The Antechamber: Osterley Park House

This is the first room of the State Apartment designed by Robert Adam for Robert Child. Horace Walpole, neighbour at Strawberry Hill, Teddington, thought this room ‘the most superb and beautiful that can be imagined’.

The set of Boucher medallion tapestries, ‘Tentures de Boucher’, was ordered from Jacques Neilson, entrepreneur of the Gobelins factory in Paris. The brilliance and passion of the crimson and claret have been lovingly maintained over two centuries by family, servants, tenants and conservators. The design is full of animals, musical instruments and, of course, flowers.

The ceiling was designed, with a central medallion depicting ‘The Dedication of a Child to Minerva’, perhaps a pun on the family name.

Eight armchairs and the sofa are upholstered in similar tapestry, in a design originally created for Madame de Pompadour in 1751-3. The carved and gilt chair frames were probably designed and made by John Linnell shortly after the delivery of the tapestries.

Adam designed a pair of unusual tripod pedestals combining pierced, painted, carved and gilt panels enriched with sphinxes, garlands, vases and other ornaments. These are adorned by the only known examples of wing-figured vases by Matthew Boulton. Adam designed the carpet, incorporating large baskets of flowers. It was made in London by Thomas Moore of Moorfields. The National Trust.