's Bed (and other famous pieces of Knole furniture) in subject pictures, such as J.E.Millais's The Eve of St Agnes (Ashmolean Museum, 1863), or in vignettes of Knole itself. One of these, by W.S.P. Henderson, c. 1850, shows that the bed curtains still had their apparently unfaded crimson embroidered linings, but that the furniture, originally wholly gilded and subsequently partly silvered, had already been stained black. (69)

This black varnish was applied presumably as an element of mourning, or, as Edwards suggested, either to match japanned furniture in the room or in reaction to the blackening of the silvering by tarnishing. (70) The blacking still remains on the feet of the bed (in the form of lions, a traditional symbol of kingship, and appropriate for a royal duke or duchess) and on the two porte-carreaux. The rest of the carved woodwork was re-gilded and silvered in 1968 by the Rural Industries Bureau. (71) The rich textiles of the bed and the upholstery were mercifully untouched until their extensive conservation by the National Trust, begun in 1974 and completed in 1987. (72) Blackened and degraded by centuries of dust and dirt, they emerged in a remarkable state of preservation that gives an excellent idea of their intended flamboyance. Only the ostrich feather plumes or panaches proved too fragile to be coaxed back to their original red and white. Since then, a glass viewing box has preserved the King's Room in conservation conditions. There, sparkling in a perpetual evening of artificial light, the splendours of one of the most rare and extraordinary creations of Louis XIV's France remain largely immutable.

Knole, Sevenoaks, Kent, is open from Wednesday to Sunday from the end of March to the end of October.

Tel: 01732 450608, www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Christopher Rowell is furniture curator at the National Trust.

Appendix

Description for the 6th Earl of Dorset of the King's Bed (73)

1694

Febby ye 16 1694 Reed from ye Wardrobe at

Wt:hall

1 Cloth of Silver Bedd as followeth

6 Curtaines }

2 Cantoones } with Cupps outer vallance 3 bases 2 arme Chaires and 6 stooles of Cloth of Silver flowered [or fringed?] with gould/

teaster headcloth }

In[n]er vallance Counter point}

bed post cases and all ye inside}

Crimson satin

Richly

Embroyderd

4 Read Taffaty Case curtanes with Silver fringe and a guilded Case

Curtane Rodd

1 cover for a head board ye same with ye Lyning

1 Sute of Read and White plumbes of feathers

4 Spriggs to ye feathers

ye bedstead with all materiall to it

4 Guild Carved feete

1 Satin quilt without a bolster

1 fustain Quilt without a bolster

2 guilt Carved frames}

and 4 Squabbs to Lay Upon them}

Sutable to the furniture

Febbry ye 22:

1693/4 an accompt

both of the Last goods that

Came from ye Standing

Wardrobe & an

accompt of ye bed

Prince Louis Lay in

Duke's butler during his sojourn in Jersey in 1649-50 and then accompanied him to Pads. After the Restoration, he was Gentleman Usher to Charles II and was knighted. He was in attendance on the Duke at the marriage at Dover in 1673, and was given the suit and a waistcoat (now missing), together with a saddle and bridle, which were also among the nuptial accoutrements. These facts are quoted from a contemporary source by J. Bertrand Payne, An Armorial of Jersey, Jersey, 1865, p. 83. See else M. Symonds and L. Preece, Needlework through the Ages, London, 1928, p. 298, plate LXXIII (and caption); C Beard, 'King James II's Wedding Suit', The Connoisseur, July 1928, vol. LXXXI, no. 323, pp. 137-42; and the entry in Sotheby's sale catalogue Important Costume and Textiles, 2 November 1995, lot 212, pp, 32-35. I am grateful to Susan North for these references,

(10) Written communication from Professor Ribeiro, to whom I am most grateful.

(11) Susan North made this point, confirming that--on stylistic grounds --the suit was made in the 1670s.

(12) I am grateful to Susan North for this suggestion. Heavily embroidered state clothing could be based on a woollen ground--like at least one of the French costumes sent to Sweden c. 1654 (see M Confetti and G. Walton [eds.], Royal Treasures of Sweden 1550-1700, exh. cat, Washington, Minneapolis and London, 1988, pp. 150-51)--and fine English woollen cloth was highly fashionable Perhaps the Duke's choice of cloth may have been linked to the equestrian equipage of which the suit originally formed part (see n. 9 above and Conforti and Walton, op, cit.).

