“To raise the ceiling’s fretted height,
Each panel with achievements clothing.”
This, it is true, is a poetic licence, for the panels seldom exhibited more than the family cognizance or coat of arms. The achievement, that is the shield, crest, mantling, and supporters, was reserved for very special cases, such as is shown in the fine panel of the royal arms of James I. from Apethorpe Hall in Northamptonshire (Fig. 138).
138. Apethorpe Hall, Northamptonshire.
Plaster Panel, from Ceiling, with Arms of James I.
139. Wolveton House, Dorsetshire.
Interior, showing Doorway, Chimney-piece, and Ceiling.
In spite of the elaboration of the detail, the general effect of these ceilings was quiet; and the same may be said of the wall panelling. To prevent monotony or tameness of appearance, a handsome treatment was often bestowed on special features, such as doorways and chimney-pieces, more particularly the latter. The doorways were frequently emphasised by pilasters and cornice; in the great hall the screen was elaborately decorated with panels, pilasters, and cornice. Heraldry was again brought in to aid the effect, thus at once gratifying the foible of family pride, and imparting an air of dignity and splendour to the room. The chimney-piece was nearly always finely treated, whether it was of wood or of stone. Columns, pilasters, or grotesques supported a lofty shelf above the vast fireplace; over the shelf the design extended itself upwards with large panels, fantastic pilasters, and elaborate ornament till it was crowned with a cornice supporting, or seeming to support, the ceiling itself (Fig. 139). Heraldry, mythology, pedantry, sententiousness, all went to adorn the chimney-piece. The family arms, or incidents from a classic tale, or virtues personified, supplied the chief interest, while pithy inscriptions, generally in Latin, added a touch of that learning which was supposed to be the possession of all the well-to-do.