Part 7 (1/2)

It must be borne in mind, in considering the furniture of the earlier part of the sixteenth century, that the religious persecutions of the time, together with the general break-up of the feudal system, had gradually brought about the disuse of the old custom of the master of the house taking his meals in the large hall or ”houseplace,” together with his retainers and dependants; and a smaller room leading from the great hall was fitted up with a dressoir or service cupboard, for the drinking vessels in the manner just described, with a bedstead, and a chair, some benches, and the board on trestles, which formed the table of the period.

This room, called a ”parler” or ”privee parloir,” was the part of the house where the family enjoyed domestic life, and it is a singular fact that the Clerics of the time, and also the Court party, saw in this tendency towards private life so grave an objection that, in 1526, this change in fas.h.i.+on was the subject of a court ordinance, and also of a special Pastoral from Bishop Grosbeste. The text runs thus: ”Sundrie n.o.blemen and gentlemen and others doe much delighte to dyne in corners and secret places,” and the reason given, was that it was a bad influence, dividing cla.s.s from cla.s.s; the real reason was probably that by more private and domestic life, the power of the Church over her members was weakened.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Chair Said To Have Belonged to Anna Boleyn, Hever Castle.

(_From the Collection of Mr. G.o.dwin, F.S.A._)]

In spite, however, of opposition in high places, the custom of using the smaller rooms became more common, and we shall find the furniture, as time goes on, designed accordingly.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tudor Cabinet in the South Kensington Museum. (_Described below._)]

In the South Kensington Museum there is a very remarkable cabinet, the decoration of which points to its being made in England at this time, that is, about the middle, or during the latter half, of the sixteenth century, but the highly finished and intricate marqueterie and carving would seem to prove that Italian or German craftsmen had executed the work. It should be carefully examined as a very interesting specimen. The Tudor arms, the rose and portcullis, are inlaid on the stand. The arched panels in the folding doors, and at the ends of the cabinet are in high relief, representing battle scenes, and bear some resemblance to Holbein's style.

The general arrangement of the design reminds one of a Roman triumphal arch. The woods employed are chiefly pear tree, inlaid with coromandel and other woods. Its height is 4 ft. 7 in. and width 3 ft. 1 in., but there is in it an immense amount of careful detail which could only be the work of the most skilful craftsmen of the day, and it was evidently intended for a room of moderate dimensions where the intricacies of design could be observed. Mr. Hungerford Pollen has described this cabinet fully, giving the subjects of the ornament, the Latin mottoes and inscriptions, and other details, which occupy over four closely printed pages of his museum catalogue. It cost the nation 500, and was an exceedingly judicious purchase.

Chairs were during the first half of the sixteenth century very scarce articles, and as we have seen with other countries, only used for the master or mistress of the house. The chair which is said to have belonged to Anna Boleyn, of which an ill.u.s.tration is given on p. 74, is from the collection of the late Mr. Geo. G.o.dwin, F.S.A., formerly editor of ”_The Builder_,” and was part of the contents of Hever Castle, in Kent. It is of carved oak, inlaid with ebony and boxwood, and was probably made by an Italian workman. Settles were largely used, and both these and such chairs as then existed, were dependent, for richness of effect, upon the loose cus.h.i.+ons with which they were furnished.

If we attempt to gain a knowledge of the designs of the tables of the sixteenth, and early part of the seventeenth centuries, from interiors represented in paintings of this period, the visit to the picture gallery will be almost in vain, for in nearly every case the table is covered by a cloth. As these cloths or carpets, as they were then termed, to distinguish them from the ”tapet” or floor covering, often cost far more than the articles they covered, a word about them may be allowed.

Most of the old inventories from 1590, after mentioning the ”framed” or ”joyned” table, name the ”carpett of Turky werke” which covered it, and in many cases there was still another covering to protect the best one, and when Frederick, Duke of Wurtemburg, visited England in 1592 he noted a very extravagant ”carpett” at Hampton Court, which was embroidered with pearls and cost 50,000 crowns.

The cus.h.i.+ons or ”quysshens” for the chairs, of embroidered velvet, were also very important appendages to the otherwise hard oaken and ebony seats, and as the actual date of the will of Alderman Gla.s.seor quoted below is 1589, we may gather from the extract given, something of the character and value of these ornamental accessories which would probably have been in use for some five and twenty or thirty years previously.

”Inventory of the contents of the parler of St. Jone's, within the cittie of Chester,” of which place Alderman Gla.s.seor was vice-chamberlain:--

”A drawinge table of joyned work with a frame,” valued at ”xl s.h.i.+llings,” equilius Labour 20 your present money.

Two formes covered with Turkey work to the same belonginge. xiij s.h.i.+llings and iiij pence

A joyned frame xvj_d_.

A bord ij_s_. vj_d_.

A little side table upon a frame ij_s_. v_d_.

A pair of virginalls with the frame x.x.x_s_.

Sixe joyned stooles covr'd with nedle werke xv_s_.

Sixe other joyned stooles vj_s_.

One cheare of nedle worke iij_s_. iiij_d_.

Two little fote stooles iiij_d_.

One longe carpett of Turky werke vil_i_.

A shortte carpett of the same werke xiij_s_. iij_d_.

One cupbord carpett of the same x_s_.

Sixe quysshens of Turkye xij_s_.

Sixe quysshens of tapestree xx_s_.