James I Oak Overmantel

Carved oak overmantel featuring the Royal Arms of James I.

The Royal Arms flanked by the Four Parts of the World, the figural designs taken from Philips Galle's 'Prosoprographia', with America depicted as a Carab Indian female warrior, Europa depicted as Elizabeth I, Asia as a female in eastern costume and Africa as a huntress with arrow in hand. With twin classical studies of Orpheus charming the beasts of the land and Arion being saved by the Dolphin amidst creatures of the sea.

These carved panels were taken from designs engraved by Crispin de Passe, published in Cologne, 1602.

Provenance: Hunwick Hall, County Durham, England. Originally in a merchants house in the City of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumbria.

Illustrated and discussed: 'Art and Decoration in Elizabethan and Jacobean England'. Anthony Wells-Cole. Pl 309, p188

Footnote: Anthony Wells-Cole was Curator of Temple Newsam House, Museum and Art Galleries, City of Leeds, Yorkshire.

A group of exceptional mannerist inspired interiors are shown in properties from the port city of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumbria. Wells-Cole suggested the work was done by a Newcastle workshop populated by a combination of Dutch or Flemish immigrant craftsmen in conjunction with local craftsmen. This particular Overmantel was listed as 'whereabouts unknown' after being removed from Hunwick Hall circa 1900, the illustration in the publication is over a century old. It represents a rare discovery of an exceptional piece of English renaissance interior furnishing, the inspiration taken from important north European engraved architectural design books.

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance