{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O301224"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O301224/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O301224","accessionNumber":"W.4:1-1951","objectType":"Half tester bed","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Mahogany half tester bed with red and black woollen hangings trimmed with gold braid and tassels","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mahogany","id":"AAT12221"},{"text":"wool","id":"AAT243430"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"},{"text":"Woodwork","id":"THES48877"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES344221"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES344221"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES344221"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES344203"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES343858"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES343858"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES344393"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344399"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES344306"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES344306"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES344393"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES342077"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES342077"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Tester","id":""}],[{"text":"footboard","id":""}],[{"text":"Mahogany curtain rail","id":""}],[{"text":"Woollen tester valance","id":""}],[{"text":"Woollen valance","id":""}],[{"text":"Woollen valance","id":""}],[{"text":"box","id":"x44081"}],[{"text":"Box of textiles","id":""}],[{"text":"side rail","id":"AAT251146"}],[{"text":"side rail","id":"AAT251146"}],[{"text":"screws","id":"AAT33568"}],[{"text":"bed post","id":""}],[{"text":"bed post","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1860","earliest":"1855-01-01","latest":"1864-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Two beds with similar half testers and with rounded footboards reaching to the ground were illustrated in Richard Charles, <i>The Cabinet Maker. A Journal of Designs</i>, London: E&amp;F Spon, 1868."}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased by the Museum in 1951 from Miss E.M.E. Richardson, Woking, Surrey, for £30 (Nominal File MA/1/R828). Miss Richardson had written to the Museum on 11 November 1950, noting that she had 'been advised by Messrs Heal Tottenham Court Road' to write, as they considered it 'the most perfect specimen of early Victorian bed with with all the wonderful coloured original hangings etc. they have ever seen &amp; in such perfect condition'. Miss Richardson noted that she had three four-poster beds of the same period, but she did not note the history of them, although in a letter dated 7 December 1950, Miss Richardson wrote 'I believe it is earlier than Victorian'. William Thorpe, the Deputy Keeper, visited soon afterwards and made a sketch of the bed, with annotations, that is in the Nominal File.  He noted on this a suggested date of 1835-45. His sketch gave a detail idea of the appearance of the bed, but not of its structure. In a memo to the Director, dated 18th December, the Keeper, Ralph Edwards, noted that 'he [William Thorpe] thinks that it is the best piece of Victorian furniture he has ever seen.'\n\nThe date of this bed is probably slightly later than was suggested when it was acquired. The use of half testers for beds was certainly popular by the middle of the 19th century and continued so into the 1880s. More unusual is the rounded foot board of the bed. A design showing such a feature was published by William Smee &amp; Sons in 1850 in their catalogue<i> Designs for Furniture</i>. They were one of the largest furniture firms working in London, from premises in Finsbury Pavement. This fashion for a rounded end for beds was still current in the catalogue of the firm of Charles and Richard Light, <i>Cabinet Furniture: designs and catalogue of cabinet and upholstery furniture, looking-glasses etc.</i>, published in 1881.  That firm also was a large undertaking, supplying furniture wholesale to furniture shops and based at the centre of the trade in mass-produced furniture at the time, Curtain Road, Shoreditch.\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Half tester bed, English, 1850-1880, mahogany with red and black woollen hangings","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["W.4:1-1951","W.4:2-1951","W.4:3-1951","W.4:4-1951","W.4:5-1951","W.4:6-1951","W.4:7-1951","W.4:8-1951","W.4:9-1951","W.4:10-1951","W.4:11-1951","W.4:12-1951","W.4:13-1951"],"accessionNumberNum":"4","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1951,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Previous LOST number","id":"THES50310"},"number":"FWK.LOST.234:1"},{"type":{"text":"Previous LOST number","id":"THES50310"},"number":"FWK.LOST.234:2"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Tester","footboard","Mahogany curtain rail","Woollen tester valance","Woollen valance [1]","Woollen valance [2]","Bag containing tassels, curtain rings and gilt balls","Box of textiles"],"assets":["2019LU9988","2019LU7280","2019LU7274","2019LU5687","2019LU1625","2019LU0862","2019LT7938"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-25","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}