This extremely grand bed was made for Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby; most likely the second Earl, between 1500-1521. (The first Earl was that same Stanley who picked up the crown at Bosworth and gave it to Henry Tudor.) The entire bed is intricately carved with late-Gothic tracery and floral designs, and griffin finials on the posts. Unlike previous examples, this one may have been a rope bed, although it is difficult to be sure. This photo shows the bed as it appeared before a reconstruction; the footboard may not be original, and there were probably valence-boards running front to back.
This is the Stanley bed after reconstruction. The footboard was apparently not original, and the valences have been restored. One difficulty with this reconstruction is that the griffin finials have been removed, even though at least one was thought to be original
.
This is the headboard of the Stanley bed. There are 12 intricately carved panels, alternating between two designs: a grapevine-and-leaf scroll, and a pointed quatrefoil tracery with rosettes, similar to French "orbe-voie" tracery of the same period.
The stiles and rails of the framework are also carved with vine-scrolls, geometric designs, and rosettes.
Detail of headboard carving
.
Detail of carving on one of the posts, showing one of the Stanley achivements (three armored legs conjoined, the heraldry of the Isle of Man).
Two posts in the Victoria & Albert Museum. These are so similar to the posts on the Stanley bed that they are thought to have come from a second bed, for the same family, from the same workshop.