(13) Sotheby's cataloguer (Sotheby's, op. cit.[n.9], p. 35), agrees that the 'suit combines sartorial elegance with practicality, the brown wool keeping out the chill November winds as he waited for his bride on the Dover beach, yet with the rich embroidery to emphasise the importance and rank of the wearer'.

(14) The Duke noted that the princess had been 'wedded and bedded the same night' (PRO, LC 5/2, fol. 48).

(15) T. Burnet (ed.), Bishop Burnet's History of His Own Time, London 1818, vol. 1, pp, 394, 411.

(16) I owe these observations to Susan North. Unfortunately, there appears to be no record of the Duke of York's transactions with the Great Wardobe in the PRO.

(17) I am grateful to Professor Aileen Ribeiro for suggesting this possibility.

(18) Again, this statement is due to Susan North, who points Out that a similar costume, dated 1668, belonging to Frederik III of Denmark, is at Rosenborg Castle, Denmark.

(19) See L. Rangstrom (ed.), Modelejon Manligt Mode (Lions of Fashion), exh. cat., Stockholm, 2003, no. 185, pp. 161-62. The saddle and bridle given by the Duke of York to Sir Edward Caderet would presumably have been embroidered like those in the French gift to Sweden, and would therefore have been in keeping with the wedding suit. I am grateful to Clare Browne for this reference.

(20) See E. De Beer (ed.), The Diary of John Evelyn, Oxford, 1959, p. 791 (6 February 1685).

(21) See S. Thurley, Whitehall Palace: An Architectural History of the Royal Apartments, 1240-1608, New Haven and london, 1999, p. 124-25. Fig. 113, opposite p. 106, shows the location on a plan of the palace site.

(22) Ibid.

(23) I am most grateful to Simon Thurley for these observations.

(24) Bodleian Library,, Oxford, MS Bodl. 891, Goods of his Royll Highness the D[uke] of Yorke in the custody and Charge of/Phlllip Kinnersley Yeom of his RII Highs wardrobe of Beds: the first of June 1674. I am grateful to Addana Turpin and Lucy Wood for bringing this document to my attention and for providing a transcription. This Is an extremely rare remnant of the documentation concerning the Duke of York's possessions, given the apparent absence of such records in the PRO.

(25) National Museum, Stockholm, Tessin-Harleman Collection; see P. Thornton, Authentic Decor: The Domestic Interior 1620-1920, London, 1984 (second edition 1985), pp. 57-58 end plates 61-62. See also idem, Form and Decoration: Innovation In the Decorative Arts 1470-1870, London, 1998, plate 244 and caption, p.119. The sui generis nature of these Trianon beds was recognised in the description of each in the royal accounts as 'un lit extraordinaire'.

(26) See Thornton, op. cit.[n, 3], figs. 99 and 137 and pp. 408-409 (note on fig. 137); and B. Vahlne, Mobel-Historia pa Gripsholm, Stockholm, 1986, pp. 48-50.

(27) Thornton op. cit.(1984 [n. 25]), plates 61 and 62. There were two pairs of porte-carreaux in the Trianon de Porcelaine (one for each bed).

(28) See idem and M. Tomlin, 'The Furnishing and Decoration Of Ham House', Furniture History, vol. XVI, 1980, pp. 141-48 and fig. 123.

(29) Reproduced in Thornton, op.cit. [n.3]., fig. 138, p. 165 and note 138, p. 409.

(30) Jackson-Stops drew attention to the use of vellum in the fringing, which is comparable to the remnants of the state bed at Ham, made for the reception of Queen Catherine of Braganza in about 1673 (Jackson-Stops, op. cit. [n.4] (9 June 1977), p. 1622). However, this technique continued to be used long afterwards.

(31) Thornton and Tomlin, op. cit. [n.28], fig. 109. See also P. Thornton, 'The parisian Fauteuil of 1680', APOLLO, vol. CI, no. 156 (February 1975), pp. 104-106 and fig. 13; idem, op. cit. [n. 3], figs. 38-40.

