Traquair House, 1st. floor, High Drawing-room, detail of painted overdoor panel. Digital image of D 59927 CN.

Description Traquair House, 1st. floor, High Drawing-room, detail of painted overdoor panel. Digital image of D 59927 CN.

Date 11/10/1999

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number SC 759973

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 59927 CN

Scope and Content Painted panel in the high drawing room, Traquair House, Scottish Borders This shows a painted panel above the door in the high drawing room, probably painted in the mid-18th century. It shows a golden 'trophy' of objects symbolising drama, including masks, a stringed instrument, shepherd's crook, crown, dagger, bell and a 'slapstick' (two joined pieces of wood which produce a loud snap when struck, much used in early comedy routines). Two other panels in the room represent Art and Music, with symbolic objects tied together with ribbons and 'hung' in festoons. Trompe l'oeil decoration of this sort is designed to fool the eye into thinking real sculptures and relief decoration are applied to the walls. Traquair is the oldest continually inhabited house in Scotland, with its origins in the 10th century. It was the site of a royal hunting lodge in the 1200s, but the house as seen today is based around a c.1512 tower-house with many later additions. The flanking service wings were built in 1695 to designs by architect James Smith (c.1645-1731), who also designed the wrought-iron screens round the courtyard in 1698. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/759973

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap