Grinling Gibbons carved limewood into swags of fruit, flowers, birds and shells so finely that contemporaries said he could breathe life into still material, and the work brought him royal favour. This design is drawn from that style: a high-relief carving translated onto a flat surface, with the depth carried entirely by line.
The subjects are his. Birds and shells, scrolling foliage, the fruits of the harvest, and the periwinkle-like five-petalled flower he used almost as a signature. Between them they stand for new life, abundance and good health, which is what a Restoration carving over a chimneypiece was meant to say. The tonal work is careful, with highlights along the top of each form and shadow beneath, so the swags appear to stand off the wall. A wide 0.69 m roll and a 68.5 cm straight repeat let a full drop of carving read as one piece.
It is architectural rather than floral, and it behaves like architecture in a room. Hung in a dining room, a study or a hall with good joinery it reinforces what is already there; in a plainer room it supplies the ornament the building lacks. Metallic colourways make the most of raking lamplight, while the flatter ones read closer to stone.
