Furniture Cover, Leather, Ham House

Furniture and upholstery were expensive and highly valued in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries--so much so that householders often used less expensive, durable covers to protect fine silk upholstery or intricately carved or inlaid furniture. This leather cover with four tie strings may have been used to protect a small stool or (more likely) tied around the arm of an upholstered chair or settee. The stamped pattern resembling damask added a decorative element to the sturdy, functional leather.
This piece has a history of use at Ham House, a seventeenth-century historic house in Richmond, outside of London, England.
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