Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Not currently on display at the V&A
On display at Great Torrington Church, Devon

Pulpit Sounding-Board

1610-1650 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

On loan to the Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Great Torrington, Devon


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Carved and partly-gilded oak
Brief description
Carved and partly-gilded oak, English, c1651-5
Physical description
Octagonal pulpit sounding-board. Plain top pierced with an opening for the support; at the edge are eight panels, each carved on the outside with vases and masks, from which spring floral scrolls, and on the inside with flat strapwork. The whole is crowned by a cornice, supported on dentils; above is a grooved framework, intended for a crestwork, now missing.
Dimensions
  • Height: 18.4in
  • Width: 61in
Measurements taken from paper records - not checked on object.
Production typeUnique
Object history
Bought from Mr E.W. Savory 4 Rodney Place, Clifton, Bristol for £25 'English 17th century (Restored)'. It had been removed from St. Michael and All Angels' Church, Great Torrington, during a restoration in 1864, after which it languished in a builder's yard until it was spotted by a dealer and later sold to the V&A. (Registered files: T12629/05, T86729/1905; Mr Lehfeldt's Revise 3/XI/08)

Savory wrote to the museum (14/8/1905): 'I have just purchased the sounding-board of an old oak pulpit which was removed about forty years ago from Torrington Old Church in North Devon & which has been lying in a barn, untouched, ever since.... It is about 6 ft. in diameter, the carved portions of the panels having been gilded. It is interesting to note the carved tracery on the inside of the panels. I presume these were originally outside & were afterwards reversed & carved in Renaissance style...'


Condition at acquisition:
'Restorations: Six of the moulded boards on the inside of the top; all of the dentils except three; portions of mouldings.'

See Murray's Guide to Devon on Torrington Church: 'Henry VIII gave the Church to Wolsey, who after holding the living for some years presented it to Christ Church, Oxford, in whose gift the living now is. Rebuilt in 1651. It contains the carved oak pulpit used by Howe, until his ejectment under the Act of Uniformity in 1662.'


See Doe (G. M.): 'Carved oak Sounding-Board from Pulpit of Great Torrington Church.' in 'Devon Notes and Queries,' Vol. VII, part VII, p. 241, 1913.

Subjects depicted
Association
Summary
On loan to the Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Great Torrington, Devon
Bibliographic reference
From: H. Clifford Smith, Catalogue of English Furniture & Woodwork (London 1930), 693
Collection
Accession number
848-1905

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Record createdJuly 27, 2007
Record URL
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