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Variant designs for the ceiling of the State Dining Room, July 1825
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Reference number
SM (12) 50/4/14
Purpose
Variant designs for the ceiling of the State Dining Room, July 1825
Aspect
12 Ceiling plans and interior perspectives of the State Dining Room and ante-room
Inscribed
as above (added later in pencil by Walter L. Spiers, 1848-1917, curator 1904-17), labelled: Sideboard No 1, Entrance with Anti Room No 1, Window side No 1, View No 2, Chimney side No 1, View No 3, View No 4, Plan No 2, Plan No 1, Plan No 3, Plan No 4
Medium and dimensions
Pen, sepia, pink and blue washes with a single ruled and sepia wash border on wove paper (349 x 550)
Hand
Soane office - possibly C. J. Richardson (1809-71, pupil and assistant 1824-1837)
Notes
Soane presented variant designs for the decoration of the ceiling of the State Dining Room to Robinson on 3 July. This 'multiple choice' drawing shows four variant ceiling designs, including a groin vault, a flat ceiling with central rosette, a canopy dome and a shallow barrel vault. A note on drawing 4 tells that Robinson 'appr[ove]d plan 2 & groined cieling (sic) no. 3'. A richly-decorated 'starfish' ceiling was actually constructed, while a canopy dome (similar to plan no. 3) was executed at 11 Downing Street. Red lines on the four plans show that the ceiling was aligned to the axis of the door and fireplace, leaving an arched recess on the west side of the room in an arrangement comparable to Soane's Breakfast Room at No. 12 Lincoln's Inn Fields (P. Dean, Sir John Soane and London, 2006, p. 116).
Level
Drawing
Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk