My favourite piece of Elizabethan furniture!

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I mentioned that we had visited Hardwick Hall, a country pile built by Bess of Hardwick in the 16th century and decked out with the best of everything. It is notable for its large collection of vast tapestries among other things, but the item I liked best was this marquetry table. Apparently the table appeared almost black until the conservators decided to clean it, upon which an intricate design was revealed. The entire top (and it was quite a big table) was decorated with an inlaid pattern showing assorted forms of entertainment – a range of musical instruments of that period, along with sheet music, interspersed with playing cards and boards for playing chess, backgammon and other games, all surrounded by sprigs of leaves and flowers, and with medallions and coats of arms down the centre of the table. I could only photograph a small portion because I could only hold the camera so high above it! This bit of table is decorated with musical instruments including a recorder, a shawm (a sort of early clarinet), a couple of sackbuts (precursor of the trombone) and viols (stringed instruments related to the violin and cello) as well as some sheet music and assorted flowers. You can see some more photos of it if you scroll down this page, as well as more about Hardwick Hall in general: https://thetudortravelguide.com/hardwick-hall-more-glass-than-wall/ All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2025.