Panel, oak, carved with figure of Temperance and auricular ornament. North German 1650-70

Oak panel, carved in the solid with a standing female figure in a loose gown, facing the viewer's right; she pours water from a vase in her right hand into a cup in her left – which identifies her as the representation of Temperance. The figure is surrounded by a wide border of auricular ornament with one distorted human mask above the head and another below the feet of the figure. On the back the surface is planed, and has a shallow chamfer, 2cm wide, along each tapering edge (3-4mm thick at its narrowest point).

At each of the two bottom corners is a hole, one with the broken remnant of an oak peg. Two small modern holes have been drilled on the upright edges. On the back of the panel, at the top left corner is a flat raised section of oak (approx. 1.5cm square), apparently a separate piece glued to the surface. A shallow notch has been cut into both sides of the panel to accommodate metal sconce frames, fitted ca. 1918-39 and removed in 2008. A thick dark stain has been applied to the front of the panel, and in places has worn to reveal the colour of the oak.

Given by Digby Howard in memory of Joan A. Howard and Leslie E. Howard

When the panel (with two others W.18-2009 and W.19-2009) was given to the Museum, it formed a sconce-back mounted in an early 20th-century metal frame with twin electric-light fittings, formerly in a house near Richmond Park, London. (RP 2008/794)

Subject depicted
The figure of Temperance (with a vase and cup) derives from the print series of 14 Virtues and Vices designed by Hendrick Goltzius (b Mülbracht [now Bracht-am-Niederrhein], Jan or Feb 1558; d Haarlem, 1 Jan 1617), Dutch draughtsman, printmaker, print publisher and painter, and published, by (among others) Jacques Matham. See The Illustrated Bartsch, 4. Netherlandish Artists - Matham, Saenraedam, Muller, edited by Walter L. Strauss (New York: Abaris Books, 1980), pp.241-54

The auricular borders may be loosely derived from designs published c.1650 by Friedrich Unteutsch in Neues Zieratenbuch (New book of Ornaments), which includes allegorical figures combined with auricular ornament, and designs for furniture and woodwork.

Historical significance: This panel (and another, apparently, from the same sets), are characteristic of North German work, c.1650-70, thought to originate in Dithmarschen area, (a region of Schleswig-Holstein). They may have come from a chest or large cupboard (schrank). The presence of peg holes through the edges of the panels indicates that they were affixed to another wood surface, rather than held in a grooved framework along their edges.

The panel combines an allegorical figure after a design by Goltzius with auricular borders possibly derived from designs published c.1650 by Friedrich Unteutsch in Neues Zieratenbuch (New book of Ornaments). This panel reflects the significant fashion for auricular ornament in most decorative media in the Netherlands and Germany throughout the 17th century. In England the only significant use of the auricular style in wood was for gilded picture frames (the so-called 'Sunderland' type) from the 1650s to the 1680s.

Panels of this type of panel must have demanded particular carving skills to produce the sinuous, swelling contours of the style. The carver of this panel has subtly and inventively adapted printed designs to fit the format of the panel, adjusting the poses and the drapery with some freedom.

Auricular ornament arose from Mannerist ideas of the 16th century, and was characterised by melting and fleshy or cartilaginous forms, and monstrous masks in a marine- grotesque idiom. It was developed in the Netherlands from about 1600 by Dutch designers and goldsmiths such as the van Vianen family of Utrecht and the Lutma family of Amsterdam. From the 1650s to about 1680 the style was widely used in the Low Countries in goldsmiths' work pre-eminently, but also in non-precious metals, textiles, furniture and interiors, and occasionally on house facades. The auricular style was imitated in the rest of Europe, and developed an idiosyncratic variant in Germany (and other regions with strong German influence such as Scandinavia, Poland and Switzerland), where the ornamental prints published by Friedrich Unteutsch (Neues Zieratenbuch, or New book of Ornaments, c.1650) were particularly influential. Renaissance architectural forms were combined with auricular motifs, notably on woodwork and large cupboards, but also chairs and plaster ceilings. The auricular style is characterized by inventiveness, bizarre visual ambiguity and technical virtuosity.

See - Johan R. Ter Molen, The Auricular Style, in ‘The History of the Decorative Arts (ed. Alain Gruber), vol. 2 Classicism and the Baroque in Europe

Temperance is one of the four Cardinal Virtues (with Justice, Prudence and Fortitude). Her opposing Vice is Wrath who tears her clothes. In the early Modern period temperance often signified abstinence from alcohol and hence was represented by a woman pouring liquid from one vessel to another, diluting wine with water.
(Adapted from James Hall, Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, London 1974)

Dithmarschen (a region of Schleswig-Holstein)

This panel depicts the allegorical figure of Temperance, one of the four Cardinal Virtues. In the early Modern period temperance often signified abstinence from alcohol and hence was represented by a woman pouring water from one vessel into another containing wine, to dilute it. The figure of Temperance follows a design by Hendrick Goltzius (1558- 1617), Dutch draughtsman, printmaker, print publisher and painter. This panel may have come from a chest or large cupboard decorated with other similar panels depicting the Virtues and Vices. The borders of fleshy or cartilaginous forms in what is known as the auricular style may be derived from designs published ca. 1650 by Friedrich Unteutsch, which were particularly influential in northern Europe; they include allegorical figures combined with auricular ornament, and designs for furniture and woodwork.

W.17-2009