Detail of plaster foliage in the Tapestry Room. Digital image of ED 1941.

Description Detail of plaster foliage in the Tapestry Room. Digital image of ED 1941.

Date 29/7/1958

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

Catalogue Number SC 774445

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of ED 1941

Scope and Content Detail of Tapestry Room ceiling, Prestonfield House, No 71 Priestfield Road, Edinburgh This shows a 17th-century plasterwork cartouche on the ceiling of the Tapestry Room, with a grotesque mask with an open toothy grin crowned by flowers above, and a smaller frowning face below. The cartouche contains a vase of flowers. The plasterwork is deeply and naïvely modelled, and may have been by the Scottish assistants of the craftsmen who worked on the Palace of Holyroodhouse. This was originally the drawing room, a public room which was richly decorated to reflect the status of the owners. Apart from the elaborate plaster ceiling, the room contains a series of 18th-century tapestries, family portraits and an ornate fireplace, all of which would be seen by visitors 'withdrawing' here after dinner. 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.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/774445

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap