Page:Catalogue of a collection of early drawings and pictures of London, with some contemporary furniture (1920).djvu/71

 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