James I oak carved tester bed

James I oak carved tester bedstead. Exeter. The head board with three main panels and frieze rail carved with leafy entwined strapwork decoration, beneath this the centre panel with male and female figures holding hands and the female holding a large feather. The left hand panel with female holding out as an offering a chalice and holding in other hand a staff, the right hand panel the female is pointing to the sky. The bed posts with large bulbous cup and covers with leafy and gadrooned designs supporting the tester arranged with a large lozenge design main frame with applied leafy spandrels with a central boss carved with the initials I M I and dated 1640. There are two very similar examples of carved females holding large feathers in the same form and both attributed to Exeter workshops. One shown here is a chair illustrated in Tobias Jellinek's book on early British chairs, page 48, plate 15.