REAR HALL
In the Rear Hall the level of decoration increases as you approach the Great Staircase, with elaborate stuccowork and richly carved doorcases. The interlaced guilloche pattern of the overdoor panels is repeated in the stucco of the compartmented ceiling. This pattern seems to have been particularly favoured by Lord Fairfax, who employed the motif extensively in the private apartments at his country seat, Gilling Castle.
The stuccowork on the ceiling and on the wall facing the foot of the staircase has as its focus an elaborate medallion of a seated female figure in armour representing the Eternal City of Rome. Standing beneath this medallion is a superbly carved walnut hall chair of c.1715 with a curving back designed to accommodate the spine. To the left is a longcase clock by Anderson of Liverpool, and a handsome serpentine-fronted chest of drawers which supports an early imported blue & white Chinese Dish.
The pine doors have been restored and were originally painted to simulate mahogany.
MORE ABOUT THE REAR HALL
Chinese DishA late Ming imported dish, c.1610, decorated with panels of floral decoration around the border and surrounding a wild garden.
Category: Ceramics
Hall ChairAn important walnut hall chair, c.1715, with a carved and waisted splat decorated with a fish scale pattern that takes its inspiration from imported Chinese ceramics and furniture.
Category: Furniture
Jacobean Buffet c.1610
This robust court cupboard combines heavily carved supports and elements with finely inlaid parts. The centre section has some of the earliest known floral marquetry on a piece of English oak furniture.Category: Furniture
Stucco medallion - 'Roma'
Between the doors on the ground floor and set high is this draped stucco medallion of Roma after a design in Paolo Allesandro Maffei's Gemme Antiche Figurate (Rome, 1707).Category: Architectural feature
