{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O90873"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O90873/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AN0657/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AN0657/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AN0657","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AV7020","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FE8596","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FE8598","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FE8597","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FT9855","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JN1607","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O90873/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O90873","accessionNumber":"IS.10 to C-1983","objectType":"Throne chairs and footstools","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"In South Asia it was an ancient convention to cover royal objects with gold and silver, which were not only valuable materials but also considered to be pure and worthy of kings. Thrones and royal furniture were typically covered with precious metals and sometimes even embellished with gemstones. The design of this chair and its pair follows British Victorian prototypes and reveals how, in the 19th century, Indian princes began to adopt western-style furniture, and with it the custom of elevated seating. Although the place of production of these chairs cannot be confirmed, the pair of peacocks on the back resemble the cipher of the royal house of Baudh. This former princely state was in the Bengal Presidency (one of the provinces of India under British colonial control) but today is geographically located in the modern Indian state of Orissa.","physicalDescription":"Pair of throne chairs and footstools of teak, covered with richly worked sheet silver, with later blue velvet upholstery.\n<i>\n</i><b><u>Footstool IS.10:C-1983</u></b>\n\n<b>Summary description</b>\nA four-legged stool with the upper surface upholstered and the structure of teak encased in silver.\n\n<b>Decorative Scheme</b>\nThe carcass is encased in sheets of silver worked with vegetal motifs including scrolling grapevines and flowers on the apron and legs. In the centre of each side is a projecting lion's head. The four cabriole legs terminate in paw feet.\n\n<b>Structure and materials</b>\nThe legs have a piece of wood at their core very thickly surrounded with an unidentified white filler. This is encased by sheets of silver, nailed at the top to the stool frame. The frame is teak and includes four rails with aprons, and a flat board. The silver sheets wrap a little way around the edges of the rails.\n\nAn upholstered board (not original) is attached to the stool with modern screws. The filling is vegetable fibre and the cover is turquoise cotton velvet, the surface buttoned. The velvet is fastened to the underside of the board with steel nails. Decorative cord is glued to the lower edge of the cover.\n<u>\n</u><b>Note on technique</b>\nIt is not possible to be absolutely certain about the technique used in making the silver cladding. Examination of the footstool suggests that the most likely method to have been used is shaping the silver sheets by repousse-work then attaching them to the wooden frame. However, a technique exists in India of overlaying and hammering down sheets of silver onto a previously carved wooden frame to give the silver its shape, and this cannot be completely ruled out. A combination of the two techniques is also possible.\n\n<b>Later interventions/changes</b>\nThe upholstery is not original - the upholstered board appears to be a later addition. The original upholstery was probably tacked to the edge of the stool frame. It probably had a stitched edge and could have been red in colour.\n\n\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"teak","id":"AAT12453"},{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"},{"text":"velvet","id":"AAT133711"},{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"}],"techniques":[{"text":"upholstered","id":"AAT231992"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Wood, covered with silver, velvet upholstering","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[{"text":"Rococo Revival","id":"AAT21466"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006AN0657","2006AV7020","2012FE8596","2012FE8598","2012FE8597","2012FT9855","2016JN1607"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES344170"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES344170"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES344170"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"135","id":"THES49878"},"free":"","case":"BY1","shelf":"WALL","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Throne chair","id":""}],[{"text":"Throne chair","id":""}],[{"text":"Footstool","id":""}],[{"text":"Footstool","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Orissa","id":"x29837"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly Baudh, a former Princely State now in Orissa"},{"place":{"text":"Bengal Presidency","id":"x30825"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1850-1870","earliest":"1850-01-01","latest":"1870-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"115","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10-1983 chair","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"79","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10-1983 chair","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"75","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10-1983 chair","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"51","unit":"cm","qualifier":"height of seat","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10-1983 chair","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"14","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10:A-1983 footstool","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"40","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10:A-1983 footstool","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"32","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10:A-1983 footstool","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"115","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10:B-1983 chair","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"79","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10:B-1983 chair","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"75","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10:B-1983 chair","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"51","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Height of seat","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10:B-1983 chair","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"14","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10:C-1983 footstool","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"40","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10:C-1983 footstool","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"32","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"IS.10:C-1983 footstool","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"During the 19th century Indian rulers increasingly began to use objects of Western inspiration. The design of this pair of state chairs follows British Victorian prototypes, adopted as they moved away from the <i>gaddi</i>or textile floor-coverings and cushions traditionally used in many regions as thrones, although thrones of wood clad with precious metal also had indigenous antecedents. These state chairs are in the Rococo Revival style which became fashionable for furniture in Britain in the 1820s and spread quickly to France and America. By the mid-century this style was often used in Indian palace furniture. It is not certain however whether the technique is a purely Indian method of covering wood carved in high relief with silver sheet or whether the silver was worked in repousse and then attached to the wooden core. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"A pair of throne chairs and footstools, 1850-70, Baudh, Bengal","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jaffer, A. <u>Furniture from British India and Ceylon: a catalogue of the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum</u>. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2001. ISBN 1 85177 318 5, pp.224-7, pl.69."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Victoria and Albert Museum. <u>The Indian Heritage : Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule</u>. London (Victoria and Albert Museum), 1982, pp.167 and 169. "},{"reference":{"text":"Jackson, Anna and Ji Wei (eds.) with Rosemary Crill, Ainsley M. Cameron and Nicholas Barnard, compiled by the Palace Museum, translated by Yuan Hong, Qi Yue and Liu Ran. <u>The Splendour of India' Royal Courts : Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>. Beijing: the Forbidden City Publishing House, 2013. Text in English and Chinese. ISBN 9787513403917.","id":"AUTH325369"},"details":"pps. 250-251","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Swallow, D., Stronge, S., Crill, R., Koezuka, T., editor and translator, \"The Art of the Indian Courts. Miniature Painting and Decorative Arts\", Victoria & Albert Museum and NHK Kinki Media Plan, 1993.","id":"AUTH346698"},"details":"p. 134, cat. no. 116","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Footstool for a throne chair\r\nAbout 1850–70\r\n\r\nIndia (possibly Baudh, former Bengal Presidency)\r\n\r\nTeak, with sheet silver over composition paste\r\nCushion (replaced): wood board with vegetable fibre stuffing; cotton velvet top cover with cord \r\n\r\nMuseum no. IS. 10:C-1983\r\n\r\nThe grandest royal furniture in India used solid gold or silver, not merely metal leaf. Here, a wooden frame is covered with sections of silver sheet about 1mm thick, which are fixed with nails. The sheet metal was probably first hammered to shape from the back, then fine detail chased onto the front. This is called repoussé work.\r\n","date":{"text":"01/12/2012","earliest":"2012-12-01","latest":"2012-12-01"}}],"partNumbers":["IS.10-1983","IS.10B-1983","IS.10A-1983","IS.10C-1983"],"accessionNumberNum":"10","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":1983,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Throne chair [1]","Throne chair [2]","Footstool [1]","Footstool [2]"],"assets":["2019LM9790","2019LN9462","2019LN9169","2019LN7932","2019LP9006","2019LP3753","2019LP1946","2019LU9518","2019LU7996","2019LU4889","2019LU2480","2019LV3862","2019LV3345","2019LV2872","2019LX0154","2019LW5058","2019LW4088","2019LW2889","2019LW1605","2020MP2155"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-15","recordCreationDate":"2004-02-05","availableToBook":false}}