16Th Century Romain Carved Oak Portrait Panel Dated 1563

A 16th century and later Romaine carved sectional oak panel, the top panel dated 1563 within a cartouche upheld by a pair of grotesques within a field of scrollng foliage and fruiting vines, over a pair of arch top portrait panels with a man and woman to the upper sections and a male and female grotesques to the lower sections, within a field of scrolling foliage. The three panels within scale carved and moulded borders and topped by an achanthus carved pediment. The three panels are period 16th century and very likely commemorate a marriage, mounted in the 19th century using old elements to form an overmantel. 

"The imagery is the last gasp of of late medieval iconography: Christological rather than marital. He has the thistle of the crown of thorns, she has the blood of Christ from the vine. The male and female satyrs uphold the symmetry of the couple: I’d suggest second marriage in 1563 when issue, wasn’t the issue, but honour. Their age may explain the conservative use of imagery. The quality and use of laurels suggest class; lack of heraldry suggests not aristocratic – maybe educated mercantile. The victory wreath on the character holding the dolphins, symbolic of Christ’s resurrection. Absolutely legible late Catholic imagery fused with Renaissance and precisely the kind of compromise the Elizabethan church ended up with. Super piece for its period."

Dr Jonathan Foyle