Interior, 2nd. floor, Duchess' bedroom, view from south east Digital image of D 47115 cn

Description Interior, 2nd. floor, Duchess' bedroom, view from south east Digital image of D 47115 cn

Date 26/4/1999

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number SC 767334

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 47115 CN

Scope and Content Duchess's Bedroom, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries & Galloway This room, on the second floor of the castle, is the duchess's bedroom. The walls, panelled to dado height, are lined with a Victorian floral paper, and edged with a gilt border. The room is dominated by a magnificent Polonaise four-poster bed, with a canopy of fringed and tasselled silk brocade topped by a circular silk-covered dome bearing the Prince of Wales' Feathers. The curtains, of paler silk brocade than the canopy, are lined with self-coloured silk, and are of the same colour and material as the head and foot of the bed. They have eyelets through which the bedposts are threaded to anchor the curtains to each corner of the bed, and are tied back with tassels when not in use. This style of grand bed was designed for the houses of the nobility, and was probably found in the state bedroom, the room theoretically reserved for the king or his representative. The bed is hung with silk brocade, one of the most expensive materials, and the curtains are lined, doubling the amount of material used and the cost. The enclosing curtains could be pulled around the bed for warmth and privacy, especially where rooms opened into other rooms without the privacy of corridors. The interior of the canopy may have been divided into compartments decorated with silk, and fringed and tasselled. Two mattresses would have been usual, filled with feathers, and resting on a 'canvas bottom'. Drumlanrig Castle, one of the great Renaissance courtyard houses of Scottish domestic architecture, was built between 1679 and 1690 for William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry, on the site of a late 14th-century Douglas stronghold. The castle passed to the Dukes of Buccleuch in 1810, and is now the home of the 9th Duke (11th Duke of Queensberry). It houses many great family treasures and works of art, including fine carvings and an important collection of paintings. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/767334

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap