European Furniture and Royal Connections
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of furniture relating to royalty which broadly dates from between AD 1100 and 1700. This collection includes furniture, furnishings, costume accessories, textiles, metalwork, arms and armour, books, paintings and stained glass, among many other items which cover both the medieval and Renaissance periods. The majority concerns the English Royal family, although there are some pieces from Sir William Burrell's collection which are connected, either directly or indirectly, to European royalty. Significant items include the enamelled casket depicting the murder of St Thomas à Becket, carried out perhaps at the instigation of King Henry II; the 'Coventry Sword', a civic sword gifted to the City of Coventry by King Edward IV (whose daughter Cecily is also depicted here in a beautiful stained glass panel) and the extremely rare carved and gilded oak ceremonial bedhead made for the ill-fated marriage of King Henry VIII and the German princess Anne of Cleves in 1539. Foreign examples represented include such items as a suit of armour, parts of which were made for the Habsburg king (later Emperor) Ferdinand I, and a large stoneware 'bellarmine' vessel stamped with the Imperial eagle.
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