{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O77431"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O77431/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AN2314/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AN2314/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AN2314","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0444","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0437","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0438","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0439","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0440","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0441","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0442","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0443","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0445","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0446","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0447","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0448","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0449","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA0450","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O77431/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O77431","accessionNumber":"1585-1855","objectType":"Panel","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Framed oak panel, carved in the solid, depicting a central roundel which contains the projecting half-length figure of a bearded king (facing left) in armour and crown, with a drawn sword and empty scabbard. The roundel frame is decorated with beads and acanthus leaf motifs. The roundel is surrounded by symmetrical design of acanthus stems and leaves from which project a grotesque horse head at either side. On both sides is a cartouche with a shield with the English royal badge of three lions passant guardant and a royal crown. In both lower corners is an empty rectangular cartouche with arch. The panel is contained within a moulded and mitred oak frame, which is of considerable age but unlikely to be original.\n\nMinute traces of gesso and paint (including pink flesh and green leaves) indicate that the panel was painted (and probably also gilded, based on comparison with the associated panel from Goodwood House), and this decoration is presumed to have been original.\n\nConstruction\nThe panel consists of 3 vertically grained oak boards c.2.5cm (1\") thick, behind which are two boards c.3.7cm (1 1/2\") thick, which form a rear projecting block 39.5 x 38.5cm (HW), so as to create sufficient depth for the inset roundel. All the boards are glued together. The outer edges of the panel are worked to a tongue, which is housed in the frame of lapped construction, which bears numerous old fixing holes. At each corner of the panel is a filled hole, possibly the means by which it was at one time mounted. Two angled holes through the top, centre of the rearwards projecting block may have been used for a hanging cord. The surfaces on the reverse of the panel are planed and darkened. Under the lower edge of the thicker boards a modern batten has been nailed/glued and there are signs that other, similar battens may have been positioned around the other three sides, their purpose uncertain.\n","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oak","id":"AAT12264"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved oak","categories":[{"text":"Architectural fittings","id":"THES48994"},{"text":"Woodwork","id":"THES48877"},{"text":"Royalty","id":"THES48899"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006AN2314","2019MA0444","2019MA0437","2019MA0438","2019MA0439","2019MA0440","2019MA0441","2019MA0442","2019MA0443","2019MA0445","2019MA0446","2019MA0447","2019MA0448","2019MA0449","2019MA0450"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"58E","id":"THES49233"},"free":"","case":"CA1","shelf":"","box":"10"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Panel","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Possibly made in London; possibly for Halnaker House, near Chichester, by Lord De La Warr, or Winchester House, the London residence of William Paulet, 1st Marquis of Winchester."}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1520-1552","earliest":"1520-01-01","latest":"1552-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Based on dendrochronological dating (2019); if the panel were commissioned for Halnaker it is likely c1530."}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"52.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"66.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"6.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions checked: Measured; 06/01/1999 by NH","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased for £8 (no source recorded): 'Panel. Carved oak; in the centre the bust of a king, in high relief, grasping a sword; on either side the royal arms of England. English? About 1540. H. 20 3/4 in., W. 2 ft. 2 in. Bought 8L.'\n\nIn Sept. 2019 dendrochronology was carried out on the two rear boards (c.40mm thick) by Ian Tyers, through the generous support of Jonathan Coulborn. An east Baltic source was identified. Tree-ring dating suggests that the panel dates from c1520-52. Boards used on the V&A and Coulborn panels originated in the same tree, indicating that they formed part of the same commission.\n\nRelated panels of closely comparable design \r\n\nPainted panel in the Museum of London 2' 2 1/2\" x 1' 8 1/2\", ex coll. Dr Friederich Lippmann purchased 'many years earlier from Mr Murray Marks of the firm of Durlacher of Bond Street London', sold Berlin (Rud. Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus, Nov 1912 lot 132 ill., 5,200 marks); acquired by the MoL 1939, and recoloured and gilded in 1912. The Berlin catalogue had identified the arms as those of the Wanoch family.\n\r\nPanel 24 x 18\" in a later wood frame, with traces of gilding and paint, inscribed Jo... (2019, Thomas Coulborn and Sons). Known as the King John panel, formerly at Goodwood House, Gloucestershire until 1939 but is thought to have disappeared during the war years. A 1903 inventory listed it in the Long Hall as ‘An antique carved wood and gilt panel 29 x 23 ins with Coats of Arms & masks in relief & in the centre a representation of King John with the Orb & Septre’. It seems most likely that this was commissioned c.1530 by Lord De La Warr during his redecoration of the main Hall at Halnaker. In 1540 de la Warr was forced to relinquish Halnaker to King Henry VIII. During the 16th century, Lord De La Warr made various additions and alterations to Halnaker House. ‘The hall at Halnaker appears to have been a part of the house which received especial attention, and he [Lord De La Warr] panelled its walls from floor to ceiling with rich and elegant work… These panels, from descriptions left of them, must have been exceedingly intricate and beautiful’ (J. Lewis André, Halnaker House, Sussex Archaeological Collections, Volume 43, 1900, pp.201-213). The Historic England website also also references this: ‘The centrally placed entrance porch, which is of 14th century date, provided access to the main hall above it, which was elaborately decorated in the 16th century by Lord De La Warr, with intricately carved panels and other enrichments. After further modifications in the 18th century by the Duke of Richmond, the house was allowed to fall into decay during the early 1800s.’\r\n\r\nIdentification and Provenance\nIn 1955 it was suggested that the panel (from a larger set) represents one of the ‘Nine Worthies’, and - on the basis that a related panel (now London Museum) was said to have come from Austin Friars - that it may have been made in London c1547 for Winchester House, the London residence of William Paulet, 1st Marquis of Winchester (about 1488-1572), on the site of Austin Friars. Thomas Allen, The History and Antiquities of London... (1828) vol.3 pp. 256-7 records that in his day the remains of the building were partly occupied as a warehouse and the interior \"has been so much mutilated to suit the mechanical uses to which it is now put, that little of the original work appears. The spacious staircase, with its heavy ballustrade, is one of the earliest introductions of the Italian style of building. On the first floor is a large and once handsome chimney-piece; the fireplace is spacious, and its jambs sustain on trusses the remains of a handsome composition in oak, carved and painted; two Ionic column: sustaining an entablature, still remain ... Among the wainscotting still remains some of the arch-formed pannels richly carved in relief, which are evidently portions of the original structure.\" The house was demolished in 1839. \n\nHowever, an alternative hypothesis - based on the association of a related panel with the Dukes of Richmond and Goodwood House - is that the three, evidently related panels were probably commissioned c.1530 by Lord De La Warr during his redecoration of the main Hall at Halnaker House, near Chichester, which was relinquished to King Henry VIII in 1540. \n\nIt has been suggested (Coulborn catalogue, 2020) that all three surviving panels represent English kings, reworking iconography current in the reign of Henry VIII, for example John Rastell (1468-1536) The Pastyme of People or The Cronycles of Englande and of Dyvers other realmys (1529/30), and using appropriate heraldic badges. Where two panels can be convincingly related to King John and King Stephen, the V&A panel may be related to King Richard I, with his more dramatic pose evocative of the king wrestling a lion. The crowned shield bearing three lions passant guardant represented on the V&A panel, which is taken from the Royal Arms of Henry VIII, were first used by Richard I (or Lionheart) from c. 1198 and used by his successors until 1340. A series of 'portraits' of English kings - carved, painted or in prints - was one way for loyalists to reinforce the claim to the throne of the current monarch.\r\n\r\nThe design of this panel, centred by a circular framed 'Roman' medallion and deep relief carved portrait within, echoes other examples of Renaissance art created in early Tudor England, such as the terracotta roundel of Emperor Probus at The Vyne, roundel heads by Giovanni da Maiano at Hampton Court and a chimney-piece design (c. 1537-43) by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8–1543) (British Museum, inv. no. 1854,0708.1).\n\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Carved oak panel, with half length king (Richard I?). English, probably c1530.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Victoria & Albert Museum: Fifty Masterpieces of Woodwork (London, 1955), no. 18.