Portrait of Edward Dryden and his family by Jonathan Richardson the elder, c. 1716. ©NTPL
It’s nice if you know the names of the people conncected with specific pieces of early-eighteenth-century furniture; it is even better when you have a portrait of them.
View of the west front of Canons Ashby from the Green Court. ©NTPL/Andrew Butler
The above portrait of Edward Dryden, his wife Elizabeth Allen and their children was purchased by the National Trust with the help of the Art Fund in 1987. Edward, a wealthy London grocer, was the nephew of the poet John Dryden.
Walnut chair with embroidered cover, part of a set supplied by Thomas Phil. ©NTPL/Andreas von Einsiedel
The picture hangs at Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire, the house that Edward remodeled between 1708 and 1710. The painting also includes a glimpse of the just completed garden.
Sofa with needlework cover, from the set suplied by Thomas Phil. ©NTPL
The set of furniture was originally supplied by Thomas Phill of the Strand, who in 1716 submitted a bill for chairs with ‘frames of ye newest hashion stufft up in Lynnen’ and ‘for makeing ye needle worke covers & fixeing ym in the chaires.’ They were sold in 1938, but bought back and donated to Canons Ashby by an anonymous benefactor in 1983, soon after the National Trust had acquired and restored the house.
June 1, 2011 at 14:14 |
The placement of the embroidered covers on the furniture — the way the curving stems seem to climb and work with the curves — is very inspiring.
June 2, 2011 at 07:12 |
Yes it is nice when you can see two elements coming together like that. isn’t it?
I wonder, too, whether Dali got his idea for his ‘Mae West’ sofa from this kind of predecessor?
June 10, 2011 at 17:16 |
He was in trade? was his status-or what appears to be-typical? pgt
June 11, 2011 at 07:19 |
Yes, we would call him a businessman or entrepreneur – an example of someone who made his money in the city and then bought a country estate for the added status, and to provide continuity to the dynasty. And it worked: generations of Drydens lived at Canons Ashby until the late twentieth century.