Wall Panelling Corporation

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Detail of Plaster Frieze

On Jacobean interiors much has been written about the fantastic penduled plaster ceilings that appeared first in Elizabethan England, but such ceilings were, normally, only to be found in the mansions and palaces, and not in the smaller house in Elizabethan times (though during James I's reign many of the smaller manors and even farmhouses and inns boasted at least one room with a finely decorated plaster ceiling).

When plasterwork was employed in the smaller house it was often used to cover and decorate the otherwise exposed beams on the ceilings and as a means of decoration in the square spaces that occurred between the timbers. Another attractive, though simple, fashion was to divide the ceiling by a series of ribs in low relief thus forming various shapes each holding a different design. In these, comparatively simple decoration casts were used to impress on the wet plaster a single design. Such motifs as fleur-de-lys, the Tudor Rose, or a simple flower design were extremely popular, and heraldic emblems and crests were frequently applied.