Pulpit
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1725
Materials
Oak, fruitwood, brass, deal, paint
Measurements
197 x 122 x 122 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
NT 207082
Summary
An oak and inlaid pulpit, English, circa 1725. Of hexagonal baluster form. The top with two runs of carved mouldings - alternating floral and foliate-filled sunken gadroons, and interlaced foliate strapwork and acanthus - and with an integral slope with book rest. All six sides with a fielded panel inlaid with foliated scrolls, fruits and garlands of harebells within an inlaid herringbone border. The panels edged with two moulded and carved borders, the first carved with shells, acanthus and scrolls, the second with flowerheads and harebells. One side fitted as a hinged door with brass handle. All above a cavetto-moulded frieze finely carved with a floral lattice and another ovolu-moulded moulding carved with foliated-strapwork. On a straight-sided hexagonal base. The door with a fine quality brass lock and opening to reveal a painted interior with low seat and hinged steps which fold out. The steps of oak and of three treads. The interior with deal baseboard. -- Part of the furnishings of the Chapel at Wimpole, and probably installed in the 1720s. The Chapel's interior paint scheme, executed by James Thornhill (1676 - 1734), seems to have been finished in 1724, when Thornhill signed and dated his work. Sir James Gibbs (1682 - 1754) was paid from 1719 for items including 'Several drawings for ye Chapple 10: 10: 0' and 'For a drawing for ye altar of ye Chapple 1: 1: 0'. The name of the craftsman who made this extremely fine pulpit is not recorded but it is similar in form to the pulpit made by John Simmons for St. Mary-le-Strand (circa 1722), a church also altered by Gibbs, and its panels are edged with carvings very similar to those on the pulpit at St. Katherine Cree, which was carved in 1732.
Provenance
Commissioned by Edward, Lord Harley (1689 - 1741) in the 1710s and 1720s. Thence by descent and visible in photographs published by Country Life in February 1908, 1927 and 1967. The hall and its contents were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1976 by Elsie Kipling, Mrs George Bambridge (1896 - 1976).
References
Adshead 2007: David Adshead, Wimpole Architectural drawings and topographical views, The National Trust, 2007 Hussey, 1927: Christopher Hussey. “Wimpole Hall I, Cambridgeshire: the seat of the Hon. Gerald Agar-Robartes.” Country Life 21 May 1927: pp.806-13. Hussey, 1967: Christopher Hussey. “Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire - II” Country Life 7 December 1967, 1466 - 1471