Buscot Park, Oxfordshire.
Family home to Lord Faringdon; Buscot Park is a late 18th century Neoclassical English country seat. The house was built in 1780-1783 and was purchased by the present Lord Faringdon’s great grandfather, Alexander Henderson, in 1889 but it was not until 1916 that he was to become the 1st Lord Faringdon.
The family works of art form ‘The Faringdon Collection’ which has grown somewhat since the early 20th century and boasts paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens and van Dyck. The collection now encompasses important pieces of furniture by Robert Adam and Thomas Hope. The 1st Lord Faringdon formed the foundations of the collection and also made some extensive enlargements to the property during his reign. The house was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1956 but has since been managed by the family.
The Normanton Room
The Normanton Bed
Pride of place at the top of the staircase, The Normanton Room takes its name from the State Bed that lies within it. The early 18th century bed was formerly at Normanton Park, Rutland and due to being stylistically c.1710 is likely to have come from the earlier, now demolished, house rather than the present Palladian styled house.
Humphries Weaving were commissioned to reweave the original 21 inch wide Perquesite damask pattern for bed drapes in crimson and aqua alongside wide woven lustring linings in crimson for the bed restoration. The unusual crimson warp and contrasting aqua weft creates a shot effect in the figure patterning which was challenging to replicate. Humphries Weaving tested four different weave structures in the figure to ensure the correct balance of the two colours was maintained. The structure decided upon was 3/1 twill as it gave enough coverage of the crimson to pare down the aqua for an optimum shot result.
The same design can be found in crimson and gold on the George II State Bed and also window treatments in the State Bedchamber and State Closet of Chatsworth House, Derbyshire.
Project Ref: 2514
Bed Images by kind permission of The Faringdon Collection at Buscot Park.
