Elegant Crane Neck Coach

Description

In any grand procession, an elegant carriage forms the principal part; and where splendour is necessary, a rich display of fanciful designs in the carving and painting chiefly con­ tributes towards it: but as it is difficult to form a regular judgment of the value of a carriage so highly ornamented in the painting and carving, such only will be described as the value thereof may be ascertained from the former statements. A profusion of carved ornaments and figures much gilt with beautiful paintings decorates the outside, rich velvet linings and silk trimmings the inside; the value of such a carriage can only be guessed at, as it depends on the artist who executes it to charge according to its merit in the execution. The carriage here represented, though not so much ornamented, is built on the same principle as the state equipage, but more exactly answers the description of a neat light carriage for the East- or West-Indies, it being made very airy with side and end lights or windows; the kind of carriages used chiefly in those places are crane necked, but are built much lighter than what is necessary for this country, as the horses not being so strong, and the roads of soft sandy soil, a heavy carriage would sink therein and be obstructed by its weight. First charge for a crane neck coach £121 4s 0d ‘[William Fenton 1794]