\n\r\nAn Oak Panel \n\r\nThis handsome panel of oak, dating from about 1540, has in the centre the bust of a warrior king carved in high relief within a sunk medallion. It is surrounded by delicate conventional foliage, and on either side is a crowned shield bearing three lions passant guardant, from the Royal Arms of Henry VIII. The panel has evidently once been painted. At the time of its purchase nothing was known of its history or subject, but in 1912 a similar panel, with its original colour decoration, and also carved with a heroic bust, was sold by auction in Berlin, as part of the collection of Dr. Friederich Lippmann, who had acquired it in London many years before, with the tradition that it had come from the Palace of Austin Friars in the City. Later a third panel was found at Goodwood House, the home of the Duke of Richmond. All three panels must have originally belonged to a single set, each bearing a head of one of the ‘Nine Worthies’ or ‘Heroes’—three classical, three Jewish, and three Christian—a frequent subject for representation in medieval and renaissance times. \r\nThe carving bears a close resemblance to the stalls and screen in the Chapel of Kings College, Cambridge (which has been described as ‘The finest Piece of woodwork this side of the Alps‘). \r\nThese stalls, probably the work of immigrant craftsmen clearly reflect the influence of the French renaissance style. The panel was bought by the Museum in 1855.\r\n\r\nEnglish; about 1540. \n H. 20 ¾ in., W. 26 in. \r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"J.H. Pollen, English objects (Ancient and Modern, vol 1.) 1908, p.83, fig.64\r\nIn the Museum there is a beautiful piece of carving (No. 1585-1855) of this time, which shows a strong French influence, if it is not actually French work. It is an oak panel carved in high relief with the bust of a warrior king within a circular medallion, round which are grouped in slighter relief crowned shields bearing the lions of England, floral scrolls and cartouches. The workmanship as well as the design so closely resemble the character of the carved ornament on the stalls of King's College, Cambridge, that the panel may certainly be attributed to the same period. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"London, South Kensington Museum: Ancient and Modern Furniture & Woodwork in the South Kensington Museum, described with an introduction by John Hungerford Pollen (London, 1874), p.209\r\n\r\n1585-1855\r\nPANEL. Carved oak; in the centre the bust of a king, in high relief grasping a sword; on either side the royal arms of England. English? 16th century. H. 20 ¾ in., W. 2 ft. 2 in. Bought, 8l. \r\nThe panel has an inner frame, which is circular and ornamented with renaissance leaf and beadwork. The head is turned to the right, and the left hand holds the scabbard. The king is in classic armour. There are tablets on each side of the frame, and the arms are on shields, ornamented with volute scrolls on the tops and sides. Horses' heads are in the arabesque work on the sides. The character of the workmanship, as well as that of the design, so closely resemble those of the ornamental work on the stalls of King's College, Cambridge, that we may attribute them to the same period and the same hand - that of an Italian or German Carver, in all probability, though executed in England. \r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"E. Rowe, Wood Carvings from the South Kensington Museum (London 1889), folio?, pl. LXXVI"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"The Berlin catalogue had identified the arms as those of the Wanoch family:\n\r\nhttp://web.archive.org/web/20230117100743/https://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/454020.html"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"men","id":"AAT25928"},{"text":"kings","id":"AAT25481"},{"text":"monarchs","id":"AAT237007"},{"text":"crowns (headdresses)","id":"AAT46020"},{"text":"swords","id":"AAT37048"},{"text":"coats of arms","id":"AAT126352"},{"text":"shields (motifs)","id":"AAT230284"},{"text":"lions","id":"x35172"},{"text":"horses","id":"AAT162082"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"British Galleries (2001):\nThe idea of a half-figure in a roundel derived from ancient Rome. This may have been one of a series representing, though only in general terms, the heroes of ancient or biblical times. The lions surmounted by a crown suggest royal associations. Loyal followers of the Tudor sovereigns usually displayed the royal arms prominently in their houses.\n\n2001 online text:\nObject Type
The oak panel, with the image of a king bearing a sword, probably formed the decorative part of the overmantel of a fireplace.

Subjects Depicted
The king may represent one of the 'Nine Worthies' often associated with scenes of justice. They are made up of three outstanding Pagans, Jews and Christians. The Pagans were Hector, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar; the Jews Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabeus; and the Christians, Arthur, Charlemagne and Godefroi de Bouillon. This was a popular decorative theme in grand houses in England and Europe during the 16th century. Either side of the sword-bearing king are the royal coats of arms of Henry VIII (reigned 1509-1547).

Time
The carving is highly sophisticated by English standards of the 1540s. It may well be the work of a French craftsman familiar with Italian Renaissance ornament.

People
Winchester House was built by Sir William Paulet, 1st Marquis of Winchester. He was Lord President of the Council in 1546 and member of the Regency Council under Edward VI (reigned 1547-1553).

Places
This panel is thought to have come from Winchester House, which was built in 1547 on the site of a dissolved Augustinian friary near Moorgate in the City of London.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["1585-1855"],"accessionNumberNum":"1585","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1855,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN1260","2019LP6849","2019LV3722"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-19","recordCreationDate":"2003-03-27","availableToBook":false}}