Coal Seat, Osborne House

This seat, which was commissioned by Prince Albert and displayed at the Great Exhibition, is made of cannel coal. It was designed by Ludwig Gruner, Prince Albert’s art adviser, in the Renaissance style and carries Victoria and Albert’s initials on the central panel, surrounded by scallop shells. Cannel coal, which is more compact than ordinary coal, can be worked and polished, and this is a particularly monumental example of its use.