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It stood in the railed-off area at the front of the church, which contained the communion table, with the pulpit to one side.  The community was granted a charter in 1672 by Charles II, allowing them to build their own church.  Within a year the church, in Little Trinity Lane, Queenhithe, was in use, but the finely carved reredos was probably not finished until about 1680.  The carving is in the style used in many of the London churches re-built after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Grinling Gibbons was the most famous carver working in this style but this woodwork is likely to be by a carver called Robert Leighton, who also worked on St Michael, Queenhithe at the same period.  The communion rail survives with the reredos. ","physicalDescription":"Reredos of the Hamburgh Lutheran Church, Little Trinity Lane, London (removed to Dalston in 1876). Carved English oak and other woods, showing a central aedicule with round-arched panel inscribed (in German) with words from the communion service, flanked by two rectangular panels with further German inscriptions from the communion service relating to the bread and the wine, these set within subsidiary arches, the central aedicule set beneath a cresting with a panel carved with the name of God in Hebrew letters, surrounded by carved angels' heads.  English, about 1680, possibly carved by Robert Leighton.  The communion rail associated with the reredos also survives; it has spiral-turned balusters.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Leighton, Robert","id":"AUTH315379"},"association":{"text":"carver","id":"AAT25256"},"note":"This attribution, by Simon Jervis, is put forward in the article by Susan Gold. On 3 September 1679 the trustees of the German Lutheran church set up a joint committee with the churchwardens of St Michael Queenhithe for the purpose of embellishing their respective churches. Robert  Leighton was paid in 1680 for making pews and a pulpit in St Michael Queenhithe, so it may be reasonable to think that he also made the reredos for the German Lutheran church."},{"name":{"text":"Jacoby, Julius","id":"AUTH315429"},"association":{"text":"restorer","id":"AAT25821"},"note":"See Gold, 1984, p. 108"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oak","id":"AAT12289"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oak panelling, with carved decoration in limewood and, possibly, cherry","categories":[{"text":"Architectural 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1680","earliest":"1675-01-01","latest":"1684-12-31"},"association":{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"},"note":"Date taken from: Gold, Susan. 'The Reredos which slipped through the net'. <i>Transaction of the Ancient Monuments Society</i>. 1984, vol. 28. pp.93-113.  The discussion of the likely maker of the reredos and its date is found on p. 104"},{"date":{"text":"1874-1878","earliest":"1874-01-01","latest":"1878-12-31"},"association":{"text":"restored","id":"AAT53742"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"W.39A-1983","id":"O113527"},"association":"Ensemble"}],"creditLine":"Given by the Trustees of the Hamburg Lutheran Church","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"26","unit":"ft","qualifier":"Approx","date":{"text":"1994","earliest":"1994-01-01","latest":"1994-12-31"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"17","unit":"ft","qualifier":"Approx","date":{"text":"1994","earliest":"1994-01-01","latest":"1994-12-31"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"10","unit":"ft","qualifier":"Approx","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"All measurements are approximate and for when the reredos is fully assembled [taken from handwritten note on object file].","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Unser Herr\r\nJesus Christus\r\nIn der Nacht da Er verrathen ward\r\nnah[m] Er das Brodt dancket und brachs\r\nund gabs seinen Jungern und sprach Nehmet\r\nesset das ist mein Leib der fur euch gegeben\r\nwird Solches thut zu meinem Gedachtnis\r\nDesselben gleichen nahm Er auch den Kelch\r\nnach dem Abendmahl danckete [und gab ihnen den und]\r\nsprach Trincket alle daraus dieser Kelch ist [das]\r\nNeue Testament in meinem Blut das fu[r euch]\r\nvergosssen wird zur Vergebung der Sunden Solches [thut]\r\nso oft ihrs trincket zum meinem Gedachtnis\r\n","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"The Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’\n\r\nI Corinthians 11:23-25\r\n","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed on the central panel of the reredos (W.40:12-1983). Taken from a record photo.  The words within square brackets are not clearly visible in the photo and are conjectural. This text is typical for what were called 'Catechism' or 'Text' altars, favoured by Lutheran communities throughout Northern Europe, in contrast to a reredos with pictorial panels typical of Catholic communities.  This text is taken from St Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians.  