Norris, John

Long Acre, London; joiner and frame maker (fl.1669–1702)

Possibly the master fined by the London Joiners’ Company in 1658. Samuel Pepys in his diary records a visit to Norris at Long Acre ‘who showed me several forms of frames to choose by; which was pretty’. Supplied two picture frames for Hatfield House, Herts. in 1687 at a cost of £7 10s. On 16 April 1689 appointed Joiner to the Privy Council and thereafter worked on a number of commissions for the Crown. In the period 1693–95 supplied several ebony and pearwood frames to the Royal Household and early in 1696 a gilt frame for ‘Her Majesty's picture at length’. In 1702 paid £428 10s in respect of work undertaken and goods supplied to household of the late King, William III.

Sources: DEFM; Bowett and Lindey, ‘Looking for Gerrit Jensen’, Furniture History (2017).