Antique Pre-1700 English or Flemish Decorative Oak Carving

RESERVED for Miriam and now include a carved wooden Bat

Antique Pre-1700 English or Flemish Decorative Oak Carving - Antique Carved Framed Female Head & Shoulders from the 1700 / 1600s - DC8

A large, heavy carved Antique Oak sculpture from Europe - probably English but could be Flemish. Created in the 1600's or very early 1700's - probably for a decorative panelled surrounding in a great house or a Ship Captain's entrance to his private quarters.  (Just think: this his panel could even have been at the Battle of Trafalgar or a similar battle at sea.)

The female subject carved from a single piece of oak, has long hair, swept back from her face but hanging down below her shoulders. She is dressed in a ruffled fabric, drawn in at the neck with a scalloped edge and a square neckline below. The ruffled effect continues down the sleeves of her dress and is drawn in twice between the shoulder and elbow to create little puffs of fabric. 

In the 1600's, all around Western Europe, Oak was the wood of choice for the building of ships and their internal decoration and also for the internal embellishments of the houses of the rich, anxious to display their wealth.  We think this piece was from the top of a door surround or even a pediment from a grand house of the time. The lady's costume is very much "of the time", with fantastic detail to the  hair, clothing and even (very unusually) teeth. The piece of wood itself was well over one hundred years old when cut down to be used for this fantastic item. There are very few marks as she has been cared for over the years, but there is a small wood chip at the ruff of the collar - for an age of over over three hundred years, she is exceeding well preserved.

This is a great carving with a fantastic story - sadly lost in time; something that would make a classic focal point for a study, office, games room or similar. 

It is fairly large being 11" or 28cm tall and 14.5" or 37cm wide. At the deepest point we estimate the depth to be around 7" or 18cm. Although originally carved from one piece during its long history it has cracked and split, the split being then nailed together using hand made nails of the period. They are still visible on the back along with the original fixing nails that have been bent back when a hanging loop has been attached at the top. Signs of old worm are also present but this has been treated previously and again by ourselves. The carving weighs a hefty 2.17kg without any packaging.

Your purchase will be carefully packed in recycled wrapping where possible and despatched via 'AnPost', the from our home on the wild Atlantic way here in Ireland. 
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