Copyright (c) 2013 Mathew Jenkins
THE SCREEN
The lower end of the hall-that is, the end farthest from the dais-was cut off by a screen from the passage, known as "the screens," from which access was obtained to the pantry, kitchen, and servants' quarters.
The screen stood upon a sill, into which the principal uprights were left, and from which they were carried to an upper beam; and cross rails were also inserted. The screen did not, usually, reach to the roof, and had one or two openings, which were not hung with doors. At Haddon Hall the screen is simply a substantial wood framing of this character of which the uprights and cross rails are moulded, but the mouldings are stopped before they reach the cross rails. The panels are long and narrow, each being headed with cinquefoil cupping. The screen at Ockwells, which has been little altered, has a battlemented cornice and tall panels.' The two openings have never been hung with doors.
From the latter part of the sixteenth century to the reign of Charles I., the screen was treated as an opportunity of ambitious design and was, like the chimney-piece, often contracted and bargained for separately.
Spanning the hall, like triumphal arch in a pageant, it displays in great houses all the details the craftsmen had found in pattern books in their richest form, the orders, terminal caryatides and fantastic details of all kinds, culminating in a cresting. The two entrances were flanked by columns, pilasters or caryatides, carrying 'an entablature. In two-tiered screens there is an upper and richer stage, as at Knole and in Trinity College, Cambridge. The double doors of the screen were of considerable width, and were usually framed by a semicircular-headed arch. The screen was crested with open­work strapwork ornaments of pyramidal outline, enclosing shields of arms, or with balustrading. The spaces between the doors were wainscoted, in some cases with panels of richer design than the hall wainscot.
In the hall screen at Knole, dating from about 1606, the first stage is surmounted by a gallery, of which the arcades are filled with pierced panels imitating latticework; above the gallery parapet is a strap work cresting and in the centre an open-work achievement of the Sackville arms and supporters. The carving, which is Flemish in character, is notable for its finish. In the screens of Middle Temple Hall and Trinity College, Cambridge, the intricacy and delicacy of the open strap work of the cresting and of the arched panels of the upper stage could hardly be surpassed. In smaller buildings the one-storied screen was naturally of simpler character, such as that formerly at Seckford Hall, Suffolk, where the entablature, which carries a balustrade, is supported by fluted columns which have warped owing to exposure to rain. The wainscoting on the side next the hall has projecting panels and applied mouldings continued round the panel, while on the side next the screens the mouldings are cut out of the solid, and the top of the horizontal rail is chamfered.
With the discontinuance of its old usage as a common living and dining-room, the hall becomes merely an entrance, and in the plan of Aston Hall,' which shows the front door entrance in the centre of the facade and of the hall, the need for a screen disappears.
----------------------------------------------------
Mathew Jenkins works with the Woodcarvers Guild preserving the history & finesse of period furnitre and architectural fittings. Would you like to have your own piece of captured history whether it be wall panelling, four poster beds, furniture, etc? Go to http://wallpanellingcorp.com/ for more information and for a free ebook.
http://wallpanellingcorp.com/
EasyPublish this article: http://submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=307377
No comments:
Post a Comment