Boss
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
- Credit Line:
Given by H.M. Office of Works
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
Medieval and Renaissance, room 10c, case ABOVE
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This boss was originally part of an extension to the Bishop of Exeter's palace that was probably built between 1335 and 1340. It formed part of the oak roof of one of the first-floor chambers. This extension was demolished in the mid-1800s. Bosses were placed where the ribs of a vault (or ceiling) met.
Bosses from cathedral vaults are often very large in scale and because they were placed so high the carving needed to be bold in order to be seen from ground level. The back of this boss has four carved channels forming a cross-shape which would have accommodated the ribs. Bosses had a decorative role as well as a functional one and this example is carved with a lioness.
Physical description
Rib vault roof boss carved in high relief with a figure of a crouching lioness.
Place of Origin
Exeter, England (made)
Date
1335-1340 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Carved wood
Dimensions
Height: 50 cm approx, Width: 53 cm approx, Depth: 26 cm approx, Weight: 27.82 kg
Object history note
This boss comes from one of the first-floor chambers of the extension to the Bishop of Exeter's palace erected by Bishop Grandisson. The conjectural plan is reproduced Chanter (1932). The extension was demolished in the mid-nineteenth century. It was recorded that one of the rooms was furnished with an oak roof of 'ornamental cross beams (Tucker 1846). A boss was mentioned in the form of a crouching hound which must be this lioness boss.
There is no documented date for the extension to the palace. Charles Tracey suggests that it took place between 1335 and 1340. If this is correct he argues that the wooden roof would have been designed by the master mason, Thomas of Witney in collaboration with the master carpenter.
Historical context note
Bosses like this one were placed where the ribs of a vault (or ceiling) met. Bosses from cathedral vaults are often very large in scale and because they were placed so high the carving needed to be bold in order to be seen from ground level. The back of this boss has four carved channels forming a cross-shape which would have accommodated the ribs. Bosses had a decorative role as well as a functional one and this example is carved with a lioness.
Descriptive line
Wooden roof boss, from Exeter, England ca 1335-40
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Charles Tracy, English Medieval Furniture and Woodwork (London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1988) Cat No. 5
John Alexander & Paul Binski (ed), Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200-1400, (Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1987) Catalogue Entry 591, p464
J F Chanter, The Bishop's Palace, Exeter and its story (London: S.P.C.K, 1932) 225.B.25
C Tucker, 'Notes on the Bishop's Palace, Exeter', Archaeological Journal, V, 1848, pp224-5
Materials
Wood; Oak
Techniques
Carved
Subjects depicted
Leaf (plant material); Lioness
Categories
Architectural fittings
Collection code
FWK
