Detail of plaster ceiling in the Tapestry Room. Digital image of ED 1935.

Description Detail of plaster ceiling in the Tapestry Room. Digital image of ED 1935.

Date 29/7/1958

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

Catalogue Number SC 774441

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of ED 1935

Scope and Content Detail of Tapestry Room ceiling, Prestonfield House, No 71 Priestfield Road, Edinburgh This shows part of the plasterwork ceiling in the Tapestry Room. An eagle rises out of a clump of foliage with wings outstretched, surrounded by flowering branches and spirals. The flowers, leaves and eagle would all have been made by moulding shapes in wooden, plaster, lead, or clay moulds. The plain moulded borders would be 'run' in place using a shaped metal blade. 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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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap