115 MONUMENT TO MARTIN BOND IN ST. HELEN’S CHURCH, BISHOPSGATE.
Watercolour. 10¼ by 13½ in.
Shows him as Captain of Trained Bands seated in his tent at Tilbury camp, 1588. Two sentinels guard the entrance, and a page holds his horse. There is a similar monument (1625) to Sir Charles Montagu in Barking Church, Essex. Both have special interest on account of the military costumes. Martin Bond died in 1643 at the age of eighty-five. It will be seen on the last page of catalogue that he gave to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital the pewter inkstand here exhibited. Lent by Mr. P. Norman.
FURNITURE AND OTHER OBJECTS OF ART
The furniture in this exhibition lent by the Secretary of State for India, the Worshipful Companies of Carpenters, Stationers and Clothworkers, and the Master of the Charterhouse, has been chosen as a fitting accompaniment to the drawings and paintings of Old London. They form a representative selection of such relics of London’s history as have survived the vicissitudes of Time. A certain individuality stamps the furniture. It was made for a definite reason, had a serious and official purpose to fulfil, and thus differs in some respects from the contemporary furniture of the home, in the making of which comfort, luxury, elegance and other domestic requirements had to be considered. As would be expected, therefore, the furniture from the India Office, from the City Halls and from the Charterhouse, is essentially severe in character, “masculine and unaffected,” and thoroughly sound both in design and workmanship.
The largest and most important collection is that from the Secretary of State for India. The India Office is fortunate in possessing a considerable number of fine pieces of English furniture of the eighteenth century. Most of these were transferred in the nineteenth century from the “Old India House” in Leadenhall Street at the time when the India Office absorbed the business of the East India Company. These historical events are discussed in full detail in “Records of the Honourable East India Company,” by Sir George Birdwood and William Foster.
A variety of interesting pieces have been lent by the Worshipful Companies of Carpenters, Stationers and Clothworkers. In the course of their history the City Companies have suffered many misfortunes. Of these the most disastrous was the Great Fire of 1666, which wrought havoc with their Halls and historic possessions. Most of the Halls were destroyed or suffered damage. Many were rebuilt under the influence of Sir Christopher Wren and his successors, but in most cases have been reconstructed in the nineteenth century. Fortunately, some of the panelling, carvings and furniture have been preserved and incorporated in the new buildings. The octagonal table in this exhibition, lent by the Carpenters’ Company, is one of the few existing pieces earlier in date than the Great Fire.
From the Charterhouse a few good pieces of English furniture have been obtained. First a Carthusian monastery, afterwards a nobleman’s palace, and lastly a Pensioners’ Hospital, the Charterhouse still shows records of the different phases of its romantic history. The splendid Elizabethan staircase and some of the panelling belong to the period when the Duke of Norfolk occupied the building as a residence. Other furniture and decoration commemorates the foundation of the hospital by Thomas Sutton, a wealthy trader and philanthropist; worthy of special mention is the small communion table in the chapel, bearing his arms and a mutilated date (16—), perhaps the most distinguished piece of furniture of its period which the country possesses. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to secure this table for the present exhibition.