The Henry VII and Elizabeth of York marriage bed, rediscovered in 2010,
is an exceptional piece of late medieval English royal furniture: no
other equivalent example of secular domestic furniture is known to have
survived, and, indeed, precious little woodwork from this period remains
outside of ecclesiastical settings. As a tour-de-force of medieval royal
woodwork, the bed offers an unprecedented insight into elite domestic
furniture from this period.
Since its rediscovery, the bed has been subjected to a wide array of
investigation by furniture specialists, medieval historians, design
historians and scientists. Emerging from a decade-long multidisciplinary
research project, this book is the first sustained account of the bed:
it shows how numerous disciplines covering the arts and conservation
sciences can be brought together to assess and interpret such rare
historic survivals.
Broken down into thematic chapters, the book explores the bed's form and
structure, context, iconography, wood, paint, physical history,
provenance - including its curious reproduction by George Shaw in
Victorian England - and relationship with known surviving Tudor
furniture, as well as Georgian and Victorian Gothic Revival beds.
Although thought to be a nineteenth-century fake, this book presents
historical, archival and scientific evidence to show, beyond doubt, the
bed's late medieval age.
While grounded upon research presented at a 2019 conference funded by
the Institute of Conservation and held at the Victoria and Albert Museum
in London, the book incorporates additional historical and scientific
discoveries made since the conference. Written by a range of scientists,
historians and specialist researchers, this volume is a
multi-disciplinary work of immeasurable value to readers from numerous
disciplines.
