Posted on 11/16/2021 10:09:15 AM PST by SunkenCiv
It was catalogued as an “antique carved wooden bird” when it was auctioned for £75 in 2019. Now it has been identified as Anne Boleyn’s heraldic emblem, the 16th-century royal falcon that probably adorned her private apartments at Hampton Court Palace – only to be removed after Henry VIII ordered her execution and the eradication of all traces of her...
The exquisite and richly decorated oak carving is in such extraordinary condition that it even bears its original gilding and colour scheme. In 1536, barely three years after it was made, Boleyn was beheaded on bogus adultery charges – just because she could not give Henry a male heir, only a daughter, the future Elizabeth I.
The falcon is to be placed on long-term loan to Hampton Court by Paul Fitzsimmons, a Devon antiques dealer, who spotted it in an auction.
Tracy Borman, a leading Tudor historian and joint chief curator for Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that manages Hampton Court, said: “The irony is that Anne Boleyn is the most popular of the six wives and she’s probably the one with the least surviving evidence ... because she was obliterated by Henry. So that makes this really quite special and obviously I’m very excited about it. When I realised how this absolutely would have fitted with the decorative scheme, I had a shivers-down-the-spine moment.” ...
She noted that two falcons in the Great Hall ceiling at Hampton Court are so high up – and would have been blackened by smoke from the roaring fire – that Henry would not have noticed them, but that this one is more likely to have been in Anne’s private apartments, within easier reach of whoever wanted to save it.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Was the head still on?..................
Well...have you heard? About the bird?
Someone cleverly removed the “Made in China” sticker that was on the bottom of it.....
A ‘Maltese Falcon’ for real?
Q: When the value of something like this skyrockers, does the IRS ‘impute’ this as income for the year purchased or the year or sold or not at all?
With ‘er ‘ead tooked underneath ‘er arm
She walks the bloody Tower...
Didn’t they used to call Anne The Proud Bird with the Golden Tail? No, wait that was Continental Airlines.
This is a fabulous find. Thank you for the story.
Wasn’t Anne Boleyn a black woman who lived in Tudor England? That’s how the BBC depicted her.
My pleasure. Anne-tique store find.
Word up.
Does the bird have a head?
Without the Boleyn connection... I wouldn't have paid £75... Or 75 cents for it.
Good one!
A bird in her hand was worth Tudor.
in the bush.
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