In situ in the Chinese Room in the South West wing, Westwood Park. Country Life, January 23, 1928
THE WESTWOOD PARK BENCH, English, circa 1760
Width: 6 ft 4½ in; 194.5 cm
Depth: 1 ft 10½ in; 57 cm
A George II giltwood long bench.
Note: The frame has been re-gilded.
This bench is finished on all four sides. It was therefore designed to stand in the middle of a room or long gallery, not against a wall. With arm supports at each end, it could possibly be described as a window seat except for its unusual length. Window seats are generally much shorter.
Westwood Park was originally the family seat of the Pakington family. The House was sold in 1902 to the papermill industrialist Edward Partington. It is not clear if the contents were included in the sale of the house.
The long bench was originally part of a suite consisting of at least five armchairs, a settee and two benches they are illustrated in an early Country Life photograph taken in 1903 when the house was in the possession of its new owner. Some twenty-five years later a further Country Life image records them as previously in the same room, called the Chinese Room situated in the South-West Wing of the house.
Provenance
Westwood Park, Worcestershire, England.Literature
Illustrated:
Country Life, 29. November 1903, p. 698, A Room in the South-West Wing.
Country Life, January 23. 1928, p. 98, The Chinese Room in the South Wing.
