Description
Book SynopsisThe early 16th-century baptismal font canopy of the church of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, is one of only three such structures to survive anywhere in the British Isles. This study, inspired by the recent rediscovery of four attributable panels at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, offers a trans-temporal account of the canopy’s initial creation and subsequent use, mutilation, and modification. Written by a team of scholars in art/architectural history, art conservation, heritage documentation, literary studies, and museum curation, it explores the installation’s multiple artistic, ritual, and cultural contexts, from late medieval and early modern Europe to modern-day North America. Contributors are Benjamin Baaske, Sarah Blick, Kate Duffy, Brent R. Fortenberry, Amy Gillette, Jack Hinton, Lesley Milner, Peggy Olley, Ellen K. Rentz, Behrooz Salimnejad, Zachary Stewart, Achim Timmermann, Charles Tracy, Kim Woods, and Lucy Wrapson.
Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgements List of Tables, Plates, and Figures Contributors Introduction: A Meditation on the Art-Historical Fragment Amy Gillette and Zachary Stewart Part 1: Settings 1 A “Parish Church Par Excellence”: The Architecture and Arts of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, from the Conquest to the Reformation Zachary Stewart 2 The Treasure House of the Church of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich: What Factors Best Explain Its Position and Design? Lesley Milner Part 2: Analyses 3 A Technical Study of the Font and Font Canopy at St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, in the East Anglian Context Lucy Wrapson 4 Four English Carved Panels at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Associated with the Church of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich: A Technical Analysis Kate Duffy, Jack Hinton, Peggy Olley and Behrooz Salimnejad 5 The Challenges of Visualizing Fixed Monuments in Medieval Art and Architectural History Brent R. Fortenberry and Benjamin Baaske 6 Toward a Reconstruction of the Mancroft Font Canopy Zachary Stewart Part 3: Contexts 7 English Medieval Timber Church Furniture c.1300–1540 Charles Tracy 8 Thinking with the Font: Ritual and Drama Ellen K. Rentz 9 The Microarchitectural Mise-en-Scène of Baptism, c.1200–c.1700: A Short History Achim Timmermann 10 Hidden in Plain Sight: How the Complex Iconography of Late-Medieval English Font Covers Saved Some Sarah Blick 11 “Gloriously Appareled”: The Ornament of the St. Peter Mancroft Canopy Amy Gillette Part 4: Afterlives 12 The Afterlife of Late Gothic Furnishings in British Churches and Collections Kim Woods 13 “A Study Close at Hand of These Fine Examples of Gothic Decoration”: The Collecting of English Medieval Woodcarvings in American Museums Jack Hinton Appendix: Technical and Analytical Terminology Plates Bibliography Index
