Description
of the silk canopy which hung over the Duke of Wellington's funeral carriage, approx. 5.5 x 6cm; together with a letter inscribed: A PIECE OF THE CANOPY OVER THE CAR CONTAINING THE COFFIN OF THE LATE DUKE OF WELLINGTON AT HIS FUNERAL; and a pair of cast-iron French Imperial eagles from the same source, reputed to have been collected during the Waterloo campaign 11 x 11cm (3)
Footnote
provenance: Lieutenant John Bramwell, late 92nd Highlanders (see lot 96) and by descent
Note: The Duke of Wellington's funeral carriage was 27 feet long, ten feet wide and seventeen feet high. A canopy of silk and silver hung above it suspended from four halberds and it was pulled by twelve horses. It was hugely controversial. Prince Albert had masterminded the project and Queen Victoria loved it. But Thomas Carlyle described it as 'an incoherent huddle of expensive palls, flags, sheets and gilt emblems and cross poles'. Dickens thought that 'for forms of ugliness, horrible combinations of colour, hideous motion and general failure, there never was such a look achieved as the car'.
The car was housed in the crypt of St Paul's until 1981 when it was moved to Stratfield Saye.