A Monumental Late Gothic Polychrome and Gilded Wooden Frame

A substantial Late Gothic architectural frame, carved in wood and retaining extensive historic polychromy and gilding.

The tall uprights are conceived as miniature Gothic architecture, enriched with tracery and niches containing two standing ecclesiastical figures, each holding a book. The figures stand upon projecting foliate corbels beneath elaborate pierced canopies, above which the uprights rise into crocketed pinnacles.

The upper rail is decorated with a continuous arcade of cusped Gothic lancets and surmounted by an open cresting of fleurons. The lower rail is more densely carved with a sequence of interlaced tracery motifs incorporating mouchettes, while further tracery enriches the bases of the uprights.

Particularly notable is the survival of substantial early decorative surface. Gilding remains throughout the architectural carving and figures, together with areas of red, blue-green and other polychromy visible within the niches and recessed ornament. The resulting interplay between sculpture, colour and gilding preserves something of the frame’s original visual richness.

Its architectural conception and ecclesiastical imagery suggest that the frame was originally intended to surround an important devotional image, most probably a painted or otherwise decorated religious panel. The present structure has undergone alteration to its dimensions, as recorded in the earlier specialist catalogue description, although the principal carved Gothic elements survive.