A Design for a State Bed, in Chippendale Drawings, Vol. I

During the 18th century, British architecture and interior design in particular thrived as they had never done before. The furniture firm of Thomas Chippendale was one of the protagonists in this development. Thomas Chippendale had settled in London in the late 1740s and opened a shop on St. Martin’s Lane where several leading cabinet-makers were active. Over the next 20 years, he would become one of the most successful furniture makers in Great Britain and his furniture was in demand all over Europe and the American colonies. The Metropolitan Museum owns two albums of designs by the Chippendale firm, most of which were used for Chippendale's important print publication ‘The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director’, the first comprehensive furniture publication in Great Britain which came out in 1754. Two other, (expanded) editions were published in 1755 and 1762. This design for a state bed did not feature in the ‘Director’ until its third edition and was probably designed for a particular commission by a person of royal rank.