ANNE'S BEDROOM
Anne's Bedroom is entered from the rear landing. Over the fireplace hangs a portrait of Anne Fairfax (c.1742) by the French artist Philip Mercier (c.1689-1760), who lived and worked in York from 1739 to 1747 and produced many portraits for members of the local gentry. Mercier's portrait of Anne's mother Lady Mary Fairfax hangs in the adjacent Drawing Room.
The four-poster bed, hung with moiré silk, was designed in Georgian Chinese Chippendale style by Bridlington architect Francis Johnson, who was architect to the restoration of Fairfax House in the 1980s. It was made by Dick Reid in York and incorporates eighteenth-century carved pelmets. The richly decorative paper on the walls of this room is also in a 'Chinoiserie' style, with its peacock, peony and branch pattern, and is similar to Anne's own choice of paper in 1762 as recorded in the household accounts. The York decorator Samuel Carpenter was paid for the provision of 'mock India' paper for the 'misses Bedchamber' at 1s. 3d. a yard. The design is based on patterns brought into the country by the East India Company and the pattern, reproduced from a sample discovered at Temple Newsam, Leeds, was popular at this time.
The Georgian mahogany furniture in this room includes an extraordinary dressing bureau with Buddhistic lion faces on the knee of the cabriole legs and hairy lion's-paw feet.
An interesting selection of ceramics in this room includes a pair of Chinese standing boy figures holding vases of lotus flowers. These figures were meant to represent happiness and were often given as marriage gifts to young couples.
MORE ABOUT ANNE'S BEDROOM
Dressing Bureau
A rare combination piece, c.1735, with pivoting dressing glass set in a mahogany frame decorated with egg and dart mouldings.
Category: Furniture
Portrait of Anne Fairfax
Painted by the French artist Philip Mercier in about 1742. Anne is depicted as a shepherdess.
Category: Paintings
Standing BoysThese standing figures, c.1720, in famile verte colours, were popular wedding gifts at Chinese marriage ceremonies and meant to encourage happiness and married bliss.
Category: Ceramics
