Carved limewood escutcheon
school of Grinling Gibbons (Rotterdam 1648 - London 1721)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1684
Materials
Limewood
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Lyme, Cheshire
NT 499408.3
Summary
A carved limewood escutcheon with the crest of the Leghs of Lyme, part of a group of carvings by school of Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721), about 1684, comprising a shield with a ram's head rising out of a ducal coronet with a sprig of laurel in its mouth, a cornucopia on either side, the left with a grape vine and split peapods, the right with a coronet, a watch and medallions, and with a cresting of flowers and scrolling acanthus. Stylistically similar carvings survive at nearby Chatsworth, suggesting the maker may have been a local craftsman. When the carvings were moved from the New Parlour (now the Dining Room) to their current position in the Saloon by the architect Lewis Wyatt they were hung centrally as trophies rather than surrounding the panels, as would have originally been intended.
Provenance
Made for the New Parlour at Lyme Park by a carver familiar with the work of Grinling Gibbons in about 1684; moved to the Saloon in about 1820; accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Trust for display at Lyme Park, 2014.
Marks and inscriptions
n
Makers and roles
school of Grinling Gibbons (Rotterdam 1648 - London 1721), sculptor