Details
An oak four-post bedstead
the headboard with three deep panels with rusticated and egg-and-dart edges, flanked by projecting fluted Corinthian columns and outer scrolled ears, surmounted by a central similar deep panel with angular pediment with finials and cartouche dated 1570, with pierced scrolling putto carved spandrels and outer fluted Corinthian columns supporting the canopied roof with moulded cornice, the end posts stop fluted and with Corinthian capitals, foliate-clasped centre section and multi-faceted stepped supports, repairs, minor restoration, English, late 16th century -- 74½in. (189cm.) wide; the cornice -- 78in. (198cm.) wide, 96½in. (254cm.) long
the headboard with three deep panels with rusticated and egg-and-dart edges, flanked by projecting fluted Corinthian columns and outer scrolled ears, surmounted by a central similar deep panel with angular pediment with finials and cartouche dated 1570, with pierced scrolling putto carved spandrels and outer fluted Corinthian columns supporting the canopied roof with moulded cornice, the end posts stop fluted and with Corinthian capitals, foliate-clasped centre section and multi-faceted stepped supports, repairs, minor restoration, English, late 16th century -- 74½in. (189cm.) wide; the cornice -- 78in. (198cm.) wide, 96½in. (254cm.) long
Further details
John Fardon acquired this bed in the late 1950's, but little is known about its previous history, other than the fact that it was once at a Victorian house, Underley Hall, near Kirby Lonsdale, Westmorland. Seeking more information Mr Fardon wrote to Country Life who published his letter and photograph (April 21st 1960) followed by Appendix notes in which the anonymous Country Life correspondent commented on the high quality of the bedstead; the similarity with an altered bedstead dated 1568 belonging with the famous panelled and inlaid bedchamber of c.1575 from Sizergh Castle in Westmorland (now in the Victoria & Albert Museum); and the further similarity of the architectural scheme of the bedhead with a design engraved by Hans Vredeman de Vries and published (probably in 1588) as plate 12 of his Different Pourtraicts de Menuiserie. The plan for the headboard is unusual in the canon of 16th century English design, crowned as it is by a central triangular pediment set in an open space, with flanking pillars supporting the tester above it (cf: also a design by Johann Jakob Ebelmann in his Architectura, published 1598/1599).
Comparison with the de Vries engraving reveals a strong similarity with the earlier Fardon bed, which is freely adapted from such continental models in an entirely original and successful manner. Though similar in form, the Fardon bed differs from the de Vries engraving in nearly every detail of the decoration, with grotesque pierced scrolling figures flanking the pediment, elegant fluted columns holding the moulded cornice, and a plain bedstock of heavy rails in the English manner. Unlike most English great bedsteads, there is no heavy panelled tester, but instead the frame was gracefully ceiled and hung with textiles. The tester-cloth must have been supported on a light wrought-iron frame (now replaced) as in the Ebelmann design.
Country Life (June 9th 1960) published a reply to Mr Fardon from Henry Hornyold-Strickland of Sizergh Castle, illustrating a further bedstead with similar features (still at Sizergh today) and noting that the present dining room of 1564 shares many of the same architectural motifs, including the fluted columns with deeply-carved Corinthian capitals. The woodwork at Sizergh is consistently of the same high quality, the mouldings crisp and well proportioned in true classical style, and the Baltic oak showing an impeccable clear grain. These factors combine to suggest that a small team of sophisticated joiner-carvers (probably Flemish or Flemish-trained) were working for Sir Walter Strickland, his widow Alice and their neighbours in the 1560's and the 1570's.
The analogies with the Sizergh Castle woodwork are not to be ignored. The castle still contains a wealth of woodwork and furniture bearing the concordant dates of 1563, 1564, 1568, 1569, 1570, 1571 and 1575; much of which is closely paralleled with the Fardon bedstead in the joinery treatment, the carving style, the character of the timbers and the date itself. Two further items with congruent treatment were discussed by Susan Bourne and Susan Stuart in their article in Volume V of Regional Furniture (1991, pp. 51-59), in the shape of yet another bedstead and a standing cupboard at the Castle Dairy, Kendal. These pieces are both dated 1562 and the authors were prompted to discuss the relationship between the Kendal pieces and the woodwork (including a screen of 1558) at Sizergh Castle, which they had visited on the same day. Indeed, they were moved to suggest that the Kendal pieces were probably made in the workshops set up by Strickland on the ground floor of the new south wing during the re-building of Sizergh. Comparisons with the form and detailing of the Fardon bedstead will prompt the same suggestion. This group of high quality furniture and woodwork is one of many from the neglected post-medieval period, which still demand further serious research and analysis, including a close comparison of decorative and constructional form.
Comparison with the de Vries engraving reveals a strong similarity with the earlier Fardon bed, which is freely adapted from such continental models in an entirely original and successful manner. Though similar in form, the Fardon bed differs from the de Vries engraving in nearly every detail of the decoration, with grotesque pierced scrolling figures flanking the pediment, elegant fluted columns holding the moulded cornice, and a plain bedstock of heavy rails in the English manner. Unlike most English great bedsteads, there is no heavy panelled tester, but instead the frame was gracefully ceiled and hung with textiles. The tester-cloth must have been supported on a light wrought-iron frame (now replaced) as in the Ebelmann design.
Country Life (June 9th 1960) published a reply to Mr Fardon from Henry Hornyold-Strickland of Sizergh Castle, illustrating a further bedstead with similar features (still at Sizergh today) and noting that the present dining room of 1564 shares many of the same architectural motifs, including the fluted columns with deeply-carved Corinthian capitals. The woodwork at Sizergh is consistently of the same high quality, the mouldings crisp and well proportioned in true classical style, and the Baltic oak showing an impeccable clear grain. These factors combine to suggest that a small team of sophisticated joiner-carvers (probably Flemish or Flemish-trained) were working for Sir Walter Strickland, his widow Alice and their neighbours in the 1560's and the 1570's.
The analogies with the Sizergh Castle woodwork are not to be ignored. The castle still contains a wealth of woodwork and furniture bearing the concordant dates of 1563, 1564, 1568, 1569, 1570, 1571 and 1575; much of which is closely paralleled with the Fardon bedstead in the joinery treatment, the carving style, the character of the timbers and the date itself. Two further items with congruent treatment were discussed by Susan Bourne and Susan Stuart in their article in Volume V of Regional Furniture (1991, pp. 51-59), in the shape of yet another bedstead and a standing cupboard at the Castle Dairy, Kendal. These pieces are both dated 1562 and the authors were prompted to discuss the relationship between the Kendal pieces and the woodwork (including a screen of 1558) at Sizergh Castle, which they had visited on the same day. Indeed, they were moved to suggest that the Kendal pieces were probably made in the workshops set up by Strickland on the ground floor of the new south wing during the re-building of Sizergh. Comparisons with the form and detailing of the Fardon bedstead will prompt the same suggestion. This group of high quality furniture and woodwork is one of many from the neglected post-medieval period, which still demand further serious research and analysis, including a close comparison of decorative and constructional form.