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DECORATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN HISTORY


Special Collections Material


From The history of the royal residences by William Henry Pyne (London: 1819)
Sp Coll f327-9 (plate here from volume 3: Sp Coll f329)

It is very splendid in decorations, and furnished with elegance and taste, forming a striking feature in the upper suite of state apartments. The ceiling is encompassed by a richly ornamented and gilded margin, and is painted in imitation of clouds and sky; in the centre is a group of winged boys supporting a superb chandelier of cut glass for twenty-four wax lights ... The walls are divided into compartments, the panels of which are dark blue velvet surrounded by a richly carved and gilt moulding, each angle being filled with a boldly carved device formed of an open escalop, foliage and branches of oak, highly embossed and richly gilt. The surrounding margins are of light peach-blossom, and bordered by a burnished gold moulding. The doors are of the same colour with the margins; the architraves and mouldings are gilt; and the panels contain finely executed carvings, in burnished gold, representing trophies of Roman armour, arms, and other implements of war. The shutters are enriched in correspondence with the doors; as are also the plinths, bases and surbases of the whole apartment.

(page 45)
 

Blue velvet room, Carlton House
Carlton House: Blue Velvet Room
(Plate between pp.44-45: drawn by C. Wild; engraved by D. Havell)

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