A rare and large pair of carved oak armorial supporters first half 17th century

in the form of grotesque beasts or Leocampi, carved in the round, the raised heads with open mouths and later painted scrolled tongues and with detachable ears now clipped, each body with outstretched paws, bands of geometric decoration, scales, fluted fins and a tightly rolled tail

Levens Hall, Cumbria.
Possibly a commission by Henry Bellingham during the second quarter of the 17th century for the hall.

 

'Levens Hall, Westmorland, The seat of Josceline F. Bagot', Country Life, January 1903, vol. XIII, p. 22.

Avary Tipping, English Homes, Period III - Vol. II, Late Tudor & Early Stuart 1558-1649, p. 223, pl. 275, surmounting the screen of the North East wall in the hall.

Generally good for these rare and atmospheric items. Partial splits, old fragmenting and wear throughout and each with a polished long side and an unpolished long side. Each ear now lacking. The unpolished sides with various securing apertures and each example with a void rectangular socket under the body and under the tail for securing to other heraldic components. One example with a repair to the polished side on the body above the paw. This example with crude old repair to the raised upper central scroll on the body. The other beast with old aperture on the polished side under the front paw. The tongues probably later and with red paint. Both beasts with splashes of white paint on the unpolished sides. For further information on this Lot, please contact the English Furniture Department on 00 44 (0) 207 293-5470.
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These great beasts were conceived to be seen from a distance as the carved details are almost abstract in form. They can be viewed from both sides as they are carved in the round. This would suggest that they supported a shield and were part of the composition for a coat of arms surmounting a large screen across a hall.

They were probably commissioned by or relate to the Bellingham family who resided at Levens from around 1580 until 1688. The Bellinghams transformed the old medieval hall and spent a great deal of money installing fine panelling, Italianate plaster ceilings and stained glass. These beasts could well have formed part of this lavish decorative scheme. However by the time the interior was painted by Joseph Nash in 1849 for his series The Mansions of England in Olden Times (vol. IV, pl. 2-6), this free standing screen appears to have disappeared. We see them illustrated in Country Life op. cit. in 1903 and again by Tipping op. cit. in 1926 by then positioned above the wall panelling and either side of a much smaller coat of arms in the hall.

It is interesting to note the proximity of Naworth Castle to Levens Hall, about sixty-five miles. Naworth was the home of the Dacre Beasts a wonderful series of carved oak heraldic supporters (see Fine Decorative Arts: Medieval & Renaissance, these rooms, 15th December 1999, lot 35). This series of important beasts, now in the collections of The Victoria and Albert Museum, may well have been known locally particularly among the regions principal families. Perhaps the Dacre Beasts were the inspiration for those at Levens. 

For other comparisons in another great house in Cumbria see the ferocious beasts on the screen of the entrance hall at Sizergh Castle. These form part of a screen dated 1558. It may well be that these supporters relate to the Boynton family as Alice Tempest widow of Walter Strickland of Sizergh married secondly Sir Thomas Boynton of Barmston around 1549 and they continued to reside at Sizergh. Later during the second quarter of the 17th century Henry Bellingham of Levens married a Dorothy Boynton - perhaps these beasts were installed at Levens to commemorate another Boynton union, as those at Sizergh may have been. See Woodcock & Robinson, Heraldry in National Trust Houses, London, 2000, p.158.

Also see the beasts on the hall screen at Wadham College, Oxford, illustrated Cescinsky and Gribble, Early Furniture and Woodwork, London, 1922, p. 37, fig. 25.