essentÊrving°74

E S S E N T I A L W O O D C A R V I N G T E C H N I Q U F. S

Fig 6.2 Oak leaf copiedfrom early fourteenth-cetitnry tnisericord supporter. NotÄ™ the undulating snrface and rib running along the switchback. Caroed in oak by John Roberts.

FlG 6.1 Stijf leafpanel copied in oak from stone original in Wells Cathedral, approx. 66cm (26in) high. Carved in oak by Michael Lewis.

with the use of deep shadows in the eyes (the deep indcntarions) for ‘punctuation; sornetitnes it was the bulbous treatment of the surfacc undulating along its length like a whiplash or concentrically likc ripples on a pond (Figs 6.2, 6.3). The Decorated style of the first half of the fourtccnth century used verv elaborate bulbous foliage moving in several directions at once. This ended morÄ™ or less abruptly when the Black Dcath drastically reduced the populaiion and wcakened the cconomy to the cxtent that such rich work became gencrally impracticable. Thereaftcr ornament became simpler and styles changed to flatter leaves with morÄ™ geometrical forms. Running bands of foliage on rood screens and the

FlG 6.3 Plaster cast of poppy head (c. 1380) from Lincoln Cathedral, showing oak leaves.

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