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Dragons | Misericord | Kitchen
 The
customers' neighborhood required something a little formal.
They wanted a carving on the outside but needed to respect the upscale,
traditional flavor of the area. I proposed a misericord—an
obscure feature of medieval cathedral architecture in Europe. In the choir
stalls were arranged along either side, facing each other. The stalls
were equipped with seats that hinged remaining in the down position during
parts of the service when one remained seated. They hinged up when participants
were to stand. Some of the clergy were older and in poor health and, as
a gesture of mercy, a small shelf was added to the underside of the seat.
When the seat was in the up position, the participant could rest his rear
end on the shelf and take some of the weight off his feet. Misericord
means 'gesture of mercy'. But, of course they couldn't just plant a simple
shelf on the bottom of the seat. It had to be supported by a carved bracket.
The problem came with the awkward relationship of the misericord to the
human anatomy. Because the shelf was employed to support the derriere,
the artisans were not allowed utilize the sacred imagery—they simply
couldn't reconcile the revered iconography so close to one's fanny. Consequently,
this is the only area in the church where the artisans had artistic license.
The catalog of images created for this purpose is an outlandish array
of satire, pornography, commentary, and documentation. The one I selected
is appropriately tame.
[See detail below] |
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home | about us | gallery | pricing/ordering | contact us
Floating World Wood Design
144 Biltmore Ave Asheville, NC 28801
828-230-0134 (ph) 828-255-8356 (fax)
gerry@perceptionofdoors.com