VISCOUNT'S BEDROOM
The second bed-chamber on the first floor, opening from the landing which overlooks the Great Staircase, is the Viscount's Bedroom. The room is hung with a daisy pattern wallpaper (from the Temple Newsam Collection) and contains a four poster bed designed by Francis Johnson and made by Dick Reid. The shaped tester was painted by the York decorators Bellerbys, and the hangings are French chintz.
The Viscount's Bedroom contains some notable pieces of furniture from the Noel Terry Collection. The tall mahogany secretaire, c.1760, is by William Vile, who was at one time cabinetmaker to King George III. It is a piece of the very highest quality, with wonderfully delicate open latticework sections. The two chairs in the room are of walnut and date from around 1725; they are part of a series of four, with the other two currently located in the Drawing Room next door. Their needlepoint seats show the four stages of courtship. These chairs are likely to have come from the London workshop of Giles Grendey.
A number of religious paintings adorn the walls, including The Seven Acts of Mercy after Frans Francken the Younger, c.1630, and The Magdalene, c.1570, possibly by the artist Jan Matsys.
The English ceramics in this room include a large Rockingham Mug with a picture of a London to York covered wagon. On the mantle shelf is a Chamberlains Worcester Bough Pot featuring a view of the river Ouse in York, looking towards York Castle. Flanking this are two reliquaries in gilt rococo frames with oval paintings on silk, one showing Saint Ignatius of Loyola and the other featuring the Virgin Mary.
During the days of the cinema company this room was used as the ladies and gents toilets. Restoration involved the re-instatement of lengths of the carved dado and skirting board and the fitting of a replacement fireplace which was rescued from Methley Hall in the West Riding of Yorkshire (demolished 1963).
MORE ABOUT THE VISCOUNT'S BEDROOM
Bough Pot
A handsome pot of 'D' section intended for the display of crocus or hyacinth bulbs. Chamberlains Worcester, c.1810.
Category: Ceramics
Reliquary of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
A reliquary, gilt pine and silk, eighteenth century.
Category: Miscellaneous
Rockingham Mug
A large green-ground mug (height 12.5 cm) made at the Rockingham factory near Malton c.1835. The moulded scroll handle has as its terminal a horse's hoof, and painted on the front is a landscape view showing a covered wagon lettered 'London to York'.
Category: Ceramics
Seven Acts of Mercy
In Catholic teaching the seven acts of corporal mercy are feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting captives, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick, and burying the dead. This painting, of the school of the Flemish artist Frans Francken the Younger (1581-1642), presents a crowded canvas in which these acts are being performed.
Category: Paintings