The text was adopted in England also for the consecration prayer used in the communion service as ordered in the Book of Common Prayer. "},{"content":"Kommt Lehret\nVon meinem Brodt\r\nund trincket des Weins\r\nden Ich Schencke\r\nVerlasset das alber\r\nwesen so werdet ihr\r\nLeben und gehet\r\nauff dem wege des \r\nVerstandes","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.\nProverbs 9: 5-6\r\n","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"This inscription is on W.40:20-1938, which was to the right of the reredos."},{"content":"Der Gesegnete\nKelch welchen Wir\r\nsegnen ist der nicht die\r\nGemeinschafft des Bluts\r\nChristi Das Brodt\r\ndas Wir brechen, ist\r\ndas nicht die Gemein-\r\nschafft des Leibes\r\nChristi\r\n","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?\n\nI Corinthians 10:16\r\n\r\n","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"This inscription is on W.40:21-1938, which was to the left of the reredos."}],"objectHistory":"The reredos was originally carved for the Hamburgh Lutheran Church (built 1673) situated on Little Trinity Lane, London. There are records of German merchants having started collecting money for the building of the church in 1668.\r\n\r\nIt was removed to a neo-Gothic church in Dalston, Hackney in 1876.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Reredos of the Hamburgh Lutheran Church, Little Trinity Lane, London (removed to Dalston in 1876). Carved English oak and other woods, showing a central aedicule with round-arched panel inscribed (in German) with words from the communion service, flanked by two rectangular panels with further German inscriptions from the communion service relating to the bread and the wine, these set within subsidiary arches, the central aedicule set beneath a cresting with a panel carved with a Hebrew inscription surrounded by carved angels' heads.  English, about 1680, possibly carved by Robert Leighton.  The communion rail associated with the reredos remains with it.  It is composed of spiral-turned balusters.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"Gold, Susan. The Reredos which slipped through the net. Ancient Monuments Society’s Transactions. 1984, vol. 28. pp.93-113","free":"Gold, Susan. The Reredos which slipped through the net. <u>Ancient Monuments Society’s Transactions</u>. 1984, vol. 28. p.101-102:\r\n\n'It is made of English oak and has been divided vertically into three unequal parts. The most prominent central section consists of an aedicule between paired Corinthean columns on which rests a pediment filled with limewood carvings of putti, leaves and flowers surrounding an open bible. Framed between the columns is a roundheaded panel crowned by a carving of a Pelican feeding her young.\r\n\r\nIn the spandrels are more carvings of ears of wheat and grapes. The two smaller sections on either side of the central panel have rectangular tablets supporting tympana filled with carvings of natural objects which may be of cherrywood or willow, and which, in their turn, support pediments. The crowning superstructure is decorated with heads of cherubs fluttering round the name of God in Hebrew letters. The reredos is surmounted by seven flaming candlesticks. All three panels bear German texts in flowing Gothic gilt lettering and all referring to the Eucharist.'"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"E.P.L. Brock, 'On the Reredos of the Hamburgh Lutheran Church, Little Trinity Lane, Said to be the work of Grinling Gibbons' in  Proceedings of the Association. British Archaeological Association Journal. XXXII. 1876. pp.246-249\r\n\r\nArticle discussing the nature of the design and workmanship of the reredos and its 1876 removal from its orginal home of Little Trinity Lane (London) to a new church in Dalston (that was designed by the author).\r\n\nProceedings of the Association: On the Reredos of the Hamburgh Lutheran Church, Little Trinity Lane, Said to be the work of Grinling Gibbons. British Archaeological Association Journal. XXXII. 1876. pp.247-249, with a line drawing by A Cawston (opp. p. 247):\r\n\r\nFor many years there has been hidden in a building in Little Trinity Lane a magnificent specimen of oak carving, which for beauty of design as well as for the extreme delicacy of its execution is surpassed by few examples of the carver's art in London. The building in question was the Hamburgh Lutheran Church, standing on a site interesting to City antiquaries as being that of the old parish church of Little Trinity,—the diminutive being to distinguish it from the Priory of Holy Trinity at Aldgate. This church being very ruinous, as we learn from Stowe, was pulled down in 1606, and rebuilt in the two following years. It was enlarged in 1620, but only to suffer the fate of so many other of the City churches in the great fire of 1666. The church was not rebuilt, and the parish was united to that of St. Michael, Queenhithe. The site was purchased by Theodore Jacobson and five others, to whom, and their heirs and assigns, license was given (Sept. 13, 24th Car. II) to build thereon a temple for the free exercise of the Augustan confession in the German tongue, and with the concurrence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the Lord Mayor. This was rebuilt towards the end of the last century, and the plain. building erected which so many of us may have passed so frequently. The reredos of the former building, the capital organ, the pulpit, and the font, were replaced, and continued until the formation of the Metropolitan Railway, when the ancient site was purchased, and the buildings demolished and entirely swept away ; but when the sale was effected it was arranged to retain the reredos and the other fittings by the present trustees, Baron Schroeder, Richard Brandt, Esq., and others. The commendable zeal of these gentlemen in thins preserving some memorials of the old building and of the worship of their predecessors, enables me now to submit some particulars of the reredos.