Interior. Ground floor, still-room, detail of painted overmantle. Digital image of D 59917 CN.

Description Interior. Ground floor, still-room, detail of painted overmantle. Digital image of D 59917 CN.

Date 11/10/1999

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

Catalogue Number SC 759976

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 59917 CN

Scope and Content Painted overmantel in housekeeper's room, Traquair House, Scottish Borders This shows a trompe l'oeil painting of a curtained bookcase set into the c.1700 panelling of the housekeeper's room. A comical bust grins out at the viewer, and the whole panel is supposed to deceive the eye and appear real. On the mantelpiece below is a collection of octagonal 19th-century dessert plates. The housekeeper was a very important figure amongst the 'upper ten' servants in the house, especially in bachelor households. It was her job to organise the smooth running of the house, monitor supplies of candles, cleaning equipment and foodstuffs, and hand out these items weekly to the lower staff, questioning them if they had used too much during the week. She would confer with the lady of the house about daily menus, and in smaller houses was also the cook. 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/759976

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap