Not currently on display at the V&A

Section of Stall Backing

1500-1525 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
France (made)

Back of stall of carved oak. From the church of Toussy, between Auxerre and Montargis.
Arranged for three seats, each seat backed by a panel; the panel on the right is carved with two small round arches surmounted by crocketted ogee arches with finials under round arches, while the panels in the middle and on the left are each carved with a single arch similarity arranged and enriched with monsters, masks and arabesque ornament; the panels are separated by raised pilasters. At the top is a frieze composed of seven panels carved with profile heads within circular medallions, the figure of a boy, masks, birds and arabesque ornament; the panels are separated by pilasters carved with floral ornament and are enclosed, above and below, by a moulded band. Each end stile, continued upwards above the frieze is surmounted by a seated animal.


Object details
Categories
Woodwork
Renaissance (French)
Object type
Section of stall backing
Materials and techniques
oak, carving
Oak
Carving
Brief description
Oak stall backing, early 16th century, French
Physical description
Back of stall of carved oak. From the church of Toussy, between Auxerre and Montargis.

Arranged for three seats, each seat backed by a panel; the panel on the right is carved with two small round arches surmounted by crocketted ogee arches with finials under round arches, while the panels in the middle and on the left are each carved with a single arch similarity arranged and enriched with monsters, masks and arabesque ornament; the panels are separated by raised pilasters. At the top is a frieze composed of seven panels carved with profile heads within circular medallions, the figure of a boy, masks, birds and arabesque ornament; the panels are separated by pilasters carved with floral ornament and are enclosed, above and below, by a moulded band. Each end stile, continued upwards above the frieze is surmounted by a seated animal.

Dimensions
  • Height: 2447cm
  • Width: 1844cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • (The drawers and dust boards variously marked with arabic numberals indicating the position of the drawers in the cases. The drawers in the two banks of drawers in the upper case are marked with ink, pencil and crayon, the numbers running in two opposing sequences. The internal drawers are only marked in red crayon or ink. All Montargis labels now in FF15/CB39/2.)
  • (3 labels, originally inscribed in ink, but now illegible, originally glued to the case top but now in the departmental archive. One was said (by Gillian Wilson, 1970s) to have repeated the text of the one set by Miss Coutts Trotter inside the drawer recess (see next entry). The other two had been stuck one on top of the other. The top one appeared by the handwriting to date from the mid-18th or early 19th century. The one underneath could be late 17th or early 18th century in date. This seems to have been put on before the cabinet was painted black. )
  • 4th part of the 5 pieces of furniture taken out of the Chateau de Montargis when under demolition 18.. by order of Louis Philippe bought by me and presented to the South Kensington museum - 1881 (In inscription on paper label (now removed to departmental archive), originally glued inside the space that houses the middle drawer in the left bank)
Object history
From the church of Toussy (Toucy?), between Auxerre and Montargis (Burgundy)



Purchased for £148. 5s. 7d (3731 Francs) from Monsieur R. Duseigneur, 18 Rue Seguier, Paris. A general remark in the department files also states that the total amount paid was £248. 6s. 3d. (6250 Francs)



RP 81848/05 & 4537/05. Duseigneur appears to have dealt in decorative objects, especially of the renaissance period.

In considering the purchase, A.F. Kendrick noted (March 1905) 'There is a number of panels of the style & period in the Museum, but the piece under consideration would be valuable as a more complete object, illustrating the structural use of such details. The price asked (about £160) is not high.



Another memo of the Museum Meeting (Messrs J. Brock and Walter Crane present) on April 11th, 1905, noted ‘With regard to the carved oak stall backs, the end panel is very fine, and belongs to an earlier period than the rest. Doubtless the remainder will look much better when the paint is cleaned off.’ [No further salient information on RF].

Bibliographic reference
Charles Tracy, Continental Church Furniture in England – A Traffic in Piety. (Woodbridge, 2001), M/20 p.256 pl. 322 This is a section of stall backing with the spaces for three seats. The right-hand end seems to be where the stalls stopped, whilst the left-hand side has been crudely severed. In the centre there are portions of the original seat standards. For a general stylistic comparison of this French Renaissance wood carving, the room panels from the Château de Gaillon in Normandy (1500-10) are pertinent, although the vocabularly there is wider and the style more sophisticated.
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
410-1905

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O321101/section-of-stall-unknown/
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