Great Bed of Ware

The Great Bed of Ware is a colossal oak four-poster bed, carved with marquetry, that was initially housed in the White Hart Inn in Ware, England.

Constructed during the 1580s, it was probably made to attract customers for an inn in Ware, Hertfordshire. It is twice the size of a modern double bed.

Ware was a day’s journey from London and a convenient place to stop for the night for travelers. The bed was publicized as having the capacity to sleep, 12 people.

Many of those who have used the bed have carved their names into its posts or applied red wax seals. Twenty instances of graffiti are still visible on the bedposts and headboard today.

The Great Bed has been referenced many times in literature from William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (circa 1601) to Charles Dickens’ The Holly Tree.

The bed is carved with patterns derived from European Renaissance ornament. Originally it would have been brightly painted, and traces of these colors can still be seen.

The design of the marquetry panels is derived from the work of a Dutch artist, and English artisans made the panels in the late Elizabethan period. The bed-hangings are modern re-creations to match the period of the piece.

Great Bed of Ware

• Title:                  Great Bed of Ware
• Artist:                Carpenter- Jonas Fosbrooke; Marquetry – Hans Vredeman de Vries
• Year:                  1590-1600
• Place Created:   Ware, England.
• Material:            Oak, carved and originally painted, with panels of marquetry
• Dimensions       Height 267 cm, Width 326 cm, Depth 338 cm
• Weight:              640 kg
• Museum:           Victoria and Albert Museum

A Virtual Tour of the Victoria and Albert Museum

• “The Three Graces” by Antonio Canova
• Great Bed of Ware
• “Self-Portrait as a Young Man” by Tintoretto
• “St Paul Preaching in Athens” by Raphael
• “Samson Slaying a Philistine” by Giambologna
• Wedgwood Portland Vase
• “The Day Dream” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
• “Portrait of a Lady Known as Smeralda” by Botticelli
• “Neptune and Triton” by Bernini

The Great Bed of Ware

Giant Bed of Ware

 

Explore London Museums

• The British Museum
• The National Gallery, London
• Tate Britain
• The Wallace Collection
• The Victoria and Albert Museum
• Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace
• Courtauld Gallery
• Tate Modern, London
• Science Museum, London
• National Portrait Gallery, London
• Natural History Museum
• Charles Dickens Museum
• Hampton Court Palace
• Sherlock Holmes Museum
• British Library
• Imperial War Museum

Great Bed of Ware

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“Don’t you simply love going to bed. To curl up warmly in a nice warm bed, in the lovely darkness. That is so restful and then gradually drift away into sleep…”
– C.S. Lewis,

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Photo Credit: By The original uploader was VAwebteam at English Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons