Upholstered Furniture in the Lady Lever Art Gallery

Sir William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851-1925), was among the foremost collectors of his age with as great a passion for the decorative arts as for painting and sculpture. This magnificent book explores one aspect of the outstanding collection of furniture that he bequeathed to the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, Merseyside: pieces designed for human support – primarily seat furniture, but also beds, footstools and a coach model. Most of this remarkable collection in British, but the largest and one of the most important sets was made in Rome for Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch. For each piece the patrons, designers and makers, as well as wider aspects of design, manufacture and upholstery, and usage are all investigated in a meticulous examination of the evidence. Broader developments in the making and usage of seat furniture and beds in Britain in the eighteenth century are explored in the extended introduction, which focuses on the evolution of new techniques in upholstery, the ascendancy of the carver, the organisation of labour, and the emergence of new types. The use of a variety of decorative treatments, of different textiles, and of a range of protective covers is also reviewed, with reference to numerous inventories, bills and illustrations. Appendices include a record of all the upholstered furniture acquired by Lord Leverhulme that is not in the Lady Lever collection, and a ground-breaking essay by John Griffiths tracing developments in British screw-manufacture.