Short description:

A ground-breaking study of the evolution of an extraordinary piece of English church furniture, from its medieval creation to its modern dismemberment and refurbishment, by a team of technical, historical, and museological specialists.

Long description:

The early 16th-century baptismal font canopy of the church of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, is one of only three such structures to survive anywhere in the British Isles. This study, inspired by the recent rediscovery of four attributable panels at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, offers a trans-temporal account of the canopy?s initial creation and subsequent use, mutilation, and modification. Written by a team of scholars in art/architectural history, art conservation, heritage documentation, literary studies, and museum curation, it explores the installation?s multiple artistic, ritual, and cultural contexts, from late medieval and early modern Europe to modern-day North America.
Contributors are Benjamin Baaske, Sarah Blick, Kate Duffy, Brent R. Fortenberry, Amy Gillette, Jack Hinton, Lesley Milner, Peggy Olley, Ellen K. Rentz, Behrooz Salimnejad, Zachary Stewart, Achim Timmermann, Charles Tracy, Kim Woods, and Lucy Wrapson.

Table of Contents:

Contents

Acknowledgements

List of Tables, Plates, and Figures

Contributors



Introduction: A Meditation on the Art
-Historical Fragment

 Amy Gillette and Zachary Stewart

Part 1: Settings

Part 2: Analyses

Part 3: Contexts

Part 4: Afterlives