420 - AS I.90. Design for a canopied bed, drawn by Grinling Gibbons. Different versions of the design are shown to L and R. Brown ink and pencil, shaded with brown wash. The rear portion of the design is not inked in. 266 x 265 mm. Watermark: Strasbourg lily WR (lower part only).
Note to 420: The monogram in the R valence presumably refers to Mary Stuart. The draughtsmanship is consistent with Gibbons's overmantel designs for Hampton Court (Higgott 2007: SM 110/23–26, 30–52: WS 4, pls. 27–43). The design was probably based on an engraving of a four-poster bed by J.A. du Cerceau (Destailleur 1871, vol. 2, pl. 8). A bedchamber containing four wreathed columns, a balustered rail, and a 'frett ceiling' was created for the Duchess of York at St James's Palace in the 1660s (HKW 5.234), but no visual record of this survives.
[WS 12, pl. 42, top R]