(32) Op. cit., n.12, p.164,

(33) See inter alia R. Edwards, 'A Set of Carved and Gilt Furniture at Knole and its Restoration', The Connoisseur, vol. CXLV, no. 585, April 1960, pp. 164-68; and Jackson-Stops, op. cit., [n.4] (June 9 1977), p. 1622.

(34) See P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1925., vol. 1, pp. 218-19 and fig. 51.

(35) Jackson-Stops, op. cit. (1977) [n.4], p. 1622.

(36) Thornton., op. cit (1975) [n.31] p. 194.

(37) G. Beard, Upholsterers and Interior Furnishing in England, 1530-1840, New Haven and London, 1997, p. 91. Beard also accepted Jackson-Stops's dating of the set to 1673.

(38) The pair of porte-carreaux at Ham, c. 1673, the sole survivors of the furniture belonging to the Queen's Bedroom suite (made for a visit of Queen Catherine of Braganza), also have cane seats. As with the 'King's Bed' set, the rest of the furniture was 'covered' to match the bed, The Ham porte-carreaux are described in the 1879 inventory as 'Two footestooles with guilt frames. Cane bottomes'. See Thornton and Tomlin, op. cit. [n.28], p.146 and fig. 125. The pair of putti upholding a cartouche on the front rails is comparable to this motif on the armchairs and steels of the the King's Bedroom suite at Knole.

(39) R. Edwards, 'A Set of Royal furniture restored at Knole', The Connoisseur, vol. CLXVIII, May 1968, p. 69 described the 'combination of gilding and silvering' as 'not merely rare, but, so far as I know, without parallel on [English] seat-furniture of the period'. The 'Dolphin' chairs at Ham (probably Parisian of the 1670s) were originally gilded, silvered and coloured. A 'gold & silver bedd' was among the possessions of the Duchess of Cleveland in 1698; see G. Beard, op. cit. [n.37], p. 298.

(40) See Th. H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, 'Pierre Gole, ebeniste du roi Louis XIV', The Burlington Magazine, vol. CXXII, 1980, pp. 380-94; and M. Drury, 'Diplomat's Prize', Country Life, vol. CLXXXV, no. 40, 3 October 1991, pp. 54-55.

(41) P. Hughes 'The French Furniture' in T. Murdoch (ed.), Boughton House: The English Versailles, London, 1992, pp. 119-20 and plate 70.

(42) The analysis was undertaken by Catherine Hassall of UCL Paint Analysis Ltd. I am grateful to Peter Thuring for supplying a copy and for his comments on her findings. The 1968 restoration was undertaken by the Rural Industries Bureau.

(43) See R. Symonds, 'Domestic Furnishing in the Time of Charles II', The Burlington Magazine, vol. LXXI, September 1942, p. 221 and G. Beard, op. cit. [n.37], p. 91

(44) For example by Beard (ibid), who states that 'The king's bed is most likely to be one of those made in France by Peyrard', and reiterates this view on p. 93.

(45) PRO LC9/278 fols. 20-1.40-1, quoted and discussed in ibid., p. 87, and by Symonds, op. cit. [n.43], p. 221.

(46) See Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Leipzig 1884, vol. IX, pp. 485-91; and Biographie Universelle Michaud Ancienne et Moderne, Paris and Leipzig, 1654, vol. II, pp. 588-89. I am particularly grateful to Alastair Laing for identifying the source of the portrait of Markgraf Ludwig Wilhelm reproduced here (see Barock in Beden-Wurttemberg, exh. cat., Badisches

Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe [Schloss Bruchsal] 1981, vol. I, no A130, p. 147) and to Dr Brigitte Herrbach-Schmidt of the Badisches Landesmuseum for further information.

(47) N. Luttrell, A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs from September 1678 to April 11714, Oxford, 1857, vol. III pp. 238-39. The reference to 'St James's house' is unclear, especially as Luttrell later specifies that the Prince was lodged at Whitehall.

(48) Ibid., p. 248.

(49) De Beer, op. cit.[n.20], p. 975 (1 January 1694).

