• Date: Late 16th century
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Artist: Circle of Joachim Beuckelaer
• Lender: From a private collection, on loan to English Heritage at Audley End House and Gardens, Essex

This large work on canvas depicts a lone female figure – perhaps a kitchen maid or market stall seller – sitting amongst an impressive display of fruit, vegetables and edible flowers. The painting is believed to have been acquired by Sir John Griffin Griffin, the 1st Baron Braybrooke, who inherited Audley End in 1762.

The painting is unsigned, however new discoveries, thanks to recent conservation work and analysis, indicates the work is typical of Northern European, late 16th-century technique. Experts believe the painting may be by the artist Joachim Beuckelaer or someone closely connected to him.

• Date: 1769
• Type: Chimney board
• Material: Oil on board
• Artist: Biagio Rebecca

Chimney boards were commonly used in the summer months to hide the unused fire grate. This example in the Great Apartment dates from the Robert Adam period and is a rare survival of this type of furnishing. It shows a classical vase, carved with a Bacchic scene of drinking and revelry. The marble-painted frame and the vase both cast deep shadows to maximise the illusion of depth.

• Date: 1786
• Type: Furniture

The state bed in the Howard Bedroom was constructed in anticipation of a royal visit from George III. A stool and armchairs were made at the same time, and a portrait of Queen Charlotte was also commissioned. The bed is eight feet square and cost £400. It has a domed canopy elaborately carved with trophies, and is an important survival of a late 18th-century bed.

• Date: c.1540-43
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil and tempura on oak panel
• Artist: Hans Holbein the Younger

Holbein was a German artist and printmaker and one of the greatest 16th-century portraitists. In England he painted many members of the Court and became painter to Henry VIII. This unknown man is well dressed in a fur-lined robe and embroidered shirt, and holds a pair of gloves. The painting is thought to date from the final years of Holbein's life. It came to Audley End in the 19th century through the collection of the 3rd Baron Braybrooke.

Purchased with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund

• Date: c.1830
• Type: Doll's House
• Material: Paper, wood
• Place Made/Found: England

This three-storey doll's house was used by the children of the 3rd Baron Braybrooke. The glazed doors open to reveal furnished rooms. Many of their interiors and furnishings were enhanced by the children, using fabrics and papers available at Audley End at that time. The doll's house can now be seen in the nursery.

• Date: 19th century
• Type: Taxidermy bird specimen
• Material: Organic

There are two great bustards (Otis tarda) and three little bustards in this case. These large flying birds became extinct in Britain in the 1830s. The 4th Baron Braybrooke's natural history collection, reflecting Victorian passions for natural history and collecting specimens, shows hundreds of stuffed and mounted birds in one of the best historic collections of its kind in the country.

• Date: 1788
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: England
• Artist: William Tomkins

This is one of six views of Audley End and its grounds painted by Tomkins in the 1780s to record the works carried out in that decade. They originally hung in Sir John Griffin Griffin's London townhouse.

• Date: 1562
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on panel
• Artist: Hans Eworth
• Lender: From a private collection on display at Audley End House, Essex (English Heritage)

This three-quarter-length portrait is of Margaret Audley (née Howard), mother of the 1st Earl of Suffolk. She is shown standing before a tapestry woven with the arms of Audley and wears an embroidered dress and black coat. The frame is carved with strapwork and oval cartouches bearing arabesques. It is inscribed with the name of the artist, Hans Eworth.

• Date: 1599
• Type: Painting
• Material: Gouache on vellum, card
• Place Made/Found: England
• Artist: Nicholas Hilliard
• Lender: From a private collection on display at Audley End House, Essex (English Heritage)

Hilliard was a technically innovative goldsmith and limner, who produced exquisite miniatures of nobles and courtiers. He is most often associated with the Court of Elizabeth I. The sitter, Sir Thomas Griffin, is known to have entertained the Queen at Braybrooke Castle in 1564 and he also hosted James I in 1605.

• Date: 1605-14
• Type: Carved screen
• Material: Oak
• Place Made/Found: England

Although the Great Hall was redecorated in the Jacobean style in the 19th century, this wooden screen is from the original construction of the house and may once have been brightly painted. There are ornate carvings of grotesque masks and pairs of male and female half-figures known as herms. The screen rises through two storeys, creating a corridor running from the front door - and was the principal entrance to the Hall for guests and household staff.

• Date: c.1772
• Type: Painting
• Artist: Benjamin West

Sir John Griffin Griffin was a soldier who fought in the Seven Years War and eventually rose to the highest army rank, field marshal. He is shown here sitting in a tent, in a general's uniform and wearing the Star of the Order of the Bath, which he was awarded in 1761. He inherited Audley End from his aunt, the Countess of Portsmouth, in 1762.

• Date: 1738–40
• Type: Painting
• Material: Oil on canvas
• Place Made/Found: Venice
• Artist: Bernardo Bellotto (1721–1780)

This spectacular painting, depicting a great annual ceremony of the Venetian republic, is one of the most accomplished pictures painted in Venice by the young Bellotto. It is a direct copy of a painting by his uncle, Canaletto, which is in the collection at Holkham Hall, Norfolk. It was acquired for Audley End by Richard Griffin, 2nd Baron Braybrooke (1750–1825), at an auction of paintings from Lansdowne House held in 1806.

Accepted in lieu of inheritance tax by HM Government and allocated to the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England for Audley End, 2019