Medieval-style settle

This settle was designed by Philip Speakman Webb for Red House, where William Morris and his family lived between 1860 and 1865. Webb was a close friend of Morris’s and a partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., for which he also designed glass, metalwork and furniture. This settle is just one example of Webb’s originality and his influence on the ‘Morris style’ of interior decoration. May Morris, William’s daughter, recorded that ‘the black settle with gilt and painted leather panels… was placed by the hospitable fireplace’ at Kelmscott House, giving us an idea of its prominence within the family home.