(50) This dates the portrait of the Markgraf in the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe (see n. 46 above and Fig. 11) to before 1694, as he is depicted without the ribbon or insignia of the Order.

(51) PRO, Works, 5/46, published in M. Cox and P. Norman (eds.), Survey of London, vol. XIV, London, 1931, p. 71.

(52) For the history of these new state apartments, see Thurley, op. cit. [n.21], pp. 127-33.

(53) De Beer, op. cit. [n.20], p. 859 (24 January 1687).

(54) The Queen's state apartment contained a Great Bedchamber, Little Bedchamber and Dressing Room all adjoining and looking south over the Privy Garden. See Thurley, op. cit. [n.21], fig. 135, p. 132.

(55) G. Beard and C. Gilbert (ads.), Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 753 (entry on Thomas Roberts by Gervase Jackson-Stops).

(56) Pace Simon Thurley, who rightly points out that such a grand bed would not normally have been placed in a subordinate and smaller room.

(57) Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone (CKS), Sackville MS. U 269 O69/1 (R). I am grateful to Michael Carter for checking this and the following reference numbers at the CKS. This proves that the Margrave of Baden-Baden cannot have been accommodated in the Queen's privy lodgings, which were not situated by the privy garden but on the riverside to the north-east.

(58) Verbal communication from Simon Thurley, to whom I am grateful.

(59) Luttrell, op. cit., [n.47]. p. 262.

(60) According to Le Brun's Gobelins tapestry (woven 1671-76), Louis XIV received Cardinal Chigi in 1664 at Fontainebleau while seated in an armchair in front of the canopy of the state bed. See Thornton, op. cit. [n. 3], plate 5 and note 6, p 401.

(61) CKS, Sackville MS. U 269 E.3. 14 October 1706.

6 One Rich Gold and Silver Bed Lined with Cherry Coloured Sattin imbraudered compleate.

7. Four Case Curtains of Indian Silk with Rods and Silver Fringe, with 4. Plumes of Feathers.

8. Two Armed Chairs and Six Square Stools with Cases Suitable to the Bed.

9. Two Caned Squabbs, with 4. Cushions 2. of the same as the inside of the Bed, and 2, the same as the outside.

(62) For illustrations by Daniel Marot of cushions used in this way, see Thornton, op. cit.[n. 3], figs. 143 and 144.

(63) For a history of carreaux and porte-carreaux, see ibid., pp. 180-82 and plates 153 and 289.

(64) See n. 25 above.

(65) In 1706, the bed in the 'Bedchamber at the end of the Matted Gallery' [the] was 'One Crimson Damask Bed Compleat. Four Plumes of Feathers ... Two armed Chairs and Six Stools Suitable to the Bed of Crimson Damask.'

(66) Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay, London, 1854, vol. I (1778-80), pp. 215-17.

(67) See C. Colvin (ed.), Maria Edgeworth: Letters from England 1813-1844, Oxford, 1971, p.516

(68) Brady, op. cit. [n.1], p. 156.

(69) Private collection; reproduced in R. Sackville-West, Knole, London, 1998, p. 44.

(70) Edwards, op. cit.[n.33].

(71) According to Edwards (ibid., p. 71), 'the repairs were on a considerable scale. On all six stools the crowns held up by cherubs On the front rails were damaged; on the supports one in three of the amorinis' silvered wings and a total of six arms or Darts of arms were missing; while on all the central stretchers the heads of the seated amorini and those of the birds had been broken off, lost, and were replaced. The damage to the pair of armchairs was On a similar scale and has now been made good'.

(72) The work was undertaken in the textile workroom at Knole, with the generous help of volunteers, under the direction initially of Philippa Lawrence and from 1982 Annabel Wylie. See J. Cornforth, 'Glow of Gold Brocade: The King's Bed at Knole, Kent', Country Life, vol. CLXXI, no. 32, 6 August 1987, pp. 64-65.

(73) CKS Sackville MS. U 269 O.69/1; this document was previously published in Beard, op. cit., p. 295, where the transcription is incomplete, omitting inter alia the reference to the pair of low stools or porte-carreaux supporting the two baits of cushions.

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