Couch
Maker & role
Unknown
Production date
circa 1840
See full details
Object detail
Production place
Collection
Measurements
1 - Sofa, H: 78 x W: 142 x D: 56cm (H: 780 x W: 1420 x D: 560mm); 2 - Squab, L: 103 x W: 55 x D: 6cm (L: 1030 x W: 550 x D: 60mm); 3 - Bolster, L: 54 x Diam: 18cm (L: 540 x Diam: 180mm)
Credit line
Gift, through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2006
Elizabeth Bay House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Elizabeth Bay House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Description
Couch of short / diminutive proportions intended to sit at the foot of a bed. The frame and turned legs are of Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata) in the solid and not veneered. The couch is in Greek Revival taste with its left side in the form of a large scroll (as a surface for reclining against) with a smaller scroll returning on its right side. The shaped semi-upholstered backboard reflects the high-low proportion of the scrolls of the left and right ends. The faces of the scrolls and panels on its seat rail are decorated with turned paterae. The sofa has a separate squab and bolster (sitting at the left side of the seat), stuffed with horsehair and covered in a diaper weave black horsehair fabric, probably over previous red linen upholstery.
At least one 19th century furniture trade catalogue refers to this type of short couch as a ‘Nelson couch’ suggesting that with their small size they could also be utilised for ships cabins and as ‘campaign’ furniture.
The couch is significant for its provenance to Harriet King (née Lethbrige 1796-1874) wife of Philip Parker King the son of Governor Philip Gidley King, and strengthens Elizabeth Bay House’s holdings of provenanced items relating to early New South Wales families. The couch – a short sofa intended to sit at the foot of a bed – is an Australian-made example of a rare type in public ownership.
The couch has a ‘public history’ significance through having been lent by King descendant John Pavitt, to the National Trust for display at Old Government House, Parramatta, whose interiors were furnished by the National Trust’s Women’s Committee under the leadership of Dame Helen Blaxland from c. 1970-1980. Caroline Simpson OAM (1930-2003), a mainstay of the Women’s Committee over 25 years, was influenced by Dame Helen’s tastes when she began to collect Australiana in the early 1990s, and Dame Helen’s influence was evident in the Clyde Bank drawing room. ‘Re-interpretation’ of the Old Government House interiors in c. 1988 led to the withdrawal of the loan of the couch and its subsequent sale to Caroline Simpson.
The couch is part of a large collection assembled by Caroline Simpson OAM (1930-2003) for display at Clyde Bank (where it was exhibited in the morning room), a restored Georgian town house in The Rocks Sydney, which was open to the public between 1994 and 2004
At least one 19th century furniture trade catalogue refers to this type of short couch as a ‘Nelson couch’ suggesting that with their small size they could also be utilised for ships cabins and as ‘campaign’ furniture.
The couch is significant for its provenance to Harriet King (née Lethbrige 1796-1874) wife of Philip Parker King the son of Governor Philip Gidley King, and strengthens Elizabeth Bay House’s holdings of provenanced items relating to early New South Wales families. The couch – a short sofa intended to sit at the foot of a bed – is an Australian-made example of a rare type in public ownership.
The couch has a ‘public history’ significance through having been lent by King descendant John Pavitt, to the National Trust for display at Old Government House, Parramatta, whose interiors were furnished by the National Trust’s Women’s Committee under the leadership of Dame Helen Blaxland from c. 1970-1980. Caroline Simpson OAM (1930-2003), a mainstay of the Women’s Committee over 25 years, was influenced by Dame Helen’s tastes when she began to collect Australiana in the early 1990s, and Dame Helen’s influence was evident in the Clyde Bank drawing room. ‘Re-interpretation’ of the Old Government House interiors in c. 1988 led to the withdrawal of the loan of the couch and its subsequent sale to Caroline Simpson.
The couch is part of a large collection assembled by Caroline Simpson OAM (1930-2003) for display at Clyde Bank (where it was exhibited in the morning room), a restored Georgian town house in The Rocks Sydney, which was open to the public between 1994 and 2004
Accession number
EB2007/5-1:3
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