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Petworth House
The Carved Room
The first carved room was half its present size. It was constructed around
1690 by Grinling Gibbons, who produced 'the most superb monument of his skill'
(in Horace Walpole's words) for the 6th Duke of Somerset.
Gibbons's room occupied the southern half of the present room and, as the
1749/50 and 1764 inventories reveal, incorporated the two pairs of full length
portraits (now at either end of the long fireplace wall) 'flounced all about
with carving', four other 'pictures of full length in carv'd frames' and three
half-lengths over the doors.
In 1786 the 3rd Earl began the process (completed in 1792-4) of doubling
the size of the room. He removed the partition wall and brought in late 17th
century carvings from elsewhere in the House. The elaborate carvings and frame
around the portrait of Henry VIII after Holbein were probably carved in 1689-90
by Gibbons's assistant, John Selden, for the Proud Duke's Dining Room (now
the Beauty Room).
Principal Pictures
George Clint, ARA (1770-1854)
Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721)
Jonathan Ritson (c.1780-1846)
The portraits of the craftsmen who created the carvings here were commissioned
by the 3rd Earl for the room. The carved frames are by 'Ritson'.
Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641) and others
King Charles I on horseback
Left unfinished in Van Dyck's studio on his death, it was acquired by the
10th Earl of Northumberland and is described at Northumberland House in 1671
with the note: 'the face not finished'.
After Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641)
Queen Henrietta Maria (1609-69) and her dwarf, Jeffery Hudson (1619-82)
Charles I's consort took Hudson into her service after he leapt from a pie
at a dinner given by the Duchess of Buckingham.
John Closterman (c.1660-1711)
The 6th Duke (1662-1748) and Duchess of Somerset (1667-1722)
The Duke was Gibbon's patron both at Petworth and at Trinity College, Cambridge.
The Duchess is depicted with a son, presumably her eldest son, the 7th Duke.
Remigius Van Leemput (d.1675) after Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8-1543)
King Henry VIII (1491-1547)
Derived from the dynastic fresco painted in the Privy Chamber of Whitehall
Palace in 1537 and destroyed by fire in 1698. This version was painted in
1669, probably for the Seymour family.
Two early 17th century full-lengths of the 6th Duke of Somerset's grandfather,
The 1st Lord Seymour of Trowbridge (?1590-1664) and an unknown woman called
''Lady Seymour'' were in Gibbons's original smaller Carved Room.
Furniture:
Pair of carved giltwood pier-tables
With 'bianco e nero' (black and white) marble and ormolu tops are Italian,
'c.1750', possibly with additions by Samuel Norman.
Sarcophagus-shaped commode
Black Boulle-work with superb ormolu mounts, including terminal winged
sphinxes and lion's paw feet, French, 'c.1710', by the famous ébéniste André
Charles Boulle.
'Giltwood pillar fire-screen'
Probably by Whittle and Norman 'c.1755'. The embroidery dated 1943 is by
Queen Mary, consort of George V.
'Walnut Pedestals'
for porcelain jars are 'c.1690' and were made for the 6th Duke and Duchess
of Somerset.
'Lacquer cabinets on stands'
Japanese, 17th century, on ebonised Anglo-Dutch late 17th century stands.
'Carved walnut armchairs'
Upholstered with tapestry are English in the Louis XV style, 'c.1760',
and were probably supplied by 'Paul Saunders' (1722-71) of Soho Square, London.
'Omolu-mounted boulle bracket clock'
Probably dates from the Régence period (1715-23), the first phase of the
French Rococo. Inscribed 'Minoche à Paris' - probably 'Jean Minoche'.
Pair of marble tables
English, 'c.1735', on giltwood supports. The porphyry tops are edged
in green marble and banded with ormolu.
Other Furniture
'Boulle bracket clock'
with ormolu mounts is French, Louis XIV, 'c.1700'. It is surmounted by an
ormolu figure of Fame and the dial incorporates a portrait profile of the King. Signed by the parisian clockmaker
'Nicolas Delaunay' ('d.1743')
'Elaborate giltwood side-table with the prophyry top'
Incorporating the cross of Lorraine in the legs is French, Louis XIV, 'c.1700'.
'Ormolu-mounted Régence (1715-23) bureau plat'
or writing table, is veneered in ebony and inlaid with Boulle-work and tortoiseshell.
Inside fireplace
The fireplace is dated 1622 and bears the coronet, crescent device and initials of
the 9th Earl of Northumberland, who was released from the Tower in 1621.
The distinctive andirons surmounted by 16th century North European statuettes
are the larger of two sets of 'Iron Doges', one 'with a Statue on Each', listed
in 1764. 'Two large figured An[d] irons' were purchased by the 6th Duke in
1689.
Chandeliers
The set of six ormolu chandeliers is French, late 18th or early 19th century, in the style
of the Régence period (1715-23), and was presumably acquired
for the room by the 3rd Earl after 1794/5, when he completed its extension.
Carpet
The carpet is possibly Irish, Donegal, early twentieth-century.
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