Misericord
1340-1360 (made)
| Place of origin |
English c1350, oak, with naked Adam figure
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | English c1350, oak, with naked Adam figure |
| Dimensions |
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| Bibliographic reference | Charles Tracy, English Medieval Furniture and Woodwork (London, 1988), cat. no. 68.
Misericord. The projecting support rests on the reclining nude figure of a bearded man leaning his head on his left hand. Part of the seat has been broken off and the front of the support is damaged (PL.20). Said to have come from East Anglia Oak. Mid 14th century
24.1 X 60.3 X 13 cm
Mus. no. W.25-1911
The conceit of a naked, probably sleeping, man lying stretched out on his side supporting the misericord on his back is aesthetically successful. The absence of any supporters dramatizes the formal idea. The figure has a certain rustic charm yet, in this case, if we compare it to the only other similar naked figure on a misericord at Darlington Parish Church, of the fifteenth century (FIG.13), it is evident that the model from which the artist worked must have been itself a work of some ambition. The figure has a certain expressive quality, and a tautness as of a coiled spring, that demands our attention. By comparison the Darlington figure is flabby and anatomically unconvincing. The use of supporters there only tends to clutter up the composition. The misericord is said to have come from East Anglia and has been assigned to the fifteenth century. A glance at the Darlington figure tells us at once that the carvings cannot be of the same period. The treatment of the hair and the expressively large hands recall the figures on the portals of Romanesque churches, although the pose speaks to us of Gothic art. Because this sculpture is only a faint echo of a distinguished metropolitan model it is not an easy object to date. The broad curving bracket of the seat is quite similar to those at Winchester or Chichester Cathedrals of the early fourteenth century. The head-type and large expressive hands with long fingers is reminiscent of the drawing in the early fourteenth century de Lisle Psalter (BL.MS.Arundel 83). I refer to the paintings in the first psalter (fls 1-116 verso), probably made for Sir William Howard of East Winch, near King's Lynn, Norfolk (d.1308), or for his wife Alice de Fitton (M. Rickert, Painting in Britain.The Middle Ages, Oxford, 1965. p. 241, n.44). The head-type is also not dissimilar to that found in the effigy of Edward II at Gloucester Cathedral of about 1330-35 and to a misericord, also at Gloucester, depicting a naked ‘Green Man’ (FIG.14). Again, the man is asleep, with his head resting on his hand. He too has long flowing hair and a beard. But there are important differences in the Gloucester figure compared to the V&A's carving. Although he is naked, he is supposed to be covered in thick hair which is indicated on the body by means of incised lines. Moreover, the figure is conventionally placed, vertically, in the centre of the misericord. Consequently, the upper torso only is visible. In the circumstances, it would be wise to assign the museum's carving simply to the first half of the fourteenth century. The outstanding problem is the identification of the figure on this very unusual misericord. The most likely candidate is Adam, but what is he doing in a reclining position? He is most often depicted with Eve standing next to the Tree of Knowledge, being expelled with her from the Garden of Eden, or being rescued from Hell by Christ in the ‘Harrowing of Hell’ episode. A prone figure of Adam on his own is much more unusual although it does occur sometimes at the foot of the Cross in Crucifixion scenes. In these cases he can be seen, usually clothed, but sometimes naked, rising from his tomb which, was located on the same spot as Christ's crucifixion. The two different phases of the Creation of Adam were sometimes illustrated — his sculpting from clay and God breathing life into him. None of these images, however, seem appropriate in this case. However, if we turn to the event of the Creation of Eve, we find that Adam was asleep during the proceedings: ‘And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fill upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof: And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man. made he a woman, and brought her unto the man’ (Genesis, 2,21). It would seem that the iconography of this scene would be much more likely to answer our case. Indeed, if we examine the event as shown in the arcade sculpture in the thirteenth-century Chapter House at Salisbury Cathedral, we find Adam reclining, naked and asleep, just as he is on the misericord (FIG.15). Better still, perhaps, is the figure of a naked man on a misericord at Hereford Cathedral of c.1345 (FIG.16). Incongruously he retains an important article of clothing, the peaked hat which was used at this time to distinguish characters from the Old Testament. Admittedly he is awake. Perhaps there was a carving of the newly created Eve on the adjacent misericord of the choir-stalls for which the museum’s carving was made. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.25-1911 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
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