Detail of plaster ceiling in the Tapestry Room

Description Detail of plaster ceiling in the Tapestry Room

Date 29/7/1958

Collection Records of the Scottish National Buildings Record, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number ED 1937

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 774438

Scope and Content Detail of Tapestry Room ceiling, Prestonfield House, No 71 Priestfield Road, Edinburgh This shows part of the 17th-century plaster ceiling in the Tapestry Room. An elongated lion rises from a clump of leaves as if rearing up in attack. He is surrounded by scrolling fronds of flowers and leaves. These deep relief plaster sculptures were created using moulds. Once all the elements of the design were dry they would be arranged on the floor before being transferred to the wall. The 17th-century plasterwork ceilings at Prestonfield House have a quirky and naïve style which suggests they may be the work of the Scottish assistants of the Italian craftsmen who worked on nearby Holyroodhouse. The designs of foliage, grotesques, animals and cupids were very fashionable at the time, and it seems likely that these less experienced plasterers created their own versions of these popular motifs. Prestonfield House was rebuilt for Sir James Dick in 1687 by the architect Sir William Bruce (c.1630-1710) after being burnt down during a student riot in 1681. A single-storeyed extension was added in c.1830, and in 1890 architects MacGibbon & Ross added a bathroom extension. Within the grounds is an unusual round stable block built in 1816 to designs by James Gillespie Graham (1777-1855). The house has been run as a hotel since 1959. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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