In both these examples (Figs. [136], [137]), and also in Fig. [138], it will be observed that the panel itself is decorated with some kind of carving. The English form is shown in Fig. [137], where the panels are what are known as linen panels, the decoration taking a form something like folded linen. In the long gallery at the Vyne the walls are panelled with linen panelling, with the addition of coats of arms, or badges, or scrolls bearing a motto ([Fig. 19]). A later form is seen in Fig. [136], where the design is quite Italian in feeling. The circular panels containing heads became a favourite feature in English panelling about the end of Henry VIII.'s reign, and may generally be ascribed to a date within a few years of 1540. The diamond-shaped panels in the lower part appear to be horizontal panels standing on their ends, and are probably not in their original relation to the others. The two charming dolphins counter-hauriant, if the term may be allowed, carved at the top of a long panel, leaving the lower part plain, give a quaint and pleasing effect (Fig. [138]). The presence of dolphins rather points to French influence, for, although no doubt the use of this form started in Italy, it was eagerly adopted by the French, since the dolphin was the cognizance of their dauphin. The door at Castle Rising (Fig. [139]) gives another example of the use of heads in circular panels among Italian foliage; but it will be noticed that the mouldings round the panels do not conform to the type already explained, but to one which is a step forwarder in development. Instead of the mouldings of the continuous horizontal rails being stopped short of the sides of the panels, they are carried on and intersect with them. This intersection is called by joiners a mitre, and a mitred moulding is an advance on a stopped moulding or one that abuts against a cross-piece. It will be seen that in this example, although the moulding is mitred at the top of the panel, it still abuts against the bottom rail. In the panelling from Haddon Hall (Plate [XL].) it will be seen that the very simple moulding mitres all round the panels. But in all these cases the mouldings are what are called "out of the solid," that is, the actual framework of the panels is moulded, the consequence being that wherever a moulding had to be stopped or mitred, thought and care were required, and a failure of either involved the injury of a fairly large piece of wood. The next step therefore was to refrain from working a moulding on the solid wood, but to keep square edges to the framework, and after framing up all the panelling with these square edges, to insert round the margin of each panel a small separate moulding planted on to the recessed panel. This saved much time and labour, and consequently expense, and is the method pursued in the present day. Its application may be seen in almost any four-panelled door in an ordinary house.
139.—Door at Castle Rising, Norfolk.
This latest form, the "applied" mitred moulding, hardly came into general use so early as the time of Elizabeth or James—indeed, the date of its earliest occurrence is a question of considerable interest. But mouldings mitred on the solid had almost entirely replaced the older form of stopped mouldings by the end of the sixteenth century. By returning to the illustration of the screen at Haddon (Fig. [135]), an example may be seen alongside the heavier Gothic work; and another example, with a much deeper and broader moulding, may be seen in an upper room at the same place (Plate [XLI].). It is a provoking characteristic of work of this time that its method of treatment does not give an infallible clue to its chronological sequence. In earlier times the mouldings gave this clue: when once a form was superseded by another, it did not occur again; but in the period now under consideration fashion was not so accommodating, and though on the whole the mitred moulding is later than the stopped moulding and finally superseded it, yet there are early examples of mitring, as in the panelling at the Vyne, which must have been put up before Wolsey's death in 1530, and there are late examples of stopped mouldings in such things as chests, which maybe as late as James I. The pewing and pulpit at Haddon (Plate [XLI].) have them, and they are late Elizabethan, if not Jacobean, while the panelling in the dining-room, which is dated 1545, is mitred.
140.—Door at Beckington Abbey, Somerset.
The panels themselves, which in early days were decorated with the linen pattern, and subsequently with Italian foliage and heads within circles, became plainer and simpler. In the dining-room at Haddon all the lower panels are plain, while a kind of frieze of ornament is carried round in those next to the cornice. The ornament consists for the most part of coats of arms from the Vernon pedigree, but there are also heads in circles, linen panels, initials with true lovers' knots, and other devices. All these are carved in relief, but in later times carving gave way to patterns formed by sinking the groundwork and leaving the design on a level with the face of the panel. There was little or no modelling in the design, and the work could be done by a less skilful hand than actual carving would require. An example is to be seen in a door at Beckington Abbey (Fig. [140]): the same kind of work was often applied to the rails of panelling, the face of pilasters, and other plain surfaces. Another specimen, with a little more modelling in it, is at Nailsea Court (Fig. [141]). The services of the carver were, however, by no means dispensed with, and there is a vast amount of richly ornamented panelling up and down the country, both in houses and churches. The monotony of the constantly repeated oblongs was broken by the introduction of pilasters, which were themselves fluted or decorated with patterns.
141.—Door at Nailsea Court, Somerset.
Carbrook Hall, near Sheffield, which has now fallen from its former estate, has a very fine panelled room, in which the pilasters are richly decorated with various simple patterns (Plate [XLII].). They support a carved frieze, above which is a wood cornice, and above this again is a modelled plaster frieze some two feet deep, forming part of the handsome ceiling.