Misericord
1335-1340 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Oak misericord with the figure of a crouching man with his elbows raised to the level of his head supporting the projecting part. The moulding around the edge is continued as volutes on each side, and terminates with a leaf carved in openwork relief
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | Misericord, English, 1335-1340, from Wells Cathedral |
| Physical description | Oak misericord with the figure of a crouching man with his elbows raised to the level of his head supporting the projecting part. The moulding around the edge is continued as volutes on each side, and terminates with a leaf carved in openwork relief |
| Dimensions |
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| Bibliographic reference | Charles Tracy, English Medieval Furniture and Woodwork (London, 1988), cat. no. 66.
Misericord; the projecting support is shaped and moulded, and has below it the figure of a crouching man, his feet curled up beneath him, his elbows raised to the level of his head (PL.18). The moulding round the edge is continued as volutes on each side, and terminates with a leaf carved in openwork relief. The seat is partly restored.
Said to have come from Wells Cathedral
Oak. About 1335-40
28.3 x 59x 17.3 cm
Mus. no. W.48-1912.
This misericord agrees in style and design with the other misericords at Wells (see Church 1907, 319). The motif of a man ‘shouldering’ the bracket above him is one of the most commonly employed by sculptors on misericords. It has been shown to derive in some cases from the marginal illustrations, or drolleries, in illustrated manuscripts (Christa Grossinger, ‘English Misericords of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries and their relationship to manuscript illuminations', Jnl. of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XXXVIII, London, 1975, p.97-108.). Such drawings can be found in the Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, illustrated by Johan Pucelle, about 1300 to 1355, which was produced at about the same time as the Wells Cathedral choir-stalls. The choir furniture at Wells remained more or less intact until it was partly destroyed and partly rearranged by Anthony Salvin in 1848 to provide additional seating. On a combination of circumstantial and stylistic evidence a date of manufacture of 1335-40 is indicated (Charles Tracy, English Gothic Choir-Stalls. 1200-1400, Woodbridge, 1987, p.25-29).
There were two master,-carvers working on the choir-stalls, the so-called master of the ‘Animals’ and the master of the ‘Flight of Alexander’ (FIG.12).The latter was almost certainly the younger man and it must have been he who carved the museum's misericord. He worked in an advanced style using expressive poses. In the drapery of his human forms he demonstrates a considerable sophistication of technique. Grossinger has compared the style of his carving to that of Pucelle. However, the undoubted similarities in both poses and the handling of drapery do not necessarily identify this sculptor as a Frenchman. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.48-1912 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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