\n\r\nThe design is of great beauty, and it will be observed that it consists of a centre panel formed by a semicircular arch and pilasters, with imposts and keystone, flanked on each side by two composite columns, the capitals and the two broad-waved flutes being carved in an admirable manner. Right and left two panels are enclosed within characteristic arches of lesser width, and these, with the central panel, are filled in with Bible sentences of the usual flowing German writing. Below the columns is a panelled dado, and above, is an entablature with carved mouldings, and a boldly designed cornice also richly carved. Over the large central arch the cornice is segmental, and broken around the projection of the columns, and the pediment is filled in with very exquisite carving. Palm-branches and a profusion of flowers and fruit, indicative of peace and abundance, surround an open book, over which a dove spreads its wings. Below the book, and occupying the depth of the frieze, is a pelican feeding its young from its bleeding side, and this rests skilfully on the keystone of the central arch. The composition is completed by a sort of panelled parapet above the main cornice, while the central portion has a bold, semicircular arch sustained by two caryatidæ formed by the figures of boys, and this supports three tall candlesticks, while the mystic number of seven is completed by two more being on each side of the figures. The arch encloses the Hebrew name of the Deity surrounded by a choir of cherubim. The carving of the panels of the parapet, the spandrels over the main arch, and in the centre, already referred to, is of very great beauty. The flowers and leaves are entirely separated, and present almost all the light appearance of nature.'\n\r\nThe interest attached to the carving is much enhanced from the tradition that it is the work of Grinling Gibbons. Dr. Walbaum, the present minister of the congregation, has kindly inspected the documents belonging to them, to ascertain if there remains any record of its erection, but unfortunately none appears to be in existence. We are bound, therefore, to take various circumstances into consideration to aid our judgment.\n\r\nThe date of the work would favour the supposition, for it cannot be much more than twenty years later than the foundation of the church, and we know that it was early in 1671 that Evelyn discovered Gibbons at work in his \" poor, solitary, thatched house at Deptford\". The style of the architectural composition and the workmanship is that of the same period; but we know that there are numberless examples of somewhat similar works, and the City churches present many specimens. The rood-screen of All Hallows the Great, we are told, [note: Godwin's Churches of London] was made at Hamburg, and brought to London, and it may not be considered improbable that a community such as was Theodore Jacobson's would have received some gift for their new temple from their wealthy-friends in North Germany. None is more likely than a gift of carving from a district possessing artists of celebrity, and at a time when many admirable works were produced.\n\r\nThe architectural design of the seven candlesticks is more English in its character than we might suppose at first sight. There are examples of it in English churches, and one of these was in the church of St. Ethelburga, Bishopsgate, the gift of Mr. Clark in 1705.\n\r\nThe material seems to decide that it is at least the workmanship of this country, for it is formed almost entirely of English oak. To confirm my own supposition as to this, I asked Mr. Julius Jacoby of Regent Street (than whom there can be no better authority) to examine the work piece by piece. He reports : \" On close inspection of the reredos I am confirmed in my first opinion, that it is made of the best English oak. You receive herewith a specimen of it planed down for you to see its natural colour and grain. Some of the flowers seem to be of cherry-wood, or perhaps willow. No hard wood would have done for those sculptured flowers in full relief.\" There are examples of the employment of foreign oak in English buildings. Allhallows, Bread Street, is stated to be wainscoted with Norway oak; but it seems scarcely probable that English oak would be sent abroad to be returned again. The comparison with Gibbons' known works decides almost to a certainty that the flowers and fruit were carved by him. The stalls and the organ-screen of St. Paul's bear a close resemblance, and the reredos of St. James', Piccadilly, is equally similar, although both these works are of more elaborate workmanship. In this latter, the group of the pelican and her young is repeated; and the date and the authorship of this work are unquestionably settled by Evelyn, who saw it on the 7th Dec. 1684, shortly after its completion. The pelican here and her young are much more detailed; but the grouping of the composition is very similar. The general similarity of these two works is so great that our assent cannot be withheld from ascribing the design of both, and much of the execution of this, to the same hands. There is in the work before us, as well as in Gibbons' known productions, alike the grace and beauty of his handicraft, so well described by Walpole as \"giving to wood the loose and airy lightness of flowers, and chaining together the various productions of the elements with the free disorder natural to each species.\"\n\r\nThe reredos was badly dilapidated; but it has been carefully restored under my advice, and re-gilded in accordance with the original design, by Mr. Jacoby. It will speedily be re-erected in the new church at Dalston, which I have designed for the trustees; and where, I hope, thanks to the energy of Mr. R. Brandt and his co-partners, it will be very many years visible in its complete proportions, and be classed as not the least unworthy of' the productions of Grinling Gibbons. I may add that although the style of the new church is altogether different, it has required no pressure on my part with the trustees to preserve it; and I trust that when it is erected we shall be satisfied with an effect nob inharmonious, while we all have the gratification of preserving a work of art of great beauty, which we could not have done had we given heed to the prevalent notion -that nothing can be made to harmonise with a new building unless it is in the same style.\r\n"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[{"text":"Hackney","id":"x29471"}],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["W.40:1/1-1983","W.40:1/2-1983","W.40:1/3-1983","W.40:1/4-1983","W.40:2/1-1983","W.40:2/2-1983","W.40:2/3-1983","W.40:2/4-1983","W.40:2/5-1983","W.40:2/6-1983","W.40:2/7-1983","W.40:2/8-1983","W.40:2/9-1983","W.40:2/10-1983","W.40:2/11-1983","W.40:2/12-1983","W.40:2/13-1983","W.40:2/14-1983","W.40:2/15-1983","W.40:3/1-1983","W.40:3/2-1983","W.40:3/3-1983","W.40:4/1-1983","W.40:4/2-1983","W.40:4/3-1983","W.40:4/4-1983","W.40:4/5-1983","W.40:4/6-1983","W.40:4/7-1983","W.40:4/8-1983","W.40:4/9-1983","W.40:4/10-1983","W.40:4/11-1983","W.40:4/12-1983","W.40:5/1-1983","W.40:5/2-1983","W.40:6/1-1983","W.40:6/2-1983","W.40:7/1-1983","W.40:7/2-1983","W.40:8/1-1983","W.40:8/2-1983","W.40:9/1-1983","W.40:9/2-1983","W.40:10/1-1983","W.40:10/2-1983","W.40:11/1-1983","W.40:11/2-1983","W.40:11/3-1983","W.40:12-1983","W.40:12/1-1983","W.40:13-1983","W.40:14/1-1983","W.40:14/2-1983","W.40:15/1-1983","W.40:15/2-1983","W.40:15/3-1983","W.40:15/4-1983","W.40:16-1983","W.40:17-1983","W.40:18-1983","W.40:19-1983","W.40:20/1-1983","W.40:20/2-1983","W.40:20/3-1983","W.40:20/4-1983","W.40:20/5-1983","W.40:21-1983","W.40:22/1-1983","W.40:22/2-1983","W.40:23-1983","W.40:24-1983","W.40:25-1983","W.40:26/1-1983","W.40:26/2-1983","W.40:27/1-1983","W.40:27/2-1983","W.40:28-1983","W.40:29-1983","W.40:30/1-1983","W.40:30/2-1983","W.40:31/1-1983","W.40:31/2-1983","W.40:32-1983","W.40:33-1983","W.40:34-1983","W.40:35/1-1983","W.40:35/2-1983","W.40:35/3-1983","W.40:35/4-1983","W.40:35/5-1983","W.40:35/6-1983","W.40:35/7-1983","W.40:35/8-1983","W.40:36/1-1983","W.40:36/2-1983","W.40:36/3-1983","W.40:36/4-1983","W.40:37-1983","W.40:38-1983"],"accessionNumberNum":"40","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1983,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Parapet","Carving [1]","Carving [2]","Carving [3]","Cornice [1]","Carving [4]","Carving [5]","Carving [6]","Carving [7]","Carving [8]","Carving [9]","Carving [10]","Cornice [2]","Cornice [3]","Fragment [1]","Fragment [2]","Fragment [3]","Fragments [1]","Fragments [2]","Panel [1]","Panel [2]","Panel [3]","Entablature","Entablature panel [1]","Entablature panel [2]","Fragment [4]","Fragment [5]","Fragment [6]","Carving [11]","Fragment [7]","Fragments [3]","Fragments [4]","Carving [12]","Fragment [8]","Candlestick [1]","Carving [13]","Candlestick [2]","Carving [14]","Candlestick [3]","Carving [15]","Candlestick [4]","Carving [16]","Candlestick [5]","Carving [17]","Candlestick [6]","Carving [18]","Candlestick [7]","Carving [19]","Carving [20]","Centre panel","Frame","Arch [1]","Fragment [9]","Fragment [10]","Column [1]","Base","Fragment from column base [1]","Fragment from column base [2]","Column [2]","Column [3]","Column [4]","Column panel","Arch [2]","Carving [21]","Fragment [11]","Fragment [12]","Fragment [13]","Panel [4]","Arch [3]","Carving [22]","Dado panel [1]","Capital [1]","Capital [2]","Capital [3]","Capital [4]","Capital [5]","Capital [6]","Dado panel [2]","Dado panel [3]","Dado panel [4]","Dado panel [5]","Dado panel [6]","Dado panel [7]","Dado panel [8]","Dado panel [9]","Communion railing [1]","Communion railing [2]","Communion railing [3]","Fragments [5]","Fragment [14]","Fragment [15]","Fragment [16]","Fragment [17]","Fragments [6]","Communion railing [4]","Communion railing [5]","Baluster [1]","Baluster [2]","Fragments [7]","Fragments [8]"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-05","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":false}}