Bedtime Stories
Chapter One: The Restoration of the Queen Anne State Bed - A celebratory tale of a dilapidated bed returned to glory
From Thursday, 8th December visitors will be able to see the newly restored Queen Anne State bed. Described as "the most radical restoration of a state bed ever”, it is the culmination of two years’ work by conservators, weavers, carvers, upholsterers, engineers, blacksmiths and curators.
It was commissioned in 1711 by John, 1st Earl Poulett, for Hinton House in Somerset. He had just been given high office in the Royal Court as Lord Steward of the Household. In keeping with his high position, he remodelled a suite of rooms, the most magnificent part of which was the State bedroom. It was draped in tapestries and contained a “gold and crimson bed”. In order to please Queen Anne he named this new suite of rooms after her. So seemingly desperate to find favour with the Queen, when his third son was born in July 1711, he even named him Anne!
By 1814 the bed had been radically altered. It was reduced in height and new posts were added. By 1910 the bed was sold to Lord Anglesey and installed at his house Beaudesert. By the time it was acquired for Temple Newsam, 30 years ago in 1981, it had been in the possession of seven antique dealers and one museum. It was in a severely rotten state. The bed canopy was nearing collapse and the bed posts were significantly unstable.
Marking its 300th Birthday, the bed has had a glorious makeover. Draped in crimson velvet and gold lace, it is once more a bed fit for a Queen.
It now stands at nearly 4 metres high. Its canopy is suspended from the ceiling by iron rods known as angel rods. Many parts of the bed have been re-carved including its feet and cornices; these are now covered in crimson velvet and trimmed in real gold lace, copying the original.
In order to mark this extraordinary restoration, Temple Newsam is holding a year-long exhibition exploring beds and bedrooms called Bedtime Stories. The bed will be on show to the public from the 8th of December 2011.
Chapter One: The Restoration of the Queen Anne State bed: A celebratory tale of a dilapidated bed returned to glory. (From 8th December 2011 until 1st May 2012) The exhibition looks at the restoration of the bed in detailing the behind-the-scenes work by skilled craftsmen to restore the bed.
A Exhibition Special Events Programme accompanying Chapter One is downloadable to the right of this page.
Chapter Two: Beds and Bedding in Britain 1650-1850 (Opens 15th May 2012)
The story of beds and bedrooms. What did people wear to bed? How did they make a bed? And just what did they get up to in the bedroom? Raunchy prints, grand beds and glamorous nightwear tell the bed time stories of Britain between 1650 and 1850.