A wonderful Elizabeth I carved oak lion 'newel post' or arch...

Hammer

£4,200

A wonderful Elizabeth I carved oak lion 'newel post' or architectural detail,  circa 1580

The magnificent, proud, beast sejant, with flowing mane, good facial features and sharp powerful front paws holding a shield carved with house or merchant initials, his long tail wraps around his back, the integral post of fluted Corinthian column form, wrapped to the base with large leaves, the strapwork carving to the plinth centred by a large oval boss, height overall 190, lion height 50.5cm, width 19cm, depth 18cm

For a staircase carved with heraldic beasts see Bradninch, Devonshire, illustrated Margaret Jourdain, 'English Decoration and Furniture of the Early Renaissance 1500-1650' (1924), p. 173, fig 244. This type of tall, upright, 'pillar' was also incorporated into chimney-pieces, set away from the fire surround, which may account for it being principally carved-in-the-round. Several such interiors are illustrated ibid., including 'The Oak Room', Badminton, Gloucestershire, p. 16a, fig, 15; Carbrook Hall, Sheffield, p. 17, fig 15a & p. 56, fig. 65 and The Hall, Great Fulford, Devon, p. 51, fig. 57. There are also comparable Corinthian capitals to the fireplace at Burton Agnes, p. 77, fig. 96. A pair of comparable stone lions, from the tomb of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, c. 1554, are illustrated p. 69, figs. 78 & 79. Use in an interior porch is again a possibility. See ibid., p. 162-164, figs. 231-233. It could also have formed part of a hall screen