Four-poster bed
The V&A identifies the Great Bed of Ware as a four-poster bed.
HISTORIC OBJECT / range-with-approximation
The Great Bed of Ware
A monumental English four-poster bed constructed around 1590 and documented by the Victoria and Albert Museum; BEDU records the museum-supported object facts separately from broader four-poster history.
1590–1600 (constructed around 1590)Victoria and Albert MuseumW.47:1 to 28-1931
FORM LINK / AUTHORITY VISIBLE
How BEDU connects this object
OBJECT FACTS
Sourced fields and explicit unknowns
- Date
- 1590–1600 (constructed around 1590) · range-with-approximation
- Maker / designer
- Hans Vredeman de Vries (designer, museum-described)BEDU records the designer label used by the V&A and does not infer a named maker beyond the source.
- Materials
- Woodwork with carving and inlay; traces of paint
- Dimensions
267 cm high × 326 cm wide × 338 cm deep
Object dimensions, not a bed-size standard.
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Accession / catalog ID
- W.47:1 to 28-1931
- Provenance completeness
- partialThis is a deliberately partial chain based only on the current BEDU source; gaps remain gaps.
PLACE / ROLE-SPECIFIC
Object location semantics
Creation/origin place, historical place, current holding, and provenance-chain locations are separate assertions. None is inferred from a generic form→region edge.
- creation origin placeWare, Hertfordshire, England · probableWorld scope: EnglandThe V&A says the bed was most likely made as an attraction for an inn in Ware.
- documented historical placeWare, Hertfordshire, England · documentedWorld scope: England
- current holding locationVictoria and Albert Museum, England · documentedWorld scope: England
PROVENANCE CHAIN / partial
Provenance chain: what the current source actually tracks
- 01
Most likely made for an inn in Ware around 1590.
Ware, Hertfordshire, England - 02
Acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1931.
Victoria and Albert Museum, England
EVIDENCE
Museum/archive sources
Object fields cite the museum/archive source that supports them; BEDU does not reuse generic form evidence as object provenance.
- Victoria and Albert MuseumThe Great Bed of Ware · archival-record
BEDU024 / MATERIAL + MAKING
Object fact vs form taxonomy
Object fields remain object authority; form taxonomy remains navigation context.
Woodwork with carving and inlay; traces of paint
Generic mapping: No safe generic material mapping stored
Hans Vredeman de Vries (designer, museum-described)