PLASTER PANELS 



363 



FIG. 289. House in Queen Square, Bath. 



and knee-breeches of the actors in the incidents which the prints are 

 intended to record. 



An unusual form of panelling, but one which is both cheap and effec- 

 tive, is to be seen in the audit room at Boughton House (Fig. 286). It 

 consists of boards nailed vertically to the wall, having the joints covered 

 with a moulding ; below is a skirting, and above is a frieze and cornice. 



Wood panelling was gradually superseded by panels formed in 

 plaster on the plastered walls. Gibb's drawings have already afforded 

 examples of this treatment (Figs. 166-169), and any book of the 

 eighteenth century on house design will supply others. Stoneleigh Abbey, 

 Kenilworth, has panels of unusual richness (Fig. 288), and a house in 

 Queen Square, Bath, by one of the Woods, has some delicately modelled 

 panels on the staircase (Fig. 289). The drawback to this method of 

 decoration is that, being rather ambitious in aim, it challenges criticism 

 much more definitely than does simple panelling. It is conceivable that 



