Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

AN EXTREMELY RARE ELIZABETH I TREEN PAINTED SYCAMORE BANQUETING DESSERT TRENCHER

C.1550-1600

of rectangular form and titled 'The Storie of Susanna' painted with figures in a garden beside a fountain, with a Renaissance architectural interior within an elaborate border with scrolls, angels and cherubs with drapes and fruit, with a tablet with a moralising verse, now worn, 'Flyr filthe, luste and slanderous breathe, elle children that thy fautes declaime, As Danyell doom..Their too to dearthe........Susannas shame' with an outer border and later mounted on a giltwood board

12.2 x 15.2cm

Catalogue Note

For a number of similar examples see Norwich Castle Museum, accession numbers: NWHCM : 1894.76.435.1, NWHCM : 1894.76.435.3 and NWHCM : 1894.76.435.2.

This Tudor trencher was made especially for serving desserts. It illustrates the Old Testament story of Susanna and the Elders. The painting probably derives from a contemporary German engraving.

Sugar reached Europe in quantity for the first time in the sixteenth century, imported from the newly established colonies in the New World. This set an extravagant trend for banquets consisting entirely of sweet dishes. The most spectacular, such as those for the Royal court, could run to over one hundred different desserts. These would include sugar paste and marzipan moulded into sculptures, sometimes covered in gold leaf.

Trenchers were almost always decorated with religious scenes. They were placed on the table painted-side uppermost and were turned over for use, the dessert being served on the plain underside. It was felt morally important for diners to be warned of the consequences of sinful self-indulgence and neglecting their duties to the poor.