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STALLWORK IN CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY, DORSET: A FRANCO-FLEMISH ALL’ANTICA WORK OF THE EARLY 1520s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2022

Nicholas Riall
Nicholas Riall*
Affiliation:
Tethers End Cottage, 9 Elley Green, Corsham, SN13 9TX, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Critical analysis of the quire stalls in the Augustinian priory in Christchurch has revealed that they are an important set of early all’antica styled stalls that were created by ‘alien’ craftsmen, no earlier than c 1520. Many traces of Continental joinery techniques, not then used in England, particularly the use of lamination, support this view. It has long been thought that they were cobbled together from sets of stalls of various dates, but they are all of one period. Much has been lost and many of the parts have been replaced, especially so among the dossiers. The idea that many of the misericords are missing can be discounted because the design of the stalls disproves this. This important set of quire stalls represents one of the last made prior to the Reformation – but they are much misunderstood.

Keywords

ecclesiastical furnitureearly Tudor periodall’anticamisericordimmigrant craftsmen
Type
Research paper
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 102 , September 2022 , pp. 260 - 291
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society of Antiquaries of London

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References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Warner, R 1793. Topographical Remarks on South-Western Parts of Hampshire, Warner, Winchester Google Scholar
Wells-Cole, A 1997. Art and Decoration in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, Yale University Press, New Haven and London Google Scholar
Wiltshire, K F c 1955. Christchurch Priory: the choir stalls and misericords, Christchurch Priory, Christchurch Google Scholar
Zerner, H 2003. Renaissance Art in France: the invention of Classicism, English edn trans D Dusinberre, S Wilson and R Zerner, Éditions Flammarion, ParisGoogle Scholar
HRO 16M79, Projected history of Hampshire by William BingleyGoogle Scholar
HRO 9M73/183, Private letters of James Harris, 1st Earl of MalmesburyGoogle Scholar
Allan, J 2014. ‘Breton woodworkers in the immigrant communities of south-west England, 1500–1550’, Post-Medieval Archaeol, 48 (2), 320–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anonymous 1887. The Choir Carvings in the Priory Church at Christchurch, Hants, James Garside, BournemouthGoogle Scholar
Biddle, M 1993. ‘Early Renaissance at Winchester’, in Crook, J (ed), Winchester Cathedral: 900 years, 257–304, Phillimore, Chichester Google Scholar
Bingley, W 1810. ‘Letter: Christ Church, Hants’, The Gentleman’s Mag, 80 (June), 517–20Google Scholar
Blomfield, R 1897. A History of Renaissance Architecture in England, 1500–1800, George Bell and Sons, London Google Scholar
Bond, F 1910. Wood Carvings in English Churches: stalls and tabernacle work, Henry Frowde for Oxford University Press, London, New York, Toronto and MelbourneGoogle Scholar
Bradley, S 2018. ‘Christchurch priory’, in O’Brien, C, Bailey, B, Pevsner, N and Lloyd, D W (eds), Buildings of England: Hampshire, south, 203–19, Yale University Press, New Haven and London Google Scholar
Clayton, J 2009. ‘William Bingley’s history of Hampshire’, Hants Stud, 64, 223–43Google Scholar
Ferrey, B and Brayley, W 1834. The Antiquities of the Priory of Christ Church, Hampshire, Benjamin Ferrey, London.Google Scholar
Fligny, L 1991. Mobilier Picard. Le meuble dans l’Oise du XIII e au XIX e siècle, Les Presses Artistiques, ParisGoogle Scholar
Girouard, M 2009. Elizabethan Architecture, Yale University Press, New Haven and London Google Scholar
Gotch, J A 1914. Early Renaissance Architecture in England, B T Batsford, London Google Scholar
Harrison, H 2018. ‘Christchurch priory misericords: fabric survey and conservation report for Christchurch priory’, unpublished, privately circulatedGoogle Scholar
Hutchinson, R 2020. ‘Piety in peril: sixteenth-century ‘Chichester School’ monuments and a study in Iconoclasm’, in Steer, C (ed), The Monuments Man: essays in honour of Jerome Bertram, 171–200, Shaun Tyas, Donington Google Scholar
Lees-Milne, J 1951. Tudor Renaissance, B T Batsford, London Google Scholar
Page, W (ed) 1912. A History of the County of Hampshire, Volume 5, Victoria County History, London Google Scholar
Perkins, T 1899. Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory, George Bell and Sons, London Google Scholar
Pevsner, N and Lloyd, D 1967. Buildings of England: Hampshire, Penguin, London Google Scholar
Riall, N 2003. ‘Thomas Silkstede’s Renaissance-styled canopied woodwork in the south transept of Winchester cathedral’, Proc Hants Field Club Archaeol Soc, 58, 209–25Google Scholar
Riall, N 2008a. ‘The diffusion of early Franco-Italian all’antica ornament: the Renaissance frieze in the chapel of the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, and the Gaillon stalls now at St Denis, Paris’, Antiq J, 88, 258–307 Google Scholar
Riall, N 2008b. ‘ All’Antica ornament during the first Renaissance in England: the case of the Draper chapel at Christchurch priory’, Proc Dorset Nat Hist Archaeol Soc, 129, 25–37 Google Scholar
Riall, N 2014. The Renaissance Stalls at the Hospital of St Cross, Hospital of St Cross, Winchester Google Scholar
Riall, N 2015. ‘Thomas Bertie, the master-mason at Winchester cathedral c 1515–50’, Antiq J, 95, 211–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riall, N 2019. ‘Exiled to Holy Trinity Church, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire: the refugee Marian choir stalls from Worcester cathedral’, Antiq J, 99, 187–224 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, R 2000. Misericords and Other Carvings in the Great Quire, R J L Smith and Associates, Much WenlockGoogle Scholar
Stannard, M 1996. Christchurch Priory, Pitkin Pictorials, Andover Google Scholar
Thurley, S 1993. The Royal Palaces of Tudor England, Yale University Press, New Haven and London Google Scholar
Tracy, C and Harrison, H 2004. The Choir-Stalls of Amiens Cathedral, Spire Books, Reading Google Scholar
Viator 1820. ‘Letter’, The Gentleman’s Mag, 90 (March), 232 Google Scholar
Warner, R 1793. Topographical Remarks on South-Western Parts of Hampshire, Warner, Winchester Google Scholar
Wells-Cole, A 1997. Art and Decoration in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, Yale University Press, New Haven and London Google Scholar
Wiltshire, K F c 1955. Christchurch Priory: the choir stalls and misericords, Christchurch Priory, Christchurch Google Scholar
Zerner, H 2003. Renaissance Art in France: the invention of Classicism, English edn trans D Dusinberre, S Wilson and R Zerner, Éditions Flammarion, ParisGoogle Scholar