Zodiac settle

Zodiac Settle

Zodiac settle
Designer	William Burges
Date	1869-1871
Made in	London, England
Materials	Oak, carved, painted and gilt
Style / tradition	High Victorian Gothic, Pre-Raphaelite
Sold by	Auberon Waugh
Height	187.5 cm
Width	216 cm
Depth	51 cm
Collection	The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford

The Zodiac settle is a piece of painted furniture designed by the English architect and designer William Burges and made between 1869 and 1871. A wooden settle designed with Zodiac themes, it was made for Burges' rooms at Buckingham Street, and later moved to the drawing room of The Tower House, the home that he designed for himself in Holland Park. Burges desired to fill his home with furniture "covered with paintings, both ornaments and subjects; it not only did its duty as furniture, but spoke and told a story."^[1] At one stage the poet John Betjeman gave the settle to the novelist Evelyn Waugh, and it is now in the collection of The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum in Bedford.^{[2] [3]}