A Mid/Late 19thC Carved Oak Ecclesiastical Gothic Revival Rood Screen c.1870

Origin: English
Period: Mid/Late Victorian
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1870
Height: 55”
Width: 72”
Depth: 4.5”

In entirely original condition, the large and beautifully carved oak and stained pine gothic revival rood screen at six feet in width, the whole comprising of five arched lancet gothic panels to spandrel mouldings, the lower section being of pierced grilled form with circular turnings and surviving from an ecclesiastical setting and from the high Victorian period.

The screen is untouched aside from the two pine batons to the reverse which means she stands without further support. The oak has taken on a well-established colour and there are no losses to the gothic mouldings. Some of the circular turnings have small gnarled losses. 

A rood screen is a partition, often ornate and made of wood, stone, or wrought iron, that separates the chancel (area around the altar) from the nave (main part of the church) in a medieval church, typically surmounted by a crucifix. The rood screen served as a visual and symbolic demarcation between the sacred space of the chancel, reserved for the clergy and the altar, and the nave, where the congregation gathered. 

Gothic art emerged during the Medieval Gothic period, which lasted for more than 200 years. It began with the architectural achievements of the 12th century as Europe was trying to move beyond the Dark ages into an era of confidence, radiance, and prosperity. It was supplemented by the solidification of Christianity when new cathedrals and churches were being built.

“A man who remains any length of time in a modern Gothic room, and escapes without being wounded by some minutiae, may consider himself extremely fortunate'”;
Augustus W. N. Pugin.

A hard-to-find ecclesiastical element that could be used in a number of ways in today’s contemporary setting.