Harrison, Richard

address unknown; embroiderer (fl.1761-1783)

Embroidered ‘very richly a Crimson Velvet Canopy of State with His Majesty’s Royal Arms & Badges of the three Kingdoms’ costing £110 for the first state opening of Parliament under George III in 1761. Subsequently supplied a similar but less rich canopy for the Duke of Dorset as ambassador to the court of Louis XVI, 1783. The former canopy is at Grimsthorpe Castle, remade into a bed headcloth and canopy (illus. Roberts, Furniture History (1989), fig. 9), and the latter is at Knole, similarly adapted (illus. Drury, Furniture History (1985), figs 5 & 6).

Sources: Drury, ‘Two Georgian Chairs of State and a State Canopy at Knole’, Furniture History (1985); Roberts, ‘Royal Thrones, 1760-1840’, Furniture History (1989).