An important, documented, Elizabeth I oak and inlaid overmantle, Gloucestershire, circa 1580

An important, documented, Elizabeth I oak and inlaid overmantle, Gloucestershire, circa 1580Designed in three-tiers, each with triple reserve, headed by three panels carved with scaly-dragons, atop a prominent Romayne-type male bust, with beard and flat cap, within a leafy-carved circular surround, flanked by an angel mask carved arch, on figural columns, enclosing Nonsuch-style inlay, representing towers and arcades above a pair of 'swans at the watergate', all spaced by male and female terms, the lower three panels carved with framed guilloche, gadrooned-carved cushion-moulded base rail, 170cm wide, 97cm high, 29cm deepProvenance: Prinknash Abbey, Gloucestershire. Removed 1953Installed by Mary Bellis, Charnham Close, Hungerford, Berkshire, in the principal guest bedroomAfter the Dissolution of the Monasteries Prinknash Abbey was rented from the crown by Sir Anthony Kingston and used as a hunting lodge. In 1544, Henry VIII granted the Abbey to Edmund Brydges (d.1573). In 1557 Edmund succeeded his father as Lord Chandos of Sudeley, and Sudeley Castle become the families' principal residence, however, Prinknash continued to be used by the family until c.1628. During a period of remodelling at Prinknash the overmantle was probably installed by either Giles Brydges, 3rd Baron Chandos (1548-1594) or William Brydges, the 4th Baron Chandos, (1552-1602)Literature: The central panel, well-carved with a Romayne-type male bust, is illustrated in Victor Chinnery, “Oak Furniture: the British Tradition’, p.427, fig. 4:28, where the author notes ’This picturesque little portrait may be of the original owner’, namely Baron ChandosSee Lot 131 for a quantity of Elizabethan panelling also from Prinknash Abbey