{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O120412"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O120412/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP1575/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP1575/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AP1575","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FP8700","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019ME7184","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O120412/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O120412","accessionNumber":"W.8-1964","objectType":"Settee","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This was made as part of a set of two settees and twelve chairs for the 'Great Room' (a grand reception room) of the Earl of Guilford's house in Grosvenor Square, London. The suite was covered in green silk damask, matching the festoon curtains of the room's three windows. The form and the carved ornament recall the style of furniture designed by the architect William Kent in the 1720s-30s, but the delicacy of the carving suggests a later date. From inventories of the London house it is clear that the suite was not made until after 1754. It was probably made soon after that date by the leading London cabinet-maker Benjamin Goodison, who was owed £120 by Lord Guilford in 1756.","physicalDescription":"Settee in carved mahogany with gilt details and upholstered seat. Beech internal seat-frame, original chevron webbing and broken-twill base cloth in the seat.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Goodison, Benjamin","id":"A1374"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"probably"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mahogany","id":"AAT12221"},{"text":"beech","id":"AAT11948"},{"text":"textile","id":"x41581"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved mahogany, gilt; beech internal seat-frame; original chevron webbing and broken-twill base cloth","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[{"text":"Palladian","id":"AAT21161"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006AP1575","2012FP8700","2019ME7184"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES343565"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Settee","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1754-1756","earliest":"1754-01-01","latest":"1758-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"103","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"211","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"maximum, at arms and at front feet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"205.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"at back feet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"203","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"at front of seat","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"76","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"maximum, approx.","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"73.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"at feet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured 29 November 2006","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This is part of an original suite of two settees and twelve chairs, which were sold from Wroxton Abbey, Oxfordshire in the 1920s (the other settee now at Temple Newsam House, acc. no. 9/64, see Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam, Vol. II (1978), cat. no. 325; Vol. III (1998), p. 728; the chairs latterly at Mereworth Castle, Kent; sold by the Trustees of Michael Tree, Christie's, 11 November 1971, lot 96; ten of the chairs were with Carlton Hobbs in 1992 and illustrated in his Catalogue Number Three (1992), no. 17). Although the suite ended up at Wroxton, it was evidently made originally for Lord Guilford's London house, in Grosvenor Square, where it was inventoried in 1767 (following his wife's death on 22 December 1766): \r\n\"12 Mahog<u>ny</u> Open back Ch<u>rs</u> \r\nCoverd with Green Silk Dam<u>k</u> \r\nand Serge Cases\r\n2 Sofas Ditto and Cases\"\r\n(Bodleian Library, Oxford: MS North e. 40, ff. 5f., ‘An Inventory of Goods, belonging to the Rt. Honble. The Earl of Guilford taken at His House in Grosvenor Sqr. February 17th. 1767 and the days following’).\r\nThe suite is not recorded in earlier inventories of the London house made in 1751 and 1754 (Bodleian Library: MS North b. 14, ff. 310r--315v, 405r--409v), so it was presumably made after 1754. It may well, therefore relate to a debt to Benjamin Goodison of £120 recorded in 1756 (Bodleian Library: MS North b. 15, f. 15, 'List of Bills remaining unpaid / At Michmas 1756 ... Mr. Goodison Cabinetmaker   120: 0: 0').","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Settee, English, ca. 1754-1756, of carved and gilded mahogany, with upholstered seat","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"This settee has previously been dated to the 1730s or 1740s, and on the basis of that dating a number of payments by the 1st Earl of Guilford to William Hallett in the 1740s could theoretically be relevant. Those payments, however, all relate to the Wroxton estate, whereas the settee is part of a suite that was first recorded in Lord Guilford's London house, in 1767 - and is conspicuously absent from earlier inventories of the house, taken in 1751 and 1754 (see Object History). So it was probably made following Lord Guilford's third marriage in 1751, and indeed apparently after 1754. It may relate to a debt of £120 recorded as owing to Benjamin Goodison in 1756 (see Object History). The delicate treatment of the carving is consistent with such a date.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["W.8-1964"],"accessionNumberNum":"8","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1964,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN9626","2019LN9466","2019LU8846","2019LU1396"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-07","recordCreationDate":"2006-01-12","availableToBook":true}}