3. THE QUEEN'S SOFA
The Cartoon for
the Queen's Sofa
Date: 1877-78
Artist: T. W. Hay
Subject: A gilt Louis XVI Sofa in the Beauvais
style, made by order of Queen Victoria.
Cartoon: Two full size cartoons for this
sofa are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Prints Drawings and
Paintings section, Textiles Anon. Catalogue E. 1030-1031-1925:
"Sofa-covering with arabesques, flowers and ribbon design".
Tempera.
Size: 214 by 68 cm. and 333 by 772 cm.
Warps: Not known
Colours: Cream ground, silver greys and
light greens. The back has a medallion of light blue bearing
the Queen's monogram "VR" in silver with the crown
above in gold on red. The seat is similar without the monogram,
and with a centre of wild roses wreathed around a shallow Grecian
urn. The wild rose or eglantine occurs in several Windsor tapestry
designs and as a motif in Royal Windsor Stained Glass borders.
Border: As furniture pieces there is no
border as such, but two rows of leaf and line chains encircle
each piece.
Marks: The cartoons are marked "Sofa
for H.M. The Queen" in red Roman capitals, with "Royal
Windsor Tapestry" under. (This was added after 1878, when
the tapestry was woven, because the designation "Royal"
was not granted by the Queen until December 1880).
Sale prices:
Not known to be offered
for sale
Exhibited: Bassano Galleries Exhibition, 1881;
Guildhall Windsor, 1878;
Chicago World's Fair, 1893
Ownership: Possibly in the Royal Collection
at Windsor.
References:
Queen Victoria's Journal.
5 March, 1878
Furniture Gazette, 26 January, 1877 and 14 December, 1878, p.397
Royal Windsor Tapestries, Walter Henry Harris, 1893. Privately
printed.
The Art Journal, 1878, p.106, and 1879, p.64
WE, 7 December, 1878
Bassano, no. 13
VAMC, E. 1030-1031, 1925
Harris
Brignolas